Polar IrDA compliant with NON Polar USB interface

[fvri]

Hi all,

There has been a lot of discussions on the working and anomalies of the Polar USB IrDA interface especially running on a Windows XP OS.
What I want to know: is there anyone who has experience with NON Polar IrDA interfaces that will communicate with the Polar watches like for example the S625X.

There are a lot of cheap USB sticks (see ebay) that are compatible with different type of mobiles (Nokia, Siemens, etc.). They all implement the IrDA 1.0 or higher standard for infrared communication. Thus, in theory, they should be able to do the job.

I got a mail from the Polar US help desk:
The S625X can download to any IrDA device. The Polar IR Interface is not required.

Can anyone confirm this?

Thanks!

Best regards,
Frank

 

[con Brio]

Hey Frank,

I was in EXACTLY the same situation as you until today. I just bought a Polar s625X and wanted to get it to communicate with my PC but had no IR port on my PC. Also, i realized that the actual Polar branded IR interface is overpriced. My local bike shop was selling it for about $65 CDN. So just today I picked up a generic $39.93 CDN USB Fast Infrared Adapter and IT WORKS WITH THE POLAR S625X! So go ahead and buy a generic IR adapter from your local computer store. By the way, the brand of IR adapter I got is a mystery to me because I cannot find a company name on the package, but here's a link to what it looks like: http://computeravenue.mywinnipeg.com/index.php?lngProdID=558

cheers!

 

[fvri]

Hi con Brio,

You are right! Thank you for the confirmation! I could not longer wait for someone to give his/her experience or confirmation on the use of NON Polar USB Interfaces and I ordered via Ebay a generic IrDA usb stick that is usually used for mobiles.

http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5141593377&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

I had no problems at all. The only thing that was VERY IMPORTANT I my case was that I hold the hartmonitor very close to my usb stick otherwise data exchange fails.

Polar is a very great product but their information on the use of IrDA interfaces is not very professional. As you said their interface is overpriced and no garantees are give that their usb interface will work properly especially on Windows XP. A lot of people were forced to use the serial version. But a lot of new systems especially laptops no longer have serial ports. Of course one can always use a usb to serial convertor but that can introduce new problems in the chain of data exchange!

I just paid 14.27 (7.77 + 6.5 port) euro's instead of the 39 a 40 euro's that the Polar version will cost you. In the USA you can buy a generic IrDA usb stick for less than 5 $.

BTW the 625 is a great product! Although I'm (was) a hardrunner I bought a cadence sensor for my bike. It seems that I have put it out of range 60-80 cm or I have a interference with my wireless Cateye 7. But I have to investigate it more!

Best regards,
Frank