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TECH NEWS
Polar launches V650 GPS cycling computer, will cost £174.50
Polar has launched its first dedicated GPS cycling computer in the new V650, which boasts a large 2.8in colour touch screen, 10-hour battery life and Bluetooth Smart connectivity. It costs £174.50 on its own, or £209.50 with a heart rate sensor.
Polar was the first company to market a wireless heart rate monitor many years ago. At one time, its heart rate monitors, during a period when cyclists were just starting to embrace the idea of training with heart rate, were a ubiquitous sight on the handlebars of cyclists everywhere. In recent years though we’ve seen the rise of GPS enabled cycling computers, a market mostly dominated by Garmin, but there’s an increasing array of choice, including the new Lezyne range. The V650 is Polar’s response.
The new V650 is its first handlebar mounted cycling computer utilising GPS, after it brought us the multisport V800 and M400. The large colour screen is housed in a light 120g case, and that display provides all the typical data such as speed, distance, cadence, plus your route.
A barometric pressure sensor provides altitude data, and the V650 can display real time VAM (Vertical Altitude Metre) The display can be customised and different bike profiles can be created if you want to swap it from your road bike to your time trial bike, for example. It looks to use a similar quarter-turn mount to a Garmin, but according to report, isn’t actually compatible with Garmin aftermarket mounts.
Bluetooth Smart allows the pairing of compatible heart rate and cadence sensors, but a lack of ANT+ does mean it can’t be paired with most power meters. There are some power meters, like Stages, that utilise Bluetooth, so all isn’t lost, and many companies are embracing Bluetooth Smart as the standard. There’s also the Wahoo Kickr as well for indoor training.
Charging and data transfer ro to your computer is via a micro USB cable. Rides can be uploaded to Polar Flow, the company’s own service that provides analysis of your ride.
Lauri Lumme, the designer of Polar V650 said: “We are honoured to be recognised with our design work in relation to the evaluation criteria such as design quality, finish, functionality, safety, degree of innovation and universal design. The V650 has been engineered and designed to make it the highest quality product of its kind.”
We’re getting one in for review soon so we can put it through the test mill. More at www.polar.com/uk-en
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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46 comments
It's a pity that Polar only bundled the H6 HRM with this, and not the H7. While the bundled version is now available for purchase, the head-only version is not.
I've been trying to figure which would be better for me, the Edge 1000 or the Polar V650. While nav is nice to have, it's not essential for me. GLONASS would be a plus. The Edge 1000 is way more expensive for what I really want, but at least it's available now.
This has been a long and sometimes interesting debate, but I am hopeful it is nearing its end. For this is, after all, a cycling site and, in the same way that people who watch their sport on TV are telly fans not sports fans, people who can't cycle without electronic assistance are geeks, not cyclists.
Apple watch with strava and maps will be killer. The 42 mm model will have a big enough screen.
How ?? When riding last thing I would want to is to look at a watch to see how I am going.
Garmin may need chasing up but the 810 I have IMHO is as good as you can get. OK price point is high but you get what you pay for. Also more important is I have all these ant+ only devices so to buy a polar would mean replacing everything including the Vectors.
Frankly anything that causes Garmin to up their game a bit has to be a Good Thing. This market desperately needs some quality competition. Most of my circle of cycling friends would jump on any serious alternative to Garmin.
I'd like to see a physically robust long running GPS unit with "open" firmware/software, meaning other companies could write the firmware/software. Worked well for PCs. I suppose a smartphone is like that, but generally not so robust.
probably i'd get home without a GPS; here i'm using GPS in the sense of navigation device. But it doesn't half make it a lot easier.
Seems very, very expensive for its feature set.
I'm sorry, but unless it's got navigation, it's NOT a true GPS device, so stop calling it that. I'm talking to you, Polar and Lezyne!!!
Eh? What is the definition of a 'true' GPS device? If it contains a GPS receiver then it's a GPS device - whether or not a feature of the product is navigation is down to the firmware that it's programmed with.
