Polar Electro has gotten a lot of airtime in the first week of the Tour de France by providing live data from their heart rate monitors in use by many riders. Data from their heart rate monitors appears in rider identification graphics, with the rider’s current heart rate, maximum heart rate, and current speed and elevation above sea level.
I’ve used three different Polar HRMs myself over the past year:
- Polar S710 bike computer: my old reliable bike computer that I’ve used for most of my training since 2001. I use it to track my heart rate, bike speed, and pedaling cadence. The S710 is still pretty close to the state-of-the-art; it produces all of the data that Polar is providing to OLN.
- Polar S625x speed and distance computer: this is my favorite HRM at the moment. It’s a computer that’s most appropriate for running, although it can also use the speed and cadence sensor that I already use with my S710. I used the Polar S625x at The Chicago Showcase hockey tournament to measure my performance while officiating nine games.
-
Polar AXN 500 outdoor computer: This is an interesting new exercise computer that’s aimed at adventure racing participants. Of the three Polar HRMs I’ve used recently, it’s the most stylish. I wore the AXN 500 daily for several weeks and still think it’s as nice looking as my Tag Heuer diving watch that I bought back in the early 1990s.
The feature set of the Polar AXN series is a bit different from the S series. The AXN series emphasizes the altimeter and thermometer instead of bike speed, running speed, cadence, or power. The AXN series also displays its data in trend graphs on the face of the watch.
Austin Murphy from Sports Illustrated, an amateur adventure racer himself, told me he’s got an AXN 300. This is the least expensive version of this watch, which also comes in an AXN 700 version. I think any of the three AXN series will be quite a lot of fun to wear and use over the long term.
All of these watches but the AXN 300 are compatible with Polar Precision Performance Software, a powerful training diary that I’ve used for a long time. I discuss the value of Polar Precision Performance Software in the article Why Training Log Software is One of The Most Important Features of a Fitness Gadget.
One thing I’m wondering when I watch the Tour de France on OLN is how the heart rate monitor data is transmitted beyond the receiver on the rider’s bike. My Polar heart rate transmitter straps only transmit about 2 meters (6 feet)– far enough for the data to be picked up by the wrist unit which is normally mounted on my bike’s handlebars. I’ll see if I can find out how the heart rate monitors used during the Tour are configured by talking to my contacts at Polar USA.
Technorati Tags: Tour de France