Polar RS300X Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black) (Sports) recently tagged "running"

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful: 3.0 out of 5 stars Overall a decent product with some minor drawbacks, August 28, 2009 This review is from: Polar RS300X Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black) (Sports) For some reason, Polar requires that these units be sent back to replace the battery, which costs $25 + shipping. On top of the annual cost of maintenance, this ship to replace policy leaves you without a heart monitor for about 2 weeks once a year.

The other issue I found is that the reception range is not very good, so the unit won't work well mounted on a bicycle.

Finally, Polar has decided to arbitrarily remove the % fat burn function from some of its watches. This watch does not have it, so keep in mind you will not know what % of your calorie burn was fat.

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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful: 2.0 out of 5 stars Electronics OK, crappy display, September 6, 2009 This review is from: Polar RS300X Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black) (Sports) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE: Tuesday, September 8, 2009 1:36PM

After a couple more workouts and a few hours of trying to figure out this product... well, their user documentation is horrible, which means you must spend hours discovering almost everything on your own.

I like the RS300X for its ability to track and store training data. (But, finding the data is a hassle thanks to poor documentation with no examples. Ultimately, I will have to spend time creating a navigation chart myself.)

I like the chest band with its detachable transmitter and easy-to-replace battery.

I don't like the molded one-piece watch-band that forces you to wear the watch atop the wrist. I prefer to wear the watch on the side of my wrist where I can glance down to read, rather than having to raise my entire arm to read.

I still don't like the display because of its obnoxious glare and requirement of perfect up-close vision to read it.

Based on my experience with the RS300X and other Polar products, I would now raise my 2-star rating to 4-stars (if I could). Without excellent and useful documentation - that SAVES MY TIME & FRUSTRATION - I can't give it 5-stars.

All my other Polar products have been reliable and of high quality construction. I assume the RS300X will be the same or better.

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Sunday, September 6, 2009 11:25AM

I received my new Polar RS300X a couple days ago. I shoulda shopped around...

I've been using Polar Heart Rate monitors since 1986. and have been pleased with them all... Until now.

I bought this RS300X because I loathe the hassle of sending the equipment in for new batteries.

While the RS300X electronics seem to offer many features, the smaller display is utterly crappy - a significant obstruction to my workouts!

You must try to read the tiny display info through TWO glaring reflections off the clear plastic lens (glare NOT SHOWN in the photos). What good is the real-time feedback info if you can't read it while running?!?!

I assumed I would love this new product.

Unfortunately, after only two uses, I hate this RS300X. If I change my mind after more usage, I'll change this review.

Mike

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