Heart monitors are ideal for training, and more and more runners and cyclists swear by them, but swimmers have sort of been left high and dry when it comes to a training aid. Not any longer, Polar has announced a new heart rate monitor that promises to get all wet. The Polar FT7 is ideal for the gym or out in the wild, and it can work well in the water as Polar is the only company that produces transmitters that broadcast a signal at a 5 kHz frequency, which means heart rate data is received while swimming.
The FT7 features a soft, flexible fabric strap that made with a patented heart-sensing fabric developed by Numetrex, while the monitor offers zone alarms, daily alarms, time and date. The FT7 will download all exercise information to the free Polar personal trainer software with an optional Polar Flowlink device.
In addition to telling you the number of calories burned, the EnergyPointer will tell if the main effect of your training is fitness improvement or fat burning. It offers button-free operation of the wrist unit and provides graphical target zone indicator. The Polar FT7 is available now (MSRP $119.95), and as we noted, this one works in the water!