Polar hr monitor. Which model?

[johncc48]

Do you know any trick to calibration? I live in a moderately hilly area and have no idea what my altitude is. It is still accurate overall as I know the total ascent of certain climbs but the starting and finishing numbers are definitely wrong. I guess it doesnt really matter what the numbers are as long as I know the the actuall ascent is correct, but it would be good to know what the real altitudes are.

You can calibrate the unit with an altitude you find on topo maps. Our county governmnt maintains a web site with detailed topo maps from which I pick an intersection near my house that crosses a known altitude line. This is the place on rides, where there will be altitude I want to log, that I calibrate the unit.
Even if your readings are off by 10% because of barometric pressure fluctuations the total altitude gain or loss is still a reasonable estimate of my climbing workout for that day or week.
Call your local or state planning commission or go to a small local airport or USGS Benchmark to get actual altitudes of known points, calibrate your Polar 700 series unit there and then go home. Your reading at home should be accurate within 1 or 2 % of your real altitude.

 

[Rominger]

I am a huge fan of Polar, since we have them here at home for a long time (my father still uses his X-Trainer and the only thing he had to change was the batteries).

I bought the S725 in the beggining of the year and I really like it a lot. My average use is 3x/week, but I nowadays I am using a little bit more.

Since we live by the sea level, there is no problem with calibrating the altitute every time I left home. The barometric pressure don´t compromise the measure during the workout.

All the features work, so far, flawless. My only complain is the red button, which sometimes gets too tough or too sensible to press. But much of that is related to the fact I race on triathlons with it. After cleaning the sweat and salt, it works fine.

This new sensor belt is really nice, because you actually don´t feel it is in you (unless it start to slip because of sweat during a long workout). Since I live in sea level, which is very humid, I only need to wet a little (or use it 15 min before the workout) and is good to go.

My only advice is that I bought the S725 because I really like to see the data on my computer and analyse my workouts/races. If you don´t like (or don´t need) the software, a cheaper model is more than enough (don´t buy the S520, because it is just a intermediate unit without enough memory that just kept you wishing for more). In this case, buy the CS200 if you are only interested in cycling, or the S150 if you plan to use in other activities.

 

[jcjordan]

Whenever I cross the Harbour Bridge, where the train lines run alongside the cycle track, my computer reads 107km/h all the way across. This means that I get 5-6km added on to my trip for the length of a 1.6km bridge! I ignore the HR of 230-240 during that time.

you do realis that you can correct that. Right click near the error and hit error correct, the rest is fairly much self explanitory

 

[Ghill]

Just got a Polar cs200cad and its a great cyclometer for the price. HR monitor works well. I haven't gotten the cadence function to work yet but I did hear that it requires some tweaking to get to work. I definitely reccomend it.

 

[GoldenGator]

Do you know any trick to calibration? I live in a moderately hilly area and have no idea what my altitude is. It is still accurate overall as I know the total ascent of certain climbs but the starting and finishing numbers are definitely wrong. I guess it doesnt really matter what the numbers are as long as I know the the actuall ascent is correct, but it would be good to know what the real altitudes are.

A very easy way to figure out your altitude is to download google earth and type in your address. Google earth is a free service and will give you that data. An other way would be to buy a GPS like a garmin or Magellan for your car or hijack one from a friend.

 

[531Aussie]

Hmmm, Polar have released quite a few models since Oct 2005