Customer Reviews

Polar CS300 Cycling Computer and Heart Rate Monitor

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

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).

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.

If this product worked as advertised I would be very happy, but Polar has replaced the watch three times in six months under warrantee because of defects. First the watch would not produce audible sound (chirp) in order to transfer data to my computer; then it acted erratically displaying clearly erroneous speed data and turning off while riding (among other things). This last watch could not be reset to work with the speed and cadence sensors so it would not accept any speed or cadence data.

It it worked the CS 300 would be great, but Polar's quality control problems make me wish I had purchased from another company.

I have had this Polar CS300 watch for almost two years now. It does keep track of the vital information after a ride is complete. I use it every weekend all year long. So I get plenty of use out of it. At times it will loose connection with the watch for Heart Rate and Cadence. The numbers will go to Zero. Then all of sudden kick back in. I have replaced the battery in heart rate strap. Didn't make a difference.

I have been only able to update to the web site once. Polar support stinks. I have contacted then more then a few times. The reason I had purchased this watch was to keep a log of my exercising with out me having to keep a spreadsheet. The weblink software just doesn't work properly.

The next time I purchase another cycling Heart Rate monitor I will look at other products before considering another Polar product. A lot of the cycling clubs in Miami / Fort Lauderdale area recommending the Garmin products. You get a lot more useful information while you are riding and easier to read when getting bounced around on the road.

I believe that my not so good experience with this product have been kind of unique based on what I have heard about the CS 300. Nonetheless, I think I should report it in this review. I had problems with my CS300; the computer simply restarted itself several times during my cycling and workouts. The unit was sent to Polar technical assistance in NY for test /review, so fair I am still waiting for their response. Another issue with this product is related to the data transfer through "sound link", it does not work smoothly.
My older Polar, which I have been using for about 3-4 years, works very well.

I would not recommend this product as it did not work out for me. Within the first month the top button broke so I could only move thru selections in one direction.

When I called the company they wanted to charge me $44.95 just to look at it and potentially repair/replace it, they made sure to let me know I needed to mail it at my own expense and I would be charged for any repairs.

The HR Monitor does ok, but it loses connectivity and all of a sudden during a workout your heart rate goes from 140 to 00 for about a minute until it creates a new link. The read out on the watch would be different than what was broadcast on cardio machines at my gym.

All in all, a very poor product, I have had much better luck with Timex and Garmin. I will never buy a Polar product again.

I used to like the CS 300 as a general HRM. There are several problems with this unit tat you don't find for a while.

- No option for stem mount. Strap mount is hard to use if you need to take unit off the bike for other uses.
- Forget about the connecting this unit to the Internet software. It uses an internal modem that you are supposed to place you computer mic next to the cs300 and it communicates with the Polar site. Good luck. This feature is worthless as it just plain does not work. Tried 3 different computers and 4 mics. Support was useless.
- Stops receiving HR for no apparent reason then starts up again. It can take up to a full hour of riding before I get an accurate heart rate reading. I tried using the special electrode contact gel but still no good.
- Sensor and strap roll over while swimming.

I have purchased cycling computers for much less and they outperform thin piece of JUNK.

I bought this used for about 1/4 of list price. The reviews weren't that great but given the price it was worth a gamble.

The good:

- easy to set up
- nice array of features
- has worked great so far aside from the alarms and sonicLink (now fixed)


The bad:

- alarms were inaudible when I first got it
- sonicLink (due to low volume) wouldn't initially work
- not Mac compatible
- speed sensor has to be placed high on fork to minimize interference
- instructions had wrong setting listed for my tire size
- batteries in watch and speed sensor aren't user replaceable*
- you can upload data form the CS300 to the polar website but you can't
easily move it anyplace else.

Given the longer list of "bad" things you might be surprised that I rated it as high as I did. It turns out that all the important items in the "bad" list I was eventually able to address or work around. For example, like me, another reviewer complained about the sounds from the watch being inaudible and he had that problem with 3 separate CS300s that Polar sent him. This is a big deal because the CS300 uses sounds (like a modem) to transmit saved information about your exercise sessions to the polar personal trainer website. There's no other way to get the data off the watch.

In my case the CS300 was a couple years old when I got it and since I'm not the original owner, -no warranty. I replaced the battery on my own hoping that would fix the sound problem. Now, you're supposed to send it to an approved Polar Service Center to change the battery to ensure that the unit retains its water resistance. I may eventually have it pressure tested by a local watch repair shop but I wasn't inclined to spend the money sending it to Michigan just to see if changing the battery fixed the problem. Anyway, the first battery change didn't do squat. The only reason I thought it still might be the battery is because the backlight was a little on the dim side as well. Going for broke, I tried a different battery, and ...SUCCESS

One of the big reasons I wanted to do this review is that given some of the other reviews, I was surprised at how well the CS300 worked. I use my bike to get to my job and a part of my ride is next to a Light Rail line. It uses overhead lines to supply its power and this is one of the things that can cause interference issues between the speed sensor and the CS300. I've had no trouble whatsoever. That may be because I mounted the speed sensor as close to the CS300 as I could. Other people have complained about the speed and distance not being accurately recorded but this may because of the improper numbers listed for at least some tires sizes in the manual. Once I had that set properly, the reported distance and speeds matched my wired computer.

I have to say that even though I did get the sonicLink data transfer to work, it took some trial and error. It's the type of thing that may work great on some people's computers and not at all on others. My recommendation is that if uploading the data to the Polar website is an important feature to you, get the CS300 from somewhere that has an easy return policy.

For me to give this thing 5 stars it would have to have true Mac compatibility, a better method of transferring data than SonicLink, user replaceable batteries in all components, and more resistance to interference giving you greater flexibility in sensor mounting.

I received my fourth, yes my forth replacement watch from Polar yesterday, and I'll be sending it back tomorrow. The first one, the one I bought, worked fine except that the sonic link tones it produced were so low it could take 45 min. before you would get a successful upload to the website. When I called Polar I was told that they had had a problem with a batch of watches and that they would fix it. I sent it in, got a new one sent to me which did the exact same thing. I called them again, explained the problem again and was told they had sent me one of the bad watches by mistake. The third one was fine, for about two weeks. While on a ride the speed stopped displaying. Then it would start again but the cadence would quite. Then the heart rate would go nuts, the speed would quit, the cadence would go nut, the speed would go nuts also, and on and on. I called back, they sent me another one, my fourth, which I received yesterday. I went for a ride this morning, got back, went to upload my data and nothing. Not one chirp from the sonic link. I have had it with this thing. Time to get my money back and find a monitor that is NOT made in China.

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