Polar Heart Rate Monitor Battery Replacement
Kerry J. Smith
Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops with
no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem with
all Polar heart rate monitors.
The problem is that Polar must have decided that us having to fork over 150
dollars or more wasn't enough profit for them so they stuck these cheep
screws in the back that will strip out very easily.
I finally had to resort to drilling off the heads and re-tapping the
plastic that these screws are supposed to go. I'm sure that any water
resistance that it once had is gone. For anyone thinking about purchasing
a Polar heart rate monitor......think about it very carefully... There are
many good heart rate monitors on the market now......ones without cheap
screws!
Kerry
Steve Mustard
In article <01bbd6bb$484aa320$3273...@KerryS.SISNA>,
My friend and I both have Polar Sport Testers (or Vantages, depending on
where you come from). We have replaced the batteries several times without
problem. The instructions I got said that it should be returned to Polar
for battery replacement in order to guarantee the water resistance. I'm
sure this is a better option than taking it to a jeweller.
Steve
Tod Meinke
I replaced my batteries in both the wrist unit and chest unit. The
wrist unit went ok, but I couldn't figure out how to put the chest unit
back together - I had that dreaded extra piece. So, can anyone
can give me the surgical procedure or tell me how to get a new chest
unit?
--
Tod Meinke
All comments and opinions expressed are those of my employer
and not my own. Please sue them and leave me out of it.
Jeff Pearson
I replaced the battery to my Vantage unit a couple of months ago. I didn't
have any problems, it went about like all of the other watch battery
replacements that I have done.... Now just where did that little screw roll
to, anyway?
Jeff.
Kerry J. Smith <Ker...@Isat.com> wrote in article
<01bbd6bb$484aa320$3273...@KerryS.SISNA>...
> Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
> Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops
with
> no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem
with
> all Polar heart rate monitors.
>
> The problem is that Polar must have decided that us having to fork over
150
> dollars or more wasn't enough profit for them so they stuck these cheep
> screws in the back that will strip out very easily.
>
> I finally had to resort to drilling off the heads and re-tapping the
> plastic that these screws are supposed to go. I'm sure that any water
> resistance that it once had is gone. For anyone thinking about
purchasing
> a Polar heart rate monitor......think about it very carefully... There
are
> many good heart rate monitors on the market now......ones without cheap
> screws!
>
> Kerry
>
im8t...@aol.com
Kerry, Polar Heart Rate Monitors can only be serviced by Polar. You must
mail the reciever back to Polar, this takes about a week and costs very
little compared to losing the integrity of the watch.
Good luck Tri-hard.
Mark Linenberg
On 20 Nov 1996 08:16:10 GMT, "Kerry J. Smith" <Ker...@Isat.com> wrote:
>Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
>Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops with
>no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem with
>all Polar heart rate monitors.
>
>The problem is that Polar must have decided that us having to fork over 150
>dollars or more wasn't enough profit for them so they stuck these cheep
>screws in the back that will strip out very easily.
>
>I finally had to resort to drilling off the heads and re-tapping the
>plastic that these screws are supposed to go. I'm sure that any water
>resistance that it once had is gone. For anyone thinking about purchasing
>a Polar heart rate monitor......think about it very carefully... There are
>many good heart rate monitors on the market now......ones without cheap
>screws!
>
>Kerry
give creative health products a call 1-800-742-4478 and they will help
you by 1)telling you how to replace your battery in your watch or
transmitter 2) selling you the batteries and replacement gaskets 3)
give you their addres and they'll do all the battery and gasket
replacements for you.
****If you try to replace your watch battery and do not replace the
watch gasket seal and use silicon on the gasket you will greatly
reduce the waterproofness of the watch!!
Mark Tri-Man Linenberg
o
__O_/ </\_
/\o_ \ __/\
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (())/(()) /
Wade Blomgren
Kerry J. Smith (Ker...@Isat.com) wrote:
: Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
: Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops with
: no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem with
: all Polar heart rate monitors.
: The problem is that Polar must have decided that us having to fork over 150
: dollars or more wasn't enough profit for them so they stuck these cheep
: screws in the back that will strip out very easily.
: I finally had to resort to drilling off the heads and re-tapping the
: plastic that these screws are supposed to go. I'm sure that any water
: resistance that it once had is gone. For anyone thinking about purchasing
: a Polar heart rate monitor......think about it very carefully... There are
: many good heart rate monitors on the market now......ones without cheap
: screws!
The real problem is that the receiver unit is pressurized (maybe sealed is
a better word). Polar (1-800-227-1314 in the USA) says you can get a
jeweler to replace the battery, but only if they work on pressurized
equipment. I called a few (look for ads that refer to "dive watches" or
similar) - they said sure, they can do it, but the price was about $35
plus $10 for the battery, because of the sealed nature of the unit.
Or..
You can just send the receiver to Polar and they will do it for you.
Price is about $18, you can pay with a credit card. A much better
deal. If you don't have the unit properly resealed then if you ever
get it wet it might well fail permanently. If you never get the receiver
wet then no problem I guess. Anyway, I just wrapped mine up in some bubble
wrap, sent it off to the Polar service address by priority mail (with
50 bucks worth of insurance for 50 cents extra), Polar called me when
they had it, told me the price (the $18 includes shipping), I
forked over my CC number (you can just include it when you mail the
unit, authorizing only a battery change charge) and I had it back within
a week.
