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April
7

Polar RS800sd Heart Rate Monitor Watch

Category: Sports

Binding: Sports
ASIN: B000IV2SK6
Manufacturer: Polar
Release Date: 2006-10-01
Average Customer Review: (From 12 total reviews)
List Price: $499.95
Amazon Price: Too low to display (9 new available)

 

Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon web site at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.

 

 

Features

  • Wrist-style heart rate monitor and stopwatch geared for elite level athletes and coaches
  • With included S3 Stride Sensor, receive highly consistent and accurate speed/pace, distance and cadence data
  • Polar WearLink W.I.N.D. transmitter with 2.4 GHz disturbance-free transmission
  • Includes Polar Protrainer 5 training, planning and analyzing software
  • Dual time zone, alarm with snooze, and water resistance to 50 meters

Accessories

Editorial Reviews

Product Description:
For the runner who requires the best. The new RS800sd is the ultimate running icon for planning, monitoring and analyzing training. It?s also part of the world?s first integrated training system together with adidas running gear. The RS800sd helps you improve your running efficiency, average stride length, and the regularity of your running cadence. Comeswith massive memory capacity and the same running features as RS800, plus the new Polar s3 stride sensor? W.I.N.D. for detailed speed/paceand distance tracking.TRAINING PLANNING WITH POLAR PROTRAINER 5?: The new Polar ProTrainer 5 is the most advanced and dynamic training, planning and analyzing software on the market. Easily prepare a detailed training program and transfer your daily training plan to your Polar Running Computer via infrared. POLAR S3 STRIDE SENSOR? W.I.N.D.: RS800sd comes with the Polar s3 stride sensor W.I.N.D., featuring nano technology for highly consistent and accurate speed and distance measurement. Fully compatible with Adidas adiStar Fusion running shoe. User-changeable battery and water resistant.

Amazon.com Product Description:
Designed for elite-level training, the Polar RS800sd wrist heart rate monitor a complete system for planning, monitoring and analyzing your training. It includes the comfortable textile Polar WearLink W.I.N.D. transmitter with 2.4 GHz disturbance-free transmission from all other electronic devices. It comes with Polar’s ProTrainer 5 software–the most advanced and dynamic training, planning and analyzing software on the market. Easily prepare a detailed training program and transfer your daily training plan to the RS800 via a wireless infrared connection. It also features a built-in altimeter for recording altitude and ascent for route profile and total meters climbed.

And when used in conjunction with the included Polar S3 Stride Sensor, you’ll receive highly consistent and accurate speed/pace, distance and cadence data via its nano technology. It incorporates Polar’s W.I.N.D. technology, offers water resistance and a user replaceable battery, and is fully compatible with the Adidas AdiStar Fusion running shoe.

Heart rate monitoring includes maximum heart rate (fitness test-based and age-based), maximum/average of total exercise and of each lap (up to 99 laps), three target zones, and audible alarms. It also offers such timing features as time of day (12/24-hour display), dual time zone, day and date display, stopwatch, and alarm with snooze. It also includes the following exclusive Polar features:

  • Polar Sport Zones: Polar sport zones provides an easy way to select and monitor the intensity of your training and to follow Polar’s sport zones based training programs. The training is divided into five zones based on percentages of your maximum heart rate: very light (50-60%HRmax), light (60-70% HRmax), moderate (70-80%HRmax), hard (80-90% HRmax) and maximum (90-100% HRmax).
  • Polar OwnCal: This feature shows your energy expenditure during one exercise session as well as your accumulated kilocalories during several exercise sessions. You can set daily and weekly exercise goals in terms of calorie expenditure with the OwnCal feature. Because the OwnCal tracks both the energy expenditure during one exercise session and the accumulated kilocalories during a longer time e.g. one week, it helps in achieving both short term and long term goals.
  • Polar OwnZone: This feature guides you through an appropriate warm-up routine and automatically determines a safe and effective exercise heart rate zone–your OwnZone–while taking into account your current physical condition.
  • R-R Intervals / Online HR Variability: Measures heart beat intervals and reflects autonomic nervous system in heartbeat regulation. The R-R interval measurement is most useful at rest and at low intensities. Relaxation rate indicates the state of your physical recovery.
  • Running Cadence and Average Stride Length: With this feature you can sharpen your cadence and make your ground contact time shorter. This will help you to find a balance between leg power and leg speed.

