First time user of this site.
Thinking about purchasing my first HRM. I have been looking at both the Timex brand and the Nike brand. Between these two, which is the best to purchase?
I’ve had a Nike triax for about 18 months now. Pros: it’s small enough to wear as a regular watch, big numbers easy to read; Cons:the bar graph is nice to look at but you don’t know what the values are, 15 splits is not very much, the light and the buttons are kind of hard to press after a while, the little keeper for the band broke fairly quickly so now I have a piece of inner tube holding down the band. If the timex HRM is like the timex ironman watch, it’s probably a better choice.
I think you’ll find a lot of people who are die hard Polar fans. It is their primary business and they are very good at it.
One suggestion would be to buy (for now) the cheapest Polar HRM…
Wait until Timex BodyLink system becomes available. Based on what limited information there is, it could be make all wireless HRM systems substandard. The verdict is still out, but it may be very well be the best new technology and new approach to wireless HRM with universally useful speed/distance capability.
FWIW Joe Moya
I have no experience with the Nike product (other than the sdm) but do with the Timex. The wife has one, which she use a lot. She has some grips with it, the unit is big, the strap is uncomfortable for her (lots of chaffing, its a fairly wide strap as compared to the new Polar) the interface is hard to read (especially in the evening)
I know you did not specifically ask about Polar but you cant ignore them if you are considering a HRM. I have a Polar Xtrainer, not one of the new series, but I also prefer it from a comfort point of view (it also has three separate countdown timers which are very useful for fartlek type repeats). In favour of the Timex is the change of battery. This is a major issue, I got the Timex changed at the local watch repair place, to change my Polar I would have to send unit back to Montreal, so if you use it to race you need to make sure that this is taken care of well before the peak training weeks.
If considering Polar and the new S series (with bike function) I would be slightly cautious about using the hrm unit as a bike computer, primarily the Xtrainer became a serious battery suck if used as a bike computer (not sure why this might be, power usage would be much the same ift he hrm was the only thing running) Go over to velonews forum and ask about the S series especially the s710 in particular if you want more information about the cycling functions.