POLAR A300 or Fitbit Charge HR

lalaperk
lalaperk Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Going on year 2 of my Polar FT7- still getting the job done, however I want a new toy. I am used to the chest strap, and would love if my current one could sync AT least to the website. In researching i have found Polar A300 or FitBit Charge HR to be my 2 options for what I want. I am an iPhone user. There is so many negative reviews about functionality with A300 (wonder if they have worked out the kinks yet)? Advice from long standing A300 users? Help!

Replies

  • my3reds
    my3reds Posts: 1 Member
    It depends on what your need is. I needed an accurate HR reading while exercising and most reviews or postings I had read said the Fitbit's accuracy could be off as much as +/- 14 (not my experience, it's just what I had read). The A300 does not have HRM capability so it needs to be paired with the H7 chest strap HRM.

    The A300 has two recording modes - "Activity" estimates your sleep, steps/speed/distance based on arm movement, and calories burned as you go about your day with no use of the H7 and therefore no HR reading; "Training" reads HR from the H7 to estimate calories but does not estimate steps/speed/distance. So if you want to glance down any time of day to see your HR, then the A300 is not for you, if you want an accurate HR reading while exercising then the A300 & H7 combo is great.

    I have not had problems pairing the A300 and H7, or synching the A300 to the iPhone app as others have commented on. For me, the A300 alone is effectively useless but I did not understand that before buying it. I believe the H7 alone can work with a different Polar iPhone app to record HR and therefore you can skip having the A300.

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