I had purchased one of the "el'cheapo" HRM monitors from Wal-Mart and it was grossly inaccurate. I decided to spend the money for a Polar. After shopping and reading, I found this HRM on Amazon. The RS300X has been great ! I am an avid tracker and it has given me the ability to track and record data, and that has helped me reach and maintain a new found level of health.
Thanks for the great product !
Polar RS300X Excellent training tool
I purchased the Polar RS300X to replace a Polar S210 HRM that had started to wear out (had previous one for over 10 years). This new model has similar functions to my previous model such as programming for different workouts including time based and heart rate based intervals and Ownindex fitness test to compute VO2 Max. The watch offers several big improvements: The wearlink chest strap maintains much better contact and signal than my previous T61 strap, and its more comfortable to wear. I use the watch on both an elliptical trainer and a road bike and the strap has maintained a positive signal in different positions on both pieces of equipment. I also will really appreciate the user replacable battery on the strap when the time comes. The watch itself is much easier to program and offers additional programs and settings that I have not even tried yet. I also purchased the Polar Flowlink to allow me to download and track my workouts. Just tried to download the first few weeks of workouts so far and found the process to be very easy. The only thing I do not like about this HRM is that the watch band and case are all one piece. The band eventually broke on my previous S210 model (I used it on both my wrist and a bike mount) and I was able to replace it easily with an off-the-rack replacment strap. If the strap on this one should tear, I do not know how it would be replaced. I guess maybe I would have to send it back to Polar? Sounds much more expensive and hopefully it never comes to that.
Polar RS300X Good deal.
This is an excellent polar watch, if you likes do excesices outside this is a good deal for you, you coul track your excersice in the polar web page and make your routines
Polar RS300X Best Price, Very Well.
The watch works very well and keeps time and heart rate very well. The only problem is that if you are using the stop watch, you cannot go back and forth between the actual time and the stop watch time. Overall a light and good product.
Polar RS300X Best Price, Excellent basic HRM
So far, I've found the RS300X to be an accurate, easy-to-use HRM with a nice set of features. At the Amazon price, it's a very good value.
By way of background, I've had several previous heart rate monitors. They include about 4 previous Polar monitors, as well as monitors by Garmin, Suunto, and Timex. Polar has always seemed the best at measuring heart rate during activity, especially if you use the Wearlink(fabric) transmitter belt. And since I often work out at gyms, the compatibility with most treadmills and other aerobic machines is an advantage. However, but all my previous Polar HRMs had unintuitive interfaces and poor instruction manuals. Timex was just about the opposite; they had the best receiver (watch) with large, clear displays and easily navigated menus. But I had to return both Timex HRMs that I ordered from Amazon because the heart rate function never worked. It seemed that the transmitter never made good enough contact with my skin, even when I used electrode gel.
My Suunto (model T3C) is a pretty good HRM and the receiver unit looks good, at least if you like the look of a conventional watch. The main display item (eg heart rate) is very easy to read, but the smaller lower display (time or whatever you choose to show) is tiny and hard to read when you're running. If you ordinarily use reading glasses you're out of luck. Also it doesn't display much information, perhaps because the main display item has such large pixels.
The Garmin FR60 is an excellent and generally reliable HRM but the receiver is thick and unattractive. I just sent it in for the 2nd time because it stopped working. Garmin customer support, however, has been excellent. I got the model with the foot pod for measuring distances but I've never actually used the foot pod. Its interface is not entirely intuitive but it isn't bad.
The Polar RS300X is easily the best of these. I wasn't looking for a lot of features, only basic heart rate measurement and convenient lap timing. I wore it on a long run today and it rapidly determined my heart rate and seemed to be completely accurate the whole time. Some reviewers have complained that the display is hard to read for older eyes; I didn't find that a problem at all even with sunglasses. The menus are logical and there are hints to direct you to what to do next when you're scrolling through options. One of the most attractive aspects of this model is that it's so easy to do lap timing. So when you're running a marathon, for example, it's very easy to check your pace each mile while continuing to monitor your heart rate, and it is great for interval training. It shows the lap time, cumulative time, and heart rate on a single screen.
I'm also enjoying some of the features that I never thought I'd use. For example, the "Polar Index" is basically a measure of your resting heart rate that is supposed to correlate with MvO2. It isn't hard to measure your resting heart rate, but this feature offers a convenient way to get an average heart rate over 5 minutes - not something you'd want to do by checking your pulse for that long. It does a really nice job of defining training zones automatically and reporting the time you spend in each zone.
Although I call it basic this HRM has all the features I need for training and racing long distances. Polar has always had good technology but in the past was weak at interface design. They've made great strides with this model.
Polar RS300X Best Buy, Very accurate and easy to get started.
Lightweight, easy interface and quick start up. So far so good! I just wish the nicer units didn't need a chest strap.
Polar RS300X Best Buy, Good Value and Great Features.
I purchased this model as an upgrade from the Polar FT-2, which, in my opinion, does not work well. So far the RS-300X has been great for timing my runs and being able to record each session. I like the fact that you can upload all your training sessions and store the info online. Settings are easy to program, and that you can track your calories/fat burn with each session.
Polar RS300X Heart Rate Monitor Taking my workouts to a new level
I'm learning that everything i was told back in school about working out was all wrong. Never heard or tried zone training until i started at the gym again and they recommended this monitor to me. Staying in zone is easy with the large display and it syncs with most of the machines i've used so the heart rate is displayed on it. An essential piece for training. Would definitely recommend.
Polar RS300X Heart Rate Monitor Great Product.
This is my first heartrate monitor and the RS300X is a perfect match for what I needed. Easy to use, lots of features and plenty of optional accesories to add as I get more serious about my workout data.
