Runners - Polar or Garmin?

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janeosu
janeosu Posts: 140 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I currently run with a Polar FT4 HRM and my phone to track my run (so inaccurate on GPS). I am beyond ready to upgrade and get a better watch with more capabilities and ditch the phone on my runs. I have loved my Polar and was thinking of just upgrading to another Polar with GPS and some more options than what I have now, but I know a lot of people love their Garmins.

Anyone have advice on which watch to get? Runners, what do you love? I'm pretty serious about running and I'm willing to make the investment to get something good!

Replies

  • timeasterday
    timeasterday Posts: 1,368 Member
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    My wife & I have the Garmin 310XT after upgrading from the Polar FT7. The Garmins can be a little flaky sometimes and my wife has been having issues with the heart rate. They are sending out a new strap so hopefully that solves it. They are very responsive on customer support issues but this product seems to have a lot of issues for the price. We've had the things lock up a few times and sometimes they never want to lock on to satellites, requiring a restart.

    I think Polar is much better at measuring heart rate but Garmin is one of the leaders in GPS technology. Check out the DC Rainmaker site for in-depth reviews.
  • SwindonJogger
    SwindonJogger Posts: 325 Member
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    Garmin all the way. Their garminconnect web site is great. I have the 610 and highly rate it.
  • arc918
    arc918 Posts: 2,037 Member
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    Garmin for sure!

    DC Rainmaker reviews them all.
  • DavidMartinez2
    DavidMartinez2 Posts: 840 Member
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    Garmin 305 is easily the best money I have spent on running
  • janeosu
    janeosu Posts: 140 Member
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    Thanks everyone, checking these suggestions out and will definitely check out the DC Rainmaker reviews.

    @timeasterday - That is exactly what I am finding from a lot of the product reviews. Polar for heart rate, Garmin for GPS.
  • brattyworm
    brattyworm Posts: 2,137 Member
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    I have a garmin 610. it does intervals, has gps, a pacer, hrm (optional), touchscreen and it vibrates on the interval changes.

    Its a lil pricey,but some of the lower ones have the same options. Some of the higher ones have more options.

    The different activities are saved and then you can upload them to garmin connect online and see the progress (you can see all the data on the watch to except the route you too).

    Best thing in the world I think. The gps/intervals are the reason I chose it over the Polar.
  • bannedword
    bannedword Posts: 299 Member
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    I totally love my Garmin 610.
  • janeosu
    janeosu Posts: 140 Member
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    brattyworm- Polar has GPS and interval capabilities now too. .. that's what is making me conflicted :)

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