Polar CS300

Price Paid:  $350.00 at local bicycle shop

Favorite Ride:
anything with a climb

Bike Setup:
Giant OCR 1 with Mavick wheel sets

Summary:
I did a lot of reading before I purchased this model, I ride mountain and road and wanted a good HRM to track my training for century rides and to know if I was having an off day, or I was pushing too hard. I got mine with cadence, which cost extra. The manual is therough and easy to understand. Took me a couple of hours to get the watch set up and the sensors on my bicycle. The speed sensor has never given me any trouble at all, I would like to say the same for the cadence sensor but it is not so.
On the first ride I had to stop several times to get the unit set so it would read the crank arm. Now it reads most of the time, but it hangs off the frame where my foot passes by and I bump it every few rides and have to stop and adjust it again. More of an annoyance than anything.
The Chest strap MUST BE MOIST to read. Like run water on it before you put it on. Once I learned that on my first Polar no more issues. It will have electrical lines effect it once every five or six rides....no my heart rate is not 221. It will read fine in maybe thirty seconds. I have yet to see a HRM not have some interference once and a while.
It comes with a bar mount for the watch, but it was so erractic that I gave up on it working. I am 6 foot 4 inches with a XL frame, so if you are not ginormic it will probably work just fine.

All in all I like mine and would buy it again.

Strengths:
Easily readable display, relatively intrinsic menus, wireless cadence and speed, good hrm functions

Weaknesses:
wireless cadence is a little touchy about set up, it has to be correctly spaced and even then reads zero at times.

electrical wires effect it on occasion

to read accurate hrm it has to live on my wrist

Similar Products Used:
Polar A5, Polar M31 or 61 (i forget which), Polar f5

Price Paid:  $225.00 at ?

Favorite Ride:
Little North Mountain

Bike Setup:
Stock Fuji CCR2

Summary:
I like my heart rate monitor, but...
It does not have a quick check, so you HAVE to be wearing the strap for it to read.

As for downloading data, It is TERRIBLE. It has only successfully downloaded twice, each time took over an hour to get it to work. (I'm a very patient person). Support service people were not at all helpful "Keep moving the watch back and forth until you get a good signal" (I had a good signal, it kept error messaging at 24% download).
I also seem to have random changes in volume for the downloads. Even setting the sound to max volume resulted in low volume for download, only to have it change to high a little while later.

Strengths:
The watch is easily readable from a riding position with multiple viewing options.

I do not ever seem to have electrical interference from high tension wires.

Weaknesses:
Downloading software is not friendly. Mostly it does not work.

Even the log is web based, you need a PC to download data (no Mac capability).

Cadence is available, but you have to but it separately.

Similar Products Used:
Highgear (Liked it until the watchband broke and could not be replaced.)

Price Paid:  $180.00 at Amazon

Bike Setup:
Kestrel RT700

Summary:
The CS300 is a good HRM but a crappy cyclocomputer. The HRM has worked well although occasionally takes a few tries to sync. The cylcocomputer is always off a few miles as compared to my Astrale (wired). The CS300 always misses 3-4 miles of the ride.

Strengths:
HRM:
Good repeatability
Gym compatible

Cyclocomputer:
Cadence works but costs extra
Clock works

Weaknesses:
HRM:
Not enough zones

Cyclocomputer:
Misses miles
Front wheel only for speed

Similar Products Used:
HRM:
Timex: Good basic HRM
Nike: Worked great for 1 year and died.

Cyclocomputer:
Astrale 8 - Great basic CC with Cadence and rear-wheel pickup.

Price Paid:  $180.00 at Nashbar

Favorite Ride:
All

Bike Setup:
updated vintage Allez-Epic carbon.

Summary:
This unit is useless if you live anywhere near overhead electric lines. I dont know about others but, The areas where I ride tend to have electric lines running along the roadway. This causes the heart monitor to go crazy. Basically it's a $200 wrist watch that can double as a simple bike computer.

Strengths:
None that I've found.

Weaknesses:
Useless as a HRM for a road bike.