The Polar RS800CX is my fifth or sixth Polar HRM. I have slowly worked my way up to what I consider to be Polar's best offering. The features available on this unit are absolutely splendid. Every exercise creates a new digital object that one can study to chart one's progress but you can also just gather them as digital remembrances. I can pin point the moment in time when I injured my IT band, the time of the run when my heart rate raced to 194 (against my "theoretical" limit of 170) and the Iyengar yoga class when it sank to 26. My biggest gripe about all Polar products is the awkwardness of thedocumentation they provide. All the statements are grammatically correct and all the information is there somewhere but it is organized in an odd manner and I find myself wrestling with "them" to find answers to obvious questions. To unlock all the features, you need to have the units themselves, a computer to get on the web, the paper documentation the unit shipped with, the on line documentation for the Polar ProTrainer software and then you need Google to find the needle in the haystack.
The RS800CX reigns supreme within the Polar family. It is the only unit that can sample, record and export your heart rate, as a time series, at a user selectable sampling frequency, down to once every second. It is currently the only unit that can measure Heart Rate Variation (HRV). HRV provides a measure of your state of relaxation. More precisely, HRV measures how well your parasympathetic nervous system is asserting itself over the sympathetic nervous system. The larger the HRV the greater the degree of relaxation.
The practices of Yoga (asanas, pranayama and meditation) activate parasympathetic influences while activities like running activate the sympathetic nervous system. The beauty of the RS800CX unit is that it actually allows you to track the HRV of different practices. It can measure not only how hard you are exerting but also how deeply you are relaxing. The calories you burn in most styles of Yoga barely rises above the base metabolic rate. But the outlook changes when you look at HRV. When I am running at say 8.1 MPH my HRV is down to 2.1 ms and when I let myself into and hold a posture, like trikonasana, for an extended period of time, in an Iyengar Yoga session, I have seen numbers as high as 90 ms. The RS800CX manual is mostly silent on the value of this feature. I actually track the effect of different styles of Yoga by looking at the HRV they induce in me. I can even tell which teacher, studio and style is right for me! For example, last week during a 90 minute Iyengar Yoga session I expended 167 cal, and ran up a HRV standard deviation of 147, the next day during a 90 minute Ashtanga Yoga session I expended 275 cal and logged HRV standard deviation of 107. Most of us need to burn plenty of calories and also learn to let up and relax. Nearly everyone knows how to burn calories but how does one actively relax. Now you can plan and track relaxation quantitatively. I hear many Ashtanga practitioners say that Iyengar doesn't work for them because they "don't break a sweat" or "nothing is moving". If only they had a RS800CX on they could see the difference in real time!
If you take the trouble to traverse through a somewhat non-intuitive sequence you can get the RS800CX to display any of two dozen measures it tracks in real time right on your watch dial. The hoops to jump through to do this require that you first fire up the Polar ProTrainer application and link your watch to your computer. On most laptops with built in IR ports, this requires that you use one hand to position the watch correctly, so that it can link up with the IR port. With the other hand you must bring up the "Edit Polar Product Setting" menu, and let it sync up. Once it has synced up you can drop the watch and click on the "Product" tab of a menu screen that pops up after the syncing. On the screen that comes up you see a button labeled "Customize Display Sets" which you click on and then a panel pops up drop with this smorgasbord menu of 23 different real time readouts organized around four or five display panels that get activated depending on what accessories you have associated with the RS800CX. So there is more confusion here. If you don't have the cadence or speed sensors accessories, the settings under those tabs will not register on the the wrist unit. Once you make your choices, hold up the watch again to the IR port and click on the sync icon to download to the watch and you are all set.
My last RS800SD died recently- the screen went blank afte about six months. The retailer gave me a full refund and so I bought myself a new RS800CX. Others have said this before, but the RS800CX is significantly better than the RS800sd even though they share accessories. I am surprised they continue to sell the RS800sd. You have to wade through some additional confusion when you try to figure out which RS800CX to get. The main point to remember is that the wrist unit is RS800CX and common to all the bundles that currently exist. You can attach stride sensors, bike sensors or GPS sensors at any point in time to obtain the additional capabilities. If you run on a treadmill a GPS sensor will do you no good, you need the S3, if you bike you need the cadence and speed sensors for bikes. These are little devices that physically attach to your bicycle frame and crank. They will do you no good if you are trying to log data from elliptical machines and stationary bikes in gyms. If you do your panting outdoors or practice multiple activities you likely want the GPS unit to track the route and speed. If you want all three, make sure you are not duplicating accessories by buying packages.
My transition from the RS800sd to the RS800CX took a few hours of persistence. But for the markings the two look identical but work quire differently! I finally managed to figure out how to get an old S3 stride sensor to transmit stride length and cadence data to my RS800CX unit. I was trying to get the old S3 to work with the new RS800CX and although I could easily get the RS800CX to learn the S3 sensor, the cadence and stride length data were not getting transmitted to the RS800CX.
