The Trophy Heart Rate Monitor
Perhaps you're a serious multi-sport athlete or just a fitness enthusiast who loves technology: In either case after carefully reading all the reviews online many time you've finally decided to splurge on the Polar V800 - that fanciest of heart rate monitors - so that you too can train like a champion.
Well, I know I did. After owning a trusty RS800 for nearly a decade, I thought it was time to move up the ladder and get myself a V800 - and so I did.
While I don't regret my decision to do so, I'd like to share my experience with the V800.
A Steamy Affair - Part 1
I bought the V800 in September 2014 and was ecstatic when it finally arrived in India. It's truly a really neat piece of hardware with some cool software. Since the V800 tracks a range of physical activities (including sleep) I tend to have it on 24 x 7.
Well, all was going dandy until one fine day, a few months down the road, I noticed humidity inside the watch (under the glass dial, as it were). I thought it was temporary and dismissed it.
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| Humidity under the glass dial on the Polar V800 |
However, when it stubbornly refused to go away after about a day, I got worried and contacted Polar Support (via chat). I was told that since I'm in India, this'd be dealt with by Polar India. Cool beans. So I contacted the folks there and was told to send in my watch to get it fixed.
Long story short, I sent in the V800, they got rid of the humidity and sent it back. Bravo! I was ecstatic that I had my precious V800 back.
A Steamy Affair - Part 2
Now, after about a month, I noticed the exact same thing! Moisture was getting underneath the dial of the V800! I was horrified. I called Polar India again and was told that they were aware of the problem but couldn't really help me unless Polar Global sent me a replacement under warranty. Since the V800 was bought in the US, I decided to contact Polar USA and after a few e-mail exchanges, thanks to them, was put in touch with Polar Global. They acknowledged the issue and offered to send me a replacement unit. Great support!
Community Love
Meanwhile, I'd started a thread on the Polar forums here to see if this problem was affecting other Polar V800 users as well or if this was a one-off issue.
What do you know? It has! Turns out that humidity gets in through the exposed connector under the watch strap.
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| The exposed connector can allow moisture to get under the dial |
And so the solution is to have a small cap cover the connector so that moisture doesn't get wicked in.
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| A small cap covers the exposed connector preventing moisture from getting in |
The Heart Break Monitor
I received the replacement V800 yesterday. I haven't had the guts yet to expose it to any water but I did want to take it out for a run. So, I strapped on the H7 Bluetooth heart rate sensor but it just wouldn't get paired. New batteries, different chest straps. Still no luck. My previous V800 had no issues with pairing.
For now, I've gone ahead and bought a new H7 Bluetooth heart rate sensor. I'll update this review once it arrives to see whether the issue is with the heart rate sensor or the replacement V800.
In either case, my experience with the V800 has been far from ideal. I was really hoping it would help me achieve my fitness goals as a top of the line heart rate monitor - but for now, all it's really done is been more of a heart break monitor.
Double Trouble
So, both the H7s recently came back from the service center and here's the report.
For the older one, turns out the contact inside the battery compartment had gotten spoiled. Not sure how or why. In other words, when the battery compartment's opened with a twist and the help of a coin, the battery generally pop outs - right? Well, it wasn't doing that - and it wasn't doing that because the contact inside was spoiled. The service center fixed that and sent it back. Now it's working fine.
For the newer one, the battery it came with was defective. Perhaps it was sitting on the shelves too long? I'd noticed that it was imported in April, 2015 - and was probably manufactured a while before that. However, this provided for quite a sucky customer experience for someone buying a new heart rate sensor.
So, I'm still hanging in there. I finally got the nerves to take the Polar V800 into the shower and so far *touch wood* all seems to be well.
Same problem here since several weeks now. Moisture under the glass very clear...
ReplyDeletetoday contacted Polar via email. Hope it will be resolved because i bought the watch in USA and living in Dominican Republic. You could not buy them here.
also have problems with charging. Does not work really well.
Tonydomrep,
DeleteThanks for sharing. I'm really sorry to hear that you're having the same problem. Let's see if taking these steps can help you out.
