Baggsy

I use the cheap Polar and training wise it has been a godsend for me. I established rates based on basic endurance, aerobic endurance, typical road race intensity, speed training above aerobic threshold, and anerobic sprint/intervals. It has helped my training be more time efficient, and like last night, shows me when I need to back off a bit. I can sustain 150-155 bpm for 1/2 hour or more, and can recover at 144, but last night 144 felt like all out effort with 130's needed to recover. So I backed off and rode easy. It levels the playing field when training against and with the wind, puts you in touch with what is going on inside. And while I'm not fond of it doing so, it shows you when you laze out on your intervals, and speeds up the warm-up phase when you first start. I wear it every solo work-out, and during the long endurance rides it keeps me from pushing too hard early and makes the efforts more managable. I rode for years without one, but find having one keeps the focus more in-tune throughout the day. I'd say one is a good investment if your goal oriented and want to see positive feedback in something other than just 'feeling better' after a hard ride...