Polar M430
Advanced Running Watch with Wrist-based Heart Rate and GPS

Follow your heart rate around the clock with Polar’s continuous wrist-based heart rate solution.

Continuous heart rate complements Polar’s 24/7 activity tracking. The combination of continuous heart rate measurement and 24/7 activity tracking takes into account the intensity of your activity more comprehensively – even activities with very little arm movement (such as cycling or walking with grocery bags) can be counted towards your daily activity goal and calorie burn more accurately. The heart rate graph in the Polar Flow app and web service shows how your heart rate varies during the day. You’ll also get to know your highest and lowest daytime heart rate and your lowest night-time heart rate.

Polar’s continuous heart rate solution is intelligent, dynamic and optimized to complement 24/7 activity tracking in the best possible way. Your wrist unit checks your heart rate at regular short intervals, and if it detects that your heart rate is elevated, it automatically starts to record it. When your heart rate goes down, the recording stops automatically. The automatic heart rate recording also begins when the accelerometer on your wrist unit detects a high activity level. This way, your Polar device makes sure you get credit for all those important active moments in your day.

Tracks your daily activity at five intensity levels for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and provides a complete picture of all of your activity. It counts your active time, daily burnt calories, steps, distance from steps and sleep.

It’s based on the analyses of the frequency, intensity and regularity of your movements together with your physical information.

Intensity levels are:

1. Resting (sleep and rest, lying down)
2. Sitting (sitting or other passive behavior)
3. Low (standing work, light household chores)
4. Medium (walking and other moderate activities)
5. High (jogging, running and other intense activities)               

You can also see how different activity intensities accumulate daily activity: the higher the intensity, the faster you’ll reach your activity goal. Find more examples for low, medium and high intensity activities in Polar Flow app and web service.

Most adults do very well with eight hours of sleep, but sleep needs may vary from person to person. It is recommended that adults get between 7 to 9 hours of sleep. Your sleep needs are affected by several factors like individual characteristics, training load, mental stress, body’s condition and possible sleep debt.

Polar Sleep Plus automatically detects the timing, amount, and quality of your sleep based on your wrist movements.

• Sleep time shows the total time between when you fell asleep and when you woke up.
• Actual sleep shows how much of your sleep time was actually spent asleep.
• Interruptions show you how much time you spent awake during the night.
• Sleep continuity tells you how continuous your sleep was on a scale of 1-5, where 5 reflects uninterrupted sleep. The lower the value the more fragmented your sleep was.

You can set your preferred sleep time to define how long you aim to sleep every night. You can also rate your sleep. You'll receive feedback on how you slept based on your sleep data, your preferred sleep time and your sleep rating.

Monitor your long-term sleeping patterns in Polar Flow. By following your sleeping patterns you can see if they’re affected by any changes in your daily life and find the right balance of rest, daily activity and training.

We need physical activity to stay healthy. The Activity Goal helps and motivates you to stay active all day long. Your device tells you your daily Activity Goal and guides you on how to reach it. It’s based on your personal details chosen level of activity and general health recommendations. The activity bar on your device fills up during the day based on the duration and intensity of your activity.

You can stay active at a moderate pace throughout the day or meet your goal faster with more intense activities. Your device helps you to reach your daily activity goal by giving practical guidance like ´walk for 50 minutes or jog for 20 minutes´. You can find more tips on how to reach your Activity Goal in the Polar Flow app and web service. 

The foundation of Polar Activity Goal is in evidence-based physical activity guidelines which establish the minimal amount of physical activity needed to achieve important health benefits. The health benefits include healthy body weight, healthy bones, muscles and joints, psychological well-being, and reduced risk of certain diseases.

Includes the cumulative time you spend on your feet and on the move. In other words, low, medium and high intensity activities are considered Active Time. To get more active time, avoid sitting or break it up regularly with short walks.

Research has shown that both the reduced time spent inactive and breaks in inactivity have health associations. Replacing two hours of sitting per day by low intensity activity consumes calories equivalent to brisk walking for 30 minutes.

You can see the time spent on different intensity levels in the Polar Flow app and web service.

Your device counts your steps and the distance you walk during the day. Your steps are estimated based on the frequency, intensity and regularity of your wrist movements.

Stores all your daily physical activity. You can easily follow your daily and long-term physical activity in Polar Flow app and web service. The total active time is the cumulative time of body movements that are good for your body and health.

You will find detailed information in the Polar Flow app and web service, like time spent at different activity intensity levels, average of daily goal completion, calories burned and steps taken, amount of inactivity alerts and sleep time and quality.

