Just picked up a RS800CX last week. I got to say Polar got it right with this new watch in so many ways.
There were two main problems I had with previous Polar products.
First the whole return the unit to replace the battery thing is gone. This was always extremely frustrating for me. I have old Polar units just sitting around because their batteries died and I didn’t feel like mailing them to Polar. You can replace the battery in the watch, the strap and the shoe unit (if you use one)Second the HR strap has been completely redesigned for the better. The old strap would (at least for me) take some sweat or water on it before it would accurately read my HR. The new strap seems to start reading as soon as it is in place, no water or sweat required. The strap connector is also way easier attach. The front of the new strap is also very flexible, being made of so sort of material vs hard plastic of previous versions.
Downloading workouts from the watch is painless. Polar uses a USB reader to transfer info from the watch to the computer.
The watch also records temperature, GPS info (with the GPS unit), Running (Pace, Speed, Distance, Stride Length, Cadence -with the foot pod). Yes I said stride length and Cadence. How cool is that. If you have a coach this could be very important info for them to help you become a better runner.
The watch itself will display 3 readings on the face and these can be adjusted to what you want displayed.
If your thinking about getting a HR monitor, I highly recommend checking out these new Polar watches.
Good to know, I’m thinking about trying the RS800CX Multi which seems to be very close in features (there are so many features, it’s hard to keep them all straight) to the run model, but more biking features…which I’m more interested in. Tought thing is I’m also interested in getting the Garmin 705 GPS for my bike…so I’m still not sure which way to go.
Hi TRI
Thanks for the kind words concerning the Polar RS800CX SD. I never like to be the first reply to any post concering Polar.
Here are some tips I think might be useful to you and others that I feel The Wind Wear Link does not transmit under water due to 2.4ghz tech, so if you leave the t-belt on during the swim, when you enter T1, press and HOLD the top left button(LIGHT). You will see a QUICK MENU, navigate to SEEK SENSOR. The RS800CX will sync up with the T-BELT When you enter T2, repeat the QUICK MENU, and the RS800CX will synce up the S3 Stride Sensor Press the **RED **button once, navigate to SETTINGS, then DISPLAY and have fun and customize your 5 screens, you will never get it perfect on your first attempt, I recently added AVG PACE to my display Please explore the Pro Trainer 5 software and dedicate time to REPORTS. Go to OPTIONS>PERSON PROPERTIES>ADVANCED and expand to 15. Create reports for your RUNNING INDEX, total time training, run mileage etc. REPORTS will show your history to train smart and watch progress or in some cases over training and negative results Go to TESTS and do the OWN OPTIMIZER and watch the results, it is our version of watching recovery.
I am not in customer service, just a sales rep but love what I do and want others to enjoy their investment with Polar. You can post or PM me with any questions.
OK so the RS800 records temperature. Is there a way to display the temperature over time?
I am going to be doing Leadville in two weeks and the temps are going to go from hopefully high 30’s to the 70’s to the 30’s again. It would be cool to see a graph of those temperatures over the course of 25+ hours I am racing.
It is will not be graphed while competing, but you can customize the display and have it on the watch during the event. Please watch your record rate prior to the start, make sure you have enough memory. I am sure you will have the altimeter on as well.
When is Polar going to update its Pro Trainer software to work with Mac or anything beyond Windows XP?
I have the RS800sd and the only software I can use to see my speed/distance from the food pod is Pro Trainer.
Any tips for uploading running speed/distance/elevation change directly to Training Peaks, or do I have to export from Pro Trainer on a Windows XP/98 computer?
Hello Miles
I am not trained on Training Peaks but I know that would be a good new topic. I would think that you could import files from your Polar folder into Training PEaks. I would call our customer service and wait for the software prompt, I am certain it works on of the some platforms you mentioned (excpet MAC).
OK so the RS800 records temperature. Is there a way to display the temperature over time?
