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Polar
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Not sure if this has been discussed here (did a quick searchbut nothing came up). It seems that Polar will be discontinuing the "polarpersonaltrainer" web service thingy at the end of 2019, which means that many of their older products will be severly limited - I have a couple of RCX5 units, which will become somewhat obsolete overnight it appears.

A work around has been mentioned, presumably to be able to transfer training files to Polar Flow direct from the wrist unit, but nothing has been confirmed. The local (to me) subsiduary in Australia are simply blaming head office stating that the announcement was as much a surprise to them as it was to users. They have offered a 30% discount as a trade-in deal but that's just a local deal (Australia/NZ) compared to th 15% offered by head office apparently, and I'm not sure I really want to stay with them if this is the support they offer.

So disappointing as my units really arent that old, work fine for what I need and I've used Polar stuff for around 20 years or so.


Ah well. Looks like I'll be going elsewhere. Garmin anyone?
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Re: Polar [quintana who] [ In reply to ]
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I made the switch from Polar to Garmin years ago due to Polar's stubborn refusal (at that time) to support Mac OSX. I was sick and tired of running Parallels just to run Polar SW. I've honestly never regretted the switch. Buy a Garmin and don't look back.
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Re: Polar [jkatsoudas] [ In reply to ]
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I made the switch years ago as well but for different reasons.

I had the RS200sd and RS400sd which were good running watches for their time but the data transfer via the microphone was terrible.

I was also wanted to move to an Ant+ power meter (I had a LYC Powertap then) so I pickup up a Garmin 310 when I had issues with the 400sd.

I liked Polar and I thought their quality was good but the lack of Ant+ connectivity was a deal-breaker for me.
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Re: Polar [quintana who] [ In reply to ]
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I had two Polar devices and both were rock solid. Polar's customer support was first class in every instance. Their software/online data portal...not so much. I switched to Garmin a long time ago when Polar was fooling around with a GPS receiver as an external sensor, not built into the watch. I got a Garmin FR305 - which was a beast of a thing to wear on your wrist, but, still, a one-device approach. Garmin's devices have been OK, quality-wise (one returned for an altimeter problem and replaced quickly). Customer support has been quite good, but a step below Polar, in my experience. Still, is there anyone who thinks that Polar (or Suunto) is outgunning Garmin in GPS sports gear? Maybe there is an edge case or two, but it's hard to dispute Garmin as the team to beat. Now, if Garmin keeps raising prices and rapidly leaving owners behind in terms of upgrades/capabilities, then a competitor has an opening... But a move to Garmin buys quite a bit of capability.
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Re: Polar [quintana who] [ In reply to ]
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My and I both had polar a few years ago. She started with the M400 watch and I had the V800. From my experience, their Polar flow software is really good if you are a runner. Once you start adding different sports or multisport to the Polar equation, the support started fading. The M400 wasn't originally bought as a triathlon watch and the fact that it isn't glared. The V800 has similar capabilities to other wrist based units. The heart rate monitor wasn't always reliable, the swim laps may add or subtract from what you have actually done, and multisport functionality was on a basic level only. My wife and I both got new watches.

My wife got the Suunto Ambit3 Peak. It seems to be very capable in terms of gps tracking and functionality. Where it starts to pale is with compatibility and the software offered by Suunto. The watch only links to Bluetooth with isn't a problem with most of the new meters. If you are linking to older power meters, sensors, some trainers, it becomes a problem due to the lack of ANT+. The software doesn't allow many degrees of freedom with setting up your training and planning workouts. It sends information to TrainingPeaks but doesn't receive. In short, she is considering a Fenix5 model.

I went with the Fenix5 X, mostly because of a good deal I got with it. Everything Suunto and Polar does well, the Garmin does. Most of what the others don't do well, Garmin does well. The model I have connects to bluetooth and ANT+ which opens up the market for gently used sensors. Planning training is relatively simple. It has an application that will pull your workouts directly from TrainingPeaks. This is big for me as I plan all of my workouts in TrainingPeaks. The functionality during training and racing is intuitive and helpful. Their online software is easy to navigate and understand. It lacks some features that I get with TrainingPeaks, but nothing big enough to complain about.

If you have any questions about any of the watches I mentioned let me know and I'll help where I can.
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Re: Polar [quintana who] [ In reply to ]
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That would be a shame, mostly because Polar HRM's seem to last forever. I still have a Polar Edge NV sitting in a drawer.

I was a little disappointed when the RCX 5 only worked with the online polarpersonaltrainer.com, and not the local PPP app. I had years of data from my S710, S720, and S625x in the local software.

I am using a V800 how with Flow, and it does seem to better software. They really need to figure out a way to let people do a mass migration from one platform to another.

Overall, I think Polar make the best HRMs. Garmin may be a better GPS unit, but Polar's straps have always been better/more comfortable. Bluetooth, ANT, W.I.N.D, any 2.4GHz system doesn't work underwater, so Polar had hybrid 500 MHz units so you could see/record your HR during the swim.

I have been using their new OH1 optical HR sensor and it works really well, and is way more comfortable than a chest strap.

I'm interested to see what Polar does next. The V800 still seems to be their top end product, but I am wondering if the next version will be Android based like the M600.
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