Big Disappointment: Polar S720i Heart Rate Monitor

I like to track my own fitness data on my bike trip to work and on the
exercycle I use in the winter. For this I have been using a Sigma HRM
and a separate bike computers for several years. I keep track of the
readings in my Palmtop and from time to time save the files onto my
computer. But I still “haven't gotten round” to writing that PERL
program that would extract the data to table form that will go into
Excel and produce lots of lovely graphs.

I compete with myself on the trip out to work. It is always the same
distance, and I enjoy it when I can break a time record, although this
depends on factors beyond my control such as traffic lights as much as
on my riding. Recently, the very nice and functional Sigma BC1600
computer on my folding bike Flyzipper broke when the sensor wire got
caught in the pedal as I was unfolding the bike. This led me to the idea
that I should get a wireless computer for Fly.

On paper, the Polar S720i Heart Rate Monitor and Bike computer answered
all my dreams. It has wireless captors for speed and cadence, a high
spec HRM with all sorts of exercise configurations, and comes with a
software program to do the extraction of the speed and heart data into
graph form. It also captures elevation information and temperature, two
details I was very interested in as I am a caloriphobe and as the trip
to work is quite hilly. Another plus is that it can store files over
about a week, so that I do not have to transfer information immediately
at the end of every exercise session.

I had, however, certain queries about the use of the wireless sensors on
the 20" wheeled folding bike with its extra-long reach. Some people in
these forums had warned me that some cheap wireless sensors do not work
on this architecture of bike.

The Polar is anything but a cheap tool, even on Ebay approaching 300$
with its optional extras of cadence sensor and infrared USB interface
for downloading files to the computer, but I did my homework carefully.
I contacted the Helpdesk in Finland and posted queries in these bike
newsgroups, and everywhere the same, satisfactory information came back:
the capture range of the Polar sensors could be extended by the
repositioning of a jumper switch to up to 110 cm.

I bought the tool new at the beginning of July. I put it on my bike. The
distance of the watch on the handlebar mount to the speed sensor on the
front wheel is about 80 cm, and to the cadence captor on the frame at
the nearest point to the pedal crank is about 1m.

Sure enough, the HRM captured no data coming from the bike. The captors
were working with their magnets, because they obediently flashed their
little orange light when they were passed by the crank or the wheel
spoke. However, the watch on the handlebar mount was too far away to
pick up any data. There was some highly spurious data in the exercise
file - cadence at 183, I think not! - and some speed readings that
seemed applicable to the morning ride, but for which the distance given
was only 500 m (the actual trip is 9.25 km).

I do not like the trip home very much as the traffic is far too heavy by
that hour, and it is down some very steep hills, making it difficult and
dangerous without much use as a workout. So part of the way I ride on a
suburban train or RER. I quickly noticed that the HRM would go haywire
as I approached the end of my journey, with readings of 230 bpm (my max
being 176). Even turning off the exercise reading well before I
approached the train line yielded this result. So it would not capture
speed data 80 cms away, but a train line at 100 m would send it crazy.
There are also warnings in the manual to keep it away from strong
magnetic fields such as cars! Now, I would love to keep away from cars
on a commute to work, but even leaving the house at 6:30 AM I just can't
get them to keep away from me!

Accordingly, I contacted the Polar Technical Support about having the
sensors readjusted. I wasn't going to try anything myself, because that
would invalidate the guarantee.

The Technical Support is in Biarritz. There is no local help available
in the Paris region. They are also a bitch to contact because it is one
of those systems in which you are shifted from one recorded message to
another for half an hour, without ever being able to speak to anything
human, and they charge you 0.34€ the minute for all of this. In the end,
the recorded voice just tells you there is no one available to answer
you, so call again later. It took me well over a week just to get
through, and of course this is business hours only so it had to be on my
mobile phone and from my office - not only expensive but bad for
professional image.

So I sent the captors back for readjustment. They returned, I spent
another afternoon getting them set up on my bike, but the results were
exactly the same as they had been.

Another week trying to get through to Technical Support. They finally
tell me I have to send the watch unit in with the sensors. This I do.
The three items come back 10 days later, I spend another Sunday
afternoon in setup, and still the same results.

Finally, the guys at Biarritz tell me that in fact the maximum range is
not 110 cm but 80 under "optimal conditions" (i.e. no brake in the way),
that the Finnish information is from a marketing, and not a technical
point of view, and therefore misleading, and that in essence, the tool
is "not designed" to work on this architecture of bike. They make it
sound as though the case of a bike with 20" wheels and a fork only about
2" wide is so abstruse that it can be ignored. In other words, it's once
again, MY FAULT for having a "non-standard" bike.

As far as I know, practically all folding bikes - Dahons, Bromptons,
Moultons - have wheels of 20" or less. Many BMXs and mountain bikes are
also concerned. The class of 20" bikes is by no means insignificant.
Because of the convenience of folding, many touring and commuter bikes
are also in this category.

