When PG&E powered up the new underground high voltage lines running down Canada and Rt 35 to the dam, I noticed that whenever I'm over that line, my HRM (old style, uncoded Polar) gets no signal. I've been considering getting a Polar CS200, because it combines my three favorite features (speed, HR, cadence) and it's wireless. But if I'm going to lose signal for at least 6 miles on every ride, it's just not worth it!

Does anyone use one of those, and do you lose the signal on Rt 35 and Canada?

Thanks!!

Okay, so, even if you don't use a Polar CS200, does your HRM stop working at those places, and if you have a wireless cyclocomputer, does IT stop working?

Hmm, interesting. I've not noticed. I'll look next time I'm there. I used a coded Polar S510 or a Garmin Forerunner 301.

* I'll probably ride from San Bruno to Woodside and back tomorrow, Tuesday 7/31, after work.

Oh yeah, any stretch that is particularly problematic?

Anywhere where the road was trenched, and patched.

One place it always happens is on rt35, going up from the dam towards Bunker hill. As the road curves left, the patch runs across the road from the left to the right shoulder. HR drops to 0, and pretty much stays there over the top and the first 100 yards down, when the patch runs across to the left side again.

On Canada, it's mostly on the East (northbound) side, pretty much the whole way from Jefferson to 92.

Makes doing HR based intervals a little difficult. :rolleyes:

Does anyone use one of those, and do you lose the signal on Rt 35 and Canada?

I don't regularly ride these roads, but around mile 90 of the Giro de Peninsula, my Polar CS200 started acting funny -- miles per hour started jumping all over the place while I maintained a steady pace, and if I'm rememebering correctly, I believe I was getting super-high heart-rate readings too. Eventually, I just stopped looking at it on that ride. Haven't had any problems with it since.

I rode the Giro, and IIRC, mile 90 is on that part of Canada.

The Giro went out on 35 and back on Canada, right? If I have that right, then it was Canada. Whichever the road that we came back on was, a little bit before the first/last rest stop -- the one that was close to Crystal Springs Rd.

My Polar 710 gets funny readings in a few places on Canada: the speedo says I'm going 65 mph. I don't know what the HR says; most of the time I don't use the Polar for that. But I bet that's off too. It started when they put in the new power lines.

It's only on a few sections of Canada south of 92 though.

I've ridden on Canada many times. I wonder if it will mess up my cardiac pacemaker?

My Polar often had problems, my Garmin does not.

My Polar often had problems, my Garmin does not.

+1. The CS200 cuts out all the time under power lines, and has some other quality issues. Check Garmin pricing on Geoman.com - great service and more expensive than a CS200 but well worth it. After using both I can't reccomend a CS200.

my CS200cad occasionally cuts off on Canada and at few other places in South Bay. I also noticed that it may cut-off if a police radar is in proximity.

Garmin (305) and PowerTap (2.4) don't have this problem.

I rode by a guy who asked me if my HRM had just dropped out while out there...he was using a Polar. My Garmin 305 was fine.

I had problems with my S510 receiving the strap signal my whole ride so I could get a consistent read.
My strap is three years old and has seen plenty of usage so I may be needing a new strap/battery.
If I held the receiver closer, 1.5" away from the strap, it read fine, even along some of the problem sections.

I have a CS300 and I gotta say I'm pretty disappointed in the quality. It gets frequent dropouts from both the spoke sensor and the HRM strap. The data it saves is pretty piss-poor too (no time series graph? wtf), and the 'soniclink' upload (windows only mind you) craps out a lot for no apparent reason (it lost 2 wks of data for me once). I ride with it every day nonetheless but I'm pretty disappointed and would not recommend it to others.

Completely OT from your question, I know, but the rant's been bubbling below the surface for a couple of weeks now and was just looking for an excuse to get out :)