Garmin Edge 305 vs Polar 725x vs Polar cs400/600

[FanieFiets]

Fanie' date=' they say you can earn 15 000 noral points and 15 000 bonus points...

 

It's 150points per 30min workout at a intensity of I think 70%? and then you earn 50points extra if it's higher than 70% intensity???

[/quote']

 

 

Hulle cap jou base activity punte op 15000.  Dws jy  kan nie meer as 15000 punte kry vir gym, gholf of races as jy klaar jou 15000 gekry het nie. Vir jou 5de event kry jy egter 5000 bonuspunte en dan kan jy nog 10 000 of 15 000 (nie seker op hoeveel die bonuspunte gecap is nie) deur polar kry nie die 50 of so 'n dag.

Nog 'n manier om bonuspunte te kry is die fitness test by virgin of planet fitness.

FanieFiets2007-03-16 06:03:54

[casspir]

I have experience of both Garmin and Polar. 

For me the Garmin advantage is:

The fact that I can change batteries as and when required.  I don't need to send the unit/sensor/watch to Gauteng (or wait for the next cycle expo) to have batteries changed. 

Garmin is a GPS that allowsw me to plot and plan routes and profiles. 

Garmin is much more user friendly.  (This may be subjective)

I use Polar as a watch and Garmin for the rest. 

Regards,

 

casspir

[FanieFiets]

snip....I would be interested to know if Discovery allows users to accumulate Polar points and activity/gym/race points.

 

 

 

Nee. dit val in dieselfde kategorie. Bel hulle by 0860 998877 as julle nie seker is nie.

 

Marius - Elke jaar begin jy van voor af. +/- 10% van jou punte word oorgedra.

[pbp2007]

Carnac wrote:

>The Garmin is nice for the mapping and riding against previous rides

> also good for intervals but software not great for analysis of info.

 

You need to get Sporttracks, Carnac.

 

racman wrote:

>Garmin Edge looks very bulky

Maybe not an issue if it's on the bike. The Forerunner 305 (not Edge) has better ergonomics than its 301 predecessor, but feels bulkier.

I ride with the 301 on a bike mount, and run with it on my wrist. It really doesn't get in the way. All in all it's a fantastic piece of equipment.

 

 

 

[Velouria]

 

I use Polar as a watch and Garmin for the rest. 

 

Quite a lot to cough up just for a watch. The only bonus being that because it is so bulky, every time you move your arm, you get to work out!!

 

[slowpoke]

i have the garmin edge 305 - when i run or hike i just carry it in my pocket (or backpack for hiking)

[racman]

good idea. I was told that the Edge 305 has the added advantage of wireless cadence & speed on rear wheel so can be used on indoor trainer as well. I don't know if the Polars can also work on rear wheel or whether they have a seperate cadence and speed sensor.

[4feet]

Garmin also operates using digital transmission technology, along the lines of Suunto, as opposed to analog on the polars at present. Far fewer problems with readings. Believe polar will go digital shortly I'm told.

[slowpoke]

racman, yep, the garmin works like a dream on the idt

[Relentless]

And the cheapest place to buy Garmin Edge 305 locally? At the Expo, Sportsman warehouse were selling at R36?? but claimed their stores had no stock. So where to buy at a better price?

[Canaris]

Simple, unless you are planning triathlon or duathlon (Although slowpoke has given options) GARMIN would be my choice. (I use polar fo running and Garmin for cycling)

 

 

 

Garmin has no wires sensors ext on the bike (unless you want the cadence meter). It can be transfered across bikes seemlessly. No recalibration no one bike, two bike ext. GARMIN can be intergrated into other GPS software. Can be used to navigate. Can be used for time and distance intervals, can be programmed to give up to 8 feedbacks per screen ext ext ext ext.

 

 

 

For the bike GARMIN, for the run POLAR.

[Canaris]

Best place for me is CAPE UNION MART. THeir after sales is absolutely amazing.

[RodTi]

So the Garmin is more expensive - and bulkier.

But has the added advantage of GPS - and comes with a heart-rate monitor, which sort of denies the Polar that additional advantage...

 

But the Polar comes with possibility of earning Vitality points - assuming you are a Discovery member...

 

Hmmm.

 

Must say - the GPS option does make me want to lean towards the Garmin...

That remains an uber cool option...

 

 

Can anyone here testify as to how good the 'Fitness'-side of things are with the Garmin? In other words, if you compare the Polar [as a HR monitor and all its additional fitness specific options], with those of the Garmin - can the Garmin hold its own??

 

Because if the Garmin does an adequate/good job of the HR monitoring, then in effect - a couple of hundred rand more (than the Polar), gives you GPS... Which sounds like a bargain to me!

[GoLefty!!]

you can also sign up at SA-Active to earn Vitality points so you don't really need the polar for that.

 

Only advantage I see the Polar having is that it has a power meter accessory if that sort of thing floats your boat.

 

The Garmn would be my preference due to reliability of the distance data, cross functionality and ability to map you back to where you started. A lekker feature for MTB..

[RodTi]

Awesome - sold!

 

Anyone have a spare R3000 lying around?

[ChrisH]

RodTi here are my thoughts after a year of Edge 305 use.

 

The Garmin does everything the Polar can do on the HRM side of things. The training center software put out by Garmin is universally recognised as being garbage, but Sportstracks software (http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/) is free, well donation ware at least, and makes Polar's software look cheap and silly.

 

I have been using the Garmin and this software for over a year now and never had a bug, glitch or loss of data. You can also import your historical Polar data into it, so you won't have two separate training logs.

 

The sportstracks software is so clever that when I downloaded my Argus data it automatically recognised that it was the Argus route and entered the correct route headline.

 

Last winter I got a little bit lost in Lebanon (by 13km's) and used the return to start option on the Garmin. It took me unerringly back to where I needed to be without any fuss. Lets see a Polar cater for that kind of stupidity

 

I also have a Polar 625x which my fianc? uses most of the time, as well as a S510 as my wristwatch. There is nothing wrong with the Polar at all, it is just that the Garmin does so much more.

 

Polar are releasing a GPS module for their latest watches (similar to the thing Timex fiddled with a few years back), but I shudder to think of the combined cost of their watch, speed and cadence sensor, GPS module, USB-IRDA dongle, etc etc. It's worth a look when it comes out I guess.