You get far more for your money with the 625. But it costs you more money.

• 200SD only gives you workout summaries, whereas 625 gives you data every 5, 15, or 60 seconds.
• 200SD uses soniclink to upload data, which is slow and not very reliable. 625 uses infrared, faster and more reliable.
• 200SD only lets you upload to the Polar website. 625 lets you upload to your own computer as well as PC-Coach, Training Peaks, etc.
• 200SD supports only running features. 625 also supports cycling features and powermeter, although you have to buy the components seperately.

625SX is $365 list, whereas 200SD is $200 list. If you're the kind of person who is going to want the features of the 625 within a year of your purchase, better to spend the extra money for it instead of buying a 200SD and then upgrading that. OTOH, if you're the kind of person who is going to want the 635 whenever it comes out, and you can make due with the 200SD for now, save some money and get the 200SD.

Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports

Is there a 635 in the works and if so what changes are going to be made.

Not that I know of or that Polar has even talked about. I was making an example that you have to figure that within 18-24 months Polar is going to come out with something new -- or if they don't, Timex, Nike, Garmin, Suunto, or somebody else will. If you're the type of person who always has to have the latest & greatest, do you need to invest $365 in a 625SX now? That was my point.

Lee

I ordered two 200SD units with a friend a few months ago. The pod was nice for measuring local routes, and when that novelty wore off I was left with the watch and strap.

As far as I know, the 625X is made in Finland; the 200SD is made in China. Origin of production isn't that important to me, but in this case it seems Polar hasn't gotten the Chinese production up to snuff.
-The buttons on the 200SD feel flimsy and aren't very responsive.
-Lee mentioned the upload issues, which I thought
wouldn't bother me but turn out to be very frustrating.
-But the worst aspect of the 200SD is that it quits without warning every so often. The first time mine did it was the day before Ironman Canada during a practice swim. It did it again two weeks ago in the middle of a run. The first time it just asked me to input the personal settings and was fine after that; the second time I had to open the back and fuss with the battery. My training partner, with whom I combined an order for two units, has also had his quit on him.

I didn't want the cycling functions, but faced with the same choice I'd spend the extra coin on the 625X.

I bought the 625 over the 200 just for the download features alone.

You are 100% correct with the quality issues. I have had 3 Polar watches and I am a big fan (lost 1, smashed one, currently have one). Previous 720i was great quality. I currently have an RS200SD. Worked great for 3 months, but you can tell the build quality is quite different (China I saw too).

Well - during the swim at IMFL last week, I get out to check my time and .... watch is flooded with lots of fun, cryptic looking graphics. I was pissed as I now have no time or heart data for the bike run that I was planning on using. In the process of sending it back as they have a 2 year warranty.

If anyone is trying to decide between the 625 and RS200 - I would go with the 625 even though you might not use some of the features and it is quite a bit larger/clunkier. A $200 watch should never be built like this. I have had a Timex Ironman watch for about 10 years now that I just can't kill and I think it was only $40.

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

Allow me to add this one little bit of criticism of the 625. I had the watch...LOVED it for all the data I could get out of it. I, alas, lost my watch when some hooligan stole my Dakine bag out of my rental car in California. Anyways....

Here's the problem with the 625. They go out of their way to market this as the triathlon guy's watch. Look: it can do swim, bike and run. Wow, look at the cadence data. And the speed data, both bike and running. And the altitude changes (which are bunk if you ask me)...you can see your total altitude change while biking and running. Just don't plan on using the watch during a race. Because for some unknown reason, you have to choose, before you start the stopwatch, whether you are measuring bike or run speed. So you get in the water with the watching thinking it has to monitor bike speed, and for the 60 minutes or so you are in the water, it thinks you aren't moving on your bike. So you have to fiddle with the watch in T1 and T2 to get to the right setting so that you can get your data out after the race.

I spoke with the Polar rep at the Gulf Coast Tri, and he said that this was indeed a flaw in the watch and the engineers, unfortunately, are not triathletes, and somehow an actual triathlon did not make it into the test cases. Wow. Net net, the watch is useless for races except for real time monitoring, but even then, you have to stop and start it in T2 to switch from measuring bike speed to run speed.

Lee had some great feedback on the two watches. To add to his feedback as I sell Polars and personally own the 625 and RS200:

The 625/720/725 watches are farily large so if you haven't tried one on yet do so before buying

The RS200 is nice and light, has a great screen and is cosmetically in my opinion the best watch Polar has ever made

The 625 has tons of features, the majority of which you'll never use

Altitude is cool on teh 625 as long as you live somewhere with hills, the temp function is usually way off

The backlight is better on the RS200 although Polar usually upgrades backlights without warning so maybe newer 625s have a better backlight now

I loved to download my 625 via IR and hate to download the RS200 via Soniclink. Actually I don't mind the soniclink it's the damn polarpersonaltrainer web based download program. Bring back Polar Precision Performance!!!!!!!

The RS200 likes to freeze up or black out on you at the weirdest times. Easy to reset, will only happen once every several months but annoying.

With both my 625 and RS200 I'm set, I leave the RS200 on the bike and train with the RS200. Depending on what type of budget you have the best setup would be a 625 and then buy a RS200 (no footpod but footpod compatible) not the RS200sd as you already have a footpod from the 625. Or if you don't care about downloading, temp, or altitude the new CS200cad is an awesome computer and purchased with a RS200sd is the same price of the 625...

Tai,



Is the RS200 compatible with the S1 foot pod? Thanks.

yes, they use the S1 pod which comes with the RS200SD. The RS200 comes without the pod which you can add later on. It is worth spending the $ up front

Lee and Tai are absolutely right. Myself (also a seller of Polar products) I had a 625x but don't use all the functions. I still write a paper log rather than a computer uploads to training peaks (I'm a luddite but i do use an excel sheet for tracking) so the download functions don't excite me. The altitude is barometric based and in Seattle that is a bit of losing proposition and the temp is always 98.6 when you where it on your wrist so i don't use those functions either. Just my $0.02. Many shops have demo units available in both models so you can try for yourself.

I do agree that the quality of the RS200SD is a bit lower and the buttons are more sensitive but the size is nice for me as the 625x makes me look like a have some star wars communication device on my wrist. It is the better unit but not for everyone.

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John Teeters
866-508-4676
john@triumph-multisport.com
http://www.triumph-multisport.com