I sent in my polar S510 for repairs and the estimate came out to $115. Obviously i’m going to trade for a new one so i can have the warranty etc. Can anyone suggest a comparable monitor without the cycling functions (i have a powertap now so i only use my HRM for running). I can’t seem to figure out what the difference between the RS and S models are but, here are a few of the RS models i’m looking at:
RS100: $75
RS200: $105
RS200sd: $168
S120:$60
S150:$84
Any comments on how the S&D polar monitors work? How unwieldy is the satellite receiver? is it easy to use without the receiver?
I don’t think Polar is using satilites for the speed and distance yet, but I might be wrong. I had a 625x for 2 years and the speed and distance was done with a foot pod that attaches to your shoe. Looks to me like this is still what they are using in the models you listed.
FWIW- and this is just my take- I think the foot pod and the speed and distance is crap. It just wasn’t accurate day in and day out. You have to recalibrate it all the time, and then you will end up with different distances on different days for the same route. The differences weren’t huge, but it was enough to drive me nuts. One a run might be at 7.2, then next 7.0, the next 7.4. You get the idea. I ended up selling it and getting a 720i instead.
It’s an accelerometer in the foot pod I believe. It is definitely not satellite based. I’ve found the foot pod to be reasonably accurate. The specs say +/- 3% so that’s not too bad. Good enough for a training log, but could be out by 1 km over 42 kms… GPS isn’t perfectly accurate either though…
I have the 200 and it is all I need I can set it up to download to my computer and log all my workouts. I can set a minimum HR alarm and just go out and run around or I can get more sophisticated and do an interval program. I has footpod capability but I don’t have it
I used to have the RS200sd and now I have the RS800sd. I purchased the latter only to use for the HRM, the chronometer and the cadence.
The RS800sd is better than the RS200sd in that the foot pod is smaller and it uses a lithium battery which seems to last slightly longer and is easier to replace than it was for the RS200SD foot pod. It seems to be able to calculate your stride length and it has an auto-on feature so you don’t have to remember to turn it on and off.
The running cadence is very useful for me and the sole reason I bought it.
As for speed and distance - it is always accurate on one mile. But today I tested it and ran 4 miles and it said 4.71. I did have to run a ways in grass (to avoid an oncoming peleton of 40!!) but I don’t think that should throw it off that much - I will have to start driving my run route to see if this is an all the time thing or just sometimes.
I could never get the RS200sd to work accurately for speed and pace whether I used their automatic set feature or the manual feature to adjust for my stride. But as I said, I bought the RS800sd for the other features and am very happy to have cadence.
Would love to hear from any one else who has used this watch.
If you want to track pace & distance, get one of the “sd” versions: RS200sd, RS400sd, RS800sd. The RS200sd is probably fine if you don’t want all of the bells and whistles. Cadence on the RS800sd would be nice, though.
I have an S625x, and really enjoy being able to upload the data to my laptop (rather than a web page). And the altimeter is very nice, since I train in the hills a lot. But if you wouldn’t use the cycling features, it might be overkill.
If you don’t want pace & distance, I think all of the cheap ones have HR and lap features.
I have had pretty good luck with the accuracy & precision of the foot pod. It seems very consistent when I run the same route in the same shoes (~1% or better) but can vary by ~2% or so on different surfaces.
If you (actually the other poster) has big problems with wildly inaccurate distances, make sure you have it tied pretty tightly to your shoelaces. If it flops around, the data can get screwy.
FWIW i ended up going with the RS200. i don’t really need the S&D capability. I had the satellite idea in my head from using the garmin i bought my dad for christmas, guess polar is not there yet. (btw, the garmin is pretty cool but it takes a long time to get a satellite signal at times, especially after driving to a park or something, which can be annoying)