I don't see the Dominican Republic listed as having a Polar service center on the following page
http://www.polar.com/en/support/contact_us/email_polar
So, I'd recommend you contact Polar USA via chat first
http://www.polar.com/us-en/support/contact_us/email_polar
and then ask them to what to do.
Next, have a look at the thread I posted on the Polar Forums here
https://forum.polar.fi/showthread.php?t=30684
You might want to start your own thread and ask people for suggestions. People are really helpful and supportive on the forums. As you can see, quite a few people have had this issue.
In my case, I was asked to ship my product back to the US but this didn't seem logical. After e-mailing Polar USA a few times, they were able to escalate the matter to Polar Global (in Finland) and they shipped out a replacement from there.
I wish you good luck. Would be great if you kept us posted on how things go at your end.
sended them an email and need to look for another country then USA, because they
ReplyDelete"We are sorry to hear you have encountered some difficultly with your V800. You have contacted Polar's US subsidiary, we do not ship repairs or parts outside of the US.
Do you have a US address?
If not, please reach out to the Polar Authorized location at the country nearest you for warranty assistance:
http://www.polar.com/region
Thank you for training with Polar!"
Hi Tonydomrep,
ReplyDeleteYep. That's the standard e-mail they send out. You'll have to convince them that you bought it in the US (I got mine on Amazon.com) and explain to them that the Dominican Republic doesn't have a Polar service center. You might have to do this a few times before they take notice.
Good luck!
so sended 2 emaisl to customer service in finland... until now no response
ReplyDeleteYou might want to continue the conversation by replying to the e-mail Polar US sent to you. That's what I did. I didn't mean you contact Polar Global directly. If Polar US escalates the matter, Polar Global will reply. It might take a few tries to convince Polar US but they are good at replying.
DeleteAlso, the entire process took me more than a month. So be ready to be very patient.
you really need a lot of patience... i received several emails (think 6 now) from customer service that itsextremely busy now and that they will contact me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, somebody from finland responded over a message i sended by facebook. She would help me further she told me but that is also 2 days ago now...
Regarding the H7 not pairing ... did you try the reset trick? Remove the H7 battery, and short the two snap terminals with a paperclip or wire to completely drain the residual power. I had a similar non-pairing H7 and that trick, which I found online, resolved my issue. Put the battery back in, and it paired right up again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion. Glad it worked out for you.
DeleteActually, I did do what you suggested before sending it out for repair. Turns out the contact inside the battery compartment on the older H7 had gotten spoiled. In other words, when you open the battery compartment with a twist and the help of a coin, the battery pop outs - right? Well, it wasn't doing that - and it wasn't doing that because the contact inside was spoiled. The service center fixed that and sent it back. Now it's working fine.
On the new H7, they said the battery it came with was defective and replaced it. Now, that's working fine as well.
In brief, things haven't really gone too smoothly with either the V800 or the H7. I owned an RS800 for nearly a decade with none of these issues whatsoever. With the V800, I've had to deal with quite a few hurdles very early on.
So i contacted USA, then Finland, then Brasil and received an email from Polar USA that they will sent a new one WITH THE RUBBER FLAP as replacement !!! Will keep you updated.
ReplyDeleteGreat news! Phew! So glad to hear it's working out! You really need to be patient. As you can see, Polar does finally get back to the customer. Yes, please do keep us posted!
Deletemy polar was totally finished, dead. Did nothing at the end. So i made a small youtube movie and sended that to several polar email adresses and their facebook, of course in pm. And sending the link also in private...
ReplyDeleteIts correct, you really need to push andthen they move.
Yes, same here. My V800 ended up dying as well.
DeleteGlad you were able to get traction on this and move towards a resolution.
thanx for the help fooks!
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm from Italy: we have lot of moisture (& fog) here too.
ReplyDeleteToday my 2nd V800 fried. That's a huge pity for me, because I have shared thousands of hours & Km with this model. Helped me to finish my 1st IronMan.. but still: I will buy a Garming just after this Christmas. :/