Polar launches V650 GPS cycling computer, will cost £174.50

Apologies; I assume everything written on internet forums is a joke as most of the comments plainly are. Even the comments that pull my chain I can't be bothered commenting on because I always assume that if their is an element of doubt about the posters intent I will veer towards the positive view that they meant well.

With respect you need to sort out your attitude to the internet as imagine you let a lot of garbage and innocuous comment ruin your day.

As I made it clear I understand why some people like GPS; I don't need it. That is the fundamental difference in my view to many other views; do I need this overpriced bit of technology garbage that cost £15 to make or shall I continue as I am. I do however need the functionality of a Polar HRM.

Perhaps I'll get converted if I get lost on the road to Damascus (Flag: that's a joke)!

Legin wrote:

Apologies; I assume everything written on internet forums is a joke as most of the comments plainly are. Even the comments that pull my chain I can't be bothered commenting on because I always assume that if their is an element of doudbt about the posters intent I will veer towards the positive view that they meant well.

With respect you need to sort out your attitude to the internet as imagine you let a lot of garbage and innocuous comment ruin your day.

As I made it clear I understand why some people like GPS; I don't need it. That is the fundamental difference in my view to many other views; do I need this overpriced bit of technology garbage that cost £15 to make or shall I continue as I am. I do however need the functionality of a Polar HRM.

Perhaps I'll get converted if I get lost on the road to Damascus (Flag: that's a joke)!

So you're admitting your comment was garbage. Who's really the troll here? Now you're apologizing because it didnt turn out the way you anticipated. You're conniving or just plain cluless - either way, you're living in a sad pathetic bubble. You see, I take an extremely irreverent attitude to these forums, so when I see an imbecile commenter like you, it doesn't ruin my day, it MAKES my day. Folks like Dave Atkinson and Vonhelmet were civil in responding to you - I'm not. What I do is take that "stay home" comment of yours, sprinkle in a bit of seriousness and a whole lot of sarcasm, mix it up, and feed it back to unsuspecting dimwits such as yourself who don't realize that your chain's been yanked this whole time.

Legin, I too was born at night, but unlike you, it wasn't last night.

Keep taking those meds.

pullmyfinger wrote:

Legin wrote:

Apologies; I assume everything written on internet forums is a joke as most of the comments plainly are. Even the comments that pull my chain I can't be bothered commenting on because I always assume that if their is an element of doudbt about the posters intent I will veer towards the positive view that they meant well.

With respect you need to sort out your attitude to the internet as imagine you let a lot of garbage and innocuous comment ruin your day.

As I made it clear I understand why some people like GPS; I don't need it. That is the fundamental difference in my view to many other views; do I need this overpriced bit of technology garbage that cost £15 to make or shall I continue as I am. I do however need the functionality of a Polar HRM.

Perhaps I'll get converted if I get lost on the road to Damascus (Flag: that's a joke)!

So you're admitting your comment was garbage. Who's really the troll here? Now you're apologizing because it didnt turn out the way you anticipated. You're conniving or just plain cluless - either way, you're living in a sad pathetic bubble. You see, I take an extremely irreverent attitude to these forums, so when I see an imbecile commenter like you, it doesn't ruin my day, it MAKES my day. Folks like Dave Atkinson and Vonhelmet were civil in responding to you - I'm not. What I do is take that "stay home" comment of yours, sprinkle in a bit of seriousness and a whole lot of sarcasm, mix it up, and feed it back to unsuspecting dimwits such as yourself who don't realize that your chain's been yanked this whole time.

Legin, I too was born at night, but unlike you, it wasn't last night.

Keep taking those meds.

You're a very sad case! At least while I'm recuperating I'm not wasting valuable time responding to your sad efforts

Legin wrote:

You're a very sad case! At least while I'm recuperating I'm not wasting valuable time responding to your sad efforts

Am I imagining things, or are you claiming not to respond to my posts by ACTUALLY responding to it? Oh the irony...

Just when I thought you couldn't go any deeper, you take your shovel and dig some more. Congratulations, take a bow.

<---- that's you off your meds. Here, take two and call me in the morning.

Comprehension isn't your strong point is it?

It doesn't have have turn-by-turn routing, but it can follow routes.

Seems much like Garmin Edge 500, but with a colour touch-screen, and added smartphone connectivity coming this summer.

Does your phone last 10hr with paired sensors & screen on?

The red area might be larger than you've drawn it, even if I don't want it either.

I love my bike wrote:

It doesn't have have turn-by-turn routing, but it can follow routes.

Seems much like Garmin Edge 500, but with a colour touch-screen, and added smartphone connectivity coming this summer.

Does your phone last 10hr with paired sensors & screen on?

I've watched both product videos, and can't see any reference to any kind of route following functionality.

Ergo, it's not anything like a Garmin 500.

My 4-year-old Android phone (with the original battery, no less) can last around 8hrs with the screen on constantly, showing a scrolling map: http://road.cc/comment/reply/108899/225222 - granted this was not with a BTLE sensor attached, but the USP of BTLE is that it's ultra-low power, so I wouldn't expect any difference in performance were it to be recording cadence or power (speed/distance being taken care of by GPS).

I don't understand what you mean? It clearly shows that you can download the data at the end of your ride and it will show you on a map the route you followed. Am I misunderstanding what you mean by route following? If what you actually want is the equivalent of a sat nav then this clearly isn't for you.

Legin wrote:

I don't understand what you mean? It clearly shows that you can download the data at the end of your ride and it will show you on a map the route you followed. Am I misunderstanding what you mean by route following? If what you actually want is the equivalent of a sat nav then this clearly isn't for you.

I said 'no navigation'. Previous poster said 'it can follow routes'.

Fact is, it doesn't have any 'navigation', and it can't 'follow routes. It can *record* a GPS *track*, which you might then use in the future to make a route from, or just get a kick out of looking at. Or upload to Strava.

This is my point: in this day/age of every mobile having the ability to both navigate pre-defined routes as well as record any track you ride, I just don't see the utility of a 'GPS Computer' that doesn't do navigation, yet costs the price of a decent waterproof, shockproof Android mobile or Garmin (or Mio or... ) that can do proper navigation, as well as run BTLE sensors.

From probably the the best independant sporting electronics review/information site, by somebody who actually has one:
( http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/first-look-polar-v650.html )

'The unit includes route navigation based on routes downloaded from Polar Flow. [Update: At launch, only route tracking will be available, route guidance will come in a later update]. These routes are either routes shared by others, or past/historical routes. Note that at launch you will not be able to create your own routes on the site. Thus, the feature is kinda limiting. Initially the routes will be downloaded using your PC, but long term you’ll be able to do it with the mobile app (in a later release).

On the unit the routes will be shown both as a breadcrumb trail as well as with a little compass. The compass is GPS based, and not magnetic. Though, for cycling that tends to be fine. Below, is a screenshot of what the breadcrumb trail will look like:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/images/2014/01/image_thumb23.png

Remember that this is different than ‘turn by turn’ navigation, it doesn’t provide street names, but rather just a little arrow to follow. This is similar to most other units on the market.'

I love my bike wrote:

Remember that this is different than ‘turn by turn’ navigation, it doesn’t provide street names, but rather just a little arrow to follow. This is similar to most other units on the market.'

Thanks for digging out the DCR review - It's amazing that this device has taken over a year to come to market, yet still doesn't have even basic 'guidance', that doesn't (on the face of it) come close to 'navigation'. And in the intervening year, 'most other units on the market' now do true turn-by-turn nav.

If I read this right, there's no 'heading up' setting, with even basic left/right arrows. Just a questionable-scale arrow on a wiggly line (I assume North is up) that you'd have to get your head around.

All this for just £174.50

Looks to me like Polar should stick to what they are good at.

KiwiMike wrote:

Looks to me like Polar should stick to what they are good at.

Over-priced electronics incompatible with all other communications protocols ?