Scott McDaniel boulder, colorado

I spent the last few days researching heart rate monitors extensively. I narrowed it down to the Suunto T6 and Polar AXN 500. I want to get in shape - yep I’ve said it before, but I got a big trip on the books next year (more on that in a latter post) and I don’t want my ass kicked (too much). I’m an admitted techie and I think the numbers the HRMs generate will help motivate and urge me on. Well that’s the plan anyways.

So three things we’re important to me altitude monitoring, PC connectivity (no Mac support anywhere in site, bummer), and overall good system design. The devil is frequently in the details and the difference between a joy to use and nunsaince is difficult to accertain until you use it yourself (I haven’t actually used em yet, that will be the next article).

Suunto T6

Polar AXN 500

I ended up picking the Suunto T6 (and it should be here tomorrow) because of few factors.

1. The AXN is frickin heavy, but this was only a small factor. I could have dealt with it. Both watches look enough like regular watches to be used everyday. I am to lazy to switch watches just to take a quick run.
2. I hate hassles and I saw online that the IRda connection the Polar uses to talk to the PC for data upload can be a hassel sometimes (I have a Dell Inspiron 8600 with built in IR but wasn’t sure it would word). Polar could do a MUCH better job telling you which computers are know to work well or have a test app or something, but the answer is spend another $70 on their USB IRda and didn’t want to mess with it. The Suunto T6 uses a simple cable which no one seems to complain about.
3. Many folks say the Polar software is more mature that the Suunto, but the Polar folks do a really poor job of showing you the software at all much less why it’s better. I’m not saying Suunto met all my expectations on explaning their sofware but they did have a PDF on how to improve training with it and that swayed me alot.
4. The Suunto has their EPOC training system in the T6. The EPOC is like a Vo2 Max and is used in the software to help you maximize your target zones while working out (apprently). Polar’s system of OwnZone is left out of the AXN 500 why would you do such a stupid thing. Their product differentiation just left me no watch that had the options I desired.
5. In many ways I bought the Suunto because they did a better job of marketing it though there is still room for improvement (I would love to take a crack at their website). I was able to figure out their product and the understand the software that’s included which gave me a better over all idea of the total system.

Both Polar and Suunto websites suck
Let’s talk about websites, well both www.polarusa.com and www.suunto.com suck, but Suunto sucks less. That’s what it came down to. They both do a poor job of clearly of explaining the differences in watches and there is way too much momboo jombo.

Also both companies have secondary sites that try to build communities. The PolarPersonalTrainer.com which is like online training software looks slick, but the site was completely unuseable in 3 browsers on 2 platforms for me. I just gave up and wrote it off. The www.suuntosports.com also sucks pretty bad, but doesn’t try to be for online training and I already liked what I’d seen of the PC app so it’s not needed. Their site is about sharing workouts and stats but seems pretty dead from what I see. The signup process on SuuntoSports completely fails in Firefox and even in IE where it appears to work I never got the emails with my password after 3 attempts I gave up on that too. Oh well…

Where to buy a Suunto T6 or Polar AXN 500?
Prices vary widely all over the web for these watches even with in a single store. Both Amazon and Buy.com have the T6 on their site for $280 AND $450 with no way to see the difference. I really wanted to buy from PC Coach because they were so helpful with reviews on the website and a decent price of $320 for the Suunto T6. They called me back after leaving a message and were very helpful on the phone and coincidentally they are in Boulder, CO like myself. I went to look at the watches and they helped me decide on the T6, but they were out of stock!

I ended up getting it from Buy.com for $276 and they surprised me by shipping the same day. Thanks Buy.com (usually it takes 1-2 days to ship). I also found out that the watch hasn’t changed much so even though I’m likely getting old productI hope it won’t matter.I read about a few problems with firmware but that seems like it was short lived. Keeping my fingers crossed I get a good one but I can always send it Suunto for an upgrade if I have to. UPS says it should be here tomorrow!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Training, Running, Heart Rate Monitors, Design. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.