I might piss off quite a few people by saying this, but based on my experience with my Polar 710 (Their top-of-the-line, and one might presume "best" model) I'd suggest looking at another brand. I'm probably going to end up buying another more basic HRM, and I'm looking at the Timex Ironman watches. I've been burned by Nike and Polar.

If you are going to get a polar, do it right.

Spend the money and get the better model.

The a5 is the "basic fitness" model, made for overweight old people (sorry if i offend anyone, my friend sells these things and told me this). whereas the s-series is for athletes.

i bought the s-710. after using the timex ironman system for a while, i am SO SO SO happy that i switched. the polar unit is amazing. the computer software that it came with kicked ass. it is one of the few purchases that i can justify spending money on recently (well...last year or so).

Pooks, what happened with your 710 that you arent happy with it? i love it, and so do most people i have talked to that use it, or other polar products.

-kevin

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"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."

"Pooks, what happened with your 710 that you arent happy with it? i love it, and so do most people i have talked to that use it, or other polar products."

I was wondering the same thing. I have an S710, and on the whole I would strongly recommend it. It's not without it's little quirks, some of which have been fixed on the S720i, but in general I think it's a great HRM.

I'll admit, I seem to be one of a very few who don't like their 710. But I don't. I like the idea of it, all of its functions etc, but there are very basic things about it that, to me, is evidence that Polar is more concerned with cost cutting than providing quality products. Some basic things about the unit I dont like: the band is cheap crap, the plastic watch housing SUCKS (nice to see they moved to metal for the 720). Wouldn't one think that the company would consider a scratch resistance crystal for a SPORTS watch??

As for functionality problems...

First off, I had all sorts of issues with buttons sticking and becoming unusable. (contributing to my "love" of the housing) Getting them unstuck was a pain in the butt.

The backlight no longer works. Thankfully it's getting lighter earlier now.

I often get "phantom" stops where the stopwatch stops and no longer records data. (I have turned off all of the sensors, speed etc. in an effort to prevent this, but no dice.)

Sometimes during a workout, I'll hit the stop button for whatever reason, and when I restart the watch, it will immediately stop like 2 seconds later. I start it again, it immediately stops again. over and over and over. If I do have to stop a workout for whatever reason, I end up recording a couple of separate workouts rather than using the "resume" function for this reason. That really sucks.

The thing that gets me is that I really wanted to like this watch. I love the fact that it has an altitude function. I actually use that a lot which really suprises me. The list of functions on this thing is astounding. The functions of the computer software are great too. But it's just like freaking Microsoft, they focus on adding bells and whistles to the list of features, and overlook, and seemingly don't care about, the basics. Shouldn't thay have started with a quality casing/band and stopwatch/HRM??

I've had some of the same problems. The red start button was sticking so bad I couldn't start the thing. I was about to send it in for repair but decided to try scrubbing the whole thing with an old toothbrush and some dish soap (I figured if I really screwed it up I was already sending it in anyway). This did the trick and it's been working great since. I think I must have spilled some sports drink on it, or something. As far as the "phantom" stops, make sure that the "auto start" feature is off. I've had this problem too, where the watch won't sense a speed signal so it assumes you're stopped and it stops the watch.

As far as the quality of the case goes, I agree that it's very plasticy and cheap looking, but I wonder if the metal skin on the S720i will hold up better or worse (appearance-wise). As an example, I have a Nokia cell phone with an all-plastic case. My wife got the new Motorola flip phone with the cool metal case. After a month hers was all dinged and scratched up. Mine still looks plasticy, but at least it still looks new.

Yup, auto-start is off. I no longer use the speed sensor. The only active sensor is the one you can't turn off, the HRM.

I sell a lot of Polars, especially the low end models like the A5 and S120. The differences between the two are marginal but there are a couple of reasons to go each way.

A5: Has all the basic features: watch, stopwatch, heart rate limits, calorie counter, backlight, dual display (HR & limits at same time), and percentage HR istead of bpm and includes stupid features which you'll never use like BMI readings, self walk test, fitness bullets...

