Polar Or Garmin?

Irish_Army01

Hi all (hope this is the right thread)

I had a polar S625x but was "relocated" recently.....:mad:

I used it mainly for running and used the receiver for my Polar on my Bike.. (CS100)


I'm in the market for a new one and was looking at the forerunner 305..


Anyone have any thoughts? The S625x is an excellent piece of Kit and you get the foot pod included where AFAIK the Pod with the 305 is extra?

Any input greatly appreciated..

robinph

I have a Polar S625x as well and loved it. Eventually I got anoyed with the HRM strap no longer registering properly though and used that as an excuse to get something new and went for the Garmin 405 instead.

With the Garmin 305 and 405 you do not need the foot pod though as the watch is a GPS reciever so your speed and distance are recorded that way, and you also get the trace of where you have actually been as well. Here is the trace of a recent 5km race that I did in New Zealand. So there is less "bits" to the Garmins, unless you are doing a lot of training on treadmills where you would possibly want the footpod fo the Garmin as well to record pace and distance for that.

tunney

I am a long term Polar user. I had an S210 for a few years and then got an S625x when they were released. I also got the G1 GPS add on for the 625x. I recently bought a Garmin 310xt. Some of my observations:
- Garmin does speed and distance very well
- Garmin is a little large
- Garmin has a fantastic customisible display
- Garmin uses Ant which will become industry standard unlike WIND
- Garmin recording rate is ****e, samples are recorded using a "smart" algorithm, this means between 2 and 20 seconds between samples being recorded
- Garmin is NOT a heart rate monitor, it provides basic HR functionality but the lack of advanced stuff and more importantly the lack of a decent recording rate let's it down.

Neither brand is perfect just depends what you want.

Krusty_Clown

Hey Tunney, unlike the 405, on the 305 you can adjust the sampling rate (from 'smart' to data point per second). I thought the 310 would be closer to the 305 than the 405 in terms of functionality. Is this option not there?

tunney

No option to adjust sample rate. Document bug feature.

Irish_Army01

I've decided to stay with Polar..Its waterproof and I think they have more experience in the market.


Looking at the RS800..

Any one have this model?

Irish_Army01

For anyone interested, I purchased the RS300 x G1. Great bit of kit. Have to get the flow link though but other than that I like it.

The idea of having to charge the Garmin put me off so i'm stayin with Polar.

I have a footpod from the S625x( It was on my runner) and have found that it is extremely accurate without calibration.

not to pricey either.. I paid €184 in the cyclesuperstore for it compared to €370 for the s625x almost 5 years ago.

scottreynolds

Irish_Army01 wrote: »

I've decided to stay with Polar..Its waterproof and I think they have more experience in the market.


Looking at the RS800..

Any one have this model?

HAHA -- was going to reply to this... but I see you bought a different model. The RS800CX is pretty awesome -- I love it but if I was to buy again I would go Garmin. The only reason is that I think it is a more compact kit and more versatile for the bike as well.

tunney

Irish_Army01 wrote: »

I've decided to stay with Polar..Its waterproof and I think they have more experience in the market.


Looking at the RS800..

Any one have this model?

WIND Sensor, anything with this will be obselete in a year or two

scottreynolds

tunney wrote: »

WIND Sensor, anything with this will be obselete in a year or two

I'm sure Polar will still support this. Well my kit will continue to work for 5 more years (its only 3/4 months old). I may have to change a battery during that time.

My main concern with Garmin would be the battery life etc and the size of it.

My main problem with Polar is the lack of mac support, usb support, etc. I wear it as an every day watch.

bagus

I have the RS800CX and all it's sensors. Great bit if kit, in particular the S3 foot pod.

My only complaint is with the cycle sensors. They must be disposable as I can't see how you could change their batteries. That'll make changing them expensive.

Other than that I'm delighted with it.

tunney

bagus wrote: »

I have the RS800CX and all it's sensors. Great bit if kit, in particular the S3 foot pod.

My only complaint is with the cycle sensors. They must be disposable as I can't see how you could change their batteries. That'll make changing them expensive.

Other than that I'm delighted with it.

Big problem for me is the ant+ versus wind. Polar stuff won't work with power meters. Can't see it lasting with the wind format, they'll switch in a few years

Tikkat3

Just in case anyone is in the market for one, I have a Polar RS800 for sale with very little use and still under warranty:

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=183650


Was bought for me as a gift and I was unable to train for quiet a while so didnt use it much until recently.

If anyone is interested, I will give first refusal A/R/T crowd.

Thanks