Big Disappointment: Polar S720i Heart Rate Monitor

"Nick Kew" wrote in message
...

Ahem. Look up your etymology.

That statement ranks with Dubya saying "the French have
no word for Entrepreneur".

Bhem

http://www.snopes.com/quotes/bush.htm

The list goes on and on. The Timex I won last night isn't sold in France.
Neither is the Polar in the s720i model. I would have been forced to get
the s725 and it would have cost at least twice as much in a shop as I paid
for it. Besides, there would be absolutely no guarantee that the bike shop
would help me get it set up. In fact, my experience has been very much the
contrary, with rude, arrogant know-it-all staff that constantly puts me
down for not being their standard customer. The shop near me that sells
Polar always treats me as if I'm an idiot when I speak about my bike and
its requirements. "Mais voyons madame, cela n'a jamais existé !" But they
are so "expert" in their field that they haven't even heard of Dahon.

I had a Gestalt moment with an LBS that I have since broken dealings with
when I asked for a woman's comfort saddle and they vehemently tried to get
me to buy a man's sport saddle. Never mind the difference between comfort
and sport - apparently even the difference between man and woman was
beyond their marketing nous.

Sadly, I know of what you speak. I've been to a few bicycle retailers in
France, and with few exceptions there's a rather patronizing attitude
towards their "customers" that, in the US, would send them packing. And
truth be told, it's sent French consumers packing as well, primarily to
large multi-sport retailers like Decathlon Sports, where, ironically,
customer service seems far friendlier and they actually seem interested in
what you might want, rather than preconceived ideas of what you *should*
want.

Not to say American retailers are perfect. Far, far, FAR from it. But there
are enough of us that consumers generally have options, and many of us are
always looking ahead to what the customer might want tomorrow, rather than
believing that what we've sold for the past 20 years will always be the
answer.

But the French market is a tough one to crack; there are so many rules &
requirements, and it's so difficult to get rid of incompetent employees,
that it's very risky for a foreigner to open up a shop within France. Much
of this is to protect the French way of life, and you do, in fact, enjoy
many advantages over those living elsewhere. But the type of competition
that results in better offerings to the customer is not one of them.

I wish you the best of luck, and if our paths cross on my next trip to
France, keep in mind "je parle francais come un vache espagnol." I'm getting
a bit better at reading a little French, but danged if I can pick up spoken
French very well! If you'd like to read about some of my past adventures
(and misadventures), check out www.ChainReaction.com/france.htm

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com


"Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote in message
...
Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:

Are there no decent bike shops that you can buy locally from?

Not really. They have only the most backward, basic, standard equipment.
Even inner tubes for my bike need to be special ordered, and I have never
found accessories suitable for my riding style or in my size without
systematically having to go through the UK, the US or the Netherlands.

A few simple examples:
No bike shorts in my size (USA)
The Specialized BG gloves that I wear and love are not available for women
here (UK)
No helmet-mounted rear-view mirrors (USA)
No decent rack-bags designed for supermarket shopping (Netherlands)
No bike-specific arch supports in 39 (UK)
No Cane Creek Thudbuster seatposts (UK)
No replacement Sigma bike computer mounts sold as a separate item (Italy)

The list goes on and on. The Timex I won last night isn't sold in France.
Neither is the Polar in the s720i model. I would have been forced to get
the s725 and it would have cost at least twice as much in a shop as I paid
for it. Besides, there would be absolutely no guarantee that the bike shop
would help me get it set up. In fact, my experience has been very much the
contrary, with rude, arrogant know-it-all staff that constantly puts me
down for not being their standard customer. The shop near me that sells
Polar always treats me as if I'm an idiot when I speak about my bike and
its requirements. "Mais voyons madame, cela n'a jamais existé !" But they
are so "expert" in their field that they haven't even heard of Dahon.

I had a Gestalt moment with an LBS that I have since broken dealings with
when I asked for a woman's comfort saddle and they vehemently tried to get
me to buy a man's sport saddle. Never mind the difference between comfort
and sport - apparently even the difference between man and woman was
beyond their marketing nous.

And with Ebay if you don't get on with a product you can always just sell
it on. You take a loss but you get to play with a lot of things and have a
much better idea of what the product really will and won't do than those
ignorant, conceited shop attendants.

EFR
Ile de France

"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message
m...
[...]
But the French market is a tough one to crack; there are so many rules &
requirements, and it's so difficult to get rid of incompetent employees,
that it's very risky for a foreigner to open up a shop within France. Much
of this is to protect the French way of life, and you do, in fact, enjoy
many advantages over those living elsewhere. But the type of competition
that results in better offerings to the customer is not one of them.