Manufacturer’s Warranty
The original purchaser of this heart rate monitor is backed by a limited warranty that states that this product that the product will be free from defects in material or workmanship for two years from the date of purchase.

Note:
Polar heart rate monitors are precision instruments; consumers are not advised to change their own battery. Polar recommends that all service be done by an authorized Polar Service Center which will include a warranty for 90 days on repairs and 6 months for batteries.

About Polar
The first EKG accurate wireless heart rate monitor was invented by Polar back in 1977 as a training tool for the Finnish National Cross Country Ski Team. The concept of “intensity training” by heart rate swept the athletic world in the eighties. By the 1990s, individuals were looking to heart rate monitors not only for performance training needs, but also for achieving everyday fitness goals. Today, the same concept of heart rate training is being used by world-class athletes as well as everyday people trying to lose weight. Polar is the leading brand among consumers, coaches, and personal trainers worldwide and the company is committed to not only producing the best products, but also being the leading educator on the benefits of heart rate based exercise.

Customer Reviews

The triumph of form over function by W. Banker
I’ve been a Polar HR monitor owner since the mid 90’s starting with 710i, then 625x, followed by the 725x, and now the RS800SD. I consider myself a serious competitive runner and have been so for over 30 years. Polar introduced me to heart rate monitoring as key component to performance improvement with the book “Training, Lactate, Pulse rate” by Janssen, which is no longer offered by them and may not be published anymore. I have had my VO2, HR curve, and lactate threshold measured in a lab several times over the past few years. I have used this product now for almost a full year and my review will focus on what does all this functionality do to help me improve my running vs some of the other reviews here which seem enamored with purported functionality without connecting the dots for useful training feedback.

The bottom line: This is their flagship product, top of the line and top dollar but Polar seems to have chosen marketing (a shiny sexy small form factor watch with apparently lots of new functions) over solid engineering, useful software functionality, and product reliability. If you already own a 625x or 725x model there is little reason to upgrade as this is an “unfinished product”

The good:

1. Small form factor for watch and footpod

2. Improvement in ergonomics — buttons and watch face are easier to use

3. More memory — you can record longer than earlier models at the 1 second rate

4. Running stride length has been added.

The bad:

1. The footpod and HR strap via blue tooth does not seem any more accurate than previous non-blue tooth models and maybe less so regarding footpod functions. HR measurement seems as accurate as earlier models.

2. Software (Polar Pro Trainer 5) has new functions which are questionable at best and misleading at worst — namely the running “index” function which on a scale of 30 to 76 purports to give you the sum of all calculations with a number which roughly correlates with expected future performance (running times) on various races such as a 5K through a marathon.

3. Customer Service. I was told at first that the inability to record temperature on the watch was a bug in the software. Later was told that the watch could not record temperature (correct). Also was given an excuse as to why temperature was no longer recorded by the watch (users body temperature — hah! — it worked well enough on earlier models). And regarding the index calculation, I was never given the algorithm which could at least help me understand what type of math it was doing (it is a mystery to me and the algorithm seems biased to reward you with a higher index score for a lower heart rate and slow time vs a slightly higher heart rate and faster time). Instead I was given a platitude;

“It is worth to remember that in addition to good Running Index, maximal running performance demands good preparation, optimal running conditions, speed endurance and guts. Training quantity and quality have an affect as well as natural talent. The RunningIndex gives a value measured in current circumstances.”

I especially like the “guts” comment — really happy about that as I don’t know how I’ve gotten by over the past 30 years beating people without “guts”

The ugly:

1. Incomprehensible design decision to modify the altimeter sensor holes from recessed (previous polar models) to flush on the bottom of the watch resulting in erroneous readings as soon as you start to sweat (yes you read that right — sweat) and thus rendering the altimeter function of the watch largely useless unless the watch is worn in such a way (flopping on wrist or strapped to clothing) to preclude the sensor holes from clogging with sweat from your wrist.

2. Software. Looks real nice until you try to modify data. Say you got erroneous distance reading on your last run and you want to easily fix it. You won’t be able to. No simple function to correct the total distance of a run and have that correction evenly applied to entire run. This undermines the whole point of exercise comparison within the software. If you go out on two identical runs but the distance recorded by the watch varies by a few tenths of a mile there will be no easy way to correct the data.

