Polar M430 GPS Running Watch with Wrist Heart Rate

Having gotten more and more in to running I decided it was time to purchase a GPS running watch. I was weighing up whether to go with a Polar or a Garmin but my partner who already owned an M430 steered me towards Polar. So yeah, as has been said already aesthetically the M430 is not the most stylish and probably something you are not going to wear throughout the day like say a fitbit. Despite that, the watch is really light and not nearly as bulky as some of the pics would suggest. On to the serious stuff. Substance over style is what the M430 is all about. I didn’t want to spend a fortune but wanted something reliable that would give me some decent metrics to work with. Having used it regularly for over two weeks this has ticked all the boxes and more. Admittedly I do not have previous experience in using either wrist based or chest based heart monitors; however, having analysed numerous runs at various distances / paces it’s pretty clear to see that it is consistent and accurate. GPS tracking is spot on and my runs sync to my Strava seamlessly. I really like the display features which can show time, distance, pace and heart rate together without things looking too cluttered. If you wish you can also adjust the display features at the press of a button to show less. The Polar Flow app should not be overlooked either. Before I purchased the watch I didn’t think I would delve too far in to analysing my runs but Polar Flow presents these metrics so comprehensively that you cannot help but get in to it. This truly is data you can use and even after just two weeks I feel I have learned allot about my running performance and it has changed my approach to training. Workouts sync effortlessly to Polar Flow and as I said, the data is presented brilliantly. Then there is the great battery life! I got just under 3.5 hours of running time last week before I needed to charge. Charging time is also very quick and yes where the charge port is located is a bit awkward but I’m not going to dock any points for that! All in all, top stuff here from Polar. I’m loving it so far and really don’t see that changing. Great product at a more than reasonable price.

I've had this watch a couple of months now and I still absolutely love it. Prior to getting this watch I had a Garmin 45S and I really did not like it for many reasons (mainly it does not work!). However,this watch does everything I need and more without being too technical. It is very easy to use, I use it for running outside and also on the treadmill. On the treadmill it tracks both my walking and running. It also has 100 different sports profiles including indoor rowing (not included on the Garmin), indoor cycling, strength training and yoga. Although the watch takes a while to sync it has worked every time on the computer. Had some problems initially trying to sync with phone but changing some settings on my phone seems to have resolved this. Also it works perfectly with a blue tooth heart rate monitor which doesn't need to be a Polar. Personally I love my new Polar H9 heart rate monitor (Birthday present). I never got the Garmin watch to work with a heart rate monitor despite the fact that it was supposed to. I was so happy with this watch I even persuaded my husband to buy one. He is a cyclist who does a bit of running and is also very pleased with his watch. As a fitness tracker I think it is probably as good as anything else, the sleep tracking is quite good, certainly better than the Garmin but the step count seems a bit high. As I mainly wanted something to track my workouts and runs the other features do not bother me. Wish I had bought this watch sooner but spent a great deal of time deliberating after such a bad experience with the other watch. One reason I took so long in my decision was the bad reviews about Polar customer services which fortunately I haven't had to deal with.

