Heart Rate Monitors
By James Sharp and Cori Jones

The more you train, the more you know your body and what your limits are. You can start to feel when you are pushing too hard or when you have some reserve energy in the tanks. When you are serious about improving performance or about following a specific training routine you may need to turn to exercise tools, like Heart Rate Monitors (HRMs), to help you quantify your workouts.

With an HRM, you can find out information such as how many calories you are burning and at what intensity you will be burning the most fat. However, working out with a HRM does take some getting used to and in some cases it can add some preparation time to your workout. For some it can be an indispensable tool for every workout; for others, it is just a fun guideline that helps to understand how your body functions while exercising.

One thing about almost all HRMs, they lose their signal around power lines. At first I thought that I had a faulty unit, but was told that the frequency that the FCC allows for wireless HRMs is susceptible to interference. In other words, it is the nature of the beast. This is only an issue if you train on the road, or on power line trails. Off in the woods it never came up. This can, however be a problem in a gym, where every exercise machine is broadcasting and receiving signals for HRMs.

One minor gripe we had with all the HRMs that we tested was that the alarm wasn't loud enough on any of them. The alarms can heard fine in the house when you're getting ready to train, but once out on the road or trail and there are other noises, including your labored breathing, the alarms tend to get drowned out.

We tested 4 different HRMs and here is what we found:

Sigma Sport PC 14
Freestyle ECG4
Cardio Sport Ultima
Acumen Eon 102

Sigma Sport PC 14
Sigma Sport makes simple, smart bike equipment. The PC 14 is no different. It has a large screen that is easy to read. This HRM has a very hefty feature list (see table below) and includes the handlebar mount, which is an additional cost in other HRMs.

As chock full of features as it is, the HRM was very intuitive to use. I was able to glance at the instructions, set up my target zone, and ride. I never had to go back to the manual after the first time.

As a watch, the PC 14 is on the bulky side; a direct trade-off for having a screen that is large enough to read on the handlebars while traversing a rocky trail. The band isn't flexible enough for me, but we rarely used it off the bike, so the Sigma heart rate monitor was usually attached to the handlebars.

The handlebar mount is a simple affair, using Sigma’s trademark elastic band mounting system. We found the mount to be secure and easy to switch from bike to bike. The PC 14 never moved on the mount or fell off.

Summary: The Sigma Sport PC 14 received high marks. For $89 you can't go wrong. It has all the features of monitors costing twice as much.

Update: During the time that we have had the PC 14 for testing, Sigma has updated it and changed the name. It is now called PC 1600, retails for $79.99 and has added the following:

• Time in zone and out of zone, in time not as a percentage
• Fat grams burned
• Recovery timer
• Countdown timer

Contact Sigma Sport online at: http://www.sigmasport.com/index_usa.html.

Freestyle ECG4
At $120 the ECG4 from Freestyle has just enough features for the average user. The display is large enough to make it easy to read the main information at a quick glance while biking or running. The secondary information, such as time, can be displayed on the same screen in a smaller font. While the secondary information is definitely smaller, we didn't find it a problem to read during the workouts.

The fit on the ECG4 is comfortable. The watchband and chest strap stay in place nicely without pinching. One of the nicest features of the ECG4 was that the HRM starts monitoring automatically when the chest band picks up your heartbeat. In other words, fasten the chest band and start your workout--no more configuring to do.

The ECG4 has a very intuitive interface and user manual. Months after reading the manual it is very easy change the date, time, or other settings that aren’t adjusted frequently.

Summary: At $120 it's not the cheapest watch in the world, but it's easy to see that Freestyle is interested in the user experience with their products. Freestyle has put in the time and research to ensure that the experience will be a good one. As an added bonus the watch looks great!

Contact Freestyle by email: product@freestyleusa.com or online: http://www.freestyleusa.com/endurance/home.html.