The trick was to (1) Hit the red START button to go into the exercise mode the unit starts to search for the heart rate data then (2) hold down the the upper left "LIGHT" button to bring up a new SETTINGS menu that lists the shoe sensor that had previously been learned by the RS800CX. You can now activate it. When this has been correctly done r1 (or r2 or r3) displays next to where the heart rate normally shows (bottom right of display). r for run even though these features are sometimes grouped under shoes. Once done, the RS800CX seems to remember the association. It was quite frustrating to not find a way to complete this association through the settings menu that one steps through by hitting the up/down buttons. The manual does explain it but this critical feature is awkwardly placed behind a button labeled "LIGHT".
Even though the Polar manuals aggravate me, this unit has changed my attitude towards exercise and wellness by bringing a level of rigor and accuracy that is very addictive. I have spent over a thousand dollars so far buying their stuff and I think it is one of the best investments I have ever made in my health.
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Product Description:
Are you serious about your athletic training? If so, turn to the Polar RS800CX heart rate monitor watch, which offers a complete system for planning, monitoring, and analyzing every part of your training. The RS800CX is equipped with a host of valuable tools, including a built-in altimeter, a wireless WearLink W.I.N.D. heart rate transmitter with a soft textile chest strap, several proprietary Polar functions that help optimize your daily workouts, and a copy of Polar ProTrainer 5 software, which makes it easy to analyze your workouts and create custom training routines. Perhaps more importantly, the watch lets you combine training sessions from different sports into a single file, so you can integrate running, cycling, hiking, and skiing into your training routine without missing a beat. It's the ultimate multi-sport training watch.
The RS800CX watch is the ultimate training computer for multi-sport athletes. As a heart rate monitor, the RS800CX works by first checking your daily condition, and then guiding you to the ideal training intensity for your age and fitness level. Knowing your heart rate not only helps you reach your personal fitness goal, but also improves your physical condition in general, as it's vitally important to train at the appropriate intensity level. If you exercise too hard, you may quit before you reach the real benefit, but if you work out too leisurely, you'll struggle to lose weight at all. The RS800CX helps overcome these problems by encouraging you to map out a complete fitness routine. The watch also displays heart rate info in several ways, including as a percentage of your maximum heart rate, as beats per minute, and within a graphical target zone indicator. And should your heart rate exceed or dip below your target zone, the RS800CX will sound an alarm that helps you return to form.
The RS800CX also offers a variety of proprietary Polar functions. The ZonePointer, for example, is an audible and visual feature on the display of your watch that shows you where your current heart rate sits within your target heart rate zone. The Polar OwnZone mode, meanwhile, provides a customized target zone for individual exercise sessions. Finally, the Polar OwnCal mode shows your energy expenditure during one exercise session, as well as your accumulated kilocalories during several exercise sessions. You can also set daily and weekly exercise goals in terms of calorie expenditure, helping you achieve both short-term and long-term goals. Other proprietary Polar functions include a Polar fitness test that measures your aerobic fitness at rest in just five minutes; a ZoneLock button that activates a target zone alarm while exercising; and an OwnOptimizer mode designed to keep you from undertraining or overtraining--a must when trying to improve overall performance.
The watch comes with a wireless WearLink W.I.N.D. chest transmitter. Serious athletes will appreciate in the built-in altimeter, which measures your altitude, cumulative ascent, and cumulative descent. It's the Polar ProTrainer 5 software, however, that really helps the watch stand out. You can use the Polar ProTrainer 5 to plan your workout in advance--including creating maps and routes in conjunction with the G3 GPS sensor (sold separately)--and then transfer the settings to the RS800CX watch. Then, after training, you can analyze the results using versatile, customizable graphs to ensure a deeper understanding of your speed, exertion level, and distance. The software also includes a custom calendar that functions as a complete training log. Each time you transfer an exercise file to the program, the calendar automatically creates a diary entry with all your training data--a terrific option for athletes who want to monitor their workouts over the long term. The software even lets you export your GPS mapping routes to Google Earth, so you can view your exact training route or calculate mileage on the spot.
Finally, the RS800CX supports the complete range of optional W.I.N.D. sensors that are custom built for various training needs. The W.I.N.D. products--all sold separately--include a CS Speed Sensor pod for cyclists that measures your cycling speed and distance, an S3 Stride Sensor for runners that measures each stride you take, and the aforementioned G3 GPS sensor, which accurately tracks your movement in less-traveled sports, such as canoeing, mountain biking, rowing, or Nordic skiing. Once you connect the W.I.N.D. accessories, the RS800CX handles the rest, with options for measuring the speed and pace of each sport, the elevation change, the target pace, and much more.
Other watch features include several recording options to help track your heart rate, calorie expenditure, distance, and more and save it in an exercise file (with 99 total files); water resistance to 50 meters; a Polar WebLink connection for transferring exercise data from your wrist unit to a computer; a 12/24-hour clock with a day/week indicator; a built-in backlight; an alarm with a snooze; and a low battery indicator. Sporting an attractive silver housing, the watch carries a two-year warranty.
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.
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.
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