Cycling Equipment · Public discussion

Polar s720i flaws

Hal Jordan · 2003-10-02T21:41:17+00:00

I've been using the s720i for some months now, and I'm only half-way satisfied with it. For a pricey top-of-the line product, I guess I was expecting perfection. Here are some gripes: * Trip distance needs to be manually reset, which of course, you never remember to do. For a "bike computer" I'd rate this as a fundamental flaw. There is an "excercise distance" so you can at least find out how far you went afterwards, but there is no way to view the exercise distance while riding. * Backlight doesn't come on when display buttons are pressed. Once you use the back light, it should automatically come on when ANY buttons are pressed, not just the Lap button. * There is only one odometer shared between both bikes. I use the odometer as a guage of when to do maintenance, so I need a separate odometer for each bike. And why stop with 2 bikes? * No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.) * There should be weekly counters for time, calories and mileage that are automatically reset each week. Yeah, you can see this in the software, but it'd still be nice. * No pace indicators * No gradient display * No audible heart rate limit when bike functions are on * Timezones are NOT date aware. When you switch timezones, the date is not automatically adjusted. * Single alarm clock. Can't have separate alarm for weekends vs weekdays. Setting alarm time is clumsy; you have to skip past AM/PM before getting to the hour. Probably designed for euro 24H time. On the plus side, my particular s720i appears to be immune to interference. I've only encountered a handful of bad samples. Tuyen Tran

Started by Hal Jordan · 2 October 2003 · Last activity 3 October 2003 · 15 posts · 1,259 views

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01 / Original postPolar s720i flawsHal Jordan · 2 Oct 2003 02 / This pagePosts 1–15Page 1 of 1 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #15Martin Törnsten · 3 Oct 2003

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Original section: Cycling Equipment
Published: 2 October 2003
Last activity: 3 October 2003
Original author: Hal Jordan
Posts: 15
Discussion status: Public discussion
Total views: 1,259
Views / 30 days: 0
Topics: Cycling computers Drivetrain compatibility Heart rate training

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Original post
Hal Jordan
Archived post

2 October 2003, 21:41 UTC #1

I've been using the s720i for some months now, and I'm only half-way satisfied with it. For a pricey
top-of-the line product, I guess I was expecting perfection. Here are some gripes:
* Trip distance needs to be manually reset, which of course, you never remember to do. For a "bike
computer" I'd rate this as a fundamental flaw. There is an "excercise distance" so you can at
least find out how far you went afterwards, but there is no way to view the exercise distance
while riding.
* Backlight doesn't come on when display buttons are pressed. Once you use the back light, it should
automatically come on when ANY buttons are pressed, not just the Lap button.
* There is only one odometer shared between both bikes. I use the odometer as a guage of when to do
maintenance, so I need a separate odometer for each bike. And why stop with 2 bikes?
* No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.)
* There should be weekly counters for time, calories and mileage that are automatically reset each
week. Yeah, you can see this in the software, but it'd still be nice.
* No pace indicators
* No gradient display
* No audible heart rate limit when bike functions are on
* Timezones are NOT date aware. When you switch timezones, the date is not automatically adjusted.
* Single alarm clock. Can't have separate alarm for weekends vs weekdays. Setting alarm time
is clumsy; you have to skip past AM/PM before getting to the hour. Probably designed for
euro 24H time.
On the plus side, my particular s720i appears to be immune to interference. I've only encountered a
handful of bad samples.
Tuyen Tran

Report
hbaker1
Archived post

2 October 2003, 22:46 UTC #2

There is some open source Unix software which should convert relatively easily to the Mac.
Check out daveb.nets710
Any volunteers for the Mac?
(Hal Jordan) said:

* No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.)
Quoted message said:
Tuyen Tran

Report
Lou Holtman
Archived post

3 October 2003, 01:35 UTC #3

"Hal Jordan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I've been using the s720i for some months now, and I'm only half-way satisfied with it. For a
pricey top-of-the line product, I guess I was expecting perfection. Here are some gripes:
* Trip distance needs to be manually reset, which of course, you never remember to do. For a "bike
computer" I'd rate this as a fundamental flaw. There is an "excercise distance" so you can at
least find out how far you went afterwards, but there is no way to view the exercise distance
while riding.
I agree.
Quoted message said:

* Backlight doesn't come on when display buttons are pressed. Once you use the back light, it
should automatically come on when ANY buttons are pressed, not just the Lap button.
Not so important to me but you have a point here.
Quoted message said:

* There is only one odometer shared between both bikes. I use the odometer as a guage of when to
do maintenance, so I need a separate odometer for each bike. And why stop with 2 bikes?
You are right.
Quoted message said:

* No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.)
Well, go with the flow.
Quoted message said:

