Questions about Polar s-725

Mike_Rides_Red

I have been cycling for about a year and want to get a cycling computer that can track my improvents. Are the polar heartrate monitors/cycle computer easy to view the cycling information from your home computer? Is it hard to find the information you want while your riding because there is soo much info?

rob of the og

Really easy when you get it back on the computer, there's tonnes of graphs you can play with to keep you amused for hours The 7 series all download via infrared port, you may have a port built in if you're using a laptop or you can buy one from Polar otherwise. I've also a 5 series one and used the soniclink, which frankly was pretty rubbish - lots of playing with the computer settings while it seemed pretty random as to whether it worked or not.

On the bike there's perhaps some information overload, but you can customise the screen so you flick through loads of readings with just the bottom right button. I can't remember if this is covered in the manual, but if you can't figure out how to do it let me know.

The main display is nice and big and easy to read whatever the light. The HR at the bottom is a little smaller, but is still easy to read and you can set it up to beep at you once you get the target zones set anyway. The top line (scrolls thru pretty much all the other functions) is the least effective, the didgets can be confused in bright or low light.

jon_stewart

If you're not wanting to upload and view graphs on your Nokia phone, why not get a 720... same functions and cheaper??

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Jon Stewart
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"It's not that I have an underactive thyroid, more an overactive fork!"

DeanC

Doesn't the 725 have the altitude and total climb functions that the 720 lacks?

Dean

Mike_Rides_Red

With the polar cycling computers/heartrate monitors the heartrate info is on the bottom part of the screen but what info is on the middle and top of the screen? Can you look at your speed and another cycling function such as cadence at the same time?

rob of the og

yup. The middle line is speed/clock/trip time/lap time

The top line is trip distance/av speed/cadence/power/altitude/calories/etc (including speed/clock/trip time/lap time)

All are interchangable so you can view any combination of the top line with the middle line (and indeed bottom line which is current/%max/average heart rate) As I say above it associates top (and bottom) selection with middle line selection, so that you can set up standard screens to scroll through with one button. Or you can change any of the 3 lines seperately on the fly.

As was said above there's not much difference between 725 and 720i, unless you don't have a pc, in which case downloading to a mobile phone will be handy. 720i has the altitude function.

daviddobedoe

As a development of this conversation, what success have people had using Macs? What sotware has proved best? What hardware combination. I know that there is alternative software out there and am interested in what works well in the real world.

HandyAndy

Another new polar monitor is the s625x.I've been checking it out because its got a running pod that you attach to your shoe so it measures your speed, distance etc.Its also got all the cycling functions, but you need to buy the sensors so it works out more expensive, but for triathletes its the bomb!

serottarider-ny

When I first purchased my s725 I tried using it with VirtualPC. I found out you can't use the Polar the infrared on Macs due to protocols. Polar had done some testing which worked (they sent me the information in an email) but the said they could not support it. If I remember correctly you would have to buy Polar's serial infrared device and a serial to usb device (Polar says their usb infrared device won't work on a Mac).

Unfortunately I didn't see much of anything for Mac software so I traded for an old PC laptop with infrared. That's all I will ever use a PC for.

DeanC

Polar doesn't think the 720i has altitude. Check the model comparison page.

Dean

jcjordan

My polar 720i has altitude

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DeanC

Neat, Polar's own site is wrong then.

Dean

Randybaker99

Altitude is covered in the manual of the S720i (go to page 19 in the PDF file):

http://www.polarusa.com/manuals/S720i.pdf

Upon further investigation, I think I found the answer. The comparison chart shows the 725 having "Altitude and Ascent" and under cycling, "Altitude and Temperature". The 720i only has the latter. So the question is what is the ascent feature?

daviddobedoe

The 720 does do altitude and ascent and temprature, the challenge is learning your way round ;-)