Expensive but Excellent (Polar Heart Rate Monitor)

Member Name: aznben1

Product:	Polar Heart Rate Monitor
Date:	29/12/08 (339 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots of useful functions, ProTrainer 5 software

Disadvantages: Price, not the prettiest watch around

Got a Polar RS800sd for christmas, and have been messing about/training with it for about a week now.

And here are my thoughts on this wonderful piece of training equipment:

= The Good =

Top of the range HR monitor for runners, as good as it gets.

Decent-sized display screen, found it easy to read my HR data etc off the screen while running

New W.I.N.D. technology for better transmission between HR monitor strap and the watch itself - read that the older technology sometimes led to the watch reading off someone else's HR strap when in close proximity, which can be a hassle.

Easy transfer of training data from the watch to the computer via the Infrared interface - mine came with the watch itself, but read someone that it may be cheaper not to buy the Polar one.

Polar ProTrainer 5 software - what a gem! Very, very useful piece of software, allows for quick reading of training data (fresh from transferring from the watch), with professional graphs to read off. Useful for maintaining a training diary on the computer, able to key in misc. data into each day's training entry such as mood and personal daily notes. Able to design workouts on the software as well, but have yet to try that function out.

New and lighter S3 footpod device - smaller in size - and able to measure speed, distance and running cadence.


= The Bad =

Not exactly the prettiest sports watch around, but its relatively small size makes it good enough to wear around.

Does not support cycling, but that's not a problem for me since I do not even own a bicycle at the moment.

The price of the watch itself - listed at 226.66 on amazon.co.uk at the moment - but then again, this is as good as it gets for a running computer. As they say, you get what you pay for!


= Overall Thoughts =

If you have the money to spare, and take your running seriously, this is the one to get!

Summary: A must-have in my opinion if you have the money for it and take your running seriously