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Polar s625x
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Now bearing in mind that I previously had a Polar A1 and a 50 lap stopwatch - everything about the S625x is a world of extra information.
So, the wrist unit is quite large - but not too big, even for my (reasonably) slender girl wrists - too big to wear all the time though.
The display is good - three lines - which you can customise depending on what you are doing and the information you want to see (HR, pace, distance, stop watch time, altitude, temperature, speed, etc.).
The HRM "wearlink" strap is ace - much more comfy than the old stylee.
You can set 5 exercise sets - to include intervals with warm up and cool down periods, set by time or heart rate. The intervals themselves can be set for distance as well as time or heart rate. You can also set limits with alerts for when you go outside them - these are both HR and pace.
The foot pod - once you manage to get the batteries in - fits nicely on your shoe, and although I thought it felt fairly heavy in my hand, you really can't notice it on your shoe (I think).
I haven't been for a 'proper' run with it yet (sorry, will do so over the weekend), but did run up and down my road a few times - and yes, it shows pace data which seems pretty reactive, and measured the distance to be what I had previously measured using accuroute - which is a good sign.
I am a bit worried that I will spend so much time looking at my watch and changing the displays to start with that I am going to run into a lamppost or something, but I'm sure I will get the hang of it.
It is quite complicated - getting it to do what you want can be a bit frustrating when you aren't sure which buttons to press - but again, I think that is user inexperience rather than a problem with the kit.
I have managed to upload and download information from/to my laptop - via the infra red link. This also takes a bit of figuring out, but looks like it will be a world of fun (if you like that kind of thing).
The exercise files that are stored while the stopwatch is running are incredible - it records allsorts of information at 5, 15 or 60 second intervals - which you can then use to draw graphs and things via the software. Quite amazing.
So, that's it.
I have to admit to wearing my HRM right now, sat at my desk - I monitored my HR for 15 minutes, and then drew a graph - suprisingly peaky
Hoping to get out for a run either tonight or tomorrow so will better be able to give some views after that.
First impressions though - it is going to be great!!
I have discovered that the software that comes with the s625x appears to have had the new speed & distance features 'bolted onto' it - so that it doesn't really work that well.
You can set everything you need up on the watch (I am thinking mostly of the exercise sets), but it is a lot easier to do it on a computer - so I tried. It is fine if you just want to set HR based intervals or limits, as soon as you try distance or pace, it goes a bit mental. What it tells the watch is nonsense and it basically hopeless.
I have just emailed Polar to complain about it, but by all accounts they are pretty good at supplying updates for these things - so hopefully something will be along soon.
If anyone else has been more successful, I would love to hear about it.
The foot pod weighs in at 78g with the battery in.
I took the gadget for a walk to the shops (still no running - tomorrow) and saved a file on the way there, while I was walking round the shop, and on the way back.
The interesting thing was that the distance shown on the wrist unit was 1.4km on the way there, and 1.1km on the way back - clearly I was quite peturbed by that.
However, when i downloaded the information to the software, that told me it was 1.2 km for each way - clearly much more realistic (and spot on compared with my Accuroute measuring). Now I don't know (maybe somebody else does) but it seems that the wrist unit does something different with the data than the software?? Maybe it is more basic processing or something?
Anyway, slapped the exercise programme in the software - plotted myself a graph of HR, speed, altitude - and there it all is, me climbing up the steps (Altitude up, HR up, speed down), me sprinting like a loony across Sainsbury's car park (HR up, speed up), me stopping at the pedestrian crossing waiting for the lights to change, me wandering round sainsbury's stopping to buy things (0.4km in there apparently!), the works - it is amazing!!
So, the only thing I now want to know is why the information on the wrist unit is different from what you see in the software from the same info - and how different is it?
Any thoughts? (other than, I want one now.......)
The watch is a bit weird - it's hard to look at it when I'm running. In the end I decided that if I wore it with the face on the inside of my wrist then it was a lot easier to see.
There were a couple of teething problems though... it seems to be a bit hopeless at talking to the footpod. As I was going around I'd sometimes see my pace as about 2.12min/km, sometimes about 3.30 and sometimes around 5.30 (which I think might be about right). I will try putting new batteries in the footpod tomorrow in case it's just a signal strength issue (though the battery it has now is the one that Polar sent with it).
The software is very slick. It took me a while to convince my laptop that it had an infra red port (it was disabled in the bios, then I set it to fast IRDA but it only worked when I set it to slow IRDA). Once I'd done that I could download the details of my run really easily. The traces for heart rate and altitude looked right. The trace for speed reflected the figures I saw on the screen while I was out, and half the time it had my speed as zero. Weirdly, it seemed to have got my total distance right. Maybe the speed and distance figures are both calculated in the foot pod, but recorded in the watch. If the signal goes then your speed looks like zero, but next time it gets a signal it's able to update the cumulative distance.
