Features:

• Heart rate monitoring watch sized for both men and women
• Chest strap heart rate monitor works with watch to provide target zones and time in zone
• Workout review that recalls activity time and average/peak heart rates
• Month/day/date display with 12/24-hour time
• Watch is water resistant to 30 meters (165 feet); up to 2-year battery life

Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Timex Sport Personal Heart Rate Monitor T5G971 with gray resin strap. Heart rate monitor continuously tracks your heart rate durin exercise. Easy-to-read display. Pre-set your desired exercise zone and alarm notification will alert you when not in the zone. Automatic activity timer. Recovery heart rate timer. Calorie counter. Workout review. Heart rate display in percent-of-max format or BPM (beats per minute). Indiglo night light Night Mode feature. Water resistant at 30 meters (100 feet).

Amazon.com Product Description:
Combining stylish looks with heart rate monitoring features, this larger Timex Personal Heart Rate Monitor watch (model T5G971) can be worn by both men and women. It features a chest strap heart rate monitor, easily accessible function buttons, durable resin case, and comfortable resin strap with a stylish tapered profile. For integrating heart rate monitoring into your training, this watch enables you to continuously track your heart rate during exercise as well as pre-set target heart rate zones with alarms that notify you when you are out of the zone. It also offers an automatic activity timer and a workout review that recalls activity time and average/peak heart rates. This streamlined watch also has a month/day/date display with 12/24-hour time.

The Indiglo night-light uniformly lights the surface of the watch dial using patented blue electroluminescent lighting technology. It uses less battery power than most other watch illumination systems, enabling your watch battery to last longer. The watch is water resistant to 30 meters (100 feet), which protects it from rain and water splashes. All Timex heart rate monitor sensors have batteries that can be replaced by consumers without requiring them to be returned to the manufacturer.

Rating : - Good Heart Monitor for the Money
I bought this heart monitor after burning through two (more-expensive) Polar F6 heart monitors in two years, part of a healthy eating/exercise plan that helped me lose 100 pounds in a year.

In general, I like the Timex T5G971 very much -- particularly for the money. It's functional, easy to program & use, and easy to read. It lacks the more sophisticated display screens of the Polar, but I don't need these any longer now that I am in weight/health-maintenance mode. I also like the fact that you can replace the battery in the sensor strap, and that I can probably get a local jeweler to replace the watch battery when it goes (both of which were not possible with the Polar).

However, I have two criticisms:

First, do yourself a favor: put a fresh battery in the sensor strap before you program and use the watch. I didn't do this, and almost gave myself a heart attack trying to get my heart rate up to my usual exercise level before realizing that the watch reading was about 50 bpms off because of a dying battery. I replaced it (easy) and the watch works fine now.

Second, the calorie counter seems to run a bit "hot." On the same 90-minute exercise program, my Polar would record 700 calories while the Timex will record 1000 or more. My Tunturi bike counter seems to run closer to the Timex, so I am guessing that the right number is somewhere in between. We will see as the weeks wear on.

Overall, I am glad that I bought this watch -- at least so far.