Road Cycling - Polar Heart Rate Monitor help...

Got an s510, the manual sucks, the pc coach software sucks too.

all I want to do for now, is put it on, ride my bike, come home and upload the data.

do I need to name the fricken exercise set, pick lap times etc???

help me out

Actually, the manual isn't that bad. If you're using the PC Coach Light software, then it may not be what you want/need.

First, the S510 is a complex tool. There's a lot that you can do with it. You should expect to spend some time learning about its features. It will take some time.

Second, make sure you have the latest version of the PC Coach software. Check their website for any patches.

Third, read PC Coach - Has anyone used? (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=49296).

Fourth, in short, no, you don't have to set much, but the more you do, the more meaningful the data will be.

I've got an S510, too. I hate it.

I rode this afternoon. The heart rate stopped reading as soon as I started out. Typical. Then, when I stopped to fix a flat, it shut itself off after 5 minutes and there's no way to resume the workout. You have to start a new one and it cuts out most of the data for the first part of your ride.

Like I said, I hate my S510.

Am I correct in thinking that the auto start/stop shuts it down after 5 min? And if I use the manual start stop, when I stop it, will it also shut down after 5 min?

The sensor fits like shet on the fork, it wont pick up a signal unless I mount it right below the brakes, of the 2 magnets they give you, neither will fit well, if at all, on bladed spokes. The zip ties are way too small, and once you double up a few, you run out. (luckily I have more)

I shoulda bought a bodylink

I have an older Polar that is also a pain to use. WOnder if anyone makes a good HRM for ordinary guys. I want a beep if my HR goes over the limit. I want to know how much time I spent in each zone.
And because I may ride for several hours, it needs to be able to handle lunch and the odd rest break.

The S510 (and all of Polar's other HRMs except the new 720i [and maybe a couple of the others that have come out this year]) has a five minute shutoff. It will automatically turn off if it doesn't receive a signal in five minutes. That signal must either be speed OR a heart rate. The new 720i has a 30 minute shutoff feature.

The five minute shutoff is a feature that really annoys me too. You don't have enough time to hop off your bike run into the store, go to the bathroom, grab a snack or Gatorade, and get back onto your bike without it turning off.

Smoothie's right, the magnets are not designed for bladed forks.

And I've experienced the same thing about having difficulties finding the "sweet spot" to mount it. The reason I've been playing with where to mount the speed sensor is that I don't get reliable speed data all of the time. Sometimes my speed will read 0.0. That's because the signal is not getting from the sensor to the monitor.

Just this weekend I mounted the speed sensor right under the brakes (like Smoothie). I need to ride some more to determine if that's the best place. I think it will be.

I can't imagine that these issues are unique to the S510. The seem universal to wireless monitors.

I have an older Polar that is also a pain to use. WOnder if anyone makes a good HRM for ordinary guys. I want a beep if my HR goes over the limit. I want to know how much time I spent in each zone.
And because I may ride for several hours, it needs to be able to handle lunch and the odd rest break.

There are many monitors that will do what you want. They may or may not be in your price range though.

Then, when I stopped to fix a flat, it shut itself off after 5 minutes and there's no way to resume the workout. You have to start a new one and it cuts out most of the data for the first part of your ride.

Like I said, I hate my S510.

With the S520 and higher, you can turn off the auto start feature. I don't know if this works on the S510.

1) In the Time of day display scroll up or down until OPTIONS is displayed.
2) Press OK to enter Options mode. EXCERCISE SET is displayed.
3) Scroll up or down until BIKE SET is displayed.
4) Press OK to start the bike settings.
5) Scroll up or down to start setting Bike 1 or 2 or turn off the bike features off. Press OK.
6) Scroll up or down until autoStrt is displayed.
7) Press OK to start setting the autostart. On/OFF starts to flash.
8) Scroll up or down to set the autostart on or off. Press OK.

When you decide to start recording your ride, the red button starts recording and the lower left button will stop the recording.

ths s510 and s520 are the same, except for the case of the 520 is metal. I will give that a shot, thanks!!

of the 2 magnets they give you, neither will fit well, if at all, on bladed spokes.

Two alternative mounting solutions for bladed spokes (well, there are probably three, but these two are cheap).

1. Use a Dremmel tool or small file to widen the opening below the threaded portion of the screw-on magnet until it's wide enough to be slipped over the blade and then twisted into position... the set screw will hold it quite nicely.

2. Epoxy a small flat magnet to the blade of your fork using JB Weld or a similar product. I've pryed the magnets out of excess cadence mounts and you can buy flat magnet materials at home supply warehouses for next to nothing. As for "coming off" I have the same type of magnet epoxied onto the brake rotor spider on my motorcycle to drive a SigmaSports Targa computer and it hasn't come off despite hitting RPM / forces / speeds well in excess of anything you'll ever see on a bike.

