HAC4 / Hactronic Help?

well you want to clear it because otherwise you spend 10mins waiting for it download all the files to the computer when you just want the latest one, which might only be a 1hr ride, ie 1/64th of the data. You then have to look through the thousands of rides it's downloaded and choose which one you want to keep. increasingly i regret choosing hac 4 over polar s720i.

...there is the reset mode, hold down the upper-right button then scroll through (it's the one before the computer download) but that only resets what you've recorded on the watch - total mileage, ie. the kind of thing which you'd want to keep - but not the memory which you've already downloaded to the puter which is hanging around for no purpose. aaargh.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by rob of the og
well you want to clear it because otherwise you spend 10mins waiting for it download all the files to the computer when you just want the latest one, which might only be a 1hr ride, ie 1/64th of the data. You then have to look through the thousands of rides it's downloaded and choose which one you want to keep. increasingly i regret choosing hac 4 over polar s720i.

Got it. Makes sense. There are a few things I don't like about it for sure.

But the Polar is a junky bike computer, which would make you potentially need a separate unit. Yuck. Do we really need all this [censored]? I like having one unit on there, and sometimes feel guilty about even that.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by brent_a_kendall
Can anyone tell me if it is possible to clear the tours from the watch. I would prefer to do this versus wait until the 64 hour period come around to remove the first files. Please let me know.

Also do you know what type of program can be used to look at the .dat file.

The only way I know of is to remove the battery from the
unit. However, if you are dextarily-challenged I don't
recommend this since there are little tiny springs to fall out and get lost and the metal clip holding the battery in place is delicate. The springs are necessary for contact with the handlebar mtg. unit and uploading so losing one would be bad.

If you still want to do it, go to www.hac4.com and download the file for battery replacement. If the file is
not at that site, try www.ciclosport.de or google for it.

Finally, this may be a non-issue. I am not noticing a pro-
portional increase in upload time as I add rides to the
unit. It could be that all 64 hours are being uploaded
automatically every time and the time won't increase.

The file format is proprietory. It consists of a list of hexadecimal values separated by lf/cr's. It can be viewed by any text editor such as Notepad.

Hope this helps you.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by rob of the og
well you want to clear it because otherwise you spend 10mins waiting for it download all the files to the computer when you just want the latest one, which might only be a 1hr ride, ie 1/64th of the data. You then have to look through the thousands of rides it's downloaded and choose which one you want to keep. increasingly i regret choosing hac 4 over polar s720i.

Thousands of Rides? Maybe you need a short 10 min. break.:p

Suggestion: After uploading using HACTRONIC not Ciclotrainer or Ciclotour, your most recent ride will be the last one listed. Click on it to select it (dark blue) and then save it as a .dat file. You can import it into Ciclotrainer or Ciclosport from your hard disk.

I wouldn't give up on HAC just yet. They have been making bike computers for over 15 years and know what riders want. Polar has been making heart rate monitors for about as long but is new to the bike computer side of things. As with any two competing products there will be features that we like about one but not the other. The HAC4 is by far the most sophisticated bike computer/heart rate monitor on the market. You will need some time to figure all of it out.

Remember "powerful but easy to use" is an oxymoron.

Hey,

1. do you guys have the phone# for the guys at Ciclosport?
2. Do you know if the osftware packages work with Windows XP Pro? i only use XP Pro as my computers' operating systems?

thx in advance.
-steve

Aztec said:

I bought the above and am SERIOUSLY struggling with it. How the heck do you get it to record, then delete, etc? And the software is just super-frustrating. Just when I think I have imported new data, nope, it's the same old stuff! The software looks perty, but c'mon, no user manual?????

spgoldman said:

Hey,

1. do you guys have the phone# for the guys at Ciclosport?
2. Do you know if the osftware packages work with Windows XP Pro? i only use XP Pro as my computers' operating systems?

thx in advance.
-steve

Windows XP Pro works fine. It's what I run the HAC4 Software on. I don't have a number for them. Did you look on:

http://www.ciclosportusa.com OR http://www.hac4.com/

-Jeff

I just ditched my HAC4 Plus. Bot it expecting great stuff, after all the darn thing was like $400+. What a piece of junk! software is illogical in process, doesn't flow properly.

