The FT60 is packed with innovative training features to help you toward your exercise goals. First off, the watch includes a Polar Star personalized training program that adapts to your workout habits. By giving you weekly training targets and providing constant feedback, the watch guides you without being too strict, helping you reach your goals more efficiently. The watch also displays heart rate info in several ways, including as a percentage of your maximum heart rate, as beats per minute, and within a graphical target zone indicator. And should your heart rate exceed or dip below your target zone, the FT60 will sound an alarm that helps you return to form.

Users will also love the variety of proprietary Polar functions, including ZonePointer, Polar OwnZone, and Polar OwnCal modes. The ZonePointer is an audible and visual feature on the display of your FT60 that shows you where your current heart rate sits within your target heart rate zone. The Polar OwnZone mode, meanwhile, provides a customized target zone for individual exercise sessions. Finally, the Polar OwnCal mode shows your energy expenditure during one exercise session, as well as your accumulated kilocalories during several exercise sessions. You can also set daily and weekly exercise goals in terms of calorie expenditure, helping you achieve both short-term and long-term goals.

Other features include support for the G1 GPS sensor (sold separately); a built-in fitness test that measures your aerobic fitness at rest in just five minutes; a ZoneLock mode that lets you activate a target zone in the midst of training with the press of a button; an OwnCode mode that prevents crosstalk from other heart rate monitors nearby; a recording mode that tracks your average and maximum heart rate, calorie expenditure, distance, and total exercise time, and then puts it in an exercise file (with 100 total files); water resistance to 30 meters; a 12/24-hour clock with a day/week indicator; a built-in backlight; an alarm with a snooze; a low battery indicator; and a Polar FlowLink connection for transferring data between the FT60 and a computer. Sporting an attractive purple housing, the watch carries a two-year warranty.

Manufacturer's Warranty
The original purchaser of this heart rate monitor is backed by a limited warranty that states that this product that the product will be free from defects in material or workmanship for two years from the date of purchase.

About Polar
The first EKG accurate wireless heart rate monitor was invented by Polar back in 1977 as a training tool for the Finnish National Cross Country Ski Team. The concept of "intensity training" by heart rate swept the athletic world in the eighties. By the 1990s, individuals were looking to heart rate monitors not only for performance training needs, but also for achieving everyday fitness goals. Today, the same concept of heart rate training is being used by world-class athletes as well as everyday people trying to lose weight. Polar is the leading brand among consumers, coaches, and personal trainers worldwide and the company is committed to not only producing the best products, but also being the leading educator on the benefits of heart rate based exercise.

Recently, the binocular market has seen a flood of giant binoculars at prices that were unheard of just a few years ago. In general, giant binoculars are defined as those that magnify the view 10 times or more and have 70-mm or larger front (objective) lenses. It used to be that the least expensive giant binoculars cost in excess of $150, even $200. All that changed not long ago, when the bottom fell out of the price cellar. Now, several companies import giant binoculars that sell for half that, or less.

Celestron's 15x70 SkyMaster binoculars are one of the leaders in the low-price giant binocular arena. They certainly sound good on paper. The SkyMasters include multicoated optics and BaK-4 internal prisms, two features that promise brighter, better images, and key points to look for when judging a pair of binoculars. They also come with an adapter for attaching them to a photo tripod, which is a must to use them to their fullest, and a soft carrying case. But just because they are cheap doesn't always mean they are worth the price. Would it be better to save up for a more expensive pair?

To find the answer, I had an opportunity recently to judge the SkyMasters against a pair of Fujinon 16x70 FMT-SX binoculars , one of the finest pairs of giant binoculars sold today. Like the SkyMasters, the Fujinons feature BaK-4 prisms, but also have fully multicoated optics. As a general rule, superior coatings mean superior image sharpness and contrast. But then, that should be expected, given that the Fujinons cost many times more than the Celestrons.

While the Fujinons were clearly the better performer, the Celestron SkyMasters held up admirably. Image brightness, quality, and contrast were all remarkable considering their bargain price. Although images were a little soft across the outer 25% of the Celestron's field, the overall view was impressive nonetheless.

Some inexpensive binoculars have very sloppy focusing, causing the eyepieces to tilt and shift. Not so with the SkyMasters. I found that their center-focusing mechanism worked smoothly, with no apparently backlash or wobble. Eye relief (the distance you hold your eyes away from the eyepieces to see the full field) is stated to be 18 mm, a good distance for higher power binoculars and an important consideration if you must wear glasses when viewing. The SkyMasters are also light enough to support by hand for short periods of time, although buyers would be well advised to mount them on a sturdy photo tripod.

The bottom line is, if you are considering a pair of giant binoculars, whether for bird watching, stargazing, or another recreational use, and have a limited budget, Celestron's giant 15x70 SkyMasters represent an excellent value. --Phil Harrington, author of Star Ware and Star Watch

Pros:

• Exceptional value for the price
• Light enough to support by hand
• BaK-4 prisms
• Multicoated optics

• Outer 25% of the field is soft and a little blurry
• Requires a tripod to use for extended periods

• Tagless collar
• 100% Cotton
• Imported
• Lightweight ribbed T-shirt
• Rib-knit collar
• Screen print graphics
• Officially licensed collegiate product
• Reinforced taped collar seam

• 100% Cotton
• Lightweight ribbed T-shirt
• Screen print graphics
• Rib-knit collar
• Tagless collar
• Reinforced taped collar seam
• Imported
• Officially licensed collegiate product