Latest Reviews
 |  | | Posted: 22/06/07 | | 'A COOL, WELL VENTILATED SHIRT' | | Strengths:
The fit is short, and fluttery, allowing plenty of air to circulate. The fabric is also very breatable, so this shirt is very cool to wear. Another strength is that compared with a lot of fluorescent wear on the market such as Viga, Ronhill, etc, the colour is very strong and does not fade at all. Essential for hi-viz gear. | | Weaknesses:
None. | | Overall:
Another cracker from the superb quality, good looking nightlife range. Whilst this range is more expensive than some other, the fabric, cut and sewing quality is far superior and worth paying for, as they last a lot longer. And for vain peacocks like myself, the range is fashionable and good looking.
Compared with the also excellent nightlife tank, this is actually the cooler of the two due to it's lighter colour (there's more black in the tank) and it's loose fit, allowing air in. The tank is more suitable for slightly cooler days than the t-shirt. |
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| | | | Performance | | 100% | | Comfort | | 100% | | Value | | 80% |
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| | | Posted: 22/06/07 | | 'A COOL, WELL VENTILATED SHIRT' | | Strengths:
The fit is short, and fluttery, allowing plenty of air to circulate. The fabric is also very breatable, so this shirt is very cool to wear. Another strength is that compared with a lot of fluorescent wear on the market such as Viga, Ronhill, etc, the colour is very strong and does not fade at all. Essential for hi-viz gear. | | Weaknesses:
None. | | Overall:
Another cracker from the superb quality, good looking nightlife range. Whilst this range is more expensive than some other, the fabric, cut and sewing quality is far superior and worth paying for, as they last a lot longer. And for vain peacocks like myself, the range is fashionable and good looking.
Compared with the also excellent nightlife tank, this is actually the cooler of the two due to it's lighter colour (there's more black in the tank) and it's loose fit, allowing air in. The tank is more suitable for slightly cooler days than the t-shirt. |
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| | | | Performance | | 100% | | Comfort | | 100% | | Value | | 80% |
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| | | Posted: 20/05/07 | | 'BASIC BIT OF KIT THAT DOES WHAT IT SAYS ON THE BOX.' | | Strengths:
Accurate distance and pace reading, it even picked up a satellite lock before I got outside and continued reading in heavy cloud. | | Weaknesses:
Over-priced if you pay the full whack. I got mine on amazon.co.uk for £60 which is more like it. | | Overall:
I bought a Navman just to backup the distance measured, as sometimes my Polar is a little out, depending on the speed I run of which trainers I'm in.
It'll measure calories burned (a little out from the Polar, but not much, and who's to say the Polar is bang on?!) average pace and you can see what pace you're running at when you're going which is good.
It's a very basic bit of kit and does what it says. If you want something that downloads graphs etc so you can check HR on your runs etc, then no good. But if you just want to keep a record of your times and distance, it does the job.
After all the whinges I've heard about the garmin, eg, erratic readings, contact points tarnishing, software being c**p hence having to download other stuff off the web, people having to send them back for replacements etc, I'd much rather stick to my Polar S625x. It has good software, fitness tests, overtraining tests etc, and I just use the Navman when I do a new route to check the distance is bang on. Although, 80% of the time the Polar is bang on with the distance, it just goes out by about 10% sometimes.
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| | | | Performance | | 80% | | Ease of use | | 60% | | Value | | 40% |
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| | | Posted: 08/03/06 | | 'THE BEST POD BASED HRM' | | Strengths:
Gives excellent calorific feedback, easy to use for different sports such as going to the gym, cycling, running, data transferred to PC very easy to read and play with, screen easy to read and customise. | | Weaknesses:
Inaccurate mileage readings,even after callibration. They differ by around 1-4 miles depending on whether you're running fast or slow. (Slow run readings are usually more accurate for me). I tend to measure the mileage by car or on the net to doublecheck what I'm doing.
Also, the chest readings can go crazy now and again. I think this may be down to the HRM strap getting clogged with sweat salt, etc, though washing didn't appear to help ( think the detergent then clogged the fabric!) I find keeping it soaked in cold water for a half a day after exercise then drying it out keeps it hassle free. Also, when running, if the readings go whacko which they do after around 2 hours, pull it away from the chest, wipe underneath then replace, then it will settle down.
Another thing, the ascent/descent readings aren't accurate and after a run, it will show when I get back to my house it's lower than when I left it! To me though, I don't find that a problem as it's something I don't really monitor.
Finally, the battery life in the chest strap is about a year and the watch, 2 years, and Polar recommend you return it to them to replace. I wouldn't want to do that and go without it for a while as I train every day, so I replaced the chest strap when the battery was low. My watch battery hasn't needed to be replaced yet, unsure whether I'll simply replace it with a Garmin which has a rechargeable battery, or get it changed at a nearby jewellers. | | Overall:
If you run in an area unsuitable for GPS, I would say this is probably the best pod based HRM out there. However, if the new Garmin 305 is as good as they say in picking up a reception, I think Polar will struggle to compete unless they improve the mileage accurace and sort out an internal rechargeable battery. |
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| | | | Performance | | 60% | | Ease of use | | 100% | | Value | | 60% |
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