The software connectivity is a joke and the mount, well, i think it says it all. The unit sits up about an inch over the car. they should get creative and have stem mount sso the slope of the stem shields the unit from the wind, etc. The rubber band clamp is insufficient. noone wants to see a 400 computer bouncing down highway.

but the very worst, unlessi am wrong is that it doesnt compute speed or avg speed in decimals. 14.4 = 14. 15.4 =15 crazy. maybe i didnt set it up right and maybe i was so frustrated at all the other nonesnese that i misread the setting in the manual, but i dont think so.

Packed it up. took it back.

Bot at Polar 725. Love it. simple, intuitive. not too much, but plenty. upload to PC is great. Sometimes TOO Much is too much especially if not done right.

Hands down - Polar wins by a mile

spgoldman said:

I just ditched my HAC4 Plus. Bot it expecting great stuff, after all the darn thing was like $400+. What a piece of junk! software is illogical in process, doesn't flow properly.

The software connectivity is a joke and the mount, well, i think it says it all. The unit sits up about an inch over the car. they should get creative and have stem mount sso the slope of the stem shields the unit from the wind, etc. The rubber band clamp is insufficient. noone wants to see a 400 computer bouncing down highway.

but the very worst, unlessi am wrong is that it doesnt compute speed or avg speed in decimals. 14.4 = 14. 15.4 =15 crazy. maybe i didnt set it up right and maybe i was so frustrated at all the other nonesnese that i misread the setting in the manual, but i dont think so.

Packed it up. took it back.

Bot at Polar 725. Love it. simple, intuitive. not too much, but plenty. upload to PC is great. Sometimes TOO Much is too much especially if not done right.

Hands down - Polar wins by a mile

BTW, bought my HAC4 in February, and it allows the unit to be mounted on the stem. That is how I have it set up and it has been working great so far.
I agree that the software packages need to be better integrated. However reading though the various threads for both Polar and Ciclosport, it is hard to tell which one has less problems.

Got mine this week. After three days, I've got the hang of it and love it. Can't speak for the Polar stuff, but so far, this is everything I expected. Maybe patience is the key!

I love mine as well. Got it about a month ago now that the price is down at about 250$ on ebay for the plus version with the usb download kit. I bought this for the computer linkup and data logging capability along with HR, cadence, and wireless speed. The power meter thing is kinda useless to me as I know it's just estimating. Someday if I wish to use power as a training tool I will buy a PT.

No problems with mounting for me, but I don't know what they were thinking with the rubber bands though. Most roadies aren't afraid of zipties 😉

I personally think it's laid out very well. I can look at just about whatever I want to monitor on one screen, and the cyclotrainer sw is awesome. Yes there's three_different_programs that all focus on different things but I'd rather have that than one that is substandard. The trainer sw rocks as a diary though, and you can look the ride in more detail with the hactronic one if you really wanna geek out. Also there's a few open source programs out there now that you can use if you don't like the ones that came with the computer as well.

All in all I think it's a great computer and I'd buy it again if I had to.

It took me aboujt 3 hours to familiarize myself and get compfortable with all three programs. I like'em all, and usually download my ride info into all three. Does that make me a geek? :eek: This is so much better than anything else on the market, don't know why all the questions and complaints. I find it very user friendly. And the power thing, even though it may not be precise, gives great comparisons. Long live the HAC4!]

Aztec said:

I bought the above and am SERIOUSLY struggling with it. How the heck do you get it to record, then delete, etc? And the software is just super-frustrating. Just when I think I have imported new data, nope, it's the same old stuff! The software looks perty, but c'mon, no user manual?????

Had to change my HAC4 computer battery after 5 months of use. Was hoping to get more life out of it. Curious how others have fared regarding battery usage.

My typical usage has been 4-5 days/week with HR monitor. Download to PC 5 times per week during first couple of months (was cool to look at the ride data). Future, plan on only downloading every 1-2 weeks (cool factor tapered off).

BTW, changing batteries is quite easy. Just make sure you don't lose those little springs.

Hi All

I got my HAC4 plus last week. I can record my tour profile (speed, pulse rate ...) but when I want to download the data, HACtronic program reports an error like:
"ffff is not an integer".

Did anyone have this problem too and was able to solve it?

Thanks

😕

batten said:

Hi All

I got my HAC4 plus last week. I can record my tour profile (speed, pulse rate ...) but when I want to download the data, HACtronic program reports an error like:
"ffff is not an integer".

Did anyone have this problem too and was able to solve it?

