Being the inveterate gadget freak that I am, this may go on my list as the next ‘gotta have it!.’ According to the website, it monitors all sorts of stuff in addition to heart rate, V02 Max, energy consumption, altimeter, barometer, etc. Anyone have one and care to comment?
bump
.
I’ve had one since they became available. I even have the foot pod for it. Basically, it is an expensive toy. The EPOC numbers it generates do seem to correlate with my perceived effort. The EPOC and respiration numbers are interesting, but (for most people) any of the other high end heart monitors which cost less work just as well.
The foot pod is especially disappointing. It needs to be calibrated to your exact pace. Any variance in your pace results in disappointing results. I use it simply to gauge whether I’m going at roughly the speed that I know from a “known training route”.
I tested the Suunto X6HR for about 6 months a few years ago for a friend. In the interest of full disclosure I’m a pretty minimalistic guy-have never used a HR monitor, believe in “function over fashion” any day. Having said that, I found the most useful functions were the altitude, compass, and logbooks. I found the altitude measurements extremely useful in the XC ski coaching I do. Gave us subjective data on some race courses that we weren’t able to preview as thoroughly as we’d have liked. It was also very useful in measuring areas for training to emulate future race courses. I also found the altitude function very useful in helping with maps on long hikes…The compass function was most useful in helping determine slope %. Could have gotten the same info from doing the math using the altimeter but the compass function was a lot faster…The logbooks were a real good tool for some multi-day hikes and to track a group training project.
The bad - had 2 mechanical failures over the 6 months I was testing. Watch just went dead both times. I don’t think I was doing anything that would have caused the batteries to die that fast. Both times the unit was sitting on my table so at least it wasn’t out in the field where I would have been in a bad spot. Suunto customer service (via EMS) was excellent both times. I haven’t heard of any similar issues, so maybe the steel plate in my skull was magnetized and it zapped the unit (haha).
Given the chance to buy one of these for cheap I’d do it. No way I’d pay retail, but that’s just me.
I’ve owned the T6 for a while (almost 2 years) and it has never failed. But the battery has need replacement. Replacing the battery is simple – REI sells the batteries and stocks them. Unlike Polar, doing a battery replacement on either the watch or the heart rate monitor/transmitter is a 30 second job.
One of the reasons I bought the T6 is that I had problems with Polar heart rate monitors measuring my heart rate, especially when I was splayed out on aero bars and the watch was on my wrist. The T6 has none of these problems. It’s heart rate measurements are very accurate (I am a geek and I measured).
I’ve had the T6 with footpod for 8 months. I have not used Polar before. I think the foot works excellent for me. I have not needed to recalibrate it. But it is most accurate when I’m runing fast (competition pace 3-4,5min/km…1km=1000meter) It showed 5070meter on a 5000 meter track, that is close enough for me! The EPOC levels seem to give a good indication on the quality of each training. However I am a bit doubtful over the results when using the analysis tool. The current software is not aimed for you guys training 10-20 hours a week. Also, the heart rate belt does not work under water. It is waterproof allright but the signals between the clock and belt does not work! I have worn it during swimming and when you jump on the bike you need to “synchronize” the belt and clock agian. Then it will display your heart rate but will not log it. For it to be logged you ned to restart the timing.
I think the T6 is a good training tool, especially with the footpod. You can log every 2:nd second and watch your performance when you get back. (on your PC). One good feature is that you can set an alarm at a specific pace when running, i.e it goes of when you are running slower then 5min/km for example. For logging performance during tri competitions you have to look elsewhere. (in my opinion, even though I will try to use it for my first halv ironman soon). Also, the cycling “pod” only ads speed on the bike. It is not (now) possible to get cadence or power output like you can get with the Polar.
…well, ask if you have other questions;)
//Robert