Polar M430 - White (Small)

{"reviews":[{"body":"Love this! I replaced a Garmin forerunner that kept going on the fritz every few months (started just going blank \/ resetting self a few months after I got it, but was really intermittent at first, so I missed warranty period). Irritated w Garmin, I did a bunch of research and decided to give polar a try. I wasn't sure about the screen layout, size, etc., but found a good price, so tried it.First, I use this for running (road running). I'm not into all the fitness biometric craze (ie fit-bits making up crap data about number of steps knowing I can't prove it wrong so I'll just nod and believe the number it happily displays...). I wanna know how far and how fast I'm running, both afterwards and while I'm running. Id just don't want a pile of data like fitness bands, I want accurate information at the point when I will use it. (i.e. pace as I run my usual route so I can decide if I should blow on home or tack on a couple miles and make it a longer run, or distance so I can adjust my route and still hit the distance I want.) For running, this watch 110% delivers that, so that's what I'm reviewing ... not the fitness biometric functions of this watch. Those are pretty cool. But tweaking and futzing with data about health isn't going to make you fitter. Go run. Run hard. Next time run harder. That's how you get fit.Overall, I've come to love the M430. It isn't packed full of the slew of gimmicks Garmin had (the little buddy runner that shows me if I'm faster\/slower than last run... that kinda stuff). But what it is is a really awesome, dependable running watch. It's very easy to set up what data is displayed. It's very easy and intuitive to cycle between screens when running. My Garmin had the swipe bezel - cool idea, a little touchy to use when running, really. The fit is great - the soft silicone band with many perforations allows me to get an optimal fit easily - way better than Garmin's stiff bands. Probably most comfortable casual\/sports watch I've had over almost 40 years of wearing digital watches.Only one slight issue annoys me, but not to bad really, in the big scheme of things. I like to track my HR as I cool down - a decent indication of how conditioned I am, and when it may be time to bump up the miles or push a little harder. To do this, I have to stop the run, back up to main screen, start another sport activity to get the HR recording. I don't want to just continue the run activity that it's been tracking as this would mucking up stats (i.e. distance, pace) from my run. Not too bad to do this - I made an \"other outdoor\" sport profile for the cooldown period and when I stop my run, I start that. Problem is, while the HR seems to be running relatively true when running and at other times, it always is way off for 1st 15 min or so after run. I'll be running 120's right away after strong finish and it says 80's. It eventually catches on, but typically is still 10-15 bpm too slow for quite a while even when it does bump up from a resting rate kinda range. Hmmm. I wonder if it's a function of running in cold, as after run my hands \/ arms can get pretty chilly and I've found if I take my outer jacket off and bundle my wrist, it becomes accurate faster (5-10 min). I'm curious to see what happens when weather gets warm or hot.Sync to phone and use of www site is awesome. There are a few things I might do differently, but all in all, phone app and www page for PC use are very clean and have all the basics I want plus some cool extras. Once you get the hang of the system, it's really easy to use. Syncing is easy and uploads to web fast. This means no silly dongle to plug in and futz with like Garmin. No add-ins, no futz with installing anything! Just pair by bluetooth with phone once, then to send data and download settings, push a button. Brilliant! Love it! I'm a LInux user and Garmin is not Linux friendly. So guess what, Garmin? You don't show the penguins some love, I'm kicking you to curb!! Even things like setting up intervals was pretty easy once you read on the www \/ manual how to do it. I love how customizable it is and that you can do it all from the PC rather than fiddling with the watch itself.All in all, I \"liked\" my Garmin that this unit replaced but multiple little things annoyed me - I put up with them because as my 2nd GPS watch, it was a big improvement over the Timex I used to use. But I didn't upgrade to a newer Garmin for a long time b\/c of so many annoying little things, the fact that it kept going berzerk, AND the lack of love for Penguins. So when I did pull the trigger on a new watch, I gave Polar a try. Wow, has the Polar met and surpassed all my expectations - accurate, easy\/ intuitive to use, tons of data but NOT overwhelming, super comfortable. As long as it lasts a few years, I'm be totally sold on Polar and stick with them from here out. I didn't realize what a great experience I was missing sticking to my Garmin. I highly recommend the M430 to runners looking for a highly configurable running watch with rock solid function and intuitive interface.\n","comment":null,"by_shop_owner":false,"youtube_video":null,"verified_review":true,"id":1430504,"displayed_image_url":null,"created_ts":"2018-02-07 00:26:52+00:00","star_rating":5,"resolved_message":null,"score":0,"user_name":"Seulment","user_image_url":null}],"product":{"platform_product_id":"1590253912179","star_distribution":{"1":0,"3":0,"2":0,"5":1,"4":0},"name":"Polar M430 - White (Small)","average_stars":"5.0","review_images":[],"review_number":1,"variants":[],"id":833357},"review_page_count":1,"questions":[]}