Tracks all your active choices during the day and shows how they help you stay healthy. Strong scientific evidence exists on the numerous benefits of physical activity. Activity benefits include, e.g. heart health, muscle and bone health, stress reduction and sleep quality.

The Activity Benefit rewards you by giving you daily, weekly and monthly feedback, because the more regularly you move, the greater the health benefits. You can check up on how you're doing either from the Polar Flow app or web service.

Reminds you to get up and avoid sitting and standing still for too long – even on those days when you gain enough daily activity. Being inactive has a negative impact on your blood circulation, metabolism and energy expenditure.

After 55 minutes of being inactive your device gives you an Inactivity Alert which reminds you to add active breaks to your daily routines. If you continue being inactive for more than one hour, you will see an inactivity stamp in your daily activity data.

You won’t get any Inactivity alerts during night time.

Your training computer automatically tracks the duration of your sleep and shows in the Polar Flow app and web service how restful your sleep has been.

Most adults do very well with eight hours of sleep, but sleep needs may vary from about six to nine hours. Your sleep needs are affected by several factors like individual characteristics, training load, mental stress, body’s condition and possible sleep debt.

By following your sleeping patterns you can see if they’re affected by any changes in your daily life and find the right balance of rest, daily activity and training.

An assessment of sleep quality relies on your wrist movements. The periods when you sleep peacefully and don’t move a lot are calculated as restful sleep. The periods when you move and change your position are calculated as restless sleep.

Train for a running event with a personalized and adaptive running plan in Polar Flow. Choose one of four events, 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon, and get a comprehensive training plan that fits you and your goals.

Depending on your choices and activity levels, you will receive a personal running program that can range from 9 to 15 weeks in length. Running Program also offers a base-building phase that can work for months before the start of the actual running plan.

Running Program gives you easy-to-follow instructions, motivational guidance and supportive exercises with video instructions that take the guesswork out of training.

During individual training sessions, compatible Polar products guide you in real-time. You can see your target heart rate zone and target duration and adjust your training for optimal results.

Measure your speed and distance from the movement of your wrist. Use running related sport profiles or walking and let the accelerometer track your distance and speed - indoors and out.

For accurate readings, remember to specify on which hand you wear your watch, and other physical settings.

Running cadence is the number of steps you take per minute, divided by two. Running cadence from the wrist is measured by the accelerometer in the wrist unit so there is no need for any extra equipment, such as footpods.

Paying attention to running cadence helps you improve your running efficiency and avoid injuries. A low cadence, for example, could mean that you’re overstriding and putting undue stress on your body.

Polar wrist-based heart rate measurement integrates heart rate into a device that can be worn on your wrist. It enables you to quickly and easily check your heart rate by activating the training mode in your device. It measures your heart rate accurately and easily, and gives training guidance on how to train at the right intensity. Polar wrist-based heart rate measurement is based on Polar's proprietary optical heart rate algorithm to give the best possible results, with an emphasis on both design and functionality.

One of the key factors to accuracy in wrist-based heart rate measurement is ensuring a proper fit. The watch should sit behind the wrist bone, with the back of the watch fitting snugly against your wrist, but not so tight as to prevent blood circulation or feel uncomfortable.

Heart rate (HR) is an excellent measure of exercise and your training intensity. In the human body heart rate is regulated to match the demands of the body and the environment. When exercise intensity increases, heart rate also increases to match the increased rate of energy expenditure and oxygen uptake.

Heart rate can be expressed as the absolute number of beats per minute (bpm) or as a percentage of your maximum heart rate (% HRmax) or heart rate reserve (% HRR).  Absolute heart rate during training is not very informative on its own, but when it’s expressed and interpreted in relation to HRmax or HRR it determines individual exercise intensity.

Your heart rate value in beats per minute (e.g. 125 bpm) is individual and cannot be compared to another person's value. A percentage of your maximum heart rate value on the other hand is comparable. For instance your friend may have a higher heart rate value in bpm, but the percentage of your individual HRmax can be the same. This means that you have the same relative training intensity.

Maximum heart rate (HRmax) is the highest number of heart beats per minute (bpm) during physical exertion. HRmax is individual and may somewhat decrease as you age. It sets the individual reference value for your training intensity and is used in the calculation of the default heart rate zones and many Polar Smart Coaching features.

An age-based HRmax is a rough estimate of your maximum heart rate, and it is used as default in most Polar training computers. The most reliable and safest way to determine your HRmax is to have it measured in a maximal laboratory test.

Provide an easy way to adjust and monitor the intensity of your training. By using hear rate zones you can also follow heart rate-based training programs. The default zones are based on your HRmax.