You can add temp line to the graph in the Polar software. It won’t show a running temperature, but it will record the temp at each lap split. If you’re taking mile splits, you’ll have what you’re looking for.
How accurate, and consistent, is the foot pod? I gave up on my 625sx (footpod) because of the constant need for recalibration and frequent inaccuracy.
I am not sure if the S3 WIND Stride Sensor is much different than the S1 Footpod other than the WIND technology.
That being said, I have found that my S1 is pretty consistent with my S625x, even with changing the battery. I run the same loops often (probably don’t even need the footpod) and the miles are pretty close every time. Every so often, I’ll notice that my first mile might be a little more off than usual, but I think that is usually from running very slow, and the miles after that, when I am back up to normal speed, are better.
I have a racing question on the RS800cx (btw - great watch!):
Race plan and question:
Swim with the watch and HRM (I realize no HR pick-up in the water)
Split after swim
Split after T2
Bike - how do I get the watch to pick-up the bike speed and cadence sensors? (bike 1 selected already in features)
Split after bike
Split after T2
Run with just HR
Stop at finish
How accurate, and consistent, is the foot pod? I gave up on my 625sx (footpod) because of the constant need for recalibration and frequent inaccuracy.
I’ve been running with the RS800cx Run for about a month now. It did take me several runs to get the calibration dialed in, but over the last few weeks (probably 10-12 runs w/ the sensor), it’s been very accurate. I’d say it is within 1-1.5% on the distances compared to my mapping software (and I don’t trust the mapping software to more than about 1% accuracy, either, so I don’t think I could ask for any more than that). The runs have been on flat trails, flat roads and some very hilly roads as well, covering anything from 4 to 18 miles. I’ve done recovery runs in the 8:30/mile range and mile repeats at a sub 6:30 pace, and throughout that range, the sensor has retained its accuracy. About the only thing I haven’t done is taken it out on a difficult trail run. I’m not sure what very steep climbs and descents, or the “strange” foot movements of dodging roots and rocks will do, but if it’s a bit off in that environment, so be it. I love it. I’m looking forward to buying a second sensor so that I can have all the info on both pairs of shoes.
The only problems I’ve had are minor:
At a tri, I didn’t think to do the “find sensor” trick at T1 and T2, so I wound up collecting very little data. But now that I know what to do, it is a non-issue.
The footpod battery died after about 50 miles of use. But as noted above, replacing it is very easy, and I’ve got a couple hundred miles in since then, so I don’t think it’s a battery drain problem, I think my unit just shipped with an old battery.
After /several/ attempts at customizing the watch displays via the ProTrainer software and it never works. No idea why. So I finally broke down and customized the settings through the watch directly.
I am not sure to be up front, but off the top of my head, start the race in a BIKE MODE, exit T1, mount bike and attempt to hold the top left button(LIGHT) and SEEK SENSOR, have the watch locate the bike sensors and the HR??? I would not have AUTOSTART on. Sorry I am a little vague with my description, but I have not sued the watch in that application since I have a CS600 to do those other functions, but my above process should/could work.
Unless I did something wrong, here is the problem I ran into starting the swim in bike mode. After some amount of time while in the water it auto shut off (battery saving feature I guess) because it is not picking up HR or Bike speed.
The watch takes a temp reading each time you hit the lap button, so when you analyze the data in Pro Trainer 5 it’ll show a line graph linking each point that you hit Lap. So if you want a smoother graph, hit lap often during the ride.
I think Polar should just make a Race mode for multisport so it will automagically pick up on your paired sensors. They told me they don’t have this capability. Thus the workarounds you are all talking about.
Honestly, when your racing, you shouldn’t have to remember what functionality you need to engage on your watch. We have too many other things to worry about to speed through the T’s.
So, Mr. Polar Rep, We need a Triathlon Race Mode Use Case designed into your watch.
Go to TESTS and do the OWN OPTIMIZER and watch the results, it is our version of watching recovery.