Compatability

• PC Coach Elite is compatible with the Polar S625X (as are Scholastic and Professional) You can upload workout parameters, and download workout data directly into PC Coach (without using the Polar PPP software.)

Polar S625X special cases

Through our testing, we have found a few problems you might encounter with the S625X, and some easy work-arounds. Below we have three articles:

• How to deal with speed and distance between the watch and the computer,
• A hint for avoiding a bug that can overwrite your bike settings,
• A way to set up the footpod properly, without encountering a pace settings bug.

Dealing with the S625X pace and distance features.
(Or, don't set your monitor to miles and your software to log kms.)

Here are some suggestions from our development team:

1. Be sure that PC Coach and the monitor are set to the same units. When you create a login (or user) in PC Coach, you get to choose settings for the clock, calendar and also for the units of measurement. Distance, pace, weight, temperature are all set together by choosing either the US (Imperial) or the Metric set. (We can't really say Imperial, because we don't have support for stones as a measure of weight) The monitor, likewise, understands two settings for units: 1 = Kg, M, C (meaning Kilograms, Meters, and degrees C, so also Km) 2 = lb/ft/F (pounds, feet, and degrees F, so also miles) The easiest way to be sure that the monitor and the software agree is to upload your personal data into the monitor via PC Coach. Whatever measurement setting you chose for that login is set in the monitor by this function. Or, you can set it directly using the monitor buttons. ( Dig into the manual. )
2. Stick with your choice for units of measurement. You might be tempted to switch the units from one day doing a long run, in miles, to another day of doing 400 meter intervals. Our advice: don't try it. Workout parameters that you uploaded before switching are not converted in the monitor. So if you had pace limits of 6:00 - 7:00 per mile stored, when you change units, it will be 6:00 - 7:00 per Km. For those of us in the US, the best choice is to set PC Coach and the monitor to miles. When doing measured metric intervals, it is best to do them on a measured course, and leave the footpod at home that day.
3. Different Types of Limits Beginning with PC Coach version 4.4, you can set exercise definitions for the S625X and upload them to the monitor for pace limits. The limits feature now supports all the options currently available in Polar models: S625X - (Heart rate, Percent of Max HR, and Pace) S725 - (Heart rate, and Percent of Max HR). All other IR and SonicLink monitors - (Heart rate only.)

   In the process of developing support for pace limits, we found some odd behaviors ( Ok, to me they're bugs) in the S625X with respect to these features. You need to know how to work around them. Be sure to read the section titled 'A Workaround for S625 pace settings anomaly' below.

S625X Bike settings anomaly- A simple work-around
(Or, just press the right button, and you'll be fine.)

There is a small but avoidable bug in the firmware of the Polar S625X. If you plan to use this model for both running and cycling, you'll likely encounter it. The good news is that there is an easy way to avoid it, once you know the trick.

The problem relates to the settings for the two bikes that it allows you to define. It is possible to end up with your bike 2 settings overwriting the settings for bike 1. (Bike settings include the wheel circumference, whether cadence data will be present, and some parameters for the power option.) Not having the right wheel circumference setting affects everyone with a speed sensor.

The one bike solution -

Before getting into the details, if you only have one bike that you plan to use with the Polar bike inputs ( speed sensor, etc.) then the solution is easy. Define both bike 1 and bike 2, with the same parameters (your bike 1 parameters).
You can do this in PC Coach ( Data Transfer Center - Upload Data - Bike / Footpod Setup ) or on the monitor itself. If you only have one bike, feel free to skip the rest of this article.

The two bike solution -

If you do have two bikes, and they do not have identical wheel circumference, cadence, and power settings, read on to learn what this bug does and how to avoid it.

The bike 2 settings will overwrite bike 1 values if you use the monitor buttons to go through the menus to the 'Speed Set' menu ( Options - Speed Set). This is happening on the monitor, not in PC Coach or the Polar software.

If you select either Speed Off or the Footpod as the active input, bike 2 settings overwrite bike 1. If you had never defined a bike 2, then bike 1 gets overwritten by the default values that are surely not right for you.

