Timex Ironman Men’s Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Grey/Red, Full Size

5 Responses to Timex Ironman Men’s Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Grey/Red, Full Size

1. 

   Eric on July 20, 2010 at 12:41 pm

   Review by Eric for Timex Ironman Men’s Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Grey/Red, Full Size
   Rating:
   This review is for the latest version of this watch (purchased Feb. 2010). Apparently this is the 2nd generation of the watch, which is much improved over the 1st gen, which got deservedly poor reviews.

   I’ve had the watch for just under a week, but it appears to bury anything Polar has at a similar price point. The Timex beats polar on:

   - Good, easy to use backlight
   
   - Easy to configure display, that switches where and how time and BPM are displayed. It’s a feature you will probably like and use often.
   
   - User-replaceable batteries on both watch and chest strap. No need to do a chest strap exchange a la Polar
   
   - No interference from other users – applies to low-end Polars (never buy an uncoded watch, you will regret it)
   
   - Much better resistance to interference to other RF sources than Polar
   
   - Simple, good feature set. Most people don’t need and won’t use all the egghead metrics.
   
   - EASY to use menus. You only need to read the manual once, if at all.
   
   - $5 for a five-year extended warranty. (Look at the bottom of Timex’s website for the link)
   
   - Cheap and available parts from Timex via phone. Extra band is $8+tax delivered.
   
   - Recessed, scratch-resistant face (much better than Polar)

   The only reason you really need more watch is if you have to have the GPS feature. Then you pony up for the Garmin, but for everything else, the Timex seems to be the ticket.
2. 

   Forsyth Fan on July 20, 2010 at 1:13 pm

   Review by Forsyth Fan for Timex Ironman Men’s Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Grey/Red, Full Size
   Rating:
   I’ve had this heart rate monitor for about a month now and really like it. I wasn’t looking for something with every bell and whistle or the ability to download to a computer, just a basic but well built HRM. It has all of the basic features I need without being cluttered with features I don’t.

   Form factor: The watch itself is a bit on the big/thick side but it feels very solid and well built. It also is styled like a classic Ironman watch, which I prefer to some of the Polar and Nike HRMs. Be aware that the strap is biased more towards fitting larger wrists, even though it is listed as Unisex. The strap from end to end is 10 1/2 inches long, so plenty of size to fit larger wrists, but women with smaller wrists may have trouble getting a snug fit even on the smallest loop. I share this with my wife and she has this issue. I suppose you could buy a smaller replacement strap if needed.

   Set up: Pretty intuitive, though the manual could be more clear about how certain settings work (and the manual itself is tiny). Seeting up your weight, zones, etc is all done quickly and is much more straightforward than the Polar HRMs I have owned.

   In use: The watch and transmitter sync up very quickly with little moisture needed to make the connection work. I like the big display and large numbers, its very easy to steal a quick glance and get all the information I need. You can swap the display so that whatever is most important to you is displayed in the largest numbers or have it so only your heart rate is showing. The review mode lets you go through your work out, with info like time in your zone, average HR, peak HR, min HR, and calories burned. The Indiglo light works great (with a button press) and is much better than their watches with the “flick” feature.

   Other: Another feature I really like is that you can change the battery in the strap yourself, unlike Polar where you have to send it in or go to a dealer to get it changed. To be fair, the chest transmitter is a little bulky but I gladly trade the slightly larger transmitter for the ability to change the battery myself.

   All in all, I give the watch 4.5/5 but chose 4 given the sizing not being consistent with a unisex watch.
3. 

   J. Zdelar on July 20, 2010 at 1:51 pm

   Review by J. Zdelar for Timex Ironman Men’s Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Grey/Red, Full Size
   Rating:
   I finally got a heart rate monitor after searching a long time. It seemed every time I would decide on one and then go to buy it a couple days later, it would disappear or cost a lot more. This monitor is nice after you get the hang of it, which took me a little while. It picked up a signal pretty quickly and the chest strap stayed on nicely. The calories burned seemed way to high, which disappointed me. It said i burned 680 calories during a 50 minute Jillian video. While, I was in zone 3-4 mostly, it still seems like an overstatement. Overall, it does it’s core job and the zone feature is really handy.
4. 

   Tom on July 20, 2010 at 2:00 pm

   Review by Tom for Timex Ironman Men’s Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Grey/Red, Full Size
   Rating:
   I purchased this heart rate monitor over a Polar because Timex has an extended warranty available – 4 extra years for a measly $5. I received my watch and called the number on the Timex website and was informed that the extended warranty was not available for this particular model.

   I see at the bottom of their website that not all products are available for this extended warranty offer, but in order to find out, you have to refer to the instruction manual. Kinda difficult to read the manual without having the watch in the first place, especially when I couldn’t find a store locally that carried the Road Trainer (Gotta love Fort Polk, Louisiana).

   Otherwise, I am happy with this HRM. Easy to read, and the set-up/operation is very intuitive, especially if you are familiar with other Timex Ironman products. The wristband fits – my left wrist measures approximately 7 inches. I wear it comfortably loose on the third from the smallest opening, although it needs loosening partway through an upper body weight workout. It fits comfortably tight on the next-tightest opening.

   The chest strap fits comfortably – you know its there, but it doesn’t pinch or annoy me like I thought it would.

   Overall, I am happy with the watch and the chest strap. However, I tend to abuse watches, and an extra 4 years would have been great. That aspect of my purchase is very disappointing.
   
5. 

   Prapanpong Jarupan on July 20, 2010 at 2:59 pm

   Review by Prapanpong Jarupan for Timex Ironman Men’s Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch, Grey/Red, Full Size
   Rating:
   Product itself (Orange trim face full size)

   Pro:
   
   1 – easy to set up, need to run in Chrono mode to record HR.
   
   2 – Big face so it can be read easily *** this is the main reason that make me buy this watch.
   
   3 – Easy to get signal.
   
   4 – Manual in Timex website
   
   5 – Manual HR very easy to set up.
   
   6 – Show recovery heart rate *** this is other reason that make me buy this watch.
   
   7 – Show HR in each Lap (max 50 laps, I use only 10 laps for interval cycling and it record HR for each lap).
   
   8 – Alarm when it go off preset HR Zone.
   
   9 – it can set to show %HR or range bpm.
   
   10 – Cheap, good style and can change battery by myself.

   Con:
   
   1 – need to buy data recorder 2 if you need to record it to PC ( I never test it due to have no interest to keep record in PC, I use paper log)
   
   2 – Chest strap is short (I have 42 ” Chest)
   
   3 – Only 1 Manual HR (some reviewer wrote 3 Manual HR)

   Use:
   
   Indoor Cycling in Z1 – Z2, interval Z1 low to Z2 max (Manual HR), recovery Z1.
   
   Good loud beep sound when off preset HR Zone.
   
   Recommend this model
   
   Note: before buy it go to sport shop and look around you will find this one is better style than all others.