How do stride sensors work

Not unlacing them every day. How gigantic is the battery? One other BT Smart watch to watch if you will is here on Kickstarter: link to kickstarter. I had the same issue with my Garmin foot pod and I wrote to customer service and they sent me half a dozen brackets for free, so I just stuck one on each show and pop out the sensor to move it between shoes. Polar may be willing to do the same or to sell the brackets for cheap how much can they really cost them?

I have the Wahoo Blue HR strap and have wanted a BT stride sensor, but the non-compatibility with other apps is a non-starter for me. The spec was only finalized a few weeks ago — apps are catching up.

Even swapping it out for a 4 should provide you with hours of tracking easily. If you have a 4 or higher you need to fix your battery or stop loading poor jailbroken apps on it.

Interesting… Asics shoes in a second post already. No New Balance anymore? No particular reason for the switch. The Girl wanted me to try out some new shoes she got for me. So, I did. So, been using them since since back around the Paris Marathon about two months ago actually.

For Windows phone 8 and BLE: link to developer. And your voice here: link to wpdev. Maybe they should focus on making their next footpod even bigger, more expensive and harder to change from shoe to shoe. Also if it only works with satellite phones I will buy 3 for my walks on the moon.

If it had been launched with a brand spanking new killer watch then it might have been a better move. Though their portal still sucks. As a user I fail to see what the benefit of BLE is. Polar can be a leader in the BLE space all they want but the hardware is in no way irresistible. If I have any say in it, it is never going on any of my shoes again. Being tested?? Nice article Ray as always: Question if you know: Can i export a workout from polar site -in a gpx format- and upload it to lets say garminconnect?

I am asking because i ve tryied so after inputing data manualy to polar site and i only could export xls data…. Thanks in advance. You should be able to export the gpx file via the WebSync software.

Just select your Device, go to the exercise tab, select the exercise you would like to export and then select the file location to export to you will get a.

Whoops dropped my intro. Instructions as above. Hi, here a short tipp for making the running pod easier to swap between shoes.

Buy one or more spare part holder so you will be able to remove the sensor from the shoe without removing the holder…. They are much more slim….

Why would anyone want it for TomTom Multiwatch? TomTom advertise that watch will work on treadmill without footpod. I might have to get this and calibrate it with a 5K rowing session on my Ketler rowing machine. I am desperatly looking for a way to track strokes when rowing and get cadence etc… Dis you managed to have a footpod working on a rower?

Thanks for your answer. If you fix the iPhone in water belt pocket or spibelt. Best of all, set the metronome to 88 your choice and if you go less cadence metronome start, perfect to increase your cadence. Btw: you can run approx.

The thing is as big as a dinner plate. Actually … it sounds like there will be a review of the Viiiiva on this site sometime soon -ish , yes? I just realized your comment about there not being any BT4 watches available is allegedly not true! The Mio Alpha should work. From their own website:. And I thought you reviewed it already? Can you check that this is true? Either way, as an item it clearly needs another rev. I mean, your review showed that it worked surprisingly well, but without being able to save data, run for longer than like 8 hrs, connect to other sensors, or even work as a watch!!!!

Still, amazing that it works as well as it does, at least on non-harsh runs e. And yes, I tested to see if it actually gave stride data properly. Nicely done! Uuh … argh. My brownie was indeed laced with something, sorta. Wahoo Fitness paired fantastically with this BT stride sensor, and happily registered stride rate and pace … right up until you start the timer in the app.

Since I was on a treadmill I had a general sense of actual distance covered, and the stride sensor happily was only 1. I shot a quick note over with your note to the Wahoo guys. They said they appreciate the heads up and will fix it in the next update.

This is definitely good encouraging news as it, at least, provides a solution. I hope Wahoo comes out with their own smaller sensor soon — that would be ideal.

Although not an official spokes person for Polar I will comment a few questions: — This is the first footpod qualified by the SIG. This is a historic moment for those that wrote the Bluetooth specifications. Congratulations and many thanks to our partners that supported us and may read this text.

Blueooth is a collaboration among 18 companies. If other companies like to test with us then we are open to that. If you like to support us in your app then you can find the specifications here link to bluetooth. As Polar has decided to reuse the old mechanics, thus, the battery remains the same size as before.

I am not really involved and can not comment more. I hope your have a good experience. This is not the whole truth as there are components that actually support many simultaneous slave connections. Bluetooth devices store bonds. The bond contain all the information that is needed to create a connection between the devices. Bluetooth connections are not like links in other wireless technologies common in the sports market today.

