bburrito

What do you guys think?

The primary difference is that the Polar gets its info from foot pods, cadence and speed sensors whereas the Timex unit gets all the same information from a GPS antenna you wear on an arm band.

Anybody using either of these units?

indygreg

I have owned every possible device out there . . . Timex Bodylink, Polar 625x, Polar 200sd, and Garmin 305. I currenlty own the Garmin 305. It is best for me all things considered. The higher end polar gear is great too - 625x and the newer 700 and 800 series stuff. The Rs200sd was a flawed design and it locks up a lot. I hated it.
Toss the Timex out . . . just not in the same league with the others. It is an afterthought for them and way too cumbersome . . . watch on wrist, heavy GPS on arm, data recorder on shorts. And it is not integrated . . . as in you have to start and stop the data collector independantly of the watch. It is junk.

Modern GPS (polar 205 and 305) is acurrate and works nearly all the time. The polar footpod (same tech as the Nike and Suunto footpods) works great, but you have to calibrate it to a shoe (very easy). The polar is just start and go, the GPS you have to let it find the birds.

Garmin 10x and 201 series are junk as well . . . they have not got the GPS stuff worked out well enough yet.

GPS in the 305 is very accurate for distance, but its real time pace is not great. Polar is the best at real time pace. Great in fact.

ghwin

IndyGreg,

I didn't know Polar has a GPS model. I couldn't find it on their website.

I am also a gadget junkie and am just getting started in triathlons. trying to decide among the Polar S725X, RS800sd, Garmin Forerunner 305, and Edge 305.

Which Garmin 305 do you have? Forerunner or Edge?

So what is your final conclusion? Which would you choose, Polar or Garmin? And what about the training software that comes with each?

Thanks for any info.

- Greg H.

indygreg

Sorry . . .I posted that yesterday while doing 3 other things. All references to 305, 205, 10x, 201 are Garmin, not polar. Polar is footpod (which I like) not GPS.

I have the forerunner as my background is a runner. The edge will not help you much when you run as you would have to hold it or mount it somehow. The forerunner can do bike cadance (if you get the thing for your bike) and it is easy to mount on your bars (with a little bit of foam or something to wrap around your bars).

I prefer the Garmin 305 forerunner in all the products I have tried. That said, I have not tried the new higher end polar stuff with the smaller footpod.
Polar is better with heartrate - their strap is MUCH better than Garmin.

Garmin has a rechargable battery, which at the time was very important to me, as I ran most of my miles in the dark before the sun came up. You can leave the backlight on all the time and not worry about it as you just pop it on the charger. The polar you could not do that. In addition, the backlight on the polar 625x was worse than words can describe.

Training software . . . the higher end polars have a wealth of information. the 200sd did not. Garmin has all the info I like, but I do not use their software. I use sporttracks, which is free. It maps my runs/rides, smooths out the elevation, etc.

You will not go wrong with either the 305 forerunner or the newer high end polar stuff. However, I think the new polar stuff does not tie in with any of their bike stuff . . . which may or may not matter to you.