And if Polar wireless monitors will not work on this entire class, THEY
SHOULD DAMN WELL SAY SO IN THE PRODUCT INFORMATION.

There is not a breath of information to this effect anywhere on their
Web site, or in the manual, or on any product literature.

Further experiment has shown that I can get a speed reading if I strap
the watch unit directly over the fork. Cadence reading, forget it - I'm
still apparently pedalling at 190 rpm. Of course, in that position, the
watch monitor is completely invisible and useless for navigation. Upon
downloading the exercise file into my computer, I also notice that there
is no heart reading for the whole time that I am on my bike as opposed
to walking. With the monitor on the fork it is now too far away from the
transmitter on my chest. So there is NO POSITION at which the monitor
will simultaneously read speed, cadence and heart information and at the
same time be visible.

If this product worked as it is supposed to, it would be the answer to
my prayers. As it is, I call this a badly supported, dishonestly
marketed, time-wasting, money-wasting piece of ****.

EFR
Ile de France

I also had problems with a Polar 725X. My initial setup had the sensors on
the opposite side of the bike to the watch. As my road bike has a steel
frame, the magnetic signals from Cadence and Speed were being "soaked up" by
the bike frame. When I repositioned the watch and sensors onto the same
side of the bike. "Normal transmission" was resumed.
--
Bob C
"Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote in message
...
I like to track my own fitness data on my bike trip to work and on the
exercycle I use in the winter. For this I have been using a Sigma HRM and a
separate bike computers for several years. I keep track of the readings in
my Palmtop and from time to time save the files onto my computer. But I
still “haven't gotten round” to writing that PERL program that would
extract the data to table form that will go into Excel and produce lots of
lovely graphs.

I compete with myself on the trip out to work. It is always the same
distance, and I enjoy it when I can break a time record, although this
depends on factors beyond my control such as traffic lights as much as on
my riding. Recently, the very nice and functional Sigma BC1600 computer on
my folding bike Flyzipper broke when the sensor wire got caught in the
pedal as I was unfolding the bike. This led me to the idea that I should
get a wireless computer for Fly.

On paper, the Polar S720i Heart Rate Monitor and Bike computer answered
all my dreams. It has wireless captors for speed and cadence, a high spec
HRM with all sorts of exercise configurations, and comes with a software
program to do the extraction of the speed and heart data into graph form.
It also captures elevation information and temperature, two details I was
very interested in as I am a caloriphobe and as the trip to work is quite
hilly. Another plus is that it can store files over about a week, so that
I do not have to transfer information immediately at the end of every
exercise session.

I had, however, certain queries about the use of the wireless sensors on
the 20" wheeled folding bike with its extra-long reach. Some people in
these forums had warned me that some cheap wireless sensors do not work on
this architecture of bike.

The Polar is anything but a cheap tool, even on Ebay approaching 300$ with
its optional extras of cadence sensor and infrared USB interface for
downloading files to the computer, but I did my homework carefully. I
contacted the Helpdesk in Finland and posted queries in these bike
newsgroups, and everywhere the same, satisfactory information came back:
the capture range of the Polar sensors could be extended by the
repositioning of a jumper switch to up to 110 cm.

I bought the tool new at the beginning of July. I put it on my bike. The
distance of the watch on the handlebar mount to the speed sensor on the
front wheel is about 80 cm, and to the cadence captor on the frame at the
nearest point to the pedal crank is about 1m.

Sure enough, the HRM captured no data coming from the bike. The captors
were working with their magnets, because they obediently flashed their
little orange light when they were passed by the crank or the wheel spoke.
However, the watch on the handlebar mount was too far away to pick up any
data. There was some highly spurious data in the exercise file - cadence
at 183, I think not! - and some speed readings that seemed applicable to
the morning ride, but for which the distance given was only 500 m (the
actual trip is 9.25 km).

I do not like the trip home very much as the traffic is far too heavy by
that hour, and it is down some very steep hills, making it difficult and
dangerous without much use as a workout. So part of the way I ride on a
suburban train or RER. I quickly noticed that the HRM would go haywire as
I approached the end of my journey, with readings of 230 bpm (my max being
176). Even turning off the exercise reading well before I approached the
train line yielded this result. So it would not capture speed data 80 cms
away, but a train line at 100 m would send it crazy. There are also
warnings in the manual to keep it away from strong magnetic fields such as
cars! Now, I would love to keep away from cars on a commute to work, but
even leaving the house at 6:30 AM I just can't get them to keep away from
me!

Accordingly, I contacted the Polar Technical Support about having the
sensors readjusted. I wasn't going to try anything myself, because that
would invalidate the guarantee.