3. Temperature. Previous models recorded temperature as a data point whenever you took a lap marker or finished the run. This model does neither requiring you to manually enter the temperature into the software.

4. The running index calculation does not take into consideration temperature (AMAZING! since the book noted at the beginning of this review showed clearly that there is a positive correlation between high temperatures and higher heart rates — you work harder to cool youself). The lack of temperature calculation (an identical run can have HR vary by 10 BPM based upon temperature) seriously undermines the usefulness of the running index function.

5. No way to tell software about different running conditions for a given distance and have that taken into consideration on the index calculation. Five miles run on a track are treated the same as five miles run on sandy roads or trails. So when you go into the comparison graphs which purportedly allow you to see at a glance trends in your running, you cannot account for different conditions on runs. Neither different temperatures or different running surfaces are considered on calculations. This seriously undermines the usefulness of comparing weeks worth of training runs in order to come up with a performance trajectory and let you know are you ready for that next race.

Until this product I rarely even considered any other HR monitoring tool. Polar may not have made “pretty” watches, but they worked. They made tools for athletes interested in maximizing their performance. The marketing department has apparently taken over the company from the engineers. The company may have “jumped the shark” with this watch and software. I hope I’m wrong and Polar surprises with its next watch. It needs to actually delivers useful functions for serious athletes and not take away functions offered from previous models (temperature and an altimeter which works reliably). And if they are going to go to the trouble of providing a number which tells all — the index number — then they better explain how that number is calculated and provide the user with the ability to modify the formula (temperature and surface conditions to start with) in order to meet variable conditions if their engineers and exercise physiologist have not already thought of everything.

And keep the marketing department out of product design until functions are firmly set and don’t represent a two steps forward, two steps back design as we see with this model.

Nice option for runners by Marcio Elio Manique Jr.
I already owned most of suunto and polar heart monitors. The RS800SD is the one of my favorites. It has nice options of screens and it is very light. It seems not so robust as the 625x or 725x (I owned both). As some colleagues wrotes seems to me also that the S3 pod is not so accurated as the S1 but is lighter. I also own the RS400, if you are not looking for the running index, it comes with the S1 and coded transmitter that is easier find find spare parts (also once is a little bit darker than RS800 I prefer the looking). The main issue with Polar is the Irda interface. I already bought one Irda connector (universal non polar) that is working very well with the S725X but it is not with RS800 or RS400. Now I ordered the original Polar connector but once I use the windons Vista I am expecting problems (based on users reviews). Polar should pick an easier system suc as wired connection or bluetooth. Last point, the RS products are not designed for multi sport (biking for example)

Poor initial quality, working well now by Mr. Inspector
First, a brief summary: As you will read below, I have had significant problems with the initial quality and reliability of this product. However, my experience with Polar customer service has been excellent. They have promptly fixed every problem I have run into (I have just ran into more than I expect for a product of this price). I now have a functioning watch (and hope it will stay that way). When the watch is working, this is a fantastic product that offers a level of performance that you won’t find anywhere else. Yes, it’s a bigger watch than your Timex Ironman, but it’s quite a bit smaller than any comparable systems (I have also owned the Polar 625x, and have some experience with the Garmin 205).

Now the details of my review. First, the painful experience I have had just getting a working watch into my hands:

1. My first RS800SD I received had a slight rattle inside it when shaken. I verified that the rattle was not coming from any part of the watch band; the rattle appeared to be emanating from the red OK button (when I held the OK button down and shook the watch, the rattle was diminished or non-existent). I called a sales associate at the place of purchase to ask him about this, and he could not give me a definitive answer as to whether this was expected or not, but he suggested I return it for replacement, which I did.

2. The second watch I received (I verified that the watch was replaced; serial numbers were different) exhibited the same rattling. After calling many authorized Polar service centers, I received multiple answers as to the cause of the rattling. Some technicians told me that it was expected and was just the nature of the design of the OK button; others told me that this was probably indicative of a defect, but that they had never heard of it happening before; and others could not give an answer to my question. I finally spoke with service technician at the Polar service center in NY who informed me that he was aware of this problem. There apparently was a particular manufactured lot of RS800SD’s which had a problem with a loose main button spring (hence my having received two of them with the same rattling problem) and that I needed to send in the watch to Polar for repair under warranty. I will mention that from the time I received my second watch from the original place of purchase to the time I sent the second watch back in to Polar for repair, I used the watch on one 1-hour run. I will also mention that, for a product this expensive with a known manufacturing defect, I wouldn’t expect to have to pay shipping to send it back for repair, but I did (Polar paid for shipping back to me).

