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Submitted by
Thomas
a Road RacerDate Reviewed: August 13, 2012
Strengths: Main data shown in large characters I can read without reading glasses while riding.Weaknesses: Skips signals from speed sensors.
Inacurate reading of the HRM shows after 2 years.Bottom Line: Skips signals from speed sensors threfore inacurate statistics are stored. Missing about 3 - 4 km at an average ride. Average speed is absolutely inacurate. Speed sensors have to be sent to the rep for replacement or buy a new one once in a while.
The HRM worked OK for the first two years. Recently it showed over 220 bpm twice for about 30 seconds and scared a #@!% out of me.
Favorite Ride: Mississauga-Campbellville-Dundas-Waterdown-Mississauga
Price Paid:
$250.00
Purchased At: E-Bay
Similar Products Used: Polar HRM older versions.
Bike Setup: Giant C1, Giant TCR (winter), Fuji (TT)
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Submitted by
Larry
a Road RacerDate Reviewed: September 16, 2011
Strengths: Improved wireless signal is less susceptible to interference. User replaceable battery. Pct grade.Weaknesses: After about 9 months of use, I can say that the RS800 is unreliable, buggy, and lacing in robustness. It's a poorly designed product that wasn't built to last.Bottom Line: This review is for Polar RS800cs HRM watch. Unlike the older Polar products, the new Polar RS800 is junk. Replacing the battery means resetting the watch - you have to re-enter all of the user settings such as age, height, weight, and then teach it to recognize your bikes, and worst of all, any exercise files will be wiped away. The user interface on this HRM/watch is not user-friendly like their older products. The altimeter appears to be the same used in their older products - it's still inaccurate, especially when compared to other products like Garmin. And the watch band broke after a few months of use. Polar does have decent support (they sent me a new watch band). Good support is always a plus, but when products are poor quality, good support isn't going to cut it.
I got the RS800 because Polar is no longer making the cadence,speed,& HR transmitters for the 820i, which happens to be a good product. Instead of going the industry standards route (ANT+), Polar chose to create a new proprietary protocol. Their new protocol is less susceptible to electrical interference but because it's proprietary, it will only work with Polar products. All Polar needed to do for the 820i is update its memory (modern memory can hold a lot of data), change to a spread spectrum or coded wireless signal, and add pct grade to it. Instead, it appears they did what many other companies are doing these days... farm out the engineering, design, & development to India or China to keep company profits at max.
My last complaint is purely subjective, but this has to be about the ugliest watch I've ever seen. The 820i wasn't pretty either, but at least it wasn't gaudy.
Similar Products Used: Polar 820i. Sure the 820i has its weaknesses, but after 5 years of use, mine still works.
Bike Setup: Trek Madone 6.9
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
pedalfast63
a Recreational RiderDate Reviewed: January 9, 2011
Strengths: This unit gives me all the information I'm looking for. Just wish I could see the display and it worked consistantly.Weaknesses: Doesn't last long.Bottom Line: I recieved the Polar CS300 for a Christmas gift 2 years ago. After using it for 8 months I had to send it back to Polar to have the display replaced, it faded from being in the sun as I was using it. When I recieved the unit back from Polar, the report advised me to avoid use of the watch in direct sunlight. Are they suggesting I only ride when its cloudly? A year later the screen is fading again and now its out of warrenty and the heartrate part of the watch doesn't work. Polar has been known for having good products, not anymore, just more crap imported from China that will fill up the land fills, which is where mine is going after I purchase a Garmin. Don't by Polar.
Favorite Ride: all rides are my favorite
Price Paid:
$225.00
Purchased At: Loacal bike store
Similar Products Used: Sports insturments.
Bike Setup: Specialized S-Works hardtail and Treck Fuel 98 mountain bikes
Overall Rating: Value Rating:
Submitted by
Ed Lynch
a Recreational RiderDate Reviewed: April 10, 2010
Strengths: What I thought was a good name in heart rate monitors.Weaknesses: Poor quality. Poor performance. Poor design since it needs to be sent back to Polar for watch and speedometer battery replacement.Bottom Line: I have had two of these (one warranty replacement) and they are one of the worst bike products I have every owned. Either the heart rate monitor or the speedometer were always out.
Favorite Ride: Rockies
Price Paid:
$199.00
Purchased At: Performance
Similar Products Used: None. Currently looking for something.
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Submitted by
Benjamin Wentland
a Recreational RiderDate Reviewed: June 24, 2009
Strengths: Easily readable display, relatively intrinsic menus, wireless cadence and speed, good hrm functionsWeaknesses: 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
Bottom Line: 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.
Favorite Ride: anything with a climb
Price Paid:
$350.00
Purchased At: local bicycle shop
Similar Products Used: Polar A5, Polar M31 or 61 (i forget which), Polar f5
Bike Setup: Giant OCR 1 with Mavick wheel sets
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