It's unisex, easy to use, and has all of the features a runner needs without all of the expensive frills. I chose the RS100 because it had features that the women-specific watches did not, including interval timers, two zone limit monitors, and a back light (essential if you run at night or cross train in spin class where the lights are usually low). I recommended spending a half hour reading the manual and setting up the watch that way. It covers every feature simply and clearly.
Being able to set my own heart rate and percentage limits is great since those numbers change as my fitness improves. I also like that the running total tells me the percent of calories burned from fat, super essential for proper training.
The total only keeps track of one run at a time, which is fine. I log my runs in an Excel spreadsheet and I've found this to be more useful than storing them in the watch because I can write all sorts of formula combinations and create averages and see a big picture and completely geek out. Other models allow you to upload logs to the Polar website but paying the extra money wasn't worth it for me. I like doing that stuff myself.
The medium chest strap fits me fine once it is adjusted (female, 34" chest) and stays in place. Be sure to moisten the transmitters before wearing, a few drops of water will do, your sweat will take care of the rest ...
My only issue is that the watch is a little bulky for my small wrists, which causes some discomfort at times, but I've come up with a few workarounds to solve the bulky problem:
1. I wear it somewhat loose but not so loose that it spins around on its own. This keeps some of the pressure off. It's loose enough that I can manually rotate the face around to the inside of my wrist if I need to.
2. For longer runs, I sometimes wear the watch strapped to my gear belt or zipped in my pocket. Since the watch has interval timers and warning beeps when I go out of zone, I've been able to keep track using my hearing instead of my eyes. The beep is pretty loud so as long as my headphones aren't cranked, I can still hear it.
3. The treadmills at my gym are Polar ready so they pick up the transmission without me having the wear the watch. While the treadmill doesn't have any logging features, I can at least keep track of my heart rate during a run if I don't want to wear the watch.
Overall, it's a great running computer for the money. Polar RS100 Heart Rate Monitor and Stopwatch
This is my fourth HR monitor. I've owned a Nike (garbage), two Timex models (one solid and one I returned). I bought this one because it had three lines of information so I would know my total time and my lap time.
Some points:
- For the first month the watch never gave me an inaccurate HR. Since then I've had two instance when it's been whacky (you know, shows you at 185 when you're at 145). My previous HR monitors were MUCH worse than the Polar on this account.
- The three lines is nice, however it does not allow you to swap the lap time with the total time. I would much prefer the lap time to be in the middle or at least bigger (it's hard to read when you're doing a hard run and you're bouncing around).
- There is a lap number. I like that a lot.
- If you press and hold the button a little too long it will pop up Limits and adjustments and whatnot. This is annoying and happens too easily.
- If you use the light/indiglo while using the stopwatch it will automatically light up whenever you hit lap/stop afterwards. This is a great feature. Often I'm running in the dark and this feature is a lifesaver.
- Getting the information from the watch is just OK. Not terrible, but not as streamlined as the simple Timex HR monitor I previously used.
- I don't use the totals. I have a database for that.
The bottom line is that HR monitors are pretty unreliable generally. After 2 months, this model has been solid. I would still like a tweak here or there because of my personal preferences.
Purchased as a replacement HRM, The unit does what its intended to do and it does it well. The quirks of changing face information or retrieving data takes a while to learn and get used to. The push-button sequencing doesn't always seem intuitive, but - the good news is - its easy to learn. I don't use my HRM as a watch except as a convenience after working out, so that feature is fairly useless to me, anyway. One simple improvement would be a strap thats a notch or two bigger - I have to wear my unit at the end notch making it somewhat more difficult to fasten and unfasten.
Given the quirks and a design you have to grow into, its a decent product and a fair value.
Just like any gadget, you learn how to use all the functions on this watch by just playing around and pressing buttons. True, the manual should be clearer, and seems to be talking about doing things in a different order than what's really needed sometimes, but unfortunately that's the case with most electronics these days. It's really not all that hard to figure out, and anyway that's part of the fun of getting a new gadget (for some of us, anyway).
It has worked pretty well since I got it. Took a few trials to get the strap tight enough so it wouldn't slide down while running. About 1/4 mile into my first 5k wearing it that's exactly what happened, and my grand plan of closely monitoring my performance went up in smoke. I've had no problems with the receiver picking up my heart rate, or interference from power lines or cars.
So, all in all, highly recommended. I think it's got just the right level of functionality for me, someone who wants to train with a monitor to get a little faster running 5k's and 10k's, but it also makes running a little more interesting on those days you just don't feel like doing it. - Running - Fitness - Heart Rate - Polar'
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