Willem.Minten@telenet.be

Creation date: 0ctober 15, 2004 

Last revision date: November 6, 2005 (the latest PPP SW can be found here)

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Is the content of this site obsolete?

·         The last major update of this site has been done for the PPP SW 4.02.037.  There is a later PPP SW 4.03.041 available here. There is one major difference between both updates that affects some parts of this document. I have summarized this in MSG 2916 of the Yahoo  S625X forum.

·         You can try to ask POLAR to report which bugs were fixed in their last software update.  It is not their policy to answer such a question.

·         The S625X contains a MASK processor, which can’t be updated. This means that the firmware bugs or anomalies of the S625X itself, still hold.

·         Cycling: some people also posted their experience with cycling facilities (MSG 2712, MSG 2837, …).  I have posted some interersting controlled test protocols for the evaluation of the basic cycling behavior of the S625X (MSG 2697,  MSG 2705, …). The only thing that is confirmed today is that it is not advised to use another MEM SET than 5 sec.

 

 

 

 

Table of contents

 

1    About this document 4

2    What to remember if you do not want to read the entire document 7

3    What’s in this report for you? 8

4    Introduction/Background. 11

5    Speed and distances in the S625X and PPP SW: the principles. 12

5.1  Displayed and measured speed sensor values. 12

5.2  Recorded speed sensor values. 13

5.3  Displayed and recorded distance values. 13

5.4  Transferred distances to the PPP SW.. 14

6    Speed and distances in the S625X and PPP SW: the real behavior 14

6.1  The real speed and distance transfer from S625X to the HRM file. 14

6.2  The real speed and distance management in the PPP SW.. 15

6.2.1  Ambiguity between LAPdistances and SATdistances. 15

6.2.2  SATdistances (SAmple Time distances) in the PPP SW.. 17

6.2.3  LAPdistances in the PPP SW.. 19

6.2.3.1  Originally measured and recorded LAPdata. 19

6.2.3.2  Other LAPdata manipulation. 22

6.2.4  Total distance ambiguity in the PPP SW.. 24

6.3  The real speed and distance management in the S625X. 25

6.3.1  Distance leaks. 25

6.3.1.1  Underestimation of the real distance due to speed cracks. 26

6.3.1.2  Underestimation of the real distance due to stopping the StopWatch. 26

6.3.2  Firmware bug:  LAPdistance recording. 27

6.3.3  Firmware bug: Instant distance bug. 31

7    Paces in limits and their limitations. 34

7.1  Programming the S625X Exercise Set (virtual trainer) 34

7.1.1  Virtual trainer “BasicSet” 34

7.1.2  Virtual trainer “IntervalSet” 37

7.2  Paces in Limits. 38

7.3  Firmware bug: PACE LIMITS. 40

8    Workouts with speed cracks. 41

8.1  Influence of the MEMory SETting. 42

8.1.1  Influence of the MEM SET on the recorded speed curve. 42

8.1.2  Influence of speed cracks on the LAPdistance recording. 43

8.1.3  Recall: influence of the displayed body speed at the LAPtime on the LAPdistance recording. 43

8.2  Influence of the running speed profile on the accuracy. 46

8.3  Distance based Interval guidance. 47

8.3.1  Firmware bug: INT DIST and RECOV DIST. 47

8.3.2  Illogical behaviors of the distance based interval trainer. 47

8.3.3  An example of a distance based interval workout with pace limits. 49

8.3.4  Conclusions. 51

9    After workout speed and distance data analysis. 52

9.1  New York Freezer 5km.. 52

9.2  New York Freezer 5 mile. 55

9.3  Conclusions. 59

10  Most important conclusions on the practical use of the S625X. 61

10.1          Functionality and design. 61

10.2          Important bugs. 62

10.3          My personal recommendations to POLAR. 64

11  Accurate Calibration. 64

11.1          What is the accuracy if you don’t calibrate? 65

11.2          What is the best calibration method? 65

11.2.1     First difference: stand-still versus flying calibration. 66

11.2.2     Second difference: blind calibration versus transparent calibration.. 66

11.2.3     Third difference: number of significant digits taken into the calibration   67

11.2.4     Fourth Difference: preferred calibration track. 68

11.3          Accurate calibration procedures. 68

11.3.1     Accurate Calibration Factor Procedure. 69

11.3.1.1     Basic Protocol 69

11.3.1.2     Calculation of the Calibration Factor: 70

11.3.2     Accurate Calibration Chart Procedure. 71

11.3.2.1     Basic Protocol 71

11.3.2.2     Calculation of the Calibration Chart: 71

11.4          Additional remarks on accurate calibration. 72

12  A Swiss Army Knife for the S625X recorded speeds and distances. 73

12.1          Preliminaries. 73