gps
Polar is one of the most recognised sports watch manufacturers, especially in the area of continuous heart rate monitor technology. With their advanced and top-range heart rate monitor chest straps, Polar watches allow folk with athletic and fitness aspirations to view their real-time heart rate information while participating in their favorite sports, or when training to get fit. With the emergence of GPS technology into the sports watch arena, Polar have modified their classic heart rate watches to create a Polar GPS watch, that takes advantage of GPS to display real-time speed and distance information.
Polar offer a wide range of sporting timepieces that are solely targeted at people who are trying to improve their fitness, or maximize their performances in endurance events. Their watches range from entry-level timepieces that sell for a few hundred dollars, to top-of-the-range wrist watch computers that can accommodate the demands of elite athletes who wish to track every detail of their performance. Polar GPS watches achieve GPS by the use of the S1 and S3 pods, which house the chipset that communicates with the GPS satellites. In the same way that Polar wrist watches communicate wirelessly with heart rate monitor chest straps, the wrist watch communicates with the S1/S3 pod, to display a runner’s speed and distance information.
The difference between the S1 and S3 sensors are that the S1 pod is built for entry-level polar watches. It measures speed and distance, (but not elevation). It is also limited to speeds of under a certain threshold. The S3 pod on the other hand can accommodate faster speeds and also records elevation information. It is designed to be used with the more advanced Polar GPS watches like the RS800CS and as it records 3D GPS, it has the ability for this data to be transferred to a computer and displayed in a 3D mapping application.
Athletes should take note that a Polar GPS watch, is not designed primarily as a GPS watch like the Garmin Forerunner watch, GPS has been effectively added to Polar’s exisitng watch. If you are seekingfor the full range of abilities that GPS has to offer, then the Garmin Forerunner watches are a better choice. But if you are already accustomed to the many great features that Polar offer, the addition of the S1 or S3 sensor will enhance the level of information you have at your disposal.