User Review: Polar AXN500

Polar AXN500
Above: The current AXN500, which may differ slightly from the version reviewed.

Reviewed December 15, 2004 by Larry Silverman

Rating: rated 3 of 5 stars

This is the fourth Polar HRM I've owned -- M52, s710, and s720i. In many areas the AXN500 has made improvements-stylish design, improved watch band and transmitter, nice outdoor features such as altimeter, barometer, and compass. However, Polar has made a serious error regarding interface -- they have moved from their Polar IR interface to a IrDA interface. Their reasoning is that IrDA is the industry standard; what they neglect is that the user is obligated to provide their own IrDA interface detector. That's right! Previous users who purchased Polar IR interfaces for their S-series watches are out of luck.

As a matter of fact, Polar DOESN'T EVEN SELL the IrDA interface that must be used with their watch. So if you don't have a computer with internal IrDA or an external IrDA interface manufactured by someone else, the Polar software package becomes useless. This, of course, makes no sense and detracts from one of the major features of the Polar HRM's. Where was Polar Marketing Director when this decision was made?

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