Sunday, February 6, 2011

Garmin VS Polar

Training with a heart rate monitor can lead to many different benefits. From increasing your fitness and performance to gaining more strength, working with a heart rate monitor can optimize your training efforts. With many different brands out there from Garmin, Polar, Suunto, and Timex to name a few, how do you choose which one is right for you?

Today we are going to compare two models that are available at Fleet Feet Sports Bend, the Garmin 310XT and Polar RS300X.

Garmin’s 310XT is a Multisport GPS Watch featuring a high-sensitivity GPS receiver to let you know how far, how fast and how hard you trained. This model is also Garmin Connect compatible, allowing you to transfer, review, replay and relive your activities. A new feature included in this watch gives you swim data, recoding open-water swim distance and your average speed. This is the only model that is swim proof and boasts up to a 20 hour battery life. The 310XT is Garmin’s only all-in-one device that tracks time, distance, pace, elevation and heart rate. Whether you’re in water, on your bike, or on your run, this watch is perfect match for you.


The Polar RS300X is great for the athletes who require all essential heart rate and timing features. This model features automatic age-based target zone, heart rate, a polar fitness test, OwnCal (calorie expenditure,) OwnCode (coded signal,) OwnZone (personal heart rate zone,) and personal sport zones. Other training features of this model includes a graphical target zone indicator, button-free operation, 99 laps, time and distance based interval timers, zone lock and a zone pointer. The RS300X is also water resistant up to 50m and has compatible components such as a GPS sensor, route mapping software, footpod features and data transfer.


With two great watches reviewed how do you choose which one is right for you? If you want top notch mapping features, Garmin is known as the “King” in this area. If you are truly focused on improving your athletic performance by training within your heart rate zones then Polar is your watch of choice. It’s like having a personal trainer on your arm.

Both Garmin and Polar produce a wide range of watches. Polar has 18 (6 are bike) different training models and Garmin includes 9 (3 bike) different models. My personal opinion is that you zero in one what you want from a watch and do a little homework before you buy. Additional information and features are available at http://www.garmin.com/ & http://www.polarusa.com/ . Come down to Fleet Feet, we will be happy to show you the watches we have in stock.

By Michelle White

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