trade in my Polar 625 for a Garmin 310xt?

Bob Irwin

Thinking about trading in my Polar 625 for a Garmin.  I have a Garmin Edge 500 for my bike.  I think a lot of folks have made a similar move, and I was wondering what advantages you found (except the obvious one that you can measure power)?   I have a foot pod, so I can measue pace and distance with the polar (it's pretty accurate - I carried my garmin 500 on my last run just to check and they were within .02 miles on a 6 mile run).  

Nemo Brauch

I have both. Only two real advantages to the Garmin 310XT over the Polar 625 that I see.

1- The Garmin will display Power. That basically then means one device from start to finish of a race which carries all your data. I like that simplicity
2- No footpod. One less thing to turn and mess with in T1- and one less thing to carry around or worry about batteries failing.

carpej30

is there a diff between the polar 625 and 625x? I use my 625x with the polar power and I love it because I can use the same watch for bike/run and map out my entire brick easier

Nemo Brauch

Same thing, just didn't bother to add the SX or whatever afterwards. I almost forgot about the polar power option. I never went down that road because the cost of getting it onto 2 bikes was starting to approach a Powertap and I had read a lot of various reviews which indicated the polar PM wasn't very reliable (partially because installation is really fussy). The Polar 625x will ONLY read power if you are using the Polar PM (which I believe makes a determination of power based on the chain tension or something like that).

mgraffeo

Posted By Nemo Brauch on 21 Apr 2010 11:22 AM

I have both. Only two real advantages to the Garmin 310XT over the Polar 625 that I see.



1- The Garmin will display Power. That basically then means one device from start to finish of a race which carries all your data. I like that simplicity

2- No footpod. One less thing to turn and mess with in T1- and one less thing to carry around or worry about batteries failing.

Of course, if you ever find yourself on a treadmill, you'll need the footpod for the Garmin, so you're back to square 1...

Mike

carpej30

true, I am a fan of the polar because I have one bike, and I like to do my own maintenance and its about 1/3 - 1/2 the price if I had 2 bikes I would have to buy two power units, though not two watches. I think its accuracy is based on the amount of time you take installing it.. for the price difference my time was worth it

William Jenks

The footpod on the Garmin does two other things besides work on a treadmill: It can be used on an indoor track (which I did all winter) and it can be used to get running cadence. I've never used the Polar, so I won't compare them, but (starting from scratch) getting the Garmin in the spring, and adding the footpod as fall/winter approaches is an interesting way to spread out the cost. I don't use it all the time by any means, but it's an easy enough way to measure cadence without doing it self-consciously (and thus changing it).

david ware

@Bob:  For a good discussion on this you might want to review the http://runtotri.blogspot.com/ website.  The author, Jan,  is a triathlete and does great reviews, descriptions, etc on Polar, Suunto and Garmin.  I believe he still races with the 625.

Bob Irwin

Maybe I should just use teh 625 as long as it works and spend the money on an aero helmet. After all that's free speed - I'd even have some money left over.