Pre-spending a little Christmas money, and looking to step out of the stone-ages and get a decent HR monitor that I can use for both biking and running.
From looking at Polar’s website, the RS200sd seems to be a pretty decent introductory unit that does pretty much everything I’m looking for.
I have a Cateye Astrale 8 on my bike, so I don’t really need any bike features other than, possibly, an interval timer and HR for said intervals.
It’s really the running features that set this unit apart in my eyes. The instantaneous pacing and distance features are really a bonus. My only concern is over just how accurate and user-friendly the S1 Footpod is.
Does anyone have this monitor (or just the S1 Footpod) that can provide a review? Is it accurate? How’s the battery life? Just how big/heavy/bothersome is the Footpod?
Got it. Love it. Can’t run without it. I really like the min/mi pace feature. Keeps my run workouts specific to my plan. You’ll blow through some AAA batteries though. No biggie.
The footpod is kind of big and ugly, but I don’t notice the additional weight on my shoe.
I bought it, but stopped wearing the footpod after a couple months. When i changed shoes i was too lazy to recalibrate. need to do that sometime. I really like the watch & heartrate features. Distance seemed pretty accurate on pavement when i did use it. I’m not sure about trails or instantaneous pace. I stick to perceived effort/heart rate, not pace. I didn’t notice the weight of the footpod.
Since the pod measures your stride (based on inertia, i think), you have to attach the pod to your shoe, set the watch to calibrate, and run a set distance (e.g. 800 meters on a track). If you move it to a different spot on your shoe, change shoes, etc, then you have to recalibrate. not difficult.
I’ve got one, and have never calibrated it. It worked right out of the box, and honestly even if it’s off by 1-2m per km, I don’t care. And I rotate the pod through 3-4 pairs of shoes.
Pros: I love the damn thing! I love the pace, the distance, the intervals, the workout log, the customizable interface, the fact that the light comes on just by bringing the monitor close to the HR strap…I love that you can download your workouts if you want to by letting the little thing chirp at the computer. I love that you can download a personalized little logo for the face of it. I love it all. I don’t find the pod cumbersome or even noticable at all. I wore mine at IMFL…
Cons: You will go through AAA batteries in the footpod - no big deal. The other con is that it’s a POLAR, so when the monitor battery dies, there’s the almost requisite return to POLAR for the 25$ battery change…
I know the distances for most of my routes. I normally just manually adjust the calibration number for a new pair of shoes based on how far it is off. Sometimes new shoes take a bit to break in and the calibration will float around while that happens. When I get past 60 or so miles it’s the best.
One thing I noticed is that repeatabliity is better if the foot pod is held down by as many laces as possible and not left to flop around.
The other con is that it’s a POLAR, so when the monitor battery dies, there’s the almost requisite return to POLAR for the 25$ battery change…
OK, so tell me about this. How often does the watch need a new battery, and how long is the turn-around (ie. how long will I be w/o while it’s getting the battery changed?
Another positive vote for this monitor. The footpod works great. Honestly, if you just use the default calibration it won’t be off by much–maybe 10-15 seconds pace per mile at most. And calibrating is easy enough. The weight is not noticeable. I definitely like it better than my Garmin gps watch.
Besides that, it functions really well as a heart rate monitor. In my experience, nothing works as well as a Polar.
Do a search about POLAR batteries and you’ll get a bunch of threads about it. Basically POLAR recommends that you send the unit back to them for battery changes…at $24.50 a pop. This includes the return shipping, but not the shipping to them.
For me, turn-around is 48hrs back in my hand, including the shipping, but I drop it off directly at the Canadian distribution office in Lachine. Depending on the shipping from where you are, you could lose it for 4-5 days, I would think.
You may be able to help me out on this one, my footpod is signalling on with green flashing light and there is a digital display of figure running on the watch however when run is over it has not picked up anything from the run and in turn not recorded any info
Have any of you had this problem
Thanks
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Just qualify for Boston - they have one of their “master watch techs” there on site every year and he will change the battery for free on any Polar watch …
I’m actually thinking or selling mine. Not saying anything bad about this product, in fact I’ve never even used the footpod. I have used the HRM 6-8 times. It’s a fine unit, but I’ve never bothered to figure out how to use all the functions. I have a garmin 201 (no hrm) and like it so I’m thinking about getting the 305 because I’m going to act like someone too old to learn new technology. I know how to use the Garmin. If you’re interested in buying a barely used RS200sd with foot pod, PM me.
on the watch, make sure footpod is activated. Hit the red start button, scroll down to settings, scroll down to footpod. footpod shood be checked. when you push the start button, it should look for the HR monitor and then the footpod.
Yep def RS200sd it checks for Heart link then footpod it then shows a small runner in the left hand bottom corner flashing i assumed this was picking up the Footpod signal. THe Foot pod is flashing also.
I really like the watch & heartrate features. Distance seemed pretty accurate on pavement when i did use it. I’m not sure about trails or instantaneous pace. I stick to perceived effort/heart rate, not pace. I didn’t notice the weight of the footpod.