Now the bad parts: The A5 has a dual display that acts more like a single display. Sure the top display is useful if you forgot what limits you programed in, but it's nowhere as good as the triple display you get on the S120. That's the main drawback, the display but it is clear and easy to read.

S120: Pretty much the same thing as the A5 functionally but in a better/worse case. Why buy it? Buy it because it has a triple display which is A REALLY GOOD reason to buy it so that you can see HR, stopwatch, time or day, or splits all at the SAME TIME. The only bad thing is that the display has smaller numbers and the contrast is kinda bad, but the triple line feature rocks. You also get computer upload features, not the greatest but not useless.

The bad parts: The case is pretty big if you're female but if you're a guy it's okay. You lose the calorie counter feature which is kinda cool. The display has a weird orange tint to it and smaller numbers than a S210 or higher.

Either way, buy Polar, I love my S710. It has it's quirks and is no fun to set up on a bike but we get waaaaay less returns on Polars than any other brand.

Thanks Tai, that's pretty helpful. Would you recommend spending a little more $$$ and buying the S210, or is the S120 good enough?

i was in the same situation late last year. i had been using an A1 for about 6 months (I received as a gift and gave it away after upgrading) and wanted more features. I opted for the s120. I actually like the design and have had no problems with the exception of the fact that the crystal is not scratch resistant. I find the display easy to read. If i could have 2 additional features, i would get a backlit display (not so much for training but for all around use) and an additional file or two... for those times i get lazy and don't record my data before the next session. I bought mine for @ $85 and i think i am getting my money's worth out of it.

jg

the S210 has a slightly better screen (larger digits and better contrast) and a few extra features. The only real reasons to get the S210 over the S120 are the coded transmitter and the V02max test option. The coded transmitter is a nice upgrade but truthfully you'll never know the difference and buying a new one is more expensive (although you can always buy a cheaper replacement strap and it'll work okay as well). I like the V02 max testing as a weekly/biweekly improvement check but a lot of people would probably be okay with the S120. The other main reason to buy the S210, and this is a good one, is the backlight. All polar backllights are pretty weak but a weak one is better than no backlight. Personally I'd buy the S210, not sure why but I've never really liked the S120.

Thanks Tai, I'm gonna get the S210.

Don't jump too fast. I bought the Timex over a year ago and am going back to polar. The Timex was of interest because I have used the watch since it came out many years ago and I know all of the functions. I liked eliminating the need for the extra polar. But-my Timex sucks-been hoping to run into a rep, since I can not remember where I bought it- from day one it regularly goes blank when I push a button- it comes back without loss, but I can see nothing for a while. I suspect I just have a bad unit, but may be the same with your Polar. I also do not like the bulkier transmitter.

Great.

We can put people on the moon, the damn MOON, drive tiny robots all over Mars, map the human genome, fly missiles into airshafts from hunderds of miles away, get people back from the moon, the MOON, build and actually use artificial limbs and organs, clone all manner of creatures, and put awesome amounts of computing power into a chip the size of a dime, but there seem to be two pieces of technology that are apparently just out of our reach.

1) A damn airline cockpit intercom that doesn't make it sound like the pilot is actually talking to the passengers from OUTSIDE the plane.

2) A reliable heart rate monitor that is not only pleasing to the eye, but is also actually durable.

Maybe I should just get used to counting the throbbing sound the blood rushing through my head makes when I'm pushing it too hard (or when I think about HRMs) to obtain my current heart rate.

You may want to think also about the Ciclosport HAC4 Heart Monitor/Altimeter/Computer.

Polar has had the monopoly on HRMs for a while and they need to be challenged. Their watches are just too difficult and buggy for most people.

I've had two and they are just not intuitive for me and I'm a complete computer geek.

I haven't tried this yet...but I'm willing to give it a try.

http://www.performancebike.com/...ofile.html?SKU=15288