Tallbird, how are you getting on with yours?
wonder if you can calibrate it properly?
doubt it's accurate or fast responding enough to be of use in the pace calculation... and besides the accelerometer cluster should be able to tell if you're going up or down.
Unlike you DT I haven't had any weird readings on the wrist unit while moving - although it does seem to be a bit slow in responding to changes. Like you say, even though what you see on the wrist makes you think it isn't working, what you see afterwards makes you realise it really is! That isn't to say that what is on the wrist unit is nonsense though - I don't want to put anyone off on that score.
I also didn't notice the footpod, and I find the wrist unit ok, although I was trying to resist the urge to keep looking at it
Got back, switched my laptop on while I was stretching, drew the graph - amazing.
Did notice that there was one weird 'spike' in my speed - apparently I was doing 18kmh uphill! I think this was at a point where I ran past the front of a car waiting at a junction and wonder whether it was something in that that interfered with me (as it were)?
Anyway. It is excellent.
Next step (maybe tomorrow) some speed/distance based intervals......
You can manually correct for the spike though using the software, which is nice.
I think that the idea of the watch storing all the data but only doing some rudementary (but still jolly clever) calculations with it to give you a real time display is the most likely. with the software then able to do much more with it.
Did my second run yesterday - obviously it started p***ing it down about 2 seconds after I stepped out of the door, but at least I can now confirm that the footpod does appear to be both rain and hail stone resistant
Still not happy with the software interface for transferring exercise sets to/from the watch. Yesterday, i was going to use an exercise set that I had created - 'tempo' - and couldn't understand why it wouldn't stop beeping at me. When I got home and looked at the limits, some how between talking to the computer and back again it had gone from being 4:30 min/km to 22:17 min/km ???? When I put it right in the watch and uploaded it again to the computer, the computer interpreted 4:30 plus or minus 7 seconds to be limits of 3:15 - 18:27 or something outrageous!!! This could be very annoying.
Still happy though.
latest news is, Ribble cycles offer it for £219.95 with a free transmitter belt case ... thats £17 less than Ive paid
Interesting about the Ribble price... glad i used the Barclaycard now - i feel a price promise claim coming on.
I wanna run and play with my new toy and i have to work!! AAAARRRRGGGHH!
Does it work as a "standalone" HRM? It seems to have all the functions (and more) of the Coach but if I don't use the footpod all the time is it as useful. It can be pretty wet and boggy round where I stay and so this might be necesary at times.
Ribble Cycles, did someone say...?
£219 ?? I feel cheated.
Just calabrated the distance after measuring the promenade walking and counting 195 revolutions of my MTB wheel ..... got the altitude set and am now swithering whether to go up Ben Lomond for the shortest night .....???????
The watch came up with 3.15km (Note to self: must change it to miles). So if 2 miles is 3.2km thats 98.43% accuracy without allowing the th difference in the car measurement.
I was a bit worried when i looked at the footpod and even more worried when i felt the weight BUT once it was on, i hardly noticed it and was pleasantly suprised.
As per Tallbird's observations, the wrist unit can take a second or 2 to catch up - I'd put this down to the interval between the footpod communicating with the unit. On my 2 mile walk, I put in a couple of short sprints and at the end, the watch would just take a second or so to go back down. This is useful though IMHO as if you are doing an interval, you can't always look straight away at the watch.
No problems with the software. The only issue I have now is that my Polar Coach used the Coach Light software and there doesn't appear to have an easy way to export the data. Still, can't wait to get out for a proper run tonight and really test the new toy out!
Bah.
Have decided to stick with KM rather than going for the imperial thing - i will just have to get used to thinking of things in a metric manner. Which I should be able to do.
Surely.
I ran the same route that I ran last night, taking splits at various points, then I compared the different distances to each point.
So, this is how it turned out (in km)
point Day 1 Day 2 Diff
1-2 1.173 1.166 0.007
2-3 2.448 2.401 0.047
3-4 1.622 1.627 0.005
4-5 1.568 1.519 0.049
Now, the two areas of biggest difference could be explained by these being points where short cuts are possible - cutting a corner maybe (2-3) or cutting across a deserted (rather than full) car park (4-5) and I am willing to think that is why I get the difference - not that I can get too excited by a total difference of 100m - but of course I am curious about the repeatability and accuracy of the gadget bearing in mind how much it cost!!
So, take what you will from those results!
Anyone else got some?