Timex Triathlon HRM

If you're talking about the one at PerfomanceBike.com, it is NOT as advertised. The one they are selling doesn't do most of the features they say it does. No Average or Max Heart Rate... You can't recall the Lap times much less the Heart Rates at those times. I think what they are selling is an early generation Timex HRM, definitely not the 50 lap version. I returned it and upgraded to the Polar S120 which has the features the Timex advertised. I love it! the only drawback is there is no backlight. After the hassle they put me through they did give me some money off the Polar.

I have the timex - about 3 years old and it worked pretty well until last year -changed the battery and it was fine again. I am thinking about picking another one up at Performance bike shop - they are under $60.00 there and they actually look much better thatn the one I have. The only complaint I had was that the treadmills at the gym were compatable with polar only and not Timex. I do not believe that I ever tried it swimming - but Timex in general is pretty good in the water - I don't know if that applies to their HRMs though. For the money I think it is a great deal. As far as whether to get the HRM or aero bars - I think the HRM will be much more beneficial if you use it correctly and consistently. It will help you know what condition you are in, how hard to train and if you are improving. Just my opinion.

I will have to look more closely at the timex at the performance store here in Denver - It looked like the same one I have which is the 50 lap and has the max heart rate and laps.

1. Didn't work at all but I've heard that wearing a wetsuit helps, I just haven't tried that yet.

2. It's a damn good price for what you get for 60 bucks but I'm biest towards Timex and can't stand over priced Polar stuff. (btw did you know you have to buy a new HRM band with Polar every 2000 hours of usage...that gets spendy I bet)

3. I got the HRM before the aero bars...but once I had the aero bars I don't see how I lived without'em.

Hands down the Polar is better, more expensive, and bulkier (is that a word) hardware. If you want cheap, long lasting, and gets the job done then your best bet is Timex.

P.S.

I bought my model # 57781 from heartratemonitorsusa.com (I think that was it)...and if you want to get tricky, pretend to purchase the product (put it in your shopping cart) and get as far as where you have to enter in your credit card and hit cancel...they give you a promo coupon for next time you visit which is like 10% off...then just return and use your code and lookee you, you just saved a few extra bucks.

Also to save some cash check out Froogle on google.com and type in your product to have it search the internet for the cheapest price...I'm finding that to be a nifty tool for saving cash too.

Good Luck!


Edited by Casey Shaw 2005-02-09 7:10 PM

I just looked at the website and they have updated the descriptions since I bought it. However, the Timex doesn't store the 50 lap times so you can recall it. It's definitely nice to have the Max and Avg HR for the exercise and the Avg and Lap HR for up to 50 laps with the S120.

i have a 30 lap timex ironman. its my second monitor and i've been very happy with it. use it for swimming (for figuring out pace), and running and biking (for hrm, time, etc.). has max, min, average (average for each lap as well), time, timer, calories, recovery, review, zones, time in zone, etc. i got it at bodytronics. they through in a pedometer and some monitor gel in for free. i would highly recommend getting a monitor that has a recall/review function:

http://bodytronics.com/shop/index.cgi?code=3&cat=17

I have an older TImex HRM. One of my pet peeves is that while you can set the HR zones you want to work out in, in the end, it will only give you your avg HR for the time in the zone. So if you have a narrow zone, like 130-140, you're always going to get an avg HR of 135 whether you spent 5 minutes in your zone or 60 minutes. So now I set my zone from 80 to 200 to get an accurage average. I have to look at it more often, but that beeping annoyed me anyway.

I got the 30 lap IM for Christmas and couldn't be happier. I have used it in the pool with no problem and with the exception of some occassional interference, it seems very reliable. It will recall all laps and avg HR for each lap, along with min, max, avg and calories for the entire trip. The only thing I don't like is how it sets the HR zones, however I just use the manual zone and setup what I want.

Shane

This user's post has been ignored.

So I was going to try that trick on heartratemonitorsusa.com to get the 10% off coupon before ordering and it never let me get to the billing part. I don't know if I ordered, didn't order or ordered the dang thing 3 times. It asked me for my address and then took me to a link that said continue shopping. When I hit that button it sent me to some error page designed by the site and never asked me for anymore information. All I know is I never gave it my credit card info. so I should be good. I never got a darn coupon either though. I guess I will wait until they fix their site before trying to place and order from them again.

okay, i got it to go to the credit card part. Now my question is. Do I enter my credit card info. and submit it. Then cancel after that because I do not see a cancel button on the page where you enter your credit card info. Sorry but I am cheap and 10% off is good, lol.

You know, I just tried to do it again and it's not working like it used to...good news is that I remember the discount code " TAKE10 ", and it still works. All caps and no apostrophes or spaces. The code only works on some items, for instance, I tried it on the data link recorder and it wouldn't accept the code but then when I clicked on the model of watch that I purchased it worked. Try it out, hope it works for you!

Thanks a ton. I will give that a whirl.

P.S.

Be careful the model you buy, not all models are compatible with the GPS unit...the mistake I made was trying to get a cheaper watch (model 57781) with strap then buy the data link recorder and GPS separately as I was able to afford them. I later found out that my watch isn't compatible with the GPS unit + the GPS unit can't be purchased on it's own at this time either.

I have a back door theory that might work where I write the company and let them know my GPS broke and it's beyond the warranty and see if they will send me a replacement unit for it's full price value...but even if that works the GPS will only download to my data link on to my computer but never my watch.

Be sure of your purchase!