If you have two bikes then, here is what to do to get success and avoid the bug:

1. Getting bike settings into the monitor.
   If you use PC Coach ( Data Transfer Center - Upload Data - Bike / Footpod Settings ) then everything will work fine. If you want to enter the values into the S625X directly (by pressing the buttons), then you must exit the Speed Set menu with either bike 1 or bike 2 shown ( and thus the default inputs for your next workout ). Exiting with either Speed Off or Footpod will cause the overwrite problem.
2. Getting the correct inputs active when you exercise
   Some people want to use the Speed Set menu to choose between bikes or footpod prior to exercising. This would cause you to run into the bug. Instead, do the following:
   
   • Get into exercise mode by pressing the red button once. ( I call this SYNC mode - it is looking for a heart rate and the stopwatch has not yet started. )
   • Press and hold the bottom right button as many times as necessary to get the input you want for that workout. It cycles between Footpod, Bike1, Bike2 and Off.
   • Now you are ready to exercise. Press the red button again to start the stopwatch.
3. That's it! You have set up your bike and avoided the problem!

A Workaround for S625X Pace Settings Anomaly
(Again, just use the right button, and you'll be fine.)

The S625X has a mode setting that lets you choose between the footpod, bike 1, bike 2, or all OFF. This relates to the limits settings (pace or heart rate) in a confusing way. When you upload an exercise definition with pace limits from PC Coach, the pace limits are uploaded correctly (regardless of the monitor's mode.) However:

1. If the monitor is not in 'Footpod' mode and you look at the exercise settings on the monitor (using the monitor menus) you will see bogus HR limits rather than the pace ones. This is because pace is only meaningful when you are in footpod mode. So, you must first switch to Footpod mode before checking the pace limits for an exercise set. Be careful here though: you should switch to Footpod using SYNC mode ( press red button once, then press and hold bottom right button until desired input is selected, then press bottom left to stop ). If you switch to Footpod using the 'Speed Set' menu (top right button), you can run into another bug related to bike settings (see above).

2. If the monitor is not in 'Footpod' mode and you start the exercise, the bogus HR limits will be in effect for that workout even if you switch to Footpod before starting the stopwatch. Obviously, this is a big problem for anyone who switches between footpod and bike inputs, or exercises not using the footpod. (If you are not wearing the footpod, but have the mode set to footpod on, you get a very annoying 'CHECK SENSOR' interruption on the monitor throughout the exercise, so leaving it to Footpod when you aren't using it is not a good option.)

Here is what you need to do to avoid problem 2:

If you want pace limits, get the monitor into the 'footpod active' mode before even going into exercise mode. There are three ways to do this. The first involves using the monitor menus, and navigating to Options - Speed Set - Run On. This is NOT RECOMMENDED, because you can encounter a different bug that overwrites your bike 1 settings with your bike 2 settings. We recommend you stay out of the Speed Set menu altogether.

The second way is to use PC Coach and upload the desired setting. Use either PC Coach Quick Setup, choosing to set options for the next exercise, or else Data Transfer Center - Upload Data - Bike / Footpod Settings. This works fine if you are setting up your workout while at your computer.

The third way to choose your inputs, described below, is also a good way, and it has the advantage of not requiring you to be at your computer. But you must know the trick. This takes advantage of the two-step procedure for getting a workout started.

Step one: press the red button to find HR and other inputs ( I call this SYNC mode).

Step two: press the red button again to start the stopwatch and start recording.

Here's the shortcut:

1. From Time Of Day, press the red button once. The monitor searches for inputs but the stopwatch has not started yet. You're in SYNC mode.
2. Press AND HOLD the bottom right button repeatedly until 'Run Speed' is displayed across the top.
3. Press the bottom left button to get back to Time Of Day. This is essential!
4. Now you are ready to start your real exercise session, with the footpod mode set correctly. Press the red button to get into SYNC mode. At this point you may still need to select the desired exercise set (Press AND HOLD the top right button to change these).
5. Press the red button again to start the stopwatch, and start recording.

Hurray! you again have avoided the problem.

More ways to do this:

You can change the current exercise set during this 'first pass' as well, or do it once you are in SYNC mode for your real exercise. Changing from an exercise set without pace limits to one with pace limits gets the limits set properly whether done in the 'first pass' or the real exercise, as long as the footpod-on mode was set AND YOU EXITED BACK TO TIME OF DAY before starting the stopwatch!

And wouldn't you know it, there's a worst case scenario:
If you go to SYNC mode, and switch to Run Speed ( footpod active ) and start your exercise without first going back to time of day, not only will your pace limits not be active, but you are also now in a state where the pace limits will not be active for that exercise EVEN IF you go back to time of day and start over. Once in this state, you must cause the monitor to re-read that exercise definition by one of the two ways below:
1. in SYNC mode, cycle through all of the exercise definitions ( press and hold top right button) until you are back to the one you want. Or:
2. Use the monitor's menu structure ( Options, Exercise Set, Select the right one, and exit ) to reset that exercise set as the default one.

But in short, just follow the directions given in steps one through five above, and you'll never have to worry!