Polar S625X - The five minute guide

So your brand new Polar S625X has just arrived - it's time for your workout, but you don't want to tackle the manual just yet. Use this quick guide to get you out the door in the absolute minimum amount of time!

First - tell your S625X what day it is

Before you start your workout, you'll need to upload some settings to the monitor.

Install PC Coach (or the PPP software if that is what you are using). Note: In this article, we will talk about setting up the S625X using the PC Coach software, but the operations we perform (uploading user data to the monitor) are similar in both.

Open PC Coach and go to the Data Transfer Center (icon with two green arrows on the top tool bar).

Click on Manage Data Sources, choose S625x from the list and click Add To My List. In the next screen, indicate whether you will be using a USB or serial port infrared interface (or IrDA) and make this your default equipment.

Plug your infrared interface into your computer. (This is very important - do not plug in your IR interface until after software has been installed.)

Now go back into the Data Transfer Center. Choose Upload Data. You will have four choices of Data to upload - User Data, Date and Time, Workout Setup, or Bike/Footpod Setup. We'll set up the Date and Time first (we'll get to the rest later), so choose Date and Time. Use this screen to set the date and time on the watch. When prompted, put the watch in Connect mode, set your watch in front of the IR interface, and upload this data to the watch.

(Note: If you DON'T set date and time now, the watch date defaults to April 2004 and your workouts will end up downloaded on that date.)

Next - tell your S625X about yourself

Next, you will need to tell your monitor some things about yourself. Go to the Data Transfer Center - Upload Data - User Data and fill in the user data on the left.If you don't know your Max HR or VO2 Max, you can leave them blank for now. (If you have time to do the Polar Fitness Test, you can do that now, and it will give you a value for both of these fields.)

Check any of the boxes on the right for information you want to track, such as altitude or calories. (If you wish to have the S625X calculate calories for your workouts, you will need to fill in the Vo2Max and Max HR fields before your workout.)

Once you have filled in your user data, click Save and Send to Monitor.

Setting up the footpod

If your first workout with your new S625X is going to be a running workout, you'll want to set up the footpod.

First, install the battery that came with the monitor. The trick here is to use one of the ends of the shoe clip as a tool to pry off the black plastic cover. Insert the battery, reassemble the pod and attach it to your shoe by inserting the shoe clip under your laces, and snapping the footpod onto the clip. The footpod is 97% accurate out of the box for most runners, so you don't really need to calibrate the foot pod yet. (Save this for later...)

Next, since the Polar S625X can collect speed data from either the footpod or the bike, you need to tell the watch you wish to capture data from the footpod today.

There are two ways to choose the footpod - manually or by uploading from the software. To select the footpod using PC Coach, go to the Quick Setup screen
(HRM icon) and check the option Upload Monitor Options for Your Next Workout - then click Next.

In the next window, you can select the data sampling rate for this workout (5 sec, 15 sec, or 1 min) and enable the altimeter and the footpod.

Click Next and you will be prompted to put your monitor into CONNECT mode and upload your settings to the watch.

The other way to turn on the footpod is by pressing buttons manually on the S625X.

Press the red button once and the watch will start searching for the heart rate signal. During the synchronizing, press and hold the bottom right button until you see Run Speed across the top of the display and a runner icon near the bottom left. (Pressing and holding the bottom right button will scroll through Bike 1, Bike 2, Speed Off and Run Speed.)

Once Run Speed is set on the watch, put on your chest strap. Wet the heart rate strap where it will lay against your skin.

Press and hold the red button on the top of the footpod. You should see a green light. Keep holding until the green light goes out.

You're just about ready to start your run. With the chest strap on and the footpod turned on, now your're ready to start your run. Press the red button once more to start the stopwatch. If you haven't uploaded any specific workout parameters, the watch mode will be "Basic Use".

(Basic use allows you to record a regular workout, without intervals, and you can press the red button during your run to store as many lap markers as you like.)

Choosing what you will see as you run:

Once you have started your workout, press the bottom right button to select what you wish to see in main display in the middle of the watch. (The choices are time, pace, ave pace, speed, lap time, .. just to name a few.) Keep pushing that bottom right button until you see the option you want. To set the top display, press the top right button, and you will scroll through the data options for display along the top.

Heart rate is always displayed on the third row of the watch. You can choose to view anything except heart rate in the middle row.

Congratulations! You are out the door and running with your new S625X.

Click here to read part 2 of the 5 minute guide -
Setting up your bike, using the S625X with a PC Coach training plan, and more important tips for using the S625X!