3. I received my third RS800SD promptly from Polar and the rattling problem was solved. I did notice that the paperwork said that the watch case was repaired/replaced, which I expected, and the battery was replaced since it had tested as weak or flat, which I did not expect, since I had only used the watch on one 1-hour run (and never used the heart rate monitor). But the repaired watch seemed to work and I used it for two runs, during which I used the altimeter and stride sensor, but still did not yet use the heart rate monitor. The watch worked fine for a couple of weeks, but then one morning the screen was blank. I tried pushing all four side buttons to reset the watch, which led to the full screen of various figures/digits. I then pushed the OK button (the final step in resetting the watch), which just caused the screen to go blank again. After talking to technical support, I was asked to send it in again for repair. Thankfully, I did not have to pay shipping this time.

4. I again received the watch promptly in return from Polar, this time with some documentation indicating that they had replaced the entire watch. The problem on the previous watch was described as “high power consuption” (I wish they had looked into this a little deeper the first time, instead of just replacing the battery). Since I now had my old heart rate/stride sensors and my new watch, I had to re-”teach” the sensors to talk to the new watch. This appeared to be easy enough, but once the watch indicated that I had successfully taught the sensors, the watch failed to find the stride sensor when I started an exercise (this was never a problem on any of the previously repaired/replaced watches I have had). After more discussion with a Polar service rep, I learned of a second technique (found nowhere in the documentation) of helping the watch to find the sensors. So I then had a work-around (though entirely undocumented), but it was many more steps than I had to go through previously, and it concerned me that the new watch with the old sensors does not behave the same as the old watch with the old sensors. However, I then saw other posts on this site (or comments to posts) which recemmended additional tips (some documented, some not):

a) ensure that the footpod battery fits sungly in the footpod by inserting a small strip of paper around the rim of the battery holder,

b) ensure that the small gold-colored batter contact in the footpod is bend sufficiently to guaranty a good connection to the battery,

c) take a little extra care in installing the battery to ensure that the footpod battery holder is snugly held in place by the grooves in the footpod,

d) attach the footpod to my shoe exactly as instructed in the documentation, by inserting the clip under the laces, THEN tightening the laces, THEN snapping the pod in place,

e) wear the footpod a little higher on the show (closer to the ankle as opposed to the toes)

Recommendations a) through c) resulted in the watch being able to find the footpod automatically (at least the last few times I have tried it). Recommendations d) and e) seemed to improve accuracy of distance/pace measurements and reduce noise, particularly on downhills or at faster paces.

So, when the watch IS working as it should, here are my observations.

1. The altimeter seems to be right on, as I compare watch data from a run in the mountains to topo maps.

2. The stride sensor is quite accurate, at least for my needs. I do almost all my running on uneven trails in the mountains, and in such a scenario I expect lower accuracy in speed/distance than on a uniform surface like a track. For the runs I do, total ascent is as important a number as miles run. I calibrated the stride sensor on the track and found that pre-calibration, the stride sensor was >96% accurate, as measured. Post-calibration, it was within 99% accuracy (my calibration and measurement route was 1200 on the track). It is pretty cool to be on a run and put forth an almost inperceptible additional effort, and see your measured pace go up by 5 seconds a mile. One thing I did notice is that when running down steep downhills, the speed/distance measurements get quite erratic. This is probably due in part to my poor downhill running style and the consequent pounding my feet make. Taking certain steps (see above) improves this significantly, though. I have not yet had the chance to calibrate the stride sensor on runs in the mountains. When I do, I will measure it against a distance wheel and update my review to include the results.

2.b. The physical design of the footpod is fantastic. One of the reasons I decided to upgrade from the 625X to the RS800SD is because of the smaller, lighter footpod. To me, the 625X footpod was just large and heavy enough to notice. Not so with the RS800 stride sensor. I have not used the foot pod with the Addidas shoes inside which you can place the foot pod, so I have only used the pod strapped to the top of my shoe. The other reason that I upgraded to the RS800 is that it will not get confused with other similar computers around, which was a problem with the 625x. However as indicated in #4 above, I have had some trouble with communication between the food pod and the watch (only when I tried using my new watch with my original stride sensor), so there may be a few bugs that need to be worked out, or at the very least the documenation is incomplete.