Cardio Sport Ultima
Cardio Sport has been making a run at the big heart rate monitor companies over the last few years. They have been manufacturing good products at competitive prices, and have thereby gained a substantial customer base. Many of their lower-end monitors have received good reviews as being easy to use and reliable.

The Ultima is the latest offering from Cardio Sport and is at the top of their line, aimed at the serious trainer/competitor. At $265, the Ultima has just about every feature you can think of at a reasonable price (see table below). However, there are some down sides to so many features. Usability becomes a problem when have that many feature in a watch. In fact, it is a major drawback, and the user manual isn’t written well enough to make up for the complicated controls. I spent hours trying to make that watch do what I wanted it to do. And many times I failed altogether.

The personal computer software included with the Ultima allows a user to upload the recording of an exercise session and see it graphed out on screen. Unfortunately, the user experience with the software was not much better than that of the watch. It was not at all intuitive either.

The display tries to show too much information in too small of an area. For this reason, it is hard to see anything with a quick glance when biking or running. Also, there are so many different modes, that it was also hard to remember which screen you needed to be on.

Another nuisance was that, after putting the chest belt on, to engage the HRM mode you have to hold down the mode button for 2 or 3 seconds for activation, you couldn’t just push the mode button and move into the HRM mode.

Summary: We really wanted to like this HRM, but the learning curve was just too steep for me. If you are someone who really needs the extra features and you have the time and patience to work through some hoops to learn some processes then this is definitely a HRM to consider.

Contact Cardio Sport online: http://www.cardiosport.com/uk/index.asp.

Acumen Eon 102
Acumen has been making electronic instruments for the health and exercise industry since 1985, but has only been marketing them under the Acumen name since 1996. They are committed to quality and it shows. The Eon 102 tested here is one of the most attractive heart rate monitors we've seen. It is a rather elegant wristwatch, with a quartz analog movement. The digital screen below the watch face is where the HRM functions are seen.

For $139, that is rather short on features. We would have liked to see max heart rate and time out of zone features, something available on Acumen's next model up, the Eon 201.

The Eon 102 came with software for the computer, called Personal Health Advisor. This was a logging program and a guidebook to help the user attain a higher level of fitness. The software was easy to use and the guidebook helpful, but the whole process was tedious. You have to remember to enter in all the data. It would have been more helpful, had the watch been able to transmit the data to the computer and have it automatically logged there. Having said that, the software and guidebook are a tremendous addition to the HRM.

While the Acumen is stylish and elegant, the little screen is somewhat of a problem. It was easy enough to read on the road, but when riding on the trail, it was harder to see than the rest of the HRMs. The audible alert was louder than on other models, and that helped somewhat so you don't have to look down as often. But it would have been nice if there were some way of keeping the look and feel of the watch, while allowing for a larger screen. This wouldn’t be an issue for those using the Eon for spinning class, but out in the real, rugged outdoors, it's still a problem.

The Eon 102 never lost its signal due to power lines. That fact alone made it the permanent resident on James' road bike. The small screen wasn’t so much of an issue on the road bike, either.

If I were looking for a wristwatch, this HRM would have my nod in an instant! It is comfortable, attractive and kept good time. In addition to the watch being comfortable, the chest strap had a neat feature that angled the back of the strap up, helping to prevent it from slipping during exercise. It worked and was comfortable as well.

Summary: We wanted the Acumen Eon 102 to be one of our favorite HRMs. It has looks, reliability, ease of use and set-up and a comfortable chest strap that never budged. Unfortunately, the lack of some features, as well as its ability to only give you one piece of data at a time (except for the time, of course) hampered it a bit in this comparison. If you are looking for a heart rate monitor that won’t look out of place with a suit, look no further. If you are looking for function over form, and need more data, then you'll probably want to look elsewhere.

Contact Acumen by phone: 800-852-7823, or online: http://www.acumeninc.com.

James Sharp is a contributing editor for GearReview.com specializing in mountain biking.

Cori Jones is a Contributing Editor to GearReview.com and specializes in snownboarding, mountain biking and adventure racing.