The third option is to buy a bladed fork mount magnet. Hey, magnets are magnets. If you can get one to stick to your spoke it will work with the sensors.

Am I correct in thinking that the auto start/stop shuts it down after 5 min? And if I use the manual start stop, when I stop it, will it also shut down after 5 min?

The sensor fits like shet on the fork, it wont pick up a signal unless I mount it right below the brakes, of the 2 magnets they give you, neither will fit well, if at all, on bladed spokes. The zip ties are way too small, and once you double up a few, you run out. (luckily I have more)

I shoulda bought a bodylink

As for the sensor, the LBS where I bought mine asked me what kind of spokes I had when I bought it. When I said I had bladed spokes, they took the magnet out, drilled a small round hole at the bottom of the u-shaped cutout already in place on the magnet part, and it ended up working quite well.

As far as I can tell, there' s no way to turn off the auto-start feature on the S510. If you come across one, please let me know.

Thanks,

Trekaholic

I have an older Polar that is also a pain to use. WOnder if anyone makes a good HRM for ordinary guys. I want a beep if my HR goes over the limit. I want to know how much time I spent in each zone.
And because I may ride for several hours, it needs to be able to handle lunch and the odd rest break.

G'day,

I have an S720 & mostly I love it (except that you can't get it to sound the HR alarm while 'Bike' is switched on!...but that's another story)...If we're stopping for lunch or 'whatever' & are going to be away from the bike, I just take the 720 with me, (well its a watch after all!). I wouldn't leave it on the bike, these things are expensive & i would hate for it to go 'for a walk', while I was away,

cheers,

Hitchy

As for the sensor, the LBS where I bought mine asked me what kind of spokes I had when I bought it. When I said I had bladed spokes, they took the magnet out, drilled a small round hole at the bottom of the u-shaped cutout already in place on the magnet part, and it ended up working quite well.

As far as I can tell, there' s no way to turn off the auto-start feature on the S510. If you come across one, please let me know.

Thanks,

Trekaholic

press the top right button twice, this takes you to options, press the big red button and the screen says exercise set, press the TR button twice again, and it will say bike set, press the red button, then press it again if you are using bikeset 1. THe wheel diameter come up on the screen. Press the TR button twice and you will be at the auto start screen, press the red button, that will make the ON blink, then use the TR button to select off, then press the big red one to lock it in, the press the lower left one a few times to get you back to the TOD screen.

Now that the autostart is off, as Smoothie104 points out, what starts, stops, and pauses the workout in such a way that I can stop for lunch and resume the same workout without creating a new file?

Thanks!

Trekaholic

Now that the autostart is off, as Smoothie104 points out, what starts, stops, and pauses the workout in such a way that I can stop for lunch and resume the same workout without creating a new file?

Thanks!

Trekaholic

g'DAY,

Not if it's the same setup as the 720. I never use auto start, but if it doesn't have some 'input' from either the 'bike' options or from the HRM bit, it will turn itself off. You cannot restart the same 'file' once it's been turned off,

cheers,

Hitchy

g'DAY,

Not if it's the same setup as the 720. I never use auto start, but if it doesn't have some 'input' from either the 'bike' options or from the HRM bit, it will turn itself off. You cannot restart the same 'file' once it's been turned off,


This is not what auto-start does (at least on the bike-oriented Polar models). It's tied to the speed sensor and is designed to pause the exercise when the bike isn't moving (stop lights, etc.) for 5 seconds. It then restarts the exercise when you roll off. All in one file.

The only weakness to auto-start is that you can fool it by stopping then starting again as soon as you hear the warning beep (like when pausing to let a car through the intersection). Auto-start won't register that you've started again and you'll miss any data until the next time you stop and start again. However, tap the big red button and it'll start right up in the same exercise file (I'm in the habit now of looking down to check the display after every stop).

If you're having problems with multiple files I remember seeing a link here to a utility for merging files. I'm also working on an advanced file merge/split/copy/edit utility but it's at least 2 months away from being ready for the public.

Well I got the thing to work. Here is what I ended up with, near the end of the ride I had my heartrate between 180 and 190 for about 16 minutes, It was my buddy and I trading pulls. The speed sensor on the fork had moved, as we were a constant 26-28 or so, but for some reason its showing swings from 14mph to 28.5mph. I have repositioned it. Tonight is the hardest ride of the week, but only 40 miles.

I thought my Anerobic Threshold was around 165 0r 170, which is inline with my max of 197. During the first hard effort, i was at 181, and thought I was going to die, but after that, 180 was fine, in fact I feel as if I could have ridden at 180 bpm for about an hour, am I a freak?