9 responses so far ↓

• 1 Carrillo

  I previously owned a Polar HRM, but lost the belt. Decided to buy the RS200 on march 2008. After a year of working very well it starte to take several tries for it to find a heartbeat. I Changed the battery onn the chest monitor about a month ago worked well for a couple of days an then died on me.
  I find that for 180 bucks it’s lifetime should be at least 3 years.
  If you’re buying this be ready to shell another 180 bucks in about a year and a half.

• 2 Thiele

  I’ve been using the Polar RS200 for a little over a year, and on balance, I have been happy with it. It has done precisely what I have asked it to do until recently when I have been trying out more complex workouts. More on that in a second.

  I believe I got a defective unit, because the watch will spontaneously emit these strange sounds, similar to a static or old-school modem sound. I guess it’s some software glitch that causes the WebSync speaker to fire off. It comes and goes without any kind of pattern. The downside of it is that the battery discharges after 6-8 months instead of the 2 years or so the manual says. Also, the noise prevents me from wearing this as a watch, day-to-day, because it would be too annoying to have it go off all the time. This sound glitch must also cause the battery to drain. I’ve scoured the web looking for answers, and the answer seems to be ship it back to Polar for evaluation and repair, at my expense. But I’m not going to do that because of the expense and my compulsive need for a running watch.

  Another annoyance is that, although you can create custom exercises so that you can do — for example — interval training, you can only configure a maximum of three exercise segments. So you can configure a warm up, effort, and a cool down. Or you can configure a typical interval workout of a hard effort and recovery [no warm up and cool down, however.] But if you want to run, for example, a ladder-type speed workout where you run a 1600, 1000, 800, and a 600 with 400 meter recoveries, then you are out of luck. [I should mention that I bought the S1 foot pod separately, and I use that to gauge my distance in these sorts of workouts. I guess I should have bought the RS200sd package to start with. Oh well.] I suppose I need a more advanced watch since I am now doing more advanced training.

  Apart from these complaints, I am happy with the unit. It’s a decent watch with good features and a reasonable price for most recreational runners. If you plan on doing more advanced training, then I would look for something else.

• 3 Lozano

  Accurate and an important part of my routine, it calculates everything I need to account for my work out. It works with both gym’s I work out in equipment I use; from elliptical to the stair master. It is calibrated for use with my body weight index, and heart rate and it gives me the greatest accuracy for my work out. I highly recommend anyone who both works out in the gym and jogging. I do not have the foot accessory for this, but will invest in it later on.

• 4 Charlton

  This is my third polar watch. I’m back from the old days when they were made in Finland.

  Bought this watch as a replacement for my old S210 (http://www.amazon.com/Polar-S210-Heart-Monitor-Watch/dp/B00075MGP0).

  The BAD:

  1. Watch is totally plastic. Of course, I’m aware it is not scratch-resistance, but comparing to my old S210, quality went way down.

  2. Watch has poor sensor reception; several times even the thread mill manages to receive the heart rate information better and it is not an interference problem, since I am far for other runners and no other environment problems I can notice.

  3. Three-line display poor customization; for instance I cannot set Total Time + lap time + heart rate. It is tied to these pre-defined sets one has to choose from.

  4. “Please wait” message – come on, Polar; this is not a smart phone!!! Whenever you finish an exercise session, you have to deal with an up-to-10-seconds message.

  5. Overall software: they picked something that used to work and tried to make it more user friendly to reach a broader audience – now menus are more complicated, navigation is deeper and more confusing.

  The GOOD:

  Only spent $140; I was about to by a RS800 and with these quality issues I would be so mad. Next time, will try a Suunto – just waiting for my watch to die in order to be a former Polar customer.

• 5 Leighton

  It was just as told!! I really love it and very simple to use. Has given me no trouble. i would tell all of my friends to buy, it;s great!

• 6 Renken

  I previously owned a Polar HRM, but lost the belt. Decided to buy the RS200 on march 2008. After a year of working very well it starte to take several tries for it to find a heartbeat. I Changed the battery onn the chest monitor about a month ago worked well for a couple of days an then died on me.
  I find that for 180 bucks it’s lifetime should be at least 3 years.
  If you’re buying this be ready to shell another 180 bucks in about a year and a half.

• 7 Islas

  This is my third polar watch. I’m back from the old days when they were made in Finland.

  Bought this watch as a replacement for my old S210 (http://www.amazon.com/Polar-S210-Heart-Monitor-Watch/dp/B00075MGP0).

  The BAD:

  1. Watch is totally plastic. Of course, I’m aware it is not scratch-resistance, but comparing to my old S210, quality went way down.

  2. Watch has poor sensor reception; several times even the thread mill manages to receive the heart rate information better and it is not an interference problem, since I am far for other runners and no other environment problems I can notice.

  3. Three-line display poor customization; for instance I cannot set Total Time + lap time + heart rate. It is tied to these pre-defined sets one has to choose from.

  4. “Please wait” message – come on, Polar; this is not a smart phone!!! Whenever you finish an exercise session, you have to deal with an up-to-10-seconds message.

  5. Overall software: they picked something that used to work and tried to make it more user friendly to reach a broader audience – now menus are more complicated, navigation is deeper and more confusing.

  The GOOD:

  Only spent $140; I was about to by a RS800 and with these quality issues I would be so mad. Next time, will try a Suunto – just waiting for my watch to die in order to be a former Polar customer.

• 8 Mallory

  Accurate and an important part of my routine, it calculates everything I need to account for my work out. It works with both gym’s I work out in equipment I use; from elliptical to the stair master. It is calibrated for use with my body weight index, and heart rate and it gives me the greatest accuracy for my work out. I highly recommend anyone who both works out in the gym and jogging. I do not have the foot accessory for this, but will invest in it later on.

• 9 Thorp

  I’ve been using the Polar RS200 for a little over a year, and on balance, I have been happy with it. It has done precisely what I have asked it to do until recently when I have been trying out more complex workouts. More on that in a second.

  I believe I got a defective unit, because the watch will spontaneously emit these strange sounds, similar to a static or old-school modem sound. I guess it’s some software glitch that causes the WebSync speaker to fire off. It comes and goes without any kind of pattern. The downside of it is that the battery discharges after 6-8 months instead of the 2 years or so the manual says. Also, the noise prevents me from wearing this as a watch, day-to-day, because it would be too annoying to have it go off all the time. This sound glitch must also cause the battery to drain. I’ve scoured the web looking for answers, and the answer seems to be ship it back to Polar for evaluation and repair, at my expense. But I’m not going to do that because of the expense and my compulsive need for a running watch.

  Another annoyance is that, although you can create custom exercises so that you can do — for example — interval training, you can only configure a maximum of three exercise segments. So you can configure a warm up, effort, and a cool down. Or you can configure a typical interval workout of a hard effort and recovery [no warm up and cool down, however.] But if you want to run, for example, a ladder-type speed workout where you run a 1600, 1000, 800, and a 600 with 400 meter recoveries, then you are out of luck. [I should mention that I bought the S1 foot pod separately, and I use that to gauge my distance in these sorts of workouts. I guess I should have bought the RS200sd package to start with. Oh well.] I suppose I need a more advanced watch since I am now doing more advanced training.

  Apart from these complaints, I am happy with the unit. It’s a decent watch with good features and a reasonable price for most recreational runners. If you plan on doing more advanced training, then I would look for something else.

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