Polar S210 or S410

[2laps]

Hello everybody,

I am in doubt wether to buy the S210 or S410 which is just within my budget. The only difference between the two i can see is the abillity of the S410 to link with a computer and show a lot of nice graphs. Is this just a nice gadget or does this really helps with one's training? Does the software give an interpretation of the data, or do you have to draw your own conclusions? Can i get the same amount of data out the s210 manually so that i can write them down?

Thoughts, experience will be very much appreciated tks.

 

[steve]

Originally posted by 2laps
Hello everybody,

I am in doubt wether to buy the S210 or S410 which is just within my budget.

Hi there

Have you thought about getting a 710 or 720? IMO it would be worth waiting a couple of months if thats what it takes!

cheers

 

[2laps]

Hi Steve,
well to be honest, no i haven't thougth about the 710/720. When i see the pricing of those things (woouw). I think i am not ready for that kind of professionality that would require a s720. Would i really need something like that? I am not into road racing, what i do want is to crank up my performance as a beginning amateur.

 

[tipster]

Hi

The S210 and S410 are sold as Running models so if you are wanting a heart rate monitor for cycling then you should probably look at the S150, S510, and S520. They are the lower cost models of the cycling products.

The software is very useful for analysing the results of your training. Take a look at the trial version that is available from the Polar web site.

 

[2laps]

Hi

Well it is true that the S210 and 410 are sold as running models because they don't have any cycling functions, but other than that they seem to have more options. I already have a cycle computer (cateye) so i don't really need that(i think). But about the software, does this actually works ? I went to look at the polar web site but i could not find the trial version. Could you give me some more details. thanks

 

[tipster]

Here is the link to the trial version page. I think that the software is very useful.

http://support.polar.fi/PKBSupport.nsf/webpages/trial

 

[2laps]

Thanks tipster,

i will try this out right now

 

[2laps]

Hi Tipster,

I downloaded the trial software and at first it looked great. Nice graphics, reports lots of different views and so on. But then i realised that i did not know what to do with all those figures. I mean i can stare all day at a graphic and still not know if i had a good workout and what kind off training i am supposed to do the next morning? I think there was just to much information for me to handle. I just want to know if i am riding in the right zones and if my condition is getting better or not, and not that my hbeat was 5 beats off track at minute 22 of my exercise. I also heard that the rate of collecting heartsamples with the s410 is about 5sec with a maximum of 120 samples the ride. If the rides takes a little longer say about 4hr, then the sampling will be done per minute and so on. The accuracy is therefore greatly diminished i think and the graphics will only give you averages.

But you should tell me about your experience and what you do with all the information so maybe i can understand it better

 

[daunce]

I bought the S410, as i already had the cycle computer, and the price of the better models scared me!

I've found the only thing i lose by using the running model is the distance travelled isn't on the graphs, only time. Oh and the better models store more training sessions. (i lost data from my last training session coz i hit the wrong button).

If you just want to see what ya HR is doing at a point in time, buy a cheapy and look at what it says. But as anything, once you get into it, you'll want to know more, and take it more serious, so go with a model that can send the data to the PC.

For the running and riding i do, i find this model is good enough. You'll have to purchase the PPP software seperately though. It's only included in the better models.

Oh and the sonic connection isn't always successful first time around, but after a few attempts the data always gets there in the end.

My theory is to stick with this one, and when/if i need to advance, i'll put it on ebay

 

[2laps]

Well Daunce from australia(quite a distance isn't it),

i think i will stick with your theory as well for now and buy the s210.