I'm not exactly looking forward to the time when we have to replace
our transmitters for $45 each but I think their service on the receiver
battery is reasonable.
Wade Blomgren
wa...@hobbes.ucsd.edu
http://hobbes.ucsd.edu/
J. C. Foster
Tod Meinke wrote:
>
> I replaced my batteries in both the wrist unit and chest unit. The
> wrist unit went ok, but I couldn't figure out how to put the chest unit
> back together - I had that dreaded extra piece. So, can anyone
> can give me the surgical procedure or tell me how to get a new chest
> unit?
>
> --
> Tod Meinke
>
> All comments and opinions expressed are those of my employer
> and not my own. Please sue them and leave me out of it.
Tod,
I purchased a new chest unit at Performance Bikes, about $50. The other
option was to send my old one in ("recycle" was the term used) to Polar
and they would send me a new one($45???). Good luck,
J. C. Foster
The miracle isn't that I finished.The miracle is that I had the courage
to start.
Bruce Platt
Kerry J. Smith wrote:
>
> Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
> Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops with
> no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem with
> all Polar heart rate monitors.
>
> The problem is that Polar must have decided that us having to fork over 150
> dollars or more wasn't enough profit for them so they stuck these cheep
> screws in the back that will strip out very easily.
>
> I finally had to resort to drilling off the heads and re-tapping the
> plastic that these screws are supposed to go. I'm sure that any water
> resistance that it once had is gone. For anyone thinking about purchasing
> a Polar heart rate monitor......think about it very carefully... There are
> many good heart rate monitors on the market now......ones without cheap
> screws!
>
I bought a cardio sport for that reason, the cardiosport has a little
screw off cap that makes battery replacement a breeze.
TriRef
Augie Calabrese
Kerry J. Smith wrote:
>
> Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
> Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops with
> no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem with
> all Polar heart rate monitors.
>
> The problem is that Polar must have decided that us having to fork over 150
> dollars or more wasn't enough profit for them so they stuck these cheep
> screws in the back that will strip out very easily.
>
> I finally had to resort to drilling off the heads and re-tapping the
> plastic that these screws are supposed to go. I'm sure that any water
> resistance that it once had is gone. For anyone thinking about purchasing
> a Polar heart rate monitor......think about it very carefully... There are
> many good heart rate monitors on the market now......ones without cheap
> screws!
>
> Kerry
snap-on type, ) and am quite pleased with them.
I have changed the batteries (available at Kmart) in the older one
twice. The newer unit hasn't required it yet. It was not a problem;
and has retained waterproof characteristics. Yes, the screws are tiny
and require a delicate hand; as far the screws being of poor quality, I
don't have any indication of that. (Your mileage may vary.)
But, feature for feature, I still think they are the best on the
market. In a year or so, you'll see some of their competitors copying
the features in their latest lineup: ie. coded transmitter, bike
interface w/ cadence, etc.
And finally, no, I am not sponsored by Polar* and have no financial
interest in the company.
Augie Calabrese
ko...@rpa.net
* Note: I would entertain sponsorship offers though!!
Thomas McLoughlin
In article <01bbd6bb$484aa320$3273...@KerryS.SISNA>,
"Kerry J. Smith" <Ker...@Isat.com> wrote:
>Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
>Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops
with
>no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem
with
>all Polar heart rate monitors.
>
>The problem is that Polar must have decided that us having to fork over
150
>dollars or more wasn't enough profit for them so they stuck these cheep
>screws in the back that will strip out very easily.
>
>I finally had to resort to drilling off the heads and re-tapping the
>plastic that these screws are supposed to go. I'm sure that any water
>resistance that it once had is gone. For anyone thinking about
purchasing
>a Polar heart rate monitor......think about it very carefully... There
are
>many good heart rate monitors on the market now......ones without cheap
>screws!
My friend and I both have Polar Sport Testers (or Vantages, depending on
where you come from). We have replaced the batteries several times without
problem. The instructions I got said that it should be returned to Polar
for battery replacement in order to guarantee the water resistance. I'm
sure this is a better option than taking it to a jeweller.
Steve
I experienced similar problems with my Vantage XL. No jeweler would
even try to replace the battery and I was forced to send it back to
Polar to replace the battery to ensure waterproofness (?).
I'm at the point where I'm not even concerned about the waterprooof
part, but just want to be able to get my battery changed quickly.
Any help or suggestions ?
Tom
Eric Roseme
Kerry J. Smith (Ker...@Isat.com) wrote:
: Has anyone of you folks had to replace your battery in your Polar Heart
: Rate Monitors yet? (Wrist Unit). I went to 3 different jewelry shops with
: no luck. All three jewelers said they have had the exact same problem with
: all Polar heart rate monitors.
Call Polar 1-800-227-1314.
I tried to replace my battery, totally wrecked the receiver, sent it
to Polar with the $10, and they replaced the entire unit: strap, sender,
receiver.
I pay homage to Polar's customer service.
* | * * *
* /|\ * * * Eric Roseme
* /|\ * * * Hewlett-Packard, Networked Computer Division
//|\\ * /\__O__/\ * ero...@hpisrck.cup.hp.com
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