* There should be weekly counters for time, calories and mileage that are automatically reset each
week. Yeah, you can see this in the software, but it'd still be nice.
That is no problem
Quoted message said:

* No pace indicators
?? what do you mean by that (I'm Dutch)
Quoted message said:
* No gradient display
No problem.
Quoted message said:

* No audible heart rate limit when bike functions are on
Thank God for that.
Quoted message said:

* Timezones are NOT date aware. When you switch timezones, the date is not automatically adjusted.
Not important to me.
Quoted message said:

* Single alarm clock. Can't have separate alarm for weekends vs weekdays. Setting alarm time is
clumsy; you have to skip past AM/PM before getting to the hour. Probably designed for euro
24H time.
Come on. It's a HRM and cycling computer not a alarm clock.
Quoted message said:

On the plus side, my particular s720i appears to be immune to interference. I've only encountered
a handful of bad samples.
Isn't that nice ;-)
Lou

Report
Hal Jordan
Archived post

3 October 2003, 02:19 UTC #4

I actually got the Unix software to compile on OS X. Problem is that it doesn't get any data from
the IR port, just hangs. This is with the built-in IR port on an TiBook 667 (the last TiBook to
have a built-in IR port, BTW); I haven't tried it with the USB IR dongle. The S720i is aware of the
IR port on the TiBook though, so I think they are compatible at the hardware level. I can't find
much documentation on working the IR port for the Mac though. If anybody can point me at docs, I'll
give it a shot. Send email to [email hidden]; I'll keep that email address up until the
spam gets too much.
Tuyen
[email hidden] wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
There is some open source Unix software which should convert relatively easily to the Mac.
Check out daveb.nets710
Any volunteers for the Mac?
(Hal Jordan) said:

* No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.)
Quoted message said:
Tuyen Tran

Report
Garyg
Archived post

3 October 2003, 02:19 UTC #5

"Hal Jordan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I actually got the Unix software to compile on OS X. Problem is that it doesn't get any data from
the IR port, just hangs. This is with the built-in IR port on an TiBook 667 (the last TiBook to
have a built-in IR port, BTW); I haven't tried it with the USB IR dongle. The S720i is aware of
the IR port on the TiBook though, so I think they are compatible at the hardware level. I can't
find much documentation on working the IR port for the Mac though. If anybody can point me at
docs, I'll give it a shot. Send email to [email hidden]; I'll keep that email address up
until the spam gets too much.
Tuyen
Where did you find the file formats for the Polar? I thought they were proprietary.

Report
Nick Burns
Archived post

3 October 2003, 02:47 UTC #6

"Hal Jordan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I've been using the s720i for some months now, and I'm only half-way satisfied with it. For a
pricey top-of-the line product, I guess I was expecting perfection. Here are some gripes:
* Trip distance needs to be manually reset, which of course, you never remember to do. For a "bike
computer" I'd rate this as a fundamental flaw. There is an "excercise distance" so you can at
least find out how far you went afterwards, but there is no way to view the exercise distance
while riding.
* Backlight doesn't come on when display buttons are pressed. Once you use the back light, it
should automatically come on when ANY buttons are pressed, not just the Lap button.
* There is only one odometer shared between both bikes. I use the odometer as a guage of when to
do maintenance, so I need a separate odometer for each bike. And why stop with 2 bikes?
* No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.)
* There should be weekly counters for time, calories and mileage that are automatically reset each
week. Yeah, you can see this in the software, but it'd still be nice.
* No pace indicators
* No gradient display
* No audible heart rate limit when bike functions are on
* Timezones are NOT date aware. When you switch timezones, the date is not automatically adjusted.
* Single alarm clock. Can't have separate alarm for weekends vs weekdays. Setting alarm time is
clumsy; you have to skip past AM/PM before getting to the hour. Probably designed for euro
24H time.
On the plus side, my particular s720i appears to be immune to interference. I've only encountered
a handful of bad samples.
Tuyen Tran
Well, this is by far the best in its class. I have been using these downloadable HRMs for a long
time and this one is by far the best ever. I would like to see some of the features from the 8
series but for the price these Polar units are amazing. The first one I bought was close to $1000 by
the time I got the serial connector (years ago) so maybe that is why my perspective is different.