The French are totally despicable in every regard. They will not defend
Western Civilization. They are traitors and cowards. I hope the Islamist
Jihadists drop a few atom bombs on them.

I wish you the best of luck, and if our paths cross on my next trip to
France, keep in mind "je parle francais come un vache espagnol." I'm
getting a bit better at reading a little French, but danged if I can pick
up spoken French very well!

French is an impossible language. I once tried to learn it in college and I
ended up hating everything French. I think it is their confounded language
that prevents them from thinking clearly about anything.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

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.

I remember read about this recently. It doesn't affect me as I use a
bike with larger wheels.

see this to change the sensor power output.

http://www.polarusa.com/service_repa..._con.asp?ID=26



--
Andy Templeman http://www.templeman.org.uk/

Brick Lane Beigel Shop
http://www.london-eating.co.uk/2687.htm
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel...Lane-BR-1.html
Bon Appétit
Dan Gregory

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
Dan Gregory wrote:

Il y a toujours des bagels a Brick Lane?
They were the best you could get..

Didn't know they had bagels there. I would have thought the
neighbourhood was rather differently persuaded, but I'll have a look.
One of my dearest memories of my native New Yawk is the matzoh ball soup
and lox and bagel sandwich at Shades Delicatessen. I haven't found
anything like it in all my years of expatriation, and I miss it terribly.

EFR
Exiled midst frogs and snails in Ile de France

http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/col...ne-in-progress

http://tinyurl.com/fp8sn

"Between 1881 and 1914, more than two million Jews fled from their
homes in Eastern Europe, many passing through London to Liverpool, to
set off again for New York. Some 150,000 Jewish immigrants stayed in
London, mostly settling in the East End close to the docks, around
Spitalfields and Whitechapel. Unlike the earlier Jewish immigrants,
these newcomers were mostly poor and uneducated. They made their living
as market traders, tailors, leather workers, cabinet makers, furriers,
bootmakers and cigarette makers. They spoke Yiddish, a language based
on medieval German, with many Polish, Russian and Hebrew words, and
written using Hebrew characters."

Edward Dolan wrote:

The French are totally despicable in every regard. They will not defend
Western Civilization. They are traitors and cowards. I hope the Islamist
Jihadists drop a few atom bombs on them.

Pour l'instant, ceux qui ont pris des avions sur le coin de la gueule,
c'est
pas nous...

French is an impossible language. I once tried to learn it in college and I
ended up hating everything French. I think it is their confounded language
that prevents them from thinking clearly about anything.

Ben voilà: ça explique tout. C'est pour ça que Mochet et Faure n'ont
rien réussi.

Regards,
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Ca fait peur, hein?
Jo - M5 Tica

Jo wrote:
Edward Dolan wrote:

French is an impossible language. I once tried to learn it in college and I
ended up hating everything French. I think it is their confounded language
that prevents them from thinking clearly about anything.

Ben voilà: ça explique tout. C'est pour ça que Mochet et Faure n'ont
rien réussi.

Ne pas nourrir les trolls!

--
Dave...

Edward Dolan skrev:

The French are totally despicable in every regard. They will not defend
Western Civilization. They are traitors and cowards. I hope the Islamist
Jihadists drop a few atom bombs on them.

French is an impossible language. I once tried to learn it in college and I
ended up hating everything French.

Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

ROFLMAO - what are you, 5 years old?

So you are too stupid to learn French, and therefor they are
despicable. Oh maaan, i think I split my side there.

hee hee hee.

--
padre

In article . com,
"Jo" wrote:

Jihadists drop a few atom bombs on them.

Pour l'instant, ceux qui ont pris des avions sur le coin de la gueule,
c'est
pas nous...

Jo, ne repondez pas a cet idiot, qui a un niveau intellectuel genre
jardin d'enfants.. Les 3/4 de ce qu'il ecrit sont des conne...es
totales, et le reste des insultes. Il est je crois a la limite de la
debilite. Cela dit comme beaucoup de gens dans ce pays, qui sont d'une
arrogance totale, et ne comprennent donc toujours pas pourquoi le reste
de la planete commence serieusement a leur vouloir du mal,
collectivement et individuellement. Sa reflexion est typique: ils ne
sont pas d'accord avec nous, ou ne veulent pas obeir, donc il faut les
bomber.
Bon, j'arrete, ca fait monter ma tension.

--
€€€ USA, THE MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED PLUTOCRACY €€€











Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com