Heart Rate Monitors

after months of trying different products and shopping around, the answer is
simple.

no.

stick with polar.

<brian-s-jones-at-comcast.net> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Need to replace mine (a very old Polar).
Anyone make better ones than Polar?

TIA

black wrote - in message -

Quoted message said:

after months of trying different products and shopping around, the answer

is

Quoted message said:

simple.
stick with polar.

I had the same experience.

For what its worth I really like my new 720i which replaces the bike
computer on several bikes and an ancient earlier hr monitor.

Recommend you get the cadence option and you must get the Polar computer
interface (a generic IRda interface does not seem to work).

The manual is far from simple and the software is peculiarly "Polar" but as
I said I love it for training and keeping a logs of my rides.

Again for what its worth I would not worry about the next model up (800
something) which downloads data to a particular Nokia phone (why ???) and
second hand reports have the power measurement option as fiddly and not the
easiest or most reliable of systems so you may want to avoid those.

It's the integration of a whole bunch of functions in one graph (hr,
cadence, speed, altitude) as well as simplifying all that [censored] on the
handlebars that appealed to me. If you regularly use more than one bike you
may want to think about getting a second speed and/or cadence sender.

best, Andrew (remove the .x1 to reply by email)

Andrew Price said:

black wrote - in message -

Quoted message said:

after months of trying different products and shopping around, the answer

is simple. stick with polar.

Quoted message said:

For what its worth I really like my new 720i which replaces the bike
computer on several bikes and an ancient earlier hr monitor.

Recommend you get the cadence option and you must get the Polar computer
interface (a generic IRda interface does not seem to work).

The manual is far from simple and the software is peculiarly "Polar" but as
I said I love it for training and keeping a logs of my rides.

In my experience, the generic IRda interface (on a Dell laptop) works just
fine (with a 720i). Why not try first, before springing for what might be
an unnecessary add-on.

I find the Polar software quite clunky, although it can be made to plot
your HR, speed, altitude vs. time or distance. But, for example:

1. While there are lots of empty boxes in the on-screen data area under
the plot, there doesn't seem to be any way to display calories burned, or
any optional data, in any of them.

2. You can update the odometer reading (in the software only, not directly
on the HRM), but when you try to upload the new reading to the HRM, the
software defaults to SonicLink, even though it should know better,
since the S720i doesn't use SonicLink. (I have the correct HRM selected
in the software.) Thus, there seems to be no way to actually update the
odo, period (short of zeroing it). This is inexcusable dumbness, IMHO.

3. Can't view the odometer reading while riding/recording.

4. If the HRM loses contact with the transmitter while riding, you have
to kill the whole exercise and start a new one. Furthermore, there is no
way to splice two exercises together, to repair the break thus produced.

5. It straps to the bike like it was strapping on a wrist. You either have
to unbuckle the unit or balance your laptop on the bars, in order to d/l
the data.

6. I'm sure I could think of more kludginess if I wanted to sit down and
write a full report, but this will have to do for now!

On the plus side, it does collect all the data you've uploaded and can
plot it on a nice monthly calendar, toting up the km, calores, and so on.
This is an actual convenience. It is also possible to extract the raw
numerical data from a ride, and this can be plotted or otherwise analyzed
to your heart's content using a spreadsheet or other analytical software.

Don't know about the comparable HAC HRM (but it seems to have a nicer
bike mount option, from pix I've seen). It is comparably priced, but the
software appears to be another $100 or so, so it may actually be much more
expensive. The HAC might include cadence or power, though... again I'm not
sure. Why not do a little more research before springing for this
expensive item? HAC is mfrd by ciclosport (www.ciclosport.de), a German
Co., but is readily available in the US.

Good luck,

AMG

Disclaimer: I have no connection of any kind to either mfr.

Anonymous person said:

4. If the HRM loses contact with the transmitter while riding, you have
to kill the whole exercise and start a new one.

You can force the 720i to re-acquire the heart signal by bringing
the watch up to the strap.

Quoted message said:

Furthermore, there is no
way to splice two exercises together, to repair the break thus produced.

This is true, and annoying.
--
terry morse Palo Alto, CA http://bike.terrymorse.com/

Terry Morse said:

Anonymous person said:

4. If the HRM loses contact with the transmitter while riding, you have
to kill the whole exercise and start a new one.

You can force the 720i to re-acquire the heart signal by bringing
the watch up to the strap.

Thanks for the tip. I'll give it a try on the next ride. It will be more
like "bring the chest (with the strap) down to the bars," though...