They are inherently bi-directional, robust, reliable and low energy. They can also be made private and secure.

Bluetooth was specified to serve many new markets and the target is to sell billions of Bluetooth components every year. Bluetooth will become very common in a lot of new equipment over the years to come so keep your eyes on this technology. Having myself worked with this specification since Wibree it feels very rewarding to see new devices appearing.

Dear Rainmaker : Thanks for the great comments and advise. I wonder if you have experienced problems with data uploading from IPhone Polar Beat application. It works fine for a while and then, for some unknown reason it will quit uploading. I have tried re- starting the Iphone, etc… to no avail.

Also, is there a Polar device similar to the Stride Sensor for indoor cycling?? I have a brand new stride sensor and have only been using it for a few weeks. The last few runs on the treadmill it has been dropping out every seconds. Dropped out nearly 50 times on a 30 minute run. The H7 about months old has started doing the same. Dropped out over 20 times on the same run. Strap was well soaked prior to starting. Both have brand new batteries and the phone is less than a metre away.

I updated the app on the weekend, prior to the last two runs, so maybe that is the problem? Both items purchased through CleverTraining with your discount. Cheers for that. Much appreciated.

Hmm, typically that would sound like batteries, but since you replaced those, then to me it sounds like either something might be up with your chip that Bluetooth rides on within your phone, or some sort of interference issue interference seems unlikely. Or, if you place your phone on a table in front of you and watch your HR — does it drop out then?

Yeah rebooted my phone last night. Had a spin class this evening and there was only one slight drop out on the HRM over a period of about 1 hour, so that is a definite improvement over over the treadmill runs. I will hit the treadmill again tomorrow night and see how the stride sensor goes.

Hopefully the reboot might have sorted it. Very interesting. Hopefully indeed. One interesting item to know would be in that spin class was your phone on your person, or on the bike thus, not subject to movement.

Had it strapped in its armband to the stem of the handle bars, so no movement. Had it sitting in the tray on the console of the treadmill, so there may be a bit of vibration there.

I will try putting the phone next to the treadmill tomorrow instead. Just thought I would let you know the treadmill run was all good. No dropouts on HRM or stride sensor. Had the phone on a chair next to the treadmill, so no vibrations. Will try it back on the console tray to discount the vibration theory, or not, but I think the phone reboot may have done the trick. It saved me reading the rest of the review. Hopefully the next hopefully smaller version will support Android, considering it comprises the largest share of the smartphone market.

Great review. I have the polar bluetooth heart rate monitor and polar bluetooth stride sensor. I notice if I am running with polar heart rate monitor and polar stride sensor and music is playing on my IPhone 4S, my music starts to fast forward.

I was wondering if anyone else had the same issue. I am an avid spinner indoor cycling. If Polar would make an addition to their app you could get cadence very easily. When I use it during spinning I get a pace value indicating there is enough force to trigger the calculation. In fact all the algorithm needs to do is to remove the stride from the calculation and you have cadence.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can this feature added or who I can get in touch with at Polar who could move this along? BTW this will also apply to outside riding.

I too do a good but of indoor cycling and am looking to take my training to the next level. I have the polar h7 strap but was wonder what device you use to measure your speed and distance? Any other suggestions would be appreciated! I got mine today. The Polar app works, for as much as it does. That is, until the moment you actually start the clock on the exercise, at which point it no longer collects stride data at all.

They had simply forgot that it was in there really, they programmed it a year or so ago before any devices were there. The Blue 18 is simply the random number it assigns a new Bluetooth sensor, if you re-paired it again it may be Blue 19, and so on. But trainingpeaks. Just trying to understand why use a foot pod at all if one has the Polar Beat app which I use with the H7 hrm.

GPS on the iPhone already records the pace and distance info. What am I missing? The stride length and running cadence?

Data for running indoors I never do that, thanks to the great northern California weather? Check the box next to the items to be exported then use Export GPX. I believe it has some value outdoors… GPS is very accurate over moderate distances and timespans, but has significant jitter due to the nature of the technology. The reason I bought the thing is that I do have to run indoors.

Although I live in San Diego better weather than you, ha! Hot as heck in the summer, and cold in the winter. Hotel gyms are my friend. Both work great, I like the user-replaceable batteries, and the new Polar Beat app is awesome, actually the best yet from Polar. The H7 heart monitor also transmits the older signals so I can use it with my Polar