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Polar V800

147 bytes removed, 20:07, 6 June 2015
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{{DISPLAYTITLE:Polar V800 Review}}
The {{Polar V800}} is elegant and has outstanding [[GPS Accuracy]], but it's pricy and has less functionality compared with its competitors. The limited support for [[Cadence]] functionality of the V800 is a particular concern, steadily improving as Polar release newer versions of the firmware and when compared to other watches, the V800 seems too expensiveaccompanying web site.
[[File:Polar V800.jpg|none|thumb|200px|The {{Polar V800}}.]]
=Polar V800 Pros=
** There are jumping tests that use the Polar Stride Sensor to measure explosive strength.
* The V800 includes a barometric altimeter, which is helpful given that GPS is notoriously poor at estimating altitude.
* The V800 will only upload the data to the Polar website, but Polar has introduced the ability to export workouts in TCX format data. This is not as good as some other devices, but it's workable.
* You can use the V800 as a simple activity monitor, something that's common to many new sports watches. However, when the V800 acts as an activity monitor it only has only an internal accelerometer, which provides poor accuracy. If you need an activity monitor, I'd recommend the [[Basis Activity Tracker]] which has sensors for heart rate, skin temperature and perspiration.
* The V800 includes a thermometer, which I rather like, though obviously the accuracy suffers because it's attached to your arm.
** The Adidas miCoach Speed Cell will work with the V800, but it's not easy. By default it will pair with the V800, but you can't set the calibration factor nor can you set the V800 to use GPS for pace/distance. You have to pair the V800 with the Polar Speed Sensor to activate the menu items you need to configure the Adidas Footpod, which is far from ideal. However, once you've overcome these problems, the Adidas Footpod is a reasonable size and provides cadence (though not stride length). <jfs id="B00FEJ7FBO" noreferb="true" n="adidas miCoach Speed Cell "/>.
** Even though the V800 has an internal accelerometer, this is not used to display cadence.
* The V800 will only upload the data to the Polar website. Polar has introduced to the export of TCX format data, but this export is incomplete (no laps). You can work around this by using the open source projects [https://github.com/pcolby/bipolar Bipolar] and [https://github.com/profanum429/v800_downloader V800_downloader], but this is a far cry from the open approach that Garmin has taken.* The V800 uses some visual tricks to appear smaller than it is. If you look at the picture below, the watch body appears to be the silvered area, which is quite small. However, the first bit of the watch strap is really part of the watch body, with the strap starting much further out. The only problem is the watch body is inflexible, so on small wrists like mine it does not sit well, and I suspect it will dig into those with particularly large wrists. (I have no problem with watches that appear to be bigger, like the [[Garmin 310XT]], but I have to wear the V800 over a sweat band.)<br/>[[File:V800 Size.jpg|none|thumb|300px]]
* A minor irritation with the otherwise excellent user interface is that the beeps and vibration are extremely weak and ineffectual.
* The polar website has some basic functionality, but it has the feel of an unfinished beta release rather than a complete solution. This feeling of being unfinished extends to the watch itself, but at least Polar are giving a timeline for new functionality.
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