New Balance N2 Heart Rate Monitor Watch Review
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The New Balance N2 is a gender neutral heart monitor that offers the basics you need to get the job done. The small watch face fits nicely on a females’ wrist, which led us to first believe that it’s a women’s specific watch. The user, male or female, can input their height, weight, age, gender and create a profile to determine their calories burned and target heart rate. By creating this profile, you can keep better track of your work out accomplishments in relation to your training goals. The heart rate strap, which is not coded, is easy to adjust and features a medium sized plastic area in the front. The chest strap comparable in comfort to the Garmin and Polar chest straps. Because the heart rate strap is not coded, you may experience some ‘cross talk’ at the starting line; however, once out of the gate, we did not experience a problem with picking up our heart rate signal.
The New Balance N2 Heart Rate Monitor also has one alarm that is easy to set and press snooze, if you so desire. The watch band is mostly plastic and has stood up during testing and has not faded in color, cracked, or held onto any stinking odors. is a no-frills, performance-oriented training tool. We found the buttons incredibly easy to push while on the move and we liked the simple design. One MAJOR downfall to this watch is that about 50% of workouts did not show our total calories burned, which is very frustrating for those that like to see the reward of their hard work; we followed the same instructions each time and received varying degrees of results. Has anyone else experienced this same problem?
For more info on the N2 Heart Rate Monitor Watch and other New Balance products, visit www.newbalnce.com.
2/2010 Update:
After over a year of use, the New Balance N2 somehow filled with water and the screen clouded and then shut off. We had been using the N2 as an everyday training watch and had put it through laps in the pool, runs out in the rain, and a daily shower. Despite the water resistance rating of 50 m, the watch stopped working! In comes the good news, High Gear deals with the New Balance watches and they were incredibly easy to work with. Their customer service provided a replacement watch after obtaining a few questions and it truly was an easy process. They stand by there products.
5/2010 Update:
It appears that the New Balance is no longer making this watch. There is no information on their website pertaining to the N2. However, we found some online parties that are offering it for $40! This is a great deal for a no frills heart rate monitor that comes with great customer service! It appears that other users have had the same problem with obtaining ‘total calories’ burned; perhaps the reason that it appears that it was discontinued…
