It hasn't been too many years ago that heart rate monitors were only available to fitness research clinics and elite sponsored athletes. Thanks to a mass market of enthusiastic age-group runners, triathletes, ultramarathoners, walkers, and cyclists, the dynamics of consumerism has brought them into the mainstream for metrics-based athletic training. This article reviews the Timex Ironman Road Trainer heart rate monitor.
My point of reference is with respect to my prior heart rate monitor, a Polar model S120. I've owned two S120s. Why? Because basically, a heart rate monitor (HRM) consists of two components: a wrist watch and a chest strap with a sending unit (also called a sensor). The two work together so when one or the other breaks/wears out, it makes more sense financially to replace what's broken than to move to a new platform.
So over the past six or seven years, I've been in the periodic Polar component replacement mode. Finally, both units were hosed at the same time, giving me an excuse to shop. Shopping for training toys is always fun for middle-of-the-pack age-group athletes because we can justify the outlay of cash. It's all for our health and/or weight loss, right?
Knowing where your training with respect to your heart rate is also important during hot-weather training, because then, perceived effort can be deceptive.
Looking at heart rate monitor prices
First, let's just get this out of the way; don't buy the no-name $35.99 HRM. That's a waste of money. Most name brand manufacturers have two or three level models. Both the Polar S120 and the Timex I bought are not basement-level gadgets, nor are they elite level gadgets.
Both the Polar and the Timex are around $100, give or take a Jackson. At least that's the case at the local Sports Authority and Academy Sports. Given that, it comes down to brand quality and functionality.
So which one did I choose? As the title suggests, I went with the Timex Ironman. Read on to see why.
Timex HRM positive features
The Timex has a backlight feature called the Indiglo. This is a major problem I had with the Polar, which stays dark in the dark (this may not be the case with high-end models). Not being able to see the display is frustrating when doing speedwork pick-ups during pre-dawn training runs as well as just trying to see what time it is during the middle of the night when waking up to visit the bathroom.
The metrics go into a great level of detail. It registers calories burned, total time, up to 50 splits, three programmable heart rate zones, time spent in zone, high, low, and average heart rate, and an interesting function that counts down from ending heart rate to the bottom of the selected zone. This translates into recovery time which indicates fitness level. It's a bit nebulous, but over time, it's easy to see improvement.
The metrics stay in memory until they are manually cleared. This is a great feature. Since I don't record my data in my running log until I get home, I like having it available. On the Polar, they just vanished shortly after the sending unit lost connection with the monitor.
Drawbacks of the Timex HRM
The only real drawback of the Timex over the Polar is use on the treadmill. On the treadmills I've used at both Bally's and at 24-Hr Fitness clubs, the treadmills have built-in Polar capability. Just wear the chest strap with sending unit and it displays on the treadmill monitor in real time; no watch needed. But, this seems a small drawback.
After the watch component of my Polar HRM died, I was still able to monitor my heart rate using just the strap on the treadmill, and I can in the future until the battery in the sending unit fails. The Timex sending unit battery is not permanantly sealed into the unit as the Polar is, but is user-replaceable.
Over all, the Timex Ironman Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor gets a thumbs-up over the Polar.
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