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Polar s625x
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Last night I was 4 miles into a 5 mile race when I started getting "check sensor". of course there was nothing I could do about it, so I had to endure the irritating bleeping for the last mile (aaaargh), but same as last time - when I turned the pod back on, it seemed fine (and the battery is about half full).
This is very strange. Anyone else had this problem of the pod turning itself off?
Is 2 years the shelf life of the S625X I am wondering.......
:O)
although i am sure it's not the battery (defiately half full) I have changed it, and also the seal on the foot pod as it has never been changed and i wondered wither there could be too much jiggling as a result of that.
Will be out for another trial in the morning. Otherwise, what to do? Could it really be broke? Am way out of warranty - do you think I can buy a new foot pod from them???
this is the disadvantage of being a front runner, noone else has the experience you need to help
I changed the footpod battery, and found the spare seals that came with it and changed that (thought it was a bit wobberly) and this morning - 65minutes, it was fine.
Well, apart from the recent and consistent over measuring that it's suddenly started doing - but I think that is because my Nike Frees don't really have enough laces to hold the pod steady.
Is that another reason to get a Garmin......?
In short and to answer your question NO(IMHO), the Garmin Forerunner 305 simply cannot cope with built up areas or even mildly dense woodlands/forests, the signal is lost too easily. If your runs are around small towns and open fields, it probably is a better choice. I hated the fact that I had to wait for a Satellite signal or if running in a new area make it search for new Satellites before setting off which takes up to a couple of minutes. Even with the odd hassle with Polar, you just strap it on and get going... :-)
The reason I was sure that wasn't the problem (although now I'm not so sure) is that the battery in the pod is a Duracell, and it is one of those with a meter thing on it - so I could see that it was half full. Also, in the past (apart from with my first pod which actually turned out to be broke), when the battery is going flat, then you get the red light, and then it goes off - and if you try to restart it straight off, it either won't or occassionally it will come back on but goes kind of mental - getting stuck on, can't turn it off.
If you use rechargeables you get a different result - because of the way they are - when it goes flat, it just goes, no gradual winding down.
anyway, that's why i thought what was happening was very strange - switching itself off but allowing itself to be switched back on and carrying on for 20/30 minutes more? Battery half full? Very odd.
Anyway. I still haven't succumbed to the 'dark side' and will carry on being a big S625X fan - which I am.
Is it worth getting a s625x? They are down to 175 quid. I currently use a the timex/garmin system but am getting annoyed with the 10 minutes it takes to find a signal. The brick strapped round your arm is a bit annoying too. I also like the look of the fitness test on the Polar.
so...should i?
a forerunner 205/305?
I read the GPS lock on is much better these days.
choices
Found I ran the same routes 90% of the time so didn't need to worry about distance as I'd already measured them, Garmin pace info is useless and the 305 HRM doesn't compare to that on the 625.
Having said that, I find I don't use the footpod at all on the 625 so would have been better with a 610 or similar. Find heart rate by far the best way to train, and the Garmin a bit of a gimmick.
I'm sure someone will violently disagree.....
what about calibration? how accurate is it out of the box? Can you run with it out of the box and then calibrate at a later date when you eventually get to a running track?
calibration out of the box seems to vary with how you run. Polar claim 3% uncalibrated, 1% after calibration. Mine was slightly over 1% out before calibration. After calibration it is within 1% at my normal run pace (the speed I cailbated it at.) It can be out by as much as 2 to 3% when doing intervals but I suspect some variation with speed is hard to avoid.
You can calibrate it as often as you want, and over whatever distance you want, although I think Polar recommend more than a mile. I did mine over 5k which seemed more than enough.
Nick
does the 625 mean that you have something attached to your shoe?
is ths the same with all models?
cheers
I believe that Polar only make two models of heartrate monitor watches that are compatible with the footpod, the S625X and RS200. Both watches can be set to ignore the footpod so it works like a regular timer/heartrate monitor watch.
Have a look here...
http://www.polar.fi/polar/channels/uk/segments/Running.html
I get home, manage to get it to upload to my laptop (which seems to be very hit nd miss but happens after i click on random things in the software)
but
no distance data recorded!! Seems that the watch wasn't talking to the footpod. There is a new battery in the footpod and the green flashing light was on. Is there something else I should be doing to the watch to get it into distance measuring mode? Nothing obvious jumping out from the manual hence the question. thanks all
Torn between the 625 and the garmin forerunner!!
all - i managed to get the footpod switched on on my run this evening. Seems accurate though i havent done any calibration yet. Now I need to get the thing to think in miles instead of km. Back to the encyclopaedia...i mean user manual
Can anybody help me with a question on PPP software, i am wanting to include a trendline with a user defined moving average ?
Any ideas, is this possible?
Thanks
I've never managed to get the software to do anything other than display all the HR, Alt, Speed & Cadance (Bike). I'd like to see a moving average to see how I slow down through a race.
One thing you can do with the ppp software is copy all the data to an excel spreadsheet and manipulate it from there.
There is a usergroup on Yahoo which helped me a lot in the early days.
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/S625x/
someone has posted an excel spreadsheet on it which gives trendlines for the test results but not for running.
Jiff
I've been complaining to the Argentinian local dealer and the guys there in Finland for about one year, but there's no answer at all...the are telling me that i have to wait....It's going to be better to buy a timex or a beer...
The new one is now playing up. Ive had it three weeks and its behaving very erattically - problems uploading to computer, not seeing the footpod, pacing varying from 3:45 per mile to 33:30 per mile whilst running the same speed and the footpod swithcing itself off again!! A letter has been sent and I am awaiting a response.
Is there a credible alternative on the market though??
I've had enough of Polar. I have the S625X and it's the second polar HRM I've had problems with. My footpod when it works is great, it's accurate and regularly gives readings within a percent or two of GPS but that's only when it works. Despite regularly changing batteries it seems to play up about a third of the time. It either switches itself off or seems to lose it's contact with my watch. I've read about so many other people have problems with these foot pods that I can't even be bothered to try and get it changed.
I'll be buying a Garmin 305 soon as at least GPS technology seems to be reliable. I can live with reduced service running through forests, at least when you emerge you know normal service will be resumed. Trying to do interval work such as mile reps and so on with the Polar just gets frustrating when half way through it decides to give up on you.
Surely when you're paying this sort of money the kit should be reliable - it's not like it's bargain basement stuff or new technology!
Also being that this kit is designed for running and cycling you'd think that they'd have given more thought to switching between the two disciplines within the same session. Having recently got into triathlon this is a pain as I have to end one session and start the next which is too much hassle when you're trying to simulate racing transitions.
Polar may be the biggest but in my experience....
Hello everyone.
I just got the polar s625x and I will like to know if someone knows if there is a software for mac computers.
Thank you in advance
the only Mac software that will work with the 625 is iSMARTtrain - more info on the hardware requirements here and then you'll need to download the software - go to the home page for the download link.