Report
Shayne Wissler
Archived post

3 October 2003, 02:48 UTC #7

Quoted message said:
"Hal Jordan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I've been using the s720i for some months now, and I'm only half-way satisfied with it. For a
pricey top-of-the line product, I guess I was expecting perfection. Here are some gripes:
* Trip distance needs to be manually reset, which of course, you never remember to do. For a
"bike computer" I'd rate this as a fundamental flaw. There is an "excercise distance" so you
can at least find out how far you went afterwards, but there is no way to view the exercise
distance while riding.
Agreed. That is the most annoying flaw for me. Hopefully they make a firmware fix for this that we
can get sometime in the future.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
* Backlight doesn't come on when display buttons are pressed. Once you use the back light, it
should automatically come on when ANY buttons are pressed, not just the Lap button.
Yep.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
* No gradient display
That would be a cool feature.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
On the plus side, my particular s720i appears to be immune to interference. I've only encountered
a handful of bad samples.
I had some overhead powerlines send mine into oblivion. It appeared as two speed/cadence spikes on
the chart: one going up the hill and one going down.
Shayne Wissler

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Nick Burns
Archived post

3 October 2003, 02:48 UTC #8

"GaryG" <garyg@shasta_SPAMBEGONE_software.com> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
"Hal Jordan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
I actually got the Unix software to compile on OS X. Problem is that it doesn't get any data
from the IR port, just hangs. This is with the built-in IR port on an TiBook 667 (the last
TiBook to have a built-in IR port, BTW); I haven't tried it with the USB IR dongle. The S720i is
aware of the IR port on the TiBook though, so I think they are compatible at the hardware level.
I can't find much documentation on working the IR port for the Mac though. If anybody can point
me at docs, I'll give it a shot. Send email to [email hidden]; I'll keep that email
address up until the spam gets too much.
Tuyen
Where did you find the file formats for the Polar? I thought they were proprietary.
The "Soniclink" is proprietary, the IR base units are ASCII CSV files. I also remember there was a
utility to convert the Soniclink files to ASCII, but I do not remember the details. You don't want
any of the Soniclink models anyway because they are the small memory\one exercise file only models.

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Per ElmsäTer
Archived post

3 October 2003, 09:16 UTC #9

Hal Jordan wrote:
I'll add one of my own observations here at the top and intersperse my comments below. A few times
I've noticed the distance and recording functions have stopped. HR is still being monitored but not
recorded. This usually seem to happen around 115 km or so. I have it set on Auto and if I push the
big button for a new lap the recording starts again and the distance gets accumulated. This has
happened to me three times. The memory has not been full.
Quoted message said:
I've been using the s720i for some months now, and I'm only half-way satisfied with it. For a
pricey top-of-the line product, I guess I was expecting perfection. Here are some gripes:
* Trip distance needs to be manually reset, which of course, you never remember to do. For a "bike
computer" I'd rate this as a fundamental flaw. There is an "excercise distance" so you can at
least find out how far you went afterwards, but there is no way to view the exercise distance
while riding.
I used to be annoyed by this until one race this summer. After about thirty km the HR monitoring
just hung. No matter how much I tried to get it going nothing happened until I turned the monitoring
off and then turned it back on again. This got it working and much to my delight my trip distance
and speed average was still intact. When I got back home I had two files for download with a five km
glitch. I could live with that, since I knew my distance and average speed anyway. Besides I have to
reset my distance manually on every other bike computer I have. Flitedeck Cateye.
Quoted message said:
* Backlight doesn't come on when display buttons are pressed. Once you use the back light, it
should automatically come on when ANY buttons are pressed, not just the Lap button.
I agree
Quoted message said:
* There is only one odometer shared between both bikes. I use the odometer as a guage of when to
do maintenance, so I need a separate odometer for each bike. And why stop with 2 bikes?
Absolutely
Quoted message said:
* No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.)
* There should be weekly counters for time, calories and mileage that are automatically reset each
week. Yeah, you can see this in the software, but it'd still be nice.
Come on now. This is getting out of hand ;-) Besides I wouldn't have the time to go through all
those features on the bike. However I do have the time when I get back home.
Quoted message said:

* No pace indicators
Would be cool
Quoted message said:
* No gradient display
Would be cool
Quoted message said:
* No audible heart rate limit when bike functions are on
As somebody else said. Thank God for that.
Quoted message said:
* Timezones are NOT date aware. When you switch timezones, the date is not automatically adjusted.
If I ever started using timezones I bet I'd be going to the ones that weren't preset anyway. This is
a HRM not a Jetset Rolex.
Quoted message said:
* Single alarm clock. Can't have separate alarm for weekends vs weekdays. Setting alarm time is
clumsy; you have to skip past AM/PM before getting to the hour. Probably designed for euro
24H time.
Why would I wan't to set alarms on a HRM?
Quoted message said:
On the plus side, my particular s720i appears to be immune to interference. I've only encountered
a handful of bad samples.
I have a powerline I pass under on most every ride. Apart from that no problems. Oh yes. Wear it
while driving your car and you will be quite impressed of your new HRmax.
--
Perre
You have to be smarter than a robot to reply.

