Most Helpful Customer Reviews
114 of 120 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nice looking, plagued with funcitonal problems..., December 25, 2008
Sadly I must report quite a bit of disappointment with this product:
1) The screen is so poorly contrasted it's nearly impossible to read except in the best of light and the backlight only makes it tolerable -- and only for 5 seconds in a row.
2) I've unfortunately fallen victim to a problem that has affected hundreds of people as represented on the Polar forums -- the inability (over time, randomly) to synch to the web service. This bug is a software/synch. issue between the watch, windows software and the web service. It prevents the upload of your training results and if you're using the STAR program means you don't get the adaptive training routine downloaded to your watch. Further, it means you don't have access to the snazzy zone/interval graphs.
3) The feature set is misleading as it comes to being able to use certain functions; the realtime graph and rest interval display is really only available in the strength training routines and not for general aerobic activity as defined by the training program you choose on the web service.
4) There's no basic interval timer.
5) The buttons are difficult to operate and the bottom button requires more force than the top to push.
If you're a runner or cyclist, this is probably a fine watch, but the FT60 looks like a much better unit that you can actually *see*
Some of these might seem like minor issues, but I am basically left with a watch that does less than my $80 Mio Drive watch that doesn't require a chest strap for the pulse reading.
I'm very disappointed with this purchase.
Be very, very sure what sort of activity you wish to monitor for this price...and the screen absolutely sucks.
I can't see how this would be released as a saleable product. That picture to the right is NOT an accurate representation of the display...
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Avoid the FT80 until the technical issues are solved, January 15, 2009
I purchased an FT-80 just prior to Christmas. Whilst I was fairly happy with it for the first couple of weeks (the dim back-light and anemic audio tones notwithstanding), I came across a significant bug in the workout data tracking that renders it useless. There is clearly an issue with the firmware or the memory - after my Monday workout the stats for the week switched to 255 sessions, 65535 calories burned and 99:59:59 hours of exercise. Anyone familiar with computers will realize the significance of these numbers - it looks like the entire data slot got corrupted.
I thought this might be an isolated incident until I checked the Polar forums for the FT80. The posts are full of people complaining about this same issue, along with a host of other issues. There has been no official response from Polar, which is extremely poor. I contacted Polar technical support and have not heard back yet.
I strongly suggest anyone considering this model checks the Polar forums here:
[...]
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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth it.. Updated review after a year of use., November 12, 2008
Figured I would expand on my review now that I have used the product now for quite some time.
Overall I think the FT80 is worth the price, and is a fantastic tool that has completely transformed my life and motivated me to workout more. I will outline the the pros/cons below and hopefully I can shed some light on some other reviews as well from having the product for so long now.
What I love : The star training program and fitness test have worked as my complete motivator and those two features combined have helped me get back in shape after a longish layoff. The star program helped me not overtrain and burn myself out in the begining which was very important and the improvements shown in ownindex kept me motivated along with the trophies.
The design is great and I get complimented on it all the time. I have never had an issue with the display, yes it is reverse black/white but once I got use to it I actually prefer this now.
It was dimmer, but now the contrast is even brighter.(more on this later)
The transmitter is very comfortable. VERY. I have used every transmitter on the market, this is the most comfortable. I also have a Numetrex Tshirt with the strap built in I wear all the time. This GETS RID OF THE STRAP COMPLETELY for you users who are new to HR transmitters and feel you won't like it.
Polar's customer service here in the states is phenomenal. Unfortunately I had to talk to them though:(. I was one of the first people in the US to buy the Ft80, I worked in electronics for a long time, and I knew the risks of buying a 1st release. Software always has issues, in fact every OS I have had since the inception of computers have had problems that updates have fixed -- this computer was no different. After 6 weeks of using the star program the software in the watch froze up and gave me some crazy numbers and wouldn't let me download. Next morning I called Polar and got right through , spoke to a guy who was super nice and confirmed the problem to be a bug in the software that required a firmware update - no problem that is what I figured. But wait - I can't just update it from my computer? They have to do it?? Ugh..
So the nice cs guy walked me through a repair ticket thingy on their website and off it went back to Polar.. I was slightly annoyed I had to send it back because I have grown so fond of using it every day. So I went to the post office, sent it back(polar gave me a free label) and off it went this was a Monday. I get an auto email next day from Polar telling me they got the package, great.. That night I got home to find another email- this time a funny one telling me its on its way back and I don't have an excuse for not exercising now..lol. I laugh because they were right, I wouldn't workout without it hehe. I got the package back Thursday afternoon with everything fixed. DISPLAY brighter and a hand written thank you and I'm sorry card with little Polar hearts on it..
Afterwards I spoke with a rep at a local marathon - and he confirmed that the first version of FT80 had a bug and he guaranteed everything was fixed entirely and some even brought back from stores for the firmware to be updated.
So in all, I have used it about 5 months since the update and it has become an essential part of my training.
The product would have got 5 stars from me if:::
1)The Firmware at that point and in the future could be updated by me, automatically from my flowlink when I download.
2) The strength training was more versatile. And I could save my own workouts instead of using the preset ones.
3) If the Website could have an upload feature so I can share my workouts of Facebook.
I sincerely hope this helps peoples buying decisions.
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