Back in the day (and I'm talking 20 years ago) having a 'GPS' meant it told you where you *were*. It removed the need to triangulate or relate ground-to-map.
Fast-forward to today, and if you ask 99% of people (or cyclists, even) 'what is a GPS for' they will say something along the lines of 'to show you how to get somewhere'. 'GPS' is now synonymous with navigation.
This new category of devices that simply log a GPS track should not be advertised as 'GPS computers'. It's borderline sale-of-goods-act breach, IMHO. I bet both Lezyne and Polar - or more to the point, their retailers - will see a load of returns once people realise that the 'GPS' they just purchased for themselves/spouse/relative doesn't do what they thought it would.
These should be clearly labelled as 'GPS loggers', and further clarified as 'Not for navigation use'.
Not to blow own trumpet (OK, yes - paarp), I was IT director for a mobile phone firm for 3 years and have offered punditry on mobile tech and particularly navigation devices for years. If I'm having trouble working out the raison d'etre for these things, heaven help the non-tech consumer.
Bingo, KiwiMike. When I say "true" GPS device, I mean devices made TODAY with navigation capabilities, not when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, where apparently Oolon is from. GPS today is, like KiwiMike said, synonymous with showing us where to go, how to get there, not limited to just telling us where we are. Jesus, Oolon, do I need to spell out everything for you? Go back to your black and white TV, 8-track tape, and hand cranking your car.
While what you state may well be true, it doesn't detract from the truth that Oolon points out. The fact that many people equate 'GPS' with navigation device doesn't make it correct (until the OED gives that as the definition of GPS I guess). Many people refer to vacuum cleaners as 'Hoovers' irrespective of brand.
Hope the BTLE is more reliable than it is with sensors connected to smartphones. This could be an epic fail. Omission of ANT+ is really silly, as I don't think it even requires extra hardware.
I've used Polar for nearly thirty years; many excellent reasons for continuing to do so:
1. Quality of the products
2. Exceptional customer service
3. Continuous improvement in functionality
4. Does what it says on the tin.
This company have delivered year after year. People who need navigation make me laugh; if you don't know where you're going I suggest you don't set out!
If a Polar product provides the functionality you want I'd suggest it will always be a better purchase than other options. If you like whizzy bang and a screen to watch while your cycling I'm told GGGGGG Garmin are fairly good.
Just picking up on this, do you only ever go places you have been before?! I don't have sat nav in the car, but would love it on my bike. I quite often go exploring and am always pushing the distance I have ridden. I would love a gadget to pop up with directions and turn indications, it is a damn site easier than printing off pages of maps, taking them with you, keeping them dry, and stopping to look at them every 200 metres. That can add a lot of time to a ride, which is something I don't always have. I don't want to use my phone for that, but occasionally am forced to.
I drive up to 20,000 miles a year and cycle up to 6,000; up until June last year never had a sat nav; I only use it now for the last mile or two to a destination. Apart from twice a month in the car I rarely go to the same place again.
Riding the bike I check the route out beforehand and off I go; there is a view that blokes are designed to be able to do that; bit unfair on women; but that may be the case. I do understand why some people like the navigation tools I just don't
I think the driving analogy is wrong - People don't cycle on main roads willingly. You can get from the M25 to Edinburgh following just the M1/A1 signs. No satnav at all. Getting from Winchester to Newbury, you *could* do it using the A34, and make zero turnings.
Anyone with half a brain and desire for a nice ride would take the minor roads, which at a rough guess would require maybe 50-75 turns. I could do that as I've ridden that area twice a week for the last decade. But anyone - even a 'local' who didn't have cycling experience of those roads - would be utterly lost within 10 minutes, and either at a dead end, on an A-road or going miles out of their way.
Unless you are some sort of photographic-memory savant, there is no_way you are going to remember 50-75 turns over a 30-mile distance.