Different training intensities have different training benefits, for instance light intensity enhances basic aerobic endurance and hard intensity improves your body’s ability to sustain high intensity exercise and your maximal oxygen uptake.

The default heart rate zones are divided into five intensity zones based on the percentage of your maximum heart rate:

1. Very light (50–60% HRmax)
2. Light (60–70% HRmax)
3. Moderate (70–80% HRmax)
4. Hard (80–90% HRmax)
5. Maximum (90–100% HRmax)

You can define the zone limits yourself as you want. More detailed information about this can be found in the Polar Flow web service.

Provide an easy way to choose and monitor the intensity of your training based on speed or pace. Speed/pace zones help you vary your training by using different intensities for optimal effects. Speed/pace will be affected for instance by uphill, which usually reduce your pace but increase your heart rate and exercise intensity.

Speed/Pace zones work just like heart rate zones even if speed/pace reacts to change instantly whereas heart rate takes a few moments to reach the new intensity level. There are five zones, and you can use the default ones, but we recommend you to define your own. You can also create training targets based on the zones, and receive guidance on your training computer during training.

Speed/Pace zones are supported in running, cycling, rowing and canoeing sports.

More detailed information about this can be found in the Polar Flow web service.

Keeps you training at certain intensity. With ZoneLock you can target and lock a specific training zone during your training session. When you are out of the preset heart rate/speed/pace or power zones, the training computer will give a visual and audio alarm.

A moving symbol in zone display in your training computer showing whether you are inside the pre-set or desired target zone. This feature helps you to reach the desired intensity/pace/speed targets.

Estimates your aerobic fitness at rest without any exertion in just five minutes. The result, Polar OwnIndex, evaluates your maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) and tells on what aerobic fitness level you are compared with people of the same age and gender.

The test is based on resting heart rate, heart rate variability, gender, age, height, body weight and your self-assessment of the level of long-term physical activity. You can compare your value to the population norms, the average values of people of the same age and gender.

Polar Fitness Test can motivate you to start, maintain or increase physical exercise.

To be able to follow the progress, the test should always be carried out under the same conditions, meaning at the same time of day, in a peaceful environment, and following a light training day or a day of rest.

Your Running Index score is calculated automatically after every run. It is based on a combination of maximum heart rate and resting heart rate as well as your heart rate and speed during each training session.

You will get an estimate of your running performance (maximal aerobic running performance as a theoretical VO2max value in ml/min/kg). A higher reading indicates that you have better cardiorespiratory/aerobic fitness.

The Running Index gives you information about your performance level, which is a sum of both aerobic fitness and running economy. Improvement means that running at a given pace requires less effort, or that your pace is faster at a given level of exertion.

Temporary factors, such as weather conditions, heat or stress, can affect your Running Index. That’s why we recommend you follow long-term trends instead of daily fluctuations.

In the Polar Flow web service, you can see your long-term average and your estimated finishing times for 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon runs.

Calculates the number of calories burned based on your individual data: your weight, height, age, gender, HRmax, HRrest, VO2max, and the intensity of your training/activity.

Heart rate-based calorie calculation is used when heart rate is measured, and it measures burned calories the most accurately also in conditions like cycling or lifting weights. Activity-based calorie calculation is used in training computers and activity trackers, when heart rate is not available.

You can see the cumulative energy expenditure (in kilocalories, kcal) during exercise and total kilocalories of the session after exercise. You can also follow your total daily calories.

Helps you to understand how each training session benefits your fitness. It also gives you motivating feedback immediately after exercise. With the Training Benefit feature, you can make your training more varied by altering your training intensity and duration.

The Training Benefit feedback is based on exercise intensity and duration. It reads into how much time you spend and how many calories you burn in each intensity zone. You get a quick overview after each session and for more detailed feedback, you can either check your training file from your training computer or later in the Polar Flow app or web service.

Training Load shows you how strenuous you training session was and helps you compare the load of different workouts. For example, you can compare the load of a long low intensity cycling session to that of a short high intensity running session.

Training Load is based on the intensity and duration of a training session. The intensity of a session is measured mainly by using your heart rate. The calculation is further affected by your personal information, such as age, sex, weight, VO2max and training history.

Your aerobic and anaerobic threshold values are used in the calculation. In addition, the sport you are doing is taken into account via a sport specific factor, which improves the calculation accuracy.

Available in Polar Flow.

in Flow web service

Recovery Status helps you to find balance between training and rest and estimates how much training load you can tolerate. It keeps track of your cumulative load – that is, the intensity, volume and frequency of your training as well as your daily activity measured by a Polar wrist unit. Recovery Status takes your training background into account and estimates your current and future level of physical strain.

