Polar CS200 questions

1) Yes - you'll need to come up with a novel way to attach it to your
wrist though.
2) I haven't used the lap functions, but I think they just relate to
timing. To capture other readings I think you'd need to start a new
session for the portion you want to capture.

DC

I purchased a cs200cad a month or so ago, so I thought I'd post my
review of the product here. (product info:
http://www.polarusa.com/Products/cs/cs200cad.asp?cat=consumer). I'm
a cat 3 racer in Tulsa, OK, and I've been using a HR monitor for
several years. I consider a HR monitor an invaluable tool, and
wouldn't feel comfortable riding without it. I very much like having
my cyclocomputer and HR functions combined into one unit. The cs200cad
looked like an ideal computer for me.

Previously, I had the Polar s510 (product info on the similar s520:
http://www.polarusa.com/Products/consumer/s520.asp), which I liked very
much. I've been comparing the cs200cad to my old s510 and I've formed
a few opinions.

Overall, I prefer the s510 for the following reasons:

1. The cs200cad does not record HR/speed/cadence Sampling data. When
I upload my workout to www.polarcyclingcoach.com, I can not view any
graphs of my speed, HR, cadence, etc. VERY disappointing since I think
this is the coolest thing about uploading your workouts to the web
service.

2. The displays of the cs200cad can not be customized, so you have to
pick one of the 4 preset displays. The four displays are 1.
speed/distance/HR/cad 2. Avg Speed/Distance/HR/cad 3. kcal(calories
burned)/stopwatch/HR/cad 4. speed/clock/HR/cad.

During a crit, I very much want to see speed/stopwatch/HR/cad, but I
can't see this without scrolling through the displays, and I don't want
to wait for the auto scroll feature (if I'm watching my computer, I'm
not watching the squirrel in front of me!). This was disappointing to
me because I liked the fact that there were four different data
displays on one screen. The s510 allowed me to choose what to display
on the top and middle lines, so I could show Speed/stopwatch/HR, which
I would prefer over #4 above. I use option #4 above which works OK,
but I still have to calculate how much time has elapsed by remembering
what time the race started (lame).

3. No OwnIndex on the cs200cad. I didn't realize how much I liked
this feature until I didn't have it. I like to measure and see
progress, and the OwnIndex was another cool way to quickly measure
overall fitness. Can't do it with the cs200cad (but I knew that when I
bought it).

The features I like about the cs200cad are:

1. The ability to store up to 7 workouts. Using the s510, I had to
upload my workout each night, or lose the data by recording over it.
Now, I can store up to 7 workouts before I have to sit down and upload
them to the web service. Much more convenient for me.

2. The ability to show 4 different data displays at once - cool, I
just wish I could customize what was shown (see #2 in the "things I
don't like" section).

4. The stem mount - while there is no functional benefit to this, I
like it because it looks cool.

5. The price - the cs200cad was about $100 less than the s510.

6. The flexible chest strap (Polar WearLink) - very comfortable, but I
think you can get these now with all the new polar models.

Here are the features that I don't use:

1. OwnZone - this feature wasn't on the s510, but I don't care for it
very much. The zones it calculates for me are very big (e.g. 20+ beat
range), and don't usually fit my workout for that day. I workout in
zones of 5-10 beats (175-180 bpm on hard days). A zone of 143-167
isn't specific enough for me. I do like the fact that you can still
manually set your target zones on the cs200cad.

2. Estimated Time of Arrival graph - I'm a crit racer, so I know
exactly how much time is left to race (when my display is properly
configured!). Distance is irrelevant to me. Even if I did use it, I
would like to know when there are only, say, two miles left, and you
can't see that level of detail on the graph.

3. % HR visual graph - this is the line that shows you visibly what
your HR is as a % of your max. This would be cool if 0 bars on the
display meant you were at 50% of your max instead of 0%. I mean,
really. Who works out at 0%? Since the graph starts at 0, it's
difficult to tell the difference between 80% and 90%. This graph lacks
enough detail to be useful for me.

Overall, the cs200cad is a great computer, but I was a little
disappointed about some of the missing features that the s510 had.
However, you can't beat it for the price. I may ebay mine and try the
s720i.