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Polar CS500 bike computer review

 Polar CS500 bike computer heart rate monitor with pedal cadence

What Polar say about the new Polar CS500 ~ Functional Design for the Ride

For ambitious cyclists seeking improved cycling performance.

  • Determines daily personal heart rate target zones for optimal training
  • Allows quick and safe control with the rocker switch and oversized user-configurable display
  • Displays the inclines and declines of your ride with altitude measurement
  • Guarantees interference-free transmission with W.I.N.D. technology

For FULL TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION of Polar CS500 - click here

What we say about the new Polar CS500 - CS500CAD : Polar have listened to customers comments about 1) Screen size and 2) Button ease of use, especially with gloves on.

1) SIZE - normally in the world of heart rate monitoring everyone tried to keep things small. Not this time - the Polar CS500 is LARGE - a full size bike computer is EASY TO SEE, even at high speed and poor light conditions. Well done - we like this OVERSIZED unit

2) BUTTONS - the CS500 is mounted on a vertical pin system / rocker switch. To activate either button just PUSH DOWN on the side of the unit near the edge. The Polar CS500 will ROCK down, activating the button on the rear of the unit - CLEVER. Very easy to use, even with gloves on or cold fingers.

3) Polar RECOVERY analysis. Download to polarpersonaltrainer.com and see if you are RED - over training - ORANGE - close to over training or - GREEN - just right, carry on…. .

Polar RECOVERY feature available with any Polar heart rate monitor when downloaded to polarpersonaltrainer.com website

New Polar Training Load feature

Newsflash - Polar TRAINING LOAD analysis

Polar can now give you an indication of TRAINING LOAD from their online website service polarpersonaltrainer.com

 Download to polarpersonaltrainer.com and see if you are RED - over training - ORANGE - close to over training or - GREEN - just right, carry on…. This is a new feature and gives the user sensible training load advice. It is available on any model that can download to the polarpersonaltrainer.com website

Polar Training load analysis

This feature is available with any new download from

 Polar FT7

Polar Ft40

Polar FT60

Polar FT80

Polar CS500

Polar RS300X

Garmin Edge 500

Well it’s here.. the much acclaimed and highly anticipated Garmin Edge 500 GPS cyclists computer

What is it ? - Garmin have gone all out on performance this time. The Garmin Edge 500 is NOT a mapping / routing device like the Edge 605 and Edge 706 ARE. The Edge 500 is designed for the serious cyclists that wants to track speed, distance, calories, pedal cadence and optional POWER. The Garmin Edge 500 uses ANT + communication protocol - this means it will work with ANY other ANT + devices including Power Tap and Vector Power Pedals.

GPS functionality? It uses GPS HotFix for quick and accurate speed and distance calculation. It also STORES where you have been - this means you can download to Garmin Training Manager or other FREE to use GPS analysis sites like www.sportstracklive.com to reivew, SPEED, DISTANCE, CADENCE, POWER, ALTITUDE and HEART RATE

The Garmn Edge 500 is about HALF the size of the Garmin Edge 605/705 (length wise). It has a nice big clear display which is completely user configurable. The user can choose between 1 and 7 segments on the display - you choose what you want to see…

You can also race against yourself from any previously saved COURSES… ride a circuit - save it as a COURSE.. then next time you’re out doing that course.. race against yourself… perfect

Available now from heartratemonitor.co.uk

Garmin Edge 500 size comparison

Garmin Edge 500 in BLACK

Both these special Garmin Edge 500 packages come with PREMIUM HRT belt

SPECIAL EDITIONS : We are pleased to offer the highly popular Garmin Edge in a BLACK and SILVER livery ~ and the very popular Garmin Team Transition Edge 500 Bundle package with FREE Team Garmin Pearl Izumi cycle shirt !! Garmin Edge 500 BLACK ~ SILVER GPS cyclists heart rate monitor 

Garmin Edge 500 Team Edition with FREE Garmin Transitions shirt

Team Garmin Edge 500 with FREE Garmin Team Transitions cycle shirt

Polar FT7 heart rate monitor

IMPROVE FITNESS or BURN FAT ? FT7 will tell you which

BHIP comment : Take the new Polar FT4 and add Polar Energy Pointer with textual guidance telling you whether you are “FITNESS IMPROVING” or “FAT BURNING” - plus an improved memory holding daily and weekly summaries (similar to Polar FT40/60) plus ability to download training data to Polar personaltrainer.com website (via optional FLOWLINK). We highly RECOMMEND the Polar FT7 for the cardiovascular exerciser who wants to BOTH - keep fit and manage weight loss - with added ability of optional PC download.

For those who want to know if they’re improving their fitness or burning fat. So if you want clear training guidance and an easy start to heart rate-based training, the FT7 is for you.

  • The EnergyPointer tells you if the main effect of your training is fitness improvement or fat burning
  • Displays calories burned
  • Comes with comfortable textile transmitter and has coded heart rate transmission to avoid cross-talk
  • Connects to your online training diary at polarpersonaltrainer.com with optional Polar FlowLink
  • All self change batteries

Polar FT7 heart rate monitor  Polar FT7 heart rate monitor

Click images above to get the full details of Polar FT7 heart rate monitor