Too much training in relation to time for recovery may lead to fatigue and decrease in performance. On the other hand, with too little training within a time frame, you may not take advantage of your whole capacity. By keeping an eye on your recovery status you can plan your training so that you avoid over- and undertraining.

The four Recovery Status levels are:

• Undertrained
• Balanced
• Strained
• Very strained

You can see your Recovery Status in the Polar Flow web service.

in Flow web service

Directs you to your starting point in the shortest distance possible (straight line distance), as well as shows the distance to your starting point.

Distance (km, mi) can be set and measured in several ways. Training distance tells you the distance traveled during a training session. Lap distance tells you the distance of one lap.

Allows you to identify your current altitude and to determine altitude-related conditions. Your current altitude is shown as meters/feet and ascended and descended meters/feet. Altitude is measured either with GPS or an atmospheric air pressure sensor.

Allows you to choose the sport relevant for your training from over a hundred Polar sports with sport-specific reports. You can get the most valuable information for you from your chosen sport.

All sport profiles are based on certain logic and the most common (endurance) sports are enhanced with Polar-specific multipliers affecting calorie and training load calculation.

You can choose and adjust your own favorite sports and define specific settings for each one in Polar Flow. In more advanced training computers you can get tailored views during your training and choose what data you want to follow during training, for instance heart rate or just speed and distance.

You can tailor your training views to fit your needs. Customize your training views in the sport profiles settings in Polar Flow.

Built-in GPS provides accurate speed and distance measurement for a range of outdoor sports, and allows you to see your route on the map in the Polar Flow app and web service after your session.

Provides a fast GPS satellite fix. A-GPS data tells your wrist device the predicted positions of the GPS satellites and makes it possible to get signals from them within seconds, even under difficult signal conditions.

The A-GPS data file is valid for up to 13 days on your training computer. To ensure a faster fix time, make sure to sync your training computer with Polar Flow app or FlowSync on a regular basis.

Allows you to save the battery life of your training computer during long training sessions by adjusting the GPS interval from 1 second to 30 or 60 seconds. A longer interval gives you more recording time, while a shorter interval allows you to record more detailed data.

Estimates your end time based on your current speed and a pre-set target distance.

See your speed/pace on your device during your workout and in Flow afterwards. You can also set a target based on your speed/pace training zones. You can view your current, average and maximum speed/pace.

You can create training targets in Polar Flow and save them to your training diary or as favorites for later use. Sync your targets to your training device. You can set phased targets with heart rate or speed/pace guidance to create an interval workout or add simple training targets, such as ‘burn 700 kcal cycling’ or ‘run 30 minutes’.

Your device will guide you throughout your training. You will get an alert on your device when you need to slow down or speed up to make sure your training goes as targeted.

After the training session you can analyze your result and compare it with your target in Polar Flow.

Stores your recent training files. Memory capacity and number of stored training files varies according to training computer and what and how much data is included in files (e.g. heart rate, GPS). Certain languages also affect the memory capacity.

Allows you to easily follow up on your past training and activity as well as your planned training sessions four weeks ahead and back in time. Information shown includes: training plans, individual training results, tests.

In Polar Flow web service you can follow your diary in a daily, weekly or monthly view.

Allows you to do interval training and helps you to know when it’s time to switch from a harder to a lighter period and vice versa. You can set two timers for any interval workout, based on distance or time, and repeat then as many time as you want.

Allows you to take laps on the go whenever you want.

Set your automatic laps in the Polar Flow web service based on a certain time frequency or distance.

Tracks your personal bests like calories, distance or speed/pace during the exercise, and notifies you after a training session when you have broken your record.

When Autostop/start is on, your training computer automatically starts and stops the recording as you start or stop moving during training.

Measures your running cadence by counting how many steps you take in a minute. The sensor measures your current, average and maximum cadence values. You can see your cadence on your wrist unit during your run and in the Polar Flow app and web service afterwards.

Cadence can be calculated as the total number of steps you take or as the number of steps one foot takes in a minute. In Polar products, cadence is calculated as the number of times one foot hits the ground. If you want to know the total number of steps you take in a minute, multiply the cadence value from your Polar device by two.

Measures distance for a training session and gives you lap, trip and total distance values.

You can see the distance in your training computer during your cycling session and in the Polar Flow app and web service afterwards.

Gives accurate and highly responsive average stride length measurements for improving your running technique and efficiency.

You can see the average stride length in your training computer during your training session and in the Polar Flow app and web service afterwards.

Measures your speed/pace wirelessly and accurately and gives you current, average and maximum speed/pace values.

You can see the speed/pace in your training computer during your training session and in Flow app and web service afterwards.

