Polmin. What's your perfect HRM?

sconhome

What features would / should your ideal multisport watch have?

Having had a bit of banter on here and Twitter with a couple of bodies about different brands of heart rate monitors and their positivies and negatives I'm curious about what features the perfect multisport watch should have.

I use the Polar RCX5 with GPS and find its a good all-rounder but would like some of the features of my bike computer (Polar CS600x) on there and then for me, it would be perfect.

What would be your perfect list of features on the Polmin* HRM?

(*Polmin is entirely fictional, so don't go Googling it! )

tunney

amphkingwest wrote: »

What features would / should your ideal multisport watch have?

Having had a bit of banter on here and Twitter with a couple of bodies about different brands of heart rate monitors and their positivies and negatives I'm curious about what features the perfect multisport watch should have.

I use the Polar RCX5 with GPS and find its a good all-rounder but would like some of the features of my bike computer (Polar CS600x) on there and then for me, it would be perfect.

What would be your perfect list of features on the Polmin* HRM?

(*Polmin is entirely fictional, so don't go Googling it! )

* Persistable user configurable HR zones [Polar RCX can't do this]
* BTLE or ANT+ sensors [Polar RCX can't do this]
* Ability to create interval/custom sessions on the unit [Polar RCX can't do this]
* Looks pretty [Garmins don't]
* High build quality [Garmins aren't]
* HR straps work in water
* Per second recording
* Integrated GPS
* Upgradable firmware [Polar don't do this]
* Good customer support [Polar's is excellent, Garmins not so much]
* Water proof [Garmins aren't and new polars too]
* manufactured in a humidity free area [Garmins aren't]
* Fully configurable display [Polars aren't]
* Reliable HR readings [Stock Garmins aren't]

Just a few things.

Kurt Godel

1. Have an accurate accelerometer for pool lengths (Garmin swim model)
2. Have a GPS for OW swims
3. Beep/vibrate metronome that you can easily switch on/off
3.5. Be waterproof:p
4. three buttons with little pictures of a lad swimming/running/biking, so you can quickly change data fields
5. Fully customizable
6. Syncs with Ascent
7. Can you take an accurate HR reading from pulse? If so, on back of watch.
8. $29.99

sconhome

tunney wrote: »

Just a few things.

Good stuff in there. Gonna dodge the Polar vs Garmin debate for now as there's a lot of features there crossing over on different models of Polar (especially)

Kurt Godel wrote: »

7. Can you take an accurate HR reading from pulse? If so, on back of watch.

Not sure about this. Logic would say no, it couldnt be as accurate as the ECG type reading you get from the HR strap.

Kurt Godel wrote: »

8. $29.99

So optimistic. Would €40 be ok?

tunney

amphkingwest wrote: »

Good stuff in there. Gonna dodge the Polar vs Garmin debate for now as there's a lot of features there crossing over on different models of Polar (especially)

Very true, My polar S625X can do stuff that the new RCX series and RC series cannot do. However I think we should not include products that are no longer available.

(I do accept that the RS800 has alot of nice HR related features but it does not, in my mind, count as a speed and distance monitor.

sconhome

tunney wrote: »

I do accept that the RS800 has alot of nice HR related features but it does not, in my mind, count as a speed and distance monitor.

Interesting that its come up this early. I was waiting to see where it was going to go, my thoughts are the functions on the RS800 do just about everything the RCX5 & CS600x do combined.

Some of the things I'd like extra in the RS800 are the option of using the Hybrid HR strap which would enable pick up in water through radio frequency rather than just WIND (RCX5 feature) and the power capture (from the CS600x)

Aparently the RS800 is compatible with the G5 GPS pod so should give exactly the same tracking and mapping info that the others give = speed and distance monitoring. It si also supposed to be compatible with the Hybrid but I think this is the WIND feature and not the 5kHz radio feature. I'll try this out after the weekend.

One other thing would be the wireless datalink (two others) and the Mac compatability.

Kurt Godel

amphkingwest wrote: »

Not sure about this. Logic would say no, it couldnt be as accurate as the ECG type reading you get from the HR strap.

You're right, I did a bit of research for my own education- the HRM works by picking up electric pulses from your heartbeat, (and I was thinking it was pressure all along!). The electrical pulses from the wrist are too small to render a mass-produced sensor accurate, and I guess they'd be even less sensitive once you bring water corrosion into the mix. Any pulse-based system would need outward pressure to constrict the wrist.

Garmin Swim with integrated GPS would be my dream watch (910 gets very mixed swim performance reviews).

amphkingwest wrote: »

So optimistic. Would €40 be ok?

I'll support bricks and morter whenever I can, keep me two at that price;)