Over the past year I have gotten more and more into running. First it started off with 1 or 2 runs a week, then I had what might be called an epiphany when I heard that you need to build your base by running sloooowly. This helped to improve my endurance and stamina and suddenly running became so much more enjoyable. I figured I'd put myself through a running program to improve. I love some stats and graphs, so I embarked on a major research project into finding the right GPS running watch for me. I already have a Polar HR monitor (H10) which I got over a year ago because it was cheaper than a watch and I wasn't that serious about training, just curious. It's very accurate, which seems to be what Polar's reputation is built on. So it seemed logical to stick with one brand. What the watch does over the HR monitor is allow you to load a specific running program from the Polar Flow website, which then tells you what kind of run or exercise to do each day and what targets (heart rate and distance) to hit. The program is pretty comprehensive and includes easy, medium, interval and long runs, mobility sessions, and core and strength work outs. There are supporting Polar videos on YouTube for the recommended exercise routines for anything that's not running. If you follow the program, you will get better. I couldn't stick rigidly to the program due to work commitments but I still shaved 5 minutes off my 5k time in 3 months. Pretty chuffed. So you set up everything in the Polar Flow website, and then sync your watch. It's pretty simple and operates smoothly for me. Syncing with the Polar Flow app on my Android phone is a bit more hit and miss though. The watch also allows you to record your sessions doing a multitude of other sports - it will record your heart rate, time, and calculate calories burned based on your other metrics. It's waterproof so you can go swimming with it. It will record most things, but it doesn't automatically register laps. There is a manual option for this if you so wish. It will also monitor your sleep and churn out a report on it. I really only use it to log exercise sessions. Finally, it will do a "fitness test", which involves monitoring your heart rate while you sit or lie still. As far as accuracy goes, wrist-based heart rate monitors are accepted as less accurate as chest-based ones, especially when you're doing interval work, but the Polar M430 is pretty good - accurate enough for me that I don't really use the HR10 much now. GPS takes a few seconds to lock, and it's also very accurate, much more so than my phone, which was temperamental, and another reason why I went into the market for a GPS running watch. Battery life lasts around 4-5 days for me, although this is mostly on standby as I only really wear it when I'm working out. Still, it's pretty impressive. I wore it fairly continuously when I first got it and had to charge it after 3 days. There is an option to have constant heart rate monitoring, which obviously uses more battery. Finally, with regards to aesthetics, I wasn't sold on the look of it. It's quite chunky on my smallish wrist (I'm a 5'4" woman), and it's square design is definitely less common than the current trend of round faces. However it was the least important factor for me. For what it's worth, initially I tried the Suunto Spartan, but this fell short on accuracy and was returned. I've met people who rave about Garmin, but I'd also read reviews about them having a cheap-ish build quality for the price, and the ecosystem seems to divide opinion like Marmite. Some guys who ran a running shop told me that TomTom was going to stop producing watches and so support would fade over time. Overall, this ticks all the boxes that I wanted out of a running watch, with features and a build quality at a price that I think beats other alternatives.

I've started running again after a break of 6 or 7 years and my old Garmin Forerunner 305 had given up the ghost. I was going to go for another Garmin but this had good reviews and was a good price. I haven't been disappointed. It picks up GPS in about 20 seconds, that's on a cloudy day in central London standing just outside my office building. The Garmin could sometimes take 5 minutes, when I was at home I'd leave it out in the garden to pick up GPS whilst I got ready as it took so long. This watch is very accurate, showing exactly where I've had to slow down or stop for traffic etc on the map on the Polar Flow website. When I watched reviews it looked a little chunky but it's really not. I guess the people who were doing the reviews were a lot smaller than me :). The one slight negative is that the connector on the back can be a tad iffy and fiddly. I thought I had left it charging once but it wasn't connecting properly. In saying that it only takes about 20-30 mins to charge and a charge seems to last quite a few days unless you have it on Heart Rate screen. If you're after a good value GPS watch look no further

This is the first watch of this kind that I have bought so have nothing to measure it against. In my opinion it works well just as a watch clearly displaying day, date and time at a glance, then it tells you about your sleep and goals for the day either walking or running. So as I move during the day it updates and then after work I know what i need to do to keep up with my schedule. Likes:- Lightweight Minimalist design Clear Display Easy to set up and snyc with my Phone Intuitive Menus Lots of strap positions so it will fit any size wrist Cons People with small wrists may find the rectangular face a bit too tall Charger slot in the back feels a little bit tricky to attach and it is 'one way round' only so be carful not to force lead in. Overall im very happy so far with the watch, dont think i could ask for more, im only going running or walking and am not a serious athlete, just wanted a watch to measure distances, calories and heart rate and give me some motivation, love the fact it can read your heart rate off the back of the watch against your skin.

I'll start with the positives. The watch is a nice size for a man's wrist and is easy to adjust. It's better made than some of the cheaper Polar watches which feel very plastic. Other than that it's quite disappointing. It's only accurate at measuring heart rate until you sweat heavily, then it can't cope and reads a max of about 154, when I know competitive badminton puts my HR around 180-190 bpm. As such it's rubbish. If you are walking or jogging without breaking sweat, fine. When you are very still e.g. reading or meditating, it thinks you're asleep, so the sleep monitor is also inaccurate. Lastly, the strap has broken in under 2 years of normal use and they won't cover this under warranty. That's another £35 to have fixed. For the price of over £140, this watch isn't good enough and Polar need to improve their quality and customer service.