Thanks

😕

Have you downloaded the latest Hactronic software of the Ciclosportusa.com website. That solved most of my problems.

batten said:

Hi All

I got my HAC4 plus last week. I can record my tour profile (speed, pulse rate ...) but when I want to download the data, HACtronic program reports an error like:
"ffff is not an integer".

Did anyone have this problem too and was able to solve it?

Thanks

😕

Hi Batten,
I got that error at first too, you probably still have the computer in record mode where the little mountains in the bottom left corner are still blinking. To turn it off hold the UL and LL buttons together for about 3 seconds until you hear a beep, the mountains should still be there but not blinking anymore. That solved it for me. You just have to remember to do that to stop the recording after each session. Also remember to start recording by pushing the UL and LL at the same time until the mountains start to blink at the beginning of each ride, otherwise it displays info but all it records is speed and HR I think. If you don't and you take the computer off the bike and keep it near you while you're still wearing a chest strap it'll keep recording your HR data...

I like mine a lot and found it pretty easy to set up and use, but I'm a computer guy. The HRM works better than my 3 year old Polar which keeps recording max HR of 230+ whenever I ride under power lines, the HAC4 doesn't mind the power lines. BTW, you can use the HAC4 chest strap with a Polar, I assume the reverse is true to but I haven't tried it yet.

On the topic of how long a download takes I'd be surprised if it turns out that it takes longer with more "data" in it. The raw data file is a hex/dec field that is fully populated whether there is "data" or not, empty is full of zero's which are downloaded and full it full of hex characters, either way you download the same number of characters. To the computer empty is data just as much as "full" is "data."

corin said:

Hi Batten,
I got that error at first too, you probably still have the computer in record mode where the little mountains in the bottom left corner are still blinking. To turn it off hold the UL and LL buttons together for about 3 seconds until you hear a beep, the mountains should still be there but not blinking anymore. That solved it for me. You just have to remember to do that to stop the recording after each session. Also remember to start recording by pushing the UL and LL at the same time until the mountains start to blink at the beginning of each ride, otherwise it displays info but all it records is speed and HR I think. If you don't and you take the computer off the bike and keep it near you while you're still wearing a chest strap it'll keep recording your HR data...

I like mine a lot and found it pretty easy to set up and use, but I'm a computer guy. The HRM works better than my 3 year old Polar which keeps recording max HR of 230+ whenever I ride under power lines, the HAC4 doesn't mind the power lines. BTW, you can use the HAC4 chest strap with a Polar, I assume the reverse is true to but I haven't tried it yet.

On the topic of how long a download takes I'd be surprised if it turns out that it takes longer with more "data" in it. The raw data file is a hex/dec field that is fully populated whether there is "data" or not, empty is full of zero's which are downloaded and full it full of hex characters, either way you download the same number of characters. To the computer empty is data just as much as "full" is "data."

Hi Corin

Thanks for your reply. Yesterday evening, I downloaded the latest software from ciclosport and it works now! I am software guy too and I can not understand that ciclosport can ship hw/sw, which are out of sync.

Thanks again

I have two questions in regards to the HAC4.

1) Can anyone see their cadence info from within CicloTour? I can see it within Hactronic and havne't loaded Ciclotrainer yet.

2) I want to use the HAC4 with my trainer, any suggestions? It was noted that a rear mount would be too far away from the head unit.

Thanks.

ScubaD

I just wanted to thank you folks for saving me a lot of money. I talked to my LBS yesterday about ordering the HAC4 and he cautioned against it because he had special ordered them before and the people wanted to return them.

You folks have just confirmed his concerns and I am glad not to have spent the money. Life is too short to put up with expensive junk.

gruppo said:

I just wanted to thank you folks for saving me a lot of money. I talked to my LBS yesterday about ordering the HAC4 and he cautioned against it because he had special ordered them before and the people wanted to return them.

You folks have just confirmed his concerns and I am glad not to have spent the money. Life is too short to put up with expensive junk.

Expensive junk, hardly. If you have difficulty sending email or setting the clock on your VCR the HAC4 could be a bit intimidating.

I have found it to be a great piece of cycling technology. Start my log, ride bike, stop log, download to Hactronic, import to Ciclotrainer, done.

Hactronic provides a great overview of my ride and ciclo trainer is an awesome ride log.

Very happy with my HAC4,
Joji