Training time: 8h

Weight: 51g

Resolution: 128X128

WR30

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Connects your Polar device and possible sensors to each other and enables you to sync your data via mobile. It is a standardized, wireless communication technology that is optimized for low power consumption and based on an open platform.

Once paired, the Bluetooth Smart sensor is automatically locked to transmit data to your training computer. The training computer picks up your data from your transmitter only.

Allows you to stay up to date when wearing your training computer in your everyday life. You will receive alerts from incoming calls, messages and push notifications from social media apps and see them on the display of your training computer.

During training you can see who’s calling and decide if you want to pick up or keep on enjoying your workout.

You can define which notifications you wish to receive in your phone’s settings or turn off notifications altogether from your training computer.

Keeps the buttons of your training computer safety locked avoiding any undesired accidental presses.

Allows you to update the software to the latest version with a USB.

Offers an easy way to follow your training, activity and progress in the Polar Flow web service. You can see your data in a daily, monthly or weekly view.

The Diary data includes e.g. completed training sessions and plans, test results and your daily activity.

See how your running performance is developing. Based on your long-term progress, Running Index analysis predicts your event finish time for 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon runs.

Gives you a map view of your training route in the Polar Flow web service when GPS used. On the map you can examine your training data in further detail.

Creates a video presenting your previous training routes and allows you to see the highlights of the session. The video is available in the Polar Flow web service and you can share it with your friends and contacts in the Polar Flow community.

Allows you to see and discover public training sessions that other users have shared by browsing the map in the Polar Flow web service.

Be a part of the Polar training community and meet other Polar trainers there. You can share your own achieves, like training sessions or activity summaries or you can follow and comment other trainers´ training session or activity summary.

Gives you an instant, visual summary of one training session or your activity in the Polar Flow app. You can follow your activity in daily, weekly or monthly view.

Allows you to easily analyze every detail of your training and long-term physical activity in the Flow web service. You can also get a deeper insight into your training analyses, for example compare your heart rate against speed, view detailed lap information or analyze your performance related to the route.

Besides the many details you get about your physical activity and all the health benefits that come with it, you can also get practical guidance how to reach your Activity Goal and see your inactive periods.

Create detailed training targets in the Flow web service. You can save them to your training diary or as favorites for later use and sync them to your training computer.

You can set for example calorie, time or distance based targets or phased heart rate or speed/pace based targets. With your training targets you can ensure that you gain the desired training effect.

During training you can easily follow the guidance on your training computer and get notification with relevant information on the display with audio or vibration alert.

After your training session you can make a deeper analysis in the Polar Flow web service how you succeeded compared to your target

Allows you to choose the sport relevant for your training from over a hundred Polar sports with sport-specific reports. You can get the most valuable information for you from your chosen sport.

All sport profiles are based on certain logic and the most common (endurance) sports are enhanced with Polar-specific multipliers affecting calorie and training load calculation.

You can choose and adjust your own favorite sports and define specific settings for each one in Polar Flow. In more advanced training computers you can get tailored views during your training and choose what data you want to follow during training, for instance heart rate or just speed and distance.

Offers you a practical tool to follow your development with reports and graphs over longer periods. In Week, Month and Year reports you can choose the sport you want to include to the report. In Custom period you can choose both the period and the sport.

Compatible with PC Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, and later

Compatible with Mac OS X 10.6, OS X 10.7, OS X 10.8, and later

Compatible with Polar Flow web service

Compatible with Polar Flow mobile app via Bluetooth Smart

Allows you to manually export data of your training session to third party apps and services as TCX, GPX or CSV files. You can also zip the files for faster download.

E.g. you can export a specific route in GPX format or a training session including key training data like route, heart rate, calories and cadence in TCX format.

You can transfer the training results and fitness test results from polarpersonaltrainer.com to Polar Flow with the following Polar products: RCX3, RCX5, RC3 GPS, CS500, CS500+, RS300X, RS800CX, CS600X, FT80, FT60, FT40 and FT7. It’s possible to transfer either a single training or fitness test result or up to 25 results at a time.

Log into Polar Flow with your polarpersonaltrainer.com username and password. The training and fitness test results are transferred from your polarpersonaltrainer.com account to the corresponding account in Polar Flow (the account with the same username and password). Note that you can’t choose the account you transfer the results to.

Offers an easy way to connect your Polar training device with 3^rd party services.

Your training and daily activity details are automatically sent and available to be used in the services where you allow it. Now you can be connected for example with Strava, TrainingPeaks, Apple Health Kit, Google Fit, MyFitnessPal and MapMyFitness,

Polar is actively developing new 3^rd party compatible services and will update the information constantly.