Sports Instruments (SI) was a Utah based company with 3-4 employees that was sold to Bell Sports in 2004 (and Bell Sports was later sold to Easton Sports in 2006). SI's activities had slowed, and it is reasonable to believe that Sports Instruments Pro, Fit and ECG Heart Rate Wristwatches were last produced in 2003 or earlier. Products were made in Asia by a reputable factory.

Designer and competitive masters athlete Bill Corliss created products with an intelligently designed user interface that was easy to use. The Pro 7 and Pro 9 Hear Rate Wristwatches provided detailed and valuable data for the serious athlete. The Fit and the earlier ECG Fitness Heart Rate Wristwatches had fewer advanced features. The chest transmitter should work with most fitness equipment designed to work with the Polar standard.

If you buy SI branded Pro, Fit or ECG products, you should know that the original watch batteries are at the end of their shelf life. Unless the seller has recently replaced batteries, you will quickly or immediately face the burden and cost of dealing with battery issues.

Replacing the watch batteries is too difficult for most consumers. Even a professional repair person must use care to maker certain that the parts are precisely returned to the original positions to maintain water resistance. Expect to pay $9-20 to have the watch battery replaced, and tell your repair person you want the product to keep its water resistance. The battery on the wireless chest transmitter may be less drained than the watch's and is user replaceable, a nice feature. The chest transmitter's CR2032 3-volt lithium battery should be available for under $4. Total outlay for 2 batteries: $13-24.

The Sports Instruments Pro, Fit and ECG products are closeouts with manufacturing dates of 2003 or earlier. If you are willing to deal with battery replacement issues, make certain that you get a good enough price to justify the added repair burdens ... and that you get good information about how to obtain warranty service from a brand that is no longer produced. 2 stars

My first order arrived DOA (dead battery I think).

Amazon sent out a replacement, which died (again, battery, I think) during my first workout. Amazon then refused to send out a replacement for the replacement---issuing me a refund. I'm not happy about this, because, in the meantime, Amazon's price has tripled.

Based on my reading of the manual, and very limited use, this is a great HRT for us beancounters of our workouts; it keeps track of a lot of information (no PC download, though).

Amazon needs to get a batch with good batteries (which are not user-replaceable, BTW). 2 stars

Sports Instruments Pro 9 Heart Rate Monitor
The Sports Instruments Pro 9 is a wireless heart monitor with chest strap. It has many features and functions, and the basic functions are easy to use. Beyond that, you will need to study the manual. In addition to working wirelessly, it will communicate with gym equipment set up for a wireless heart monitor, including the Precor C-842 exercise bike.

The Pro 9 is attractive, and tracks your workout using five individual training zones, based on your lactate threshold or maximum heart rate. Lactate threshold requires medical tests or an educated guess, so I am using maximum heart rate.

The Pro 9 allows you to choose a variety of display modes. My two favorites are heart rate and zone, or the zone and percentage of maximum heart rate. The display is as easy to read as it appears to be in the photograph. And I am over 50, so I can't deal with tiny numbers.

The Pro 9 is a step up from the Pro 7, and stores a record of time spent in all 5 training zones, percentage of time in each zone, workload index for each workout and average/maximum/ending heart rate for each lap and split for the last 5 workouts. (The Pro 7 records only one workout/set of data).

The Pro 9 has dual interval timers which can be linked to the lap chronograph to create on/off intervals. In addition to the heart rate monitor and timer features, it has a clock, so you can ride without your regular watch and still know the time (and date). And if you're out longer than planned, it has a backlight, so it can be read when it's dark outside.

The Pro 9 does NOT do calorie counting or cycling functions, so it does not replace a cyclocomputer. (I like the Cateye Astrale 8). I wouldn't ordinarily wear a digital watch, but for cycling, the Pro 9 is great looking, and a valuable asset to any workout. Knowing your heart rate enables you to maximize the results of your workout.

Finally, the Pro 9 is waterproof, so you can get off the bike and head to the shower while still monitoring your heart recovery rate.
5 stars

I'll make this short. This is a decent product that fails because of the battery life.

Two weeks of use and the watch battery dies. The user manual directs owners to send the watch in to have a "technician" replace the watch battery? WTH?

Make a product that can be user serviced. 2 stars

Good product, comfortable to wear, however the enclosed instructions are very poorly written and difficult to follow. 3 stars