Got this in the mail a few days ago. I briefly read through the instructions and they were pretty clear on how to set everything up. The only thing that took be a few moments to realize was that to set the heart rate stuff up, you have to push and hold the set button down for a couple of seconds. Then the watch tells you to hold to set. Aside from that the setup was a cinch. If you've set a digital watch before, this is just like that, but with a few more options to set.



Using this product was really easy. I'm a big guy and the chest strap fit over my check with some room to spare. I put the monitor on, got the contacts wet with some water (contacts are near the ends of the plastic - near where the elastic band attaches to the montor), and turned on the monitor on my watch and BAM I could see my heart rate.



The strap feels very comfortable. Once I started my workout, I didn't even feel the monitor on me. During the Insanity workouts that I did, the strap didn't lose the heart rate even though I was moving all over the place.



I set the upper and lower heart range before I started the workout and it was really nice to have it beep at me before I reached my max HR. Before, I would push myself until I reached my max HR. It would take a few moments to recover and jump back in, but I kept having to stop because I would push myself too hard. It was nice when this started beeping at me because I was able to slow down and keep going before I maxed out. The other nice feature is that you can easily turn on & off the HR zone alarm. So I turn on the HR alarm when I start the workout and after Insanity's 10 minute "warm-up", I hit the on/off button on the watch and start doing the stretches so that it doesn't beep at me when I drop below my HR zone. Once I start the meat of the workout, I hit that on/off button again and the alarm is back on. Very easy! I then turn it off near the end of the last interval so that I can push myself to the end.



The heart rate drop function is pretty cool. Once I finished my last interval, I just hit the recv/date button and it starts the 60 second countdown. Once the countdown is finished, it shows how many BPMs your heart rate dropped in that period.



Once I finished my workout and turned off my HRM, I just hit the recall button and my watch showed me all my stats - Total time the HRM was running, total time in your zone, Average BPM for the workout, Max BPM, total calories burned (seemed a bit generous), and your 60 second HR drop that I mentioned earlier (if you did that during the workout.



In the manual, it says to clean the HR monitor regularly so that the minerals & "stuff" doesn't build up on the contacts and cause interference. I just wash off the monitor after every use so that it doesn't get gross.



Overall, for $40, this is a great HRM! Does the job with ease! The only function that would make this more useful would be a stop watch/timer function. I don't need those functions personally since I like doing the exercise videos. I use Noom and/or TrackMyFitness to track my workouts if I'm going on a ride/jog/hike.



**Update**



I just used this heart rate monitor on a 10 mile hike and was surprised how well it tracked everything. Over the process of several hours, it logged how long I was in the zone, etc. The only thing that seemed off was the calories burned. According to my exercise tracking app (Noom), I burned around 4000 calories. According to the HRM, I burned over 9000 calories. Not sure which to believe. The HRM didn't have problems handling a hike that lasted 7 hours.