Should I get a Garmin, or a Polar Heart Rate Monitor?

[FirstTimertoDiz]

I am not sure what to get, and I am hoping someone might be able to help me. I work at a running store, and since we have an account with Polar, I can buy them at wholesale prices. We don't have an account with Garmin, but I am sure we could open one.

To be honest, I have never heard of a Garmin until reading these boards. I just started running about a month ago, and would love to train for a 5K. When I first started, I couldn't run 1 lap around the track without stopping, and I am currently up to about a 1.5 mile.

If I am reading right, the Garmin is used more for tracking your distances, where the Polar is more used for heart rate monitoring? I do see that at least one of the Garmins have a heart rate monitor as well, so maybe that one would be the most versatile?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[MouseDogMom]

We bought a Polar and a Garmin the same weekend, both with the agreement that we could try them and return them if we weren't happy. I wore the Polar (model without the heart rate monitor) and my husband wore the Garmin (he bought the one w/the monitor but didn't use it that weekend.) We went on a run; the Garmin immediately picked up the satellites and tracked our distance; the Polar never did. We returned the Polar, bought a second Garmin for me, and the guy at the running store said that was a huge problem with Polar.

If you're interested in distance tracking, which is the primary reason I wanted one, I'd definitely go with the Garmin. DH likes to use the heart rate monitor, but I wasn't that concerned. All I care about is how far I've gone and at what pace, and even the lower end Garmin was fine for that. I only bought the 201 and am perfectly happy with it.

Like you, I'm fairly new - just started last spring and ran my first 5K in May - am still only doing 5K distances. But I LOVE my Garmin!

[FirstTimertoDiz]

Thanks, MouseDogMom- that helps me- I did notice you said that your dh got a Garmin with a heart rate monitor. Does he ever use the monitor? How does he like it?

Thanks again for your reply!

[scuba diver]

Thanks, MouseDogMom- that helps me- I did notice you said that your dh got a Garmin with a heart rate monitor. Does he ever use the monitor? How does he like it?

Thanks again for your reply!

I love my Garmin for the GPS. It's great knowing how far, pace, etc. The maps are pretty cool too. I've been running is different cities and have used the "return to start" feature which saved me from getting lost.

I have the 305 with the heart rate monitor and it works fine. I used it at the 1/2 today.

Go Garmin. GPS is way cool

[npullen]

I have the Garmin without the heart monitor, and I love it! It helps me with distance and speed. I have also borrowed my fathers heart monitor, and found that for me, I do better not knowing what my heart rate is at, if I concentrate to hard on it and trying to keep it at a set level, I end up throwing off my run. I also love the Garmin, beacuse I can hook it up to my computer and print out my run, it shows me a map, and a graph with my speed. It really helped me when I was first trying to run outdoors, because I could see my progress.

HTH
Nicole

[MouseDogMom]

Thanks, MouseDogMom- that helps me- I did notice you said that your dh got a Garmin with a heart rate monitor. Does he ever use the monitor? How does he like it?


Finally got to talk to DH... he said he uses the monitor with every run, and really likes it. He can download all sorts of information into the computer and keep track of every run and his performance.

I also was mistaken on my earlier post - it wasn't the Polar we bought that didn't work, it was the Timex. (I would have sworn it was the Polar, but apparently we looked at both but bought the Timex. Sorry!) Either way, I truly love the Garmin for all of its GPS capability. I'm more like Nicole - I'm afraid I'd get so caught up in my heart rate that I'd lose track of my time and distance, and that's really all I'm interested in.

Hope that helps!

[Duanerice]

I run around our neighborhood and have all sorts side roads and places to explore. I was looking for something to help me keep my pace but more importantly I wanted to know how far I have gone without having to map a route ahead of time. I just wanted to run and decide on the fly where I was going.

I asked for (and received) a Garmin 101, the basic model, for Christmas. I love it. Yes it is a bit big and it doesn't download to the computer, but it is good enough for what I wanted. I would never download it anyway, so that would be lost on me. I would like the heart rate feature, but hey this was only $59 with shipping.

Love it and might upgrade at some later time, but for my mileage (under 10 miles a run) this is fine. Of course my buddy who has been running for a while can tell almost exactly how far he has gone based on his time. Maybe someday :)
Duane