Thursday, September 24, 2009

Polar CS300 Perfect Gift

I bought It for a friend and he is very happy with this Polar Monitor. He said tha is a very good piece of technologies.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Polar CS300 Excellent Heart Rate Monitor

The Polar CS300 Cycling Heart Rate Monitor is well priced.

The CS300 is a cycling computer and fitness monitor all in one, providing valuable feedback on or off the bike. Wireless speed, distance and heart rate provides for proper pacing during training, or cardio-focused workouts. Calorie expenditure, fitness test, and automatic target zones based on how the body feels each day makes the CS300 the perfect solution for cross-trainers, beginner tri-athletes, and fitness cyclists looking to stay in shape.

This is an excellent watch for my spinning sessions. Thank your for your kindly, accurate and excellent delivery service and product.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Polar CS300 Great

Is an excellent HR and trainer, The connection [...] to upload the data stored is very easy and simply, Just place the PC microphone 5 or 6 cms from the back of the Polar, The beep's are packet and upload one week of exercise in less than 1 minute. Great

Monday, September 21, 2009

Polar CS300 Great HRM for Cycling and Exercising

I feel I really have to write a review... after all, I felt I took a bit of a gamble on this product given some of the negative previous reviews. Yet this HRM had all the features I wanted - an HRM that can be used to keep track of cycling exercises and could also be used independently of the bike at the gym or when running.

I've used this product for about 3 months now. I've biked close to 400 miles and have completed over 40 exercises with it (both biking, gym, and running). I am very happy to say that it has functioned flawlessly in all conditions... it has been used:

- in the rain
- in freezing conditions
- in the city
- in the gym

The watch has not frozen or restarted. I was very afraid of this from a previous review.

I have confirmed the distances it has calculated by GPS - and have used it on 2 of my bikes. Each time after setup it worked well.

I have also used this HRM with the optional cadence sensor which has worked fine as well.

So the roundup:

*** PROS
- Has worked flawlessly in all conditions and during all workouts
- Provides all features as documented
- Intuitive and easy to use interface
- Free Polar web software to track exercises and stats

*** CONS (all minor)
- Wireless data transfer can takes time to setup - It took me a while to get it to work with my laptop. I think I spent about an hour futzing with it, but once I got my setup it works every time.
- Polar website is slow and doesn't export data to CSV or Excel.
- The buttons feel a little cheap (but hey, they work fine).

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Polar CS300 Reviews

The product is very good, however, the sound communication with the computer and the software through the internet is defective.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Polar CS300 Great upper-entry level cycling HRM

I'm very pleased with the CS300. I purchased mine with the optional wireless cadence sensor.

I've used a number of generic, low-end, heart rate monitors for cycling in the past. When I decided that it was time to step up to a cycling specific HRM, this is the one that I picked.

I used the CS300 to not only upgrade my HRM, but also to replace my existing cyclometer and cadence sensor. It's slightly bulkier on the handle bars, but getting rid of the wires to the speed and cadence sensors on the old cyclometer is a real plus.

PROS:

--Very reliable. Had trouble with it displaying apparently erratic heart rates at first, but that turned out to be the fact that I wasn't wetting the contacts on the chest strap enough before starting my ride. Now I just run it under water before putting it on, and it has never had another problem.

--I love the "OwnZone" function, which selects an appropriate target heart rate zone every time that I ride based on my max heart rate, heart rate above my resting rate, etc. I find it to be very accurate. If it says that I haven't fully recovered from the hard ride the day before, it is always right. In the cases that I've tried to overrule its judgement, I've discovered that my legs really weren't ready for another intense workout. And on the days that I want to just go out and crank, I can set my own manual limits.

--Distances are extremely accurate. I've checked it against GPS, and it is dead on.

--The upload to the Polar training diary website works well, once you fiddle with it a bit. Polar training website allows you to record and chart a huge variety of data elements.

--The wireless speed and cadence sensors work very well.

--I like the fact that it differentiates between cycling workouts and non-cycling workouts, and is still able to run the estimated calories burned for each.

--The VO2max estimation function is great!


CONS:

--Only a single target heart rate zone. I wish that it had multiple zones, as other more expensive units have, but that's a tradeoff that I made knowingly.

--I wish I had the ability to pause recording during a ride (such as when stopped at the mini-mart for a Power Bar) so that the stopped time didn't dilute my average speeds, heart rates, and cadence. It's possible that the unit will already do this, but I haven't found it yet. I've only been riding with it for a few weeks, and the multiple functions of each button, depending on mode, can be a bit confusing at first.

--I wish that the volume on the audible alarms went up just a little bit higher. In a strong headwind it can sometimes be difficult to hear.

--I really wish that when I uploaded the stored workouts from the HRM to the Polar training website, that the website would recognize workouts that had previously been uploaded and deduplicate them. At the moment I have a number of workouts on the HRM that I don't want on the training diary. It automatically uploads all stored workouts every time, and I have to go into the online diary and delete those workouts. It would be nice if it didn't upload those workouts again the next time. Minor irritation.

SUMMARY:

Overall, a very, very good cycling heart rate monitor. It doesn't have the features of the $700-$800 dollar units. But it doesn't have the price tag either. And it does everything that I realistically need it to do. I'm not Lance Armstrong. I'm just an over-40 guy who likes to ride a couple hundred miles a week, and improve his general fitness level.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Polar CS300 Features

Features

  • Wireless Polar CS speed sensor, SpeedPointer
  • Cycling Energy Output,Estimated Time of Arrival
  • ZonePointer, Polar OwnCal
  • Polar OwnCode, Polar OwnZone
  • 2-year warranty