3. I don’t have a good way of making a statement on the accuracy of the heart rate monitor, but I will say that I haven’t had any trouble with getting it to communicate with the watch (old or new replaced watch). In agreement with other reviews I have read, it is certainly the most comfortable chest-strap-style heart rate monitor I have experienced. It reads very consistent heart rates…almost no noise at all.

4. The user interface on the watch itself is quite good and fairly intuitive (with the exception of the weeks I had the 625X, which I eventually sent in for an upgrade to the rs800, I am a new Polar user). I am admittedly somewhat technically savvy, but am not a complete gadgets geek. The documentation I would give 6 stars out of ten. What it did cover, it covered clearly with a few minor exceptions, but there are a number of things that were completely ommitted (such as steps, built in to the watch, to take if you are having difficulty establishing communication between the watch and sensors).

5. The software that came with the watch is decent. As of this writing, I haven’t had the chance to really delve into it (since I have only had a working watch for about 2.5 weeks since I initially bought the watch 3 months ago) beyond its basic features. As is true of other portions of this review, I will update this as I learn and experience more. A word of advice, though: don’t buy the Polar branded IR adapter. You can get the same thing without the Polar logo at many places for 1/3 the price.

6. The watch itself is an fairly decent industrial design. I would have preferred an option other than silver, since the watch’s size makes it stand out enough as it is, but I’m not that particular on those kind of things. It took a little getting used to to use a watch this big as an “everyday” watch, but I do so occasionally now. I like the keylock feature and the sleep mode. Those were good additions. Like I mentioned before, if your watch rattles, particularly the red button, send it back to Polar. This is a known defect. If you just return it to the place you bought it, you may (as I did) receive another watch with the same defect.

7. When working properly, this watch gives you a LOT of data. So much, in fact, that it takes some discipline to remind yourself not to spend the whole run looking at pace, distance, HR, ascent, elevation, stride length, etc., and to instead just enjoy the run and peruse the data afterwards.

8. Yes, the thing is expensive. But you do have to pay for high performance. I would just expect better quality/reliability from such a price. Fortunately I have gotten good response from Polar customer service, and I now have a complete system that seems to be working. My fingers are crossed.

In summary, the jury is still out on this one. My better judgement says that I should have waited for the second edition of this watch so that they could get the bugs worked out. As I have noted, I have had a pretty rotten intial experience with quality and reliability of this product, but I’ve had a positive experience with Polar’s response to my problems. I am still hopeful that I have finally gotten all the bugs worked out, as this product has shown great promise when it is working as it should. If it would have worked out of the box like it is now, I would give this product 5 stars, even considering the high price. If I were to rate Polar customer service independently of my poor experiences with the product it self, I would give them 4.5 stars. All things considered, I’m giving it 3 stars now. If I can get six months of uninterupted reliable performance (and after a chance to evaluate battery life), I’ll bump the rating up, and chalk my experience up to a few consecutive spouts of bad luck.

Polar RS800SD “League of it’s Own” by Rick
I recently traded up from the Polar RS200SD to the RS800SD and I must say I really like this running computer. If you are a serious runner that likes to analyze what you are doing then you can’t beat this system. Beings I have been a Polar fan and used there products the RS800SD was very easy to set up and calibrate. Even if its the first time owning a Polar it is very easy to follow along during the programming steps. I have read several reviews where people said this system was a big waste but I totally disagree. Any system you buy will not be 100% accurate and you need to realize that when buying. If you take the time and calibrate this unit you can get it really close to 100%. When compared to a Garmin GPS I believe they are just as or even more accurate but you get so many more features. It is just a matter of preference and what you are willing to spend. All I can say is I have and always will be a Polar fan and I highly recommend the RS800SD if you can afford it. If you don’t need all the bells and whistles that the 800 gives you then take a good look at the RS200SD. Like I said I had that one prior to the 800 and I never had a problem with it for over two years except for maybe two reboots.

Rick

Polar Fan Forever!

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly know how far they can go.

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