Report
Hal Jordan
Archived post

3 October 2003, 20:17 UTC #10

Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:

* No pace indicators
?? what do you mean by that (I'm Dutch)
Visual cues that shows if your going faster/slower than current average speed.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
* Single alarm clock. Can't have separate alarm for weekends vs weekdays. Setting alarm time is
clumsy; you have to skip past AM/PM before getting to the hour. Probably designed for euro 24H
time.
Come on. It's a HRM and cycling computer not a alarm clock.
Truly. Just want my cake and eat it too.
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:

On the plus side, my particular s720i appears to be immune to interference. I've only
encountered a handful of bad samples.
Isn't that nice ;-)
Actually, it's only because I like my s720i so much that the small little things bother me. A really
well designed product is a thing of beauty. That was only a mini-itty-bitty rant; as an HRM, the
s720i is top-notch. As a bike computer, it's more than adequate.
Quoted message said:
Lou
Tuyen

Report
Hal Jordan
Archived post

3 October 2003, 20:17 UTC #11

"Per Elmsäter" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...
Quoted message said:
on again. This got it working and much to my delight my trip distance and speed average was still
intact. When I got back home I had two files for download with a five km glitch. I could live with
that, since I knew my distance and average speed anyway. Besides I have to reset my distance
manually on every other bike computer I have. Flitedeck Cateye.
A good way to add this feature: just allow the "exercise distance" to be displayed during the
exercise, and keep the trip distance functionality the same. I'm sure some programmer (hi!) at Polar
has this on his todo list.
Quoted message said:
Come on now. This is getting out of hand ;-) Besides I wouldn't have the time to go through all
those features on the bike. However I do have the time when I get back home.
A little bit. 🙂 I wear my HRM as a watch and often find myself at the doctor, or whatever, with
nothing to play with but the watch. Pitiful, I know.
Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:
* No audible heart rate limit when bike functions are on
As somebody else said. Thank God for that.

Well, I live in northern climates and ride in the dark for six months of the year. It should at
least be an option. Having audible limits on all the time would definitely be a problem.
Quoted message said:

Why would I wan't to set alarms on a HRM?
I'm actually looking forward to the day when my HRM has a built in phone, Palm OS 20.5 with
holographic display and voice recognition, able to store 100 gig of MP3, and includes WI-FI and
Bluetooth. I don't like to carry lots of gadets because I tend to lose them. Oh, and half the
thickness too. 🙂
Quoted message said:
I have a powerline I pass under on most every ride. Apart from that no problems. Oh yes. Wear it
while driving your car and you will be quite impressed of your new HRmax.
Or during business meetings when the discussion starts getting heated...
Tuyen

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Hal Jordan
Archived post

3 October 2003, 20:17 UTC #12

The link referenced above, daveb.nets710, has lots of info on the protocol and raw file
formats. The ASCII format the Polar software saves the exercise files in are not described though.
Tuyen
Quoted message said:
Where did you find the file formats for the Polar? I thought they were proprietary.

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Lou Holtman
Archived post

3 October 2003, 21:16 UTC #13

"Hal Jordan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:
Quoted message said:

* No pace indicators
?? what do you mean by that (I'm Dutch)
Visual cues that shows if your going faster/slower than current average speed.
Why don't you just display the average speed and the current speed so you can see if you going
slower/faster than the average speed. Problem solved. I hate those blinking squares.
Quoted message said:

Actually, it's only because I like my s720i so much that the small little things bother me. A
really well designed product is a thing of beauty. That was only a mini-itty-bitty rant; as an
HRM, the s720i is top-notch. As a bike computer, it's more than adequate.
I agree with that. I often say that Polar doesn't listen well to us cyclists.
Lou

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Martin Törnsten
Archived post

3 October 2003, 22:41 UTC #14

Captain's log. On StarDate 2 Oct 2003 06:06:05 -0700 received comm from "[email hidden] (Hal
Jordan) on channel rec.bicycles.tech ":
: * No support for Macintosh. (Although I'm working on this. Should be done in, oh say, 3 years.)
Have you tried VPC?
Best regards,
martin törnsten
--
194.236.153.211194.236.153.211

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Martin Törnsten
Archived post

3 October 2003, 22:41 UTC #15

Captain's log. On StarDate Thu, 02 Oct 2003 16:19:16 GMT received comm from "[email hidden] on
channel rec.bicycles.tech ":
: There is some open source Unix software which should convert relatively easily to the Mac.
:
: Check out daveb.nets710
:
: Any volunteers for the Mac?
Also check out this free (for Linux/Unix) viewer of Polar files:
saring.deindex.html
Does OS X have any support in the MONO project?
Best regards,
martin törnsten
--
194.236.153.211194.236.153.211

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