I have had Apple & Garmin watches I borrowed a polar and I liked the features the m400 is good it gives you all what other smartwatches have it’s buttons not touch screen and the gps is also good I would recommend it if you want a good priced watch

My first impression out of the box was, there is a nice weight to it. It’s heavy enough to suggest it is durable but not too heavy. The M430 took 1 hour to charge using a 5V usb plug (Not supplied). I upgraded to the M430 from the M200. I am glad I did as there are many great features. The daily activity monitor is much more detailed showing me a lot of data that was only available through the app or website on the M200. Such as data from my tracked activity and most active days etc… there is also a small activity calendar that allows you to see your activity for the month, without needing to use the app/website. The M430 is all the one unit, meaning the strap is not designed to be removed from the watchface. The M430 is quite customisable for a software standpoint, allowing you to choose from various watchfaces (See pictures below). I like the ability to start my favourite training sessions directly from the watch without the need to setup a training program on the website. Logon to the polar flow website and add your favourite trainings (5K, Interval etc...) to the favourites section and simply sync the watch. There is a favourites icon in the watch menu that lets you start the session whenever you want. The watch allows you to read texts while connected to your phone, however you are limited by screen size. I thought I could use the arrow buttons to scroll the text but sadly not (maybe in a future firmware update). The Vo2Max test that is built in to the watch is great for showing health improvements. The watch stores your latest Vo2Max result to your account on the polar flow website. A recent firmware update added the ability to track your heart rate all day, I don’t use it as it drains the battery. There is also a useful timer option in the watch menu that allows you to start a stopwatch, interval timer and distance finish time estimator. All timers can be cleared to the start by pressing the backlit button. A silent alarm can be set using the watch, the watch will vibrate at the specified time, either a once off or repeat daily alarm. The heart rate monitor during the tracked workouts is great, using 6 led sensors on the bottom of the watch, I borrowed my colleagues chest strap and the results were very impressive when compared. The heart rate monitor was much better than the M200 in my opinion, the M200 only has two led sensors, the M430 picked up the heart rate much faster and it was much quicker to respond. The M200 was still accurate it just didn’t respond as fast. The M430 and M200 are both waterproof. I did test them both, I went swimming with them, The M430 was much better underwater and picked up the heart rate nicely. The GPS wasn’t great in the water. (I was also indoors) The GPS is very accurate when out running/cycling, it never drops out on my regardless of whether. As mentioned above it did struggle indoors when swimming and running (depending on the building, I have had some success but some failures too). The battery lasted me 5 days using the watch all days as a normal watch then, an hour a day of tracked heart rate and the most accurate GPS settings Pros: Fast charge time (1hr, 5V usb plug) Vo2Max Test built in. Continuous heart rate monitoring available. Great heart rate and GPS. Detailed fitness information available directly from the watch. Stores favourite workouts. Previous workouts are viewable directly from the watch. Built in timers. Waterproof. Cons: Unique Polar charging cable. Smart notifications currently have visibility limitations. Depending on the power source used, the device doesn't register as charge complete. (this is not specific to my device, it is a known problem and the reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 4) I am very pleased with the polar M430. I highly recommend it to everyone. Whether you’re running a marathon or just trying to stay healthy, this is a great all round fitness watch. No need for chest straps or external GPS devices. Just put on the watch and go.

5 días con él y genial. el modo de entrenamiento es muy bueno. Me he propuesto puesto hacer una carrera de x km y en la agenda tienes una serie de ejercicios para los días que tú le digas que vas a entrenar. Los programas van geniales. El resto de funciones van muy bien y es cómodo puesto. La app sincroniza los datos y tienes datos y análisis para aburrirte.

Great Value for Money. Stats are good, distance recording great.

Adoro, já está durando um tempão

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