Oregon Scientific is renowned world wide for producing gadgets: projection alarm clocks, weather stations, interactive learning toys, walkie talkies and more. However, what you may not know is that the company has also produced a series of heart rate monitors for fitness and gadget enthusiasts. True to the company’s gadget roots, many of their monitors have novel and unusual features, not commonly found in products by other manufacturers.
Take, for example, the Oregon Scientific SE102 model. It has an unusual wrist watch display. When you lightly tap on it, the screen changes the information displayed to the one that you have preset (e.g. calories burnt etc). This Tap on Lens feature means there is no need to make numerous button presses to display your favorite training data. In addition the SE102 has a vibration alert system. Instead of hearing beeps, you can choose to have it vibrate to alert you if your heart rate falls below or rises above your training limits. This can be quite useful in a noisy gym environment.
Now let’s look at the Oregon Scientific SE211 model. It has all the important features: current and average heart rates, target heart training zone, exercise duration, calories burnt, time in/above/below target heart training zone. It also has the vibration feature present in the SE102 model. What makes it stand out, however, is its unique switchable analogue and digital chest strap transmitter. There is one button located on the transmitter which, when pushed, switches between analogue and digital transmission. This feature is hugely advantageous. Gym equipment such as treadmills interface with a heart monitor only if its chest strap uses analogue transmission. So if you want a treadmill to show the current rate of heart beats on its display panel when you are running on it, simply switch the chest strap to use analogue transmission. On the other hand, when you are training in close proximity with other heart monitor users, there is an increased risk of signal interference i.e. your wrist watch may display somebody else’s current rate of heart beats. In this case, use digital transmission to reduce the potential for interference.radio strap
Lastly, let’s take a look at the Oregon Scientific AH310 model. This is well and truly a gadget. It has a chest strap and headphones but no wrist watch. There are buttons on the chest strap for you to input your personal settings. In turn you receive voice prompts and confirmations via the headphones. When you exercise, the headphones will announce your current exercise heart rate and calorie consumption periodically (e.g. every minute). Furthermore, the AH310 model comes with a radio. You can listen to the radio while exercising and only get interrupted when the monitor makes announcements regarding your exercise data. With this talking monitor, you can keep yourself entertained while working out!
There are many more heart monitor models from Oregon Scientific, with each of them offering a unique combinations of features. However, there is a common fun factor uniting all the Oregon models. The message from the company is loud and clear: A heart rate monitor does not need to be dull, it can be cool and fun too!