The alternative is paper. Which as many have pointed out, is pants.
I accept you may only ever ride on roads you know, or have the time/inclination to adjust routes on the fly when you are faced with an on-ramp or a farm track.
Modern cyclists are no better/worse than their forebears at 'navigation'. It's just that the tools now exist to plot a quiet-roads-only 200-mile route over totally strange country in a few minutes, be guided without slowing down, and never go wrong once.
And this device can't do that
No it can't; but what market is Polar addressing? A basic knowledge of the company will tell you that it has always been about sports performance and coaching. If you critic the product from that angle; including the tools available on the website; it is a winner.
It's being sold as a 'GPS computer'. My point is that 99% of people will think that means navigation. By Polar's own admission nav is supposed to be in there, was scheduled as an update for mid/late-2014, after the hardware was due to ship early 2014. They have missed both dates by a country mile. I shouldn't have to have any knowledge of Polar's track record to then set my expectation of what a 'GPS computer' can or can't do.
If I based my expectation of the Lezyne version on track record, it would be that it's got a stonking torch and pump built in.
Then 99% of people need to work out what they are buying before they buy. I really don't follow your logic. GPS is GPS; Navigation is Navigation; the two are not the same. I know there has been a major bastardisation of the English language in recent years but people need to get the basic definitions right; if only for their own good! There are two things here:
1. For nigh on 30 years Polar have produced HRM's for bikes focused on training and coaching.
2. The description of the planned functionality of the GPS is a clear indicator that it is not designed for those venturing in to the unknown on a long plod!
Therefore it is not a Garmin and not claiming to be one. So someone posting that Polar "just don't get it", actually don't get it themselves; this is a different market segment!
What a bewildering thing to say. Last year I cycled to many places that I've never driven to using the (limited) navigation facilities on my Garmin 500. What was I supposed to do, stop at every junction and look it up on my phone? Print a cue sheet out and stick it to my stem? Carry multiple OS maps with me?
So you just set out on a ride without knowing where you were going? Oh but you did know as you had to enter the destination in to your device. I do similar; I look at a map and once I've read the route off I go.
However all of this diverts from the fact that Polar traditionally are not targeting the navigation market they are targeting the sports performance and coaching market not the map reading sat nav market. As such the people criticising the product on the basis of limited navigation have missed the point.
You kinda missed the point when you opened with saying that if people don't know where they're going they should stay at home... When I rode to Holme Moss for the Tour last year I didn't "know" where I was going. I'd planned the route on ridewithgps and checked it out on Google Streetview, but what was I supposed to do, remember every turn and street name? Don't be ridiculous.
sometimes, yeah. it's kind of fun
you've never done an audax? or gone touring? or simply set out from home and determined to take roads you didn't know until you were thoroughly lost? that last one is especially fun, and also great for your local knowledge. and now you can press the 'get me home' button on some device and it'll route you back to the start. or just pull up a detailed map and work out a nice way home. you should try it.
Absolutely I've done an Audax and gone touring; oh and set out from home and gone for a long ride not knowing where I am going. A basic knowledge of the local geography has to be the basis of starting any ride and if you have that you can always get back. I'm lost to understand what the issue is here; if you set a route in to your navigation you clearly know where you are going; I just check the route on a map beforehand and go for it.
Legin, you don't know what the fuss is about after you told people to stay home because they didn't know how to get around? This is what happens when you stop taking your meds.
You really take an off the cuff comment that seriously? Never mind my meds, what are you on?
You do realize it's hard to convey emotion and body language on the internet, so when you make the statement about people needing to stay home, you better make it so OBVIOUS that it's taken as a joke or use emoticons. But you failed to do that, and as a result you had commenters jumping down your throat. So, Mr. I-don't-need-no-stinkin-gps, stop with the damage control and learn to gather your thoughts before you type away. I realize you have half a brain, so that might be too difficult.
And as for what meds I'm on? I'm not on any. I'm beyond hope.
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