The Technical Support is in Biarritz. There is no local help available in
the Paris region. They are also a bitch to contact because it is one of
those systems in which you are shifted from one recorded message to
another for half an hour, without ever being able to speak to anything
human, and they charge you 0.34€ the minute for all of this. In the end,
the recorded voice just tells you there is no one available to answer you,
so call again later. It took me well over a week just to get through, and
of course this is business hours only so it had to be on my mobile phone
and from my office - not only expensive but bad for professional image.

So I sent the captors back for readjustment. They returned, I spent
another afternoon getting them set up on my bike, but the results were
exactly the same as they had been.

Another week trying to get through to Technical Support. They finally tell
me I have to send the watch unit in with the sensors. This I do. The three
items come back 10 days later, I spend another Sunday afternoon in setup,
and still the same results.

Finally, the guys at Biarritz tell me that in fact the maximum range is
not 110 cm but 80 under "optimal conditions" (i.e. no brake in the way),
that the Finnish information is from a marketing, and not a technical
point of view, and therefore misleading, and that in essence, the tool is
"not designed" to work on this architecture of bike. They make it sound as
though the case of a bike with 20" wheels and a fork only about 2" wide is
so abstruse that it can be ignored. In other words, it's once again, MY
FAULT for having a "non-standard" bike.

As far as I know, practically all folding bikes - Dahons, Bromptons,
Moultons - have wheels of 20" or less. Many BMXs and mountain bikes are
also concerned. The class of 20" bikes is by no means insignificant.
Because of the convenience of folding, many touring and commuter bikes are
also in this category.

And if Polar wireless monitors will not work on this entire class, THEY
SHOULD DAMN WELL SAY SO IN THE PRODUCT INFORMATION.

There is not a breath of information to this effect anywhere on their Web
site, or in the manual, or on any product literature.

Further experiment has shown that I can get a speed reading if I strap the
watch unit directly over the fork. Cadence reading, forget it - I'm still
apparently pedalling at 190 rpm. Of course, in that position, the watch
monitor is completely invisible and useless for navigation. Upon
downloading the exercise file into my computer, I also notice that there
is no heart reading for the whole time that I am on my bike as opposed to
walking. With the monitor on the fork it is now too far away from the
transmitter on my chest. So there is NO POSITION at which the monitor will
simultaneously read speed, cadence and heart information and at the same
time be visible.

If this product worked as it is supposed to, it would be the answer to my
prayers. As it is, I call this a badly supported, dishonestly marketed,
time-wasting, money-wasting piece of ****.

EFR
Ile de France

Bob C wrote:
I also had problems with a Polar 725X. My initial setup had the sensors on
the opposite side of the bike to the watch. As my road bike has a steel
frame, the magnetic signals from Cadence and Speed were being "soaked up" by
the bike frame. When I repositioned the watch and sensors onto the same
side of the bike. "Normal transmission" was resumed.

Mine were on the same side at the outset, but as I said, I have now put
the watch directly over the fork, i.e. in the middle, so "side" should
no longer be applicable. However, Flyzipper does indeed have a chromoly
steel frame, in addition to his offending architecture. Interestingly,
the Polar Helpdesk does admit that these units will not work on _carbon_
frames. But they say nothing about steel.

You know what, I'm going to try putting the watch on the seatpost! Of
course it will still be completely invisible and useless for navigation,
but it is that already.

Last night I won an Ebay auction for a Timex Bodylink with GPS and data
recorder. I also found a supplier in Italy of the bike mount unit and
sensor wire for the initial Sigma BC1600 computer that broke. So I will
have a number of systems running concurrently and will be able to do a
battery of cross-tests.

EFR
Ile de France

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
:: Last night I won an Ebay auction for a Timex Bodylink with GPS and
:: data recorder. I also found a supplier in Italy of the bike mount
:: unit and sensor wire for the initial Sigma BC1600 computer that
:: broke. So I will have a number of systems running concurrently and
:: will be able to do a battery of cross-tests.

Starship Flyzipper.

In uk.rec.cycling Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

On paper, the Polar S720i Heart Rate Monitor and Bike computer answered
all my dreams. It has wireless captors for speed and cadence, a high
spec HRM with all sorts of exercise configurations, and comes with a
software program to do the extraction of the speed and heart data into
graph form. It also captures elevation information and temperature, two
details I was very interested in as I am a caloriphobe and as the trip
to work is quite hilly. Another plus is that it can store files over
about a week, so that I do not have to transfer information immediately
at the end of every exercise session.

I had, however, certain queries about the use of the wireless sensors on
the 20" wheeled folding bike with its extra-long reach. Some people in
these forums had warned me that some cheap wireless sensors do not work
on this architecture of bike.

snip long tale of woe, which reflects no credit at all on Polar.

You might like to try a bit of non-invasive bodgery to help the radio
signal make the distance. Take some simple insulated wire, anything
will do, and strap one end to the transmitter and the other to the
receiver. If that doesn't work, try wrapping the end round the devices
for a turn or two. It might help if the wire was allowed to dangle
free and clear of the metal frame where possible. Or it might be
better tied close to the frame.

Just a few experimental possibilities to play with, before you find
out where Polar's MD lives and arrange to have it returned forcibly to
a handy orifice.

--
Chris Malcolm DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

You know what, I'm going to try putting the watch on the seatpost! Of
course it will still be completely invisible and useless for navigation,
but it is that already.

Well, that seems to work! By positioning the watch under my _arse_, I
can get plasible readings for cadence, heart and speed.

Just tried it on a pootle round the underground parking. More conclusive
tests will follow when I next take the bike out for a commute to work on
the 22nd, weather allowing. Meanwhile I'm in London for another short
stint this week. Gotta get back to Brick Lane for some more of that curry.

A bientôt,

EFR
Ile de France

Roger Zoul wrote:
Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

Starship Flyzipper.

I'll tell him - I think he'd like that.

EFR
Ile de France

In article
Chris Malcolm wrote:
In uk.rec.cycling Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

On paper, the Polar S720i Heart Rate Monitor and Bike computer answered
all my dreams. It has wireless captors for speed and cadence, a high
spec HRM with all sorts of exercise configurations, and comes with a
software program to do the extraction of the speed and heart data into
graph form. It also captures elevation information and temperature, two
details I was very interested in as I am a caloriphobe and as the trip
to work is quite hilly. Another plus is that it can store files over
about a week, so that I do not have to transfer information immediately
at the end of every exercise session.

I had, however, certain queries about the use of the wireless sensors on
the 20" wheeled folding bike with its extra-long reach. Some people in
these forums had warned me that some cheap wireless sensors do not work
on this architecture of bike.

snip long tale of woe, which reflects no credit at all on Polar.

You might like to try a bit of non-invasive bodgery to help the radio
signal make the distance. Take some simple insulated wire, anything
will do, and strap one end to the transmitter and the other to the
receiver. If that doesn't work, try wrapping the end round the devices
for a turn or two. It might help if the wire was allowed to dangle
free and clear of the metal frame where possible. Or it might be
better tied close to the frame.

Maybe worth asking on one of the electronics/radio groups, where people
may have more precise suggestions as to the required nature of the
sympathetic antenna (did I just invent that term? It sounds plausible
to me).

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

Well, that seems to work! By positioning the watch under my _arse_, I
can get plasible readings for cadence, heart and speed.

Pictures please - or am I being too cheeky?
(Sorry couldn't resist it!)
;-)
Dan Gregory

In article ,
Elisa Francesca Roselli writes:
Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

You know what, I'm going to try putting the watch on the seatpost! Of
course it will still be completely invisible and useless for navigation,
but it is that already.

Well, that seems to work! By positioning the watch under my _arse_, I
can get plasible readings for cadence, heart and speed.

What a way to have to ride a bicycle!

And all because of gadgetry.

Now, I'm on record for my preference for the back-to-the-basics,
simplist's approach, and for my dislike for gadgetry. I've
heretofore done my best to not try to impose my POV on others --
if someone likes collecting data while riding, that's fine;
chances are you, like myself, have what Myers-Briggs calls an
"analytical" personality type. So I'm certainly not criticising.
But I Humbly and Respectfully suggest you might like to re-think
this intriguement with things with silicon chips in 'em. IME they
can be insidiously attractive, like femmes fatale (I guess from
women's POV there are corresponding "hommes fatal", but for some
reason that never became cliche. Or we're just generically
"gigolos" g)

Having to undergo such razmatazz just to make a gadget work, just so
one can enjoy bicycling, rather puts the lid on the biscuit tin.

Sticking computers on a bicycle is like sticking computers on a canoe.
or a coracle. In fact, I've come to regard bicycles as "land canoes".
Maybe Pauline Johnson's poem: The Song My Paddle Sings best captures
the exuberant joy of land canoeing as well as "real" canoeing:
http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~pjohnson/paddle.html
There's nothing about computers 'n monitors in there.

Just tried it on a pootle round the underground parking. More conclusive
tests will follow when I next take the bike out for a commute to work on
the 22nd, weather allowing.

Oh, well. I guess this thing has posed a challenge to you, and now
you simply, pathologically /must/ rise to meet (and best) it. I can
relate to that. Bon chance! :-)

Meanwhile I'm in London for another short
stint this week. Gotta get back to Brick Lane for some more of that curry.

Now, /that/ sounds good! It's been a while since I've enjoyed some
take-away vindaloo, myself. And my local Little India is just
down the street from me. hmmm ...


cheers, & The Rolling Stones' 2000 Man,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca