Polar CS600 w/Power

[jasond]

I just wanted to find out if anyone has the CS600 w/power and wanted to know how you liked it? I've been contemplating buying one but I haven't seen any reviews on it. I have heard Polar doesn't work well or at all with the new R-sys wheels which is a concern of mine.

[Grant McLean]

Hi Jason,

The "power" bits are sketchy. Polar seems to have struggled for years
to make this kit work consistently. I'll admit that it's been a while since i've
installed the power kit, because our shop just gave up on them, after trying
to keep them working on customer's bikes, we've sent more back to polar
than we were able to get and keep working.

It's got nothing to do with the Cs600 unit, which is fantastic. The trouble seems
to be with the kits. If power is really your thing... look elsewhere, imho.

As far as R-sys wheels, I don't think there is an issue for the speed sensors.
The wheels come with their magnets from mavic, you should be good to go there.

-g

[jasond]

Hi Jason,

It's got nothing to do with the Cs600 unit, which is fantastic. The trouble seems
to be with the kits. If power is really your thing... look elsewhere, imho.

-g

Thank you G,

I've been googling for reviews for the last few minutes and the consistent problem people are siting is the power unit keeps failing. Apparently it takes Polar quite sometime to change it out too. I already have the CS200 and like it however I'd like to have some of the features the 600 comes with. May need to continue to do some research.

[Kervin]

I've had one on my bike for about a month and a half. I've had no problems at all. I changed from a Power tap wired. I never had them both at the same time, but the power measurement numbers are about the same.

I like being able to use different wheels, I think the display is a bit easier to get info from, the back lit display has been handy, the % grade is kind of neat, and it has a mount that is easy to take the head off of.

You do need to be very mechanically inclined to install it because the instructions are a bit lacking. I do need to move the chain speed sensor because it can just touch a spoke on one of my wheels when I'm out of the saddle. If you use 1 sec recording times, you can only get about 2:30. That means I need to download after each ride. The mounting looks pretty ugly and it is harder to clean my bike.

Shoot me a PM or post a question if you want more input.

[Kervin]

Here's a picture of mounting

[Grant McLean]

I like being able to use different wheels

a major plus for sure.

If the power unit works for you, I can imagine it's a great system to use.

-g

[jasond]

I think my quest for power will have to wait not sure if I want all that on the back end of my bike. I guess my CS200 will do for now or until I get the iche to change it. I really wouldn't mind the elevation and the graphical output which I could get with either polar or maybe a garmin.

Thanks for the info and picture Keven.

Jay

[Kervin]

I think my quest for power will have to wait not sure if I want all that on the back end of my bike.

Jay,
I think the best "value" is a SRM. It's a boat load of money, but you can (at least at this point) sell it used for not that much less than you buy it for. That said, I got my CS600 for $500 from a forum member. The power training has helped me target my training and get stronger since I have been using it. I know it is not a pretty mounting, but only the people behind me see it!

[Orin]

Here's a picture of mounting

You were lucky!

The new molded mounts are an absolute pain if you need to stack them and I had to add a stack of the old rubber sheet to make mine work with the big chainring. I'm going to machine a couple of aluminium blocks to raise mine from the chainstay.

The chainspeed sensor wire routing you used is the one they recommend, but won't work with a long cage derailleur in my experience. Best zip tying it as close to the pivot points of the derailleur as possible so the big loop of wire cant get in the spokes. Quite easy on a Campy derailleur, a pain on a Shimano.

I find that the CS600 is dreadfully slow at updating the power display - they are averaging over several seconds. Recorded data seems OK though. The S725 did not seem as slow.

The wireless communication is orders of magnitudes better than the wired Polar power meter that tended to lose data due to bad connections to the watch. I've been working at converting the old unit to wireless and using a Palm or similar device as a display unit. Then I get to decide on the averaging used to display power... the old wired unit reports once a second, the watch displays every other value and records the value from the watch after each recording interval (yes, discarding values like this loses information and violates good DSP practice if you don't low pass filter the data first).

Orin.

[jasond]

Jay,
I think the best "value" is a SRM. It's a boat load of money, but you can (at least at this point) sell it used for not that much less than you buy it for. That said, I got my CS600 for $500 from a forum member. The power training has helped me target my training and get stronger since I have been using it. I know it is not a pretty mounting, but only the people behind me see it!

Yeah the SRM is nice however it's out of my price range right now. Polar may be the only way to go right now. How do you like the graphs? Can you really get a good idea if one leg is doing more work?

[Chris]

I have the cs600 without power and love it. I know that doesn't have anything t o do with the conversation, but I think that in term of non-power units, Polar is tops. In regards to power, word on the street is that Polar will soon have a non-chain-based power unit out that is wireless.

[Kervin]

How do you like the graphs?
Not so much, but I use the WKO+ (http://www.cyclingpeakssoftware.com/wko/) software which is great.
Can you really get a good idea if one leg is doing more work?
What it looks at is the amount of power of you pushing on the down stroke AND pulling up with the other leg. The pull up is a much smaller number than the push, but you can not look at each of those things. What I found was I'm at about 54% / 46% when I'm going easy. It evens up when I get above the high 200's. I almost never use that screen.

For a little back ground, I'm a sprinter by nature. When I was just using heart rate for intervals, it was easy for me to drop the hammer, get my heart rate up and keep it in the zone. What I found out I was doing was putting out a huge amount of watts and then trailing off over time. With the power readings, I have greatly improved my power out put for each length of time. For me, that means I have a much easier time riding in a group. I feel much more comfortable taking a harder pull too.

Good luck in your quest. It seems like some people have had issues with the power part, but I have not. I do have to ride on about a mile of gravel road a day and that hasn't bothered it a bit.

[jasond]

I have the cs600 without power and love it. I know that doesn't have anything t o do with the conversation, but I think that in term of non-power units, Polar is tops. In regards to power, word on the street is that Polar will soon have a non-chain-based power unit out that is wireless.

I was wondering if they were coming out with something new. I wonder what polar is going to.

[Kervin]

The new molded mounts are an absolute pain if you need to stack them.......Can you post a picture of what your mounting looks like? I used the smallest one in back and a medium one in the front. Maybe my chain stays are taller than yours. You said you are using a long cage derailler, what chainring/cassette combo are you using? I have a 53/39 - 12/25 or 12/23. Maybe Polar has a limit to sizes it will work with.

I find that the CS600 is dreadfully slow at updating the power display - they are averaging over several seconds. Recorded data seems OK though.....I do think the head unit display does change slower than the PT I had, but I find it makes it easier to read if I'm working hard 'cause the numbers are jumping around as much. I use a pretty high cadance so when I look back at recorded data, the power numbers don't seem to change around too much.

...I've been working at converting the old unit to wireless and using a Palm or similar device as a display unit. Then I get to decide on the averaging used to display power... the old wired unit reports once a second, the watch displays every other value and records the value from the watch after each recording interval (yes, discarding values like this loses information and violates good DSP practice if you don't low pass filter the data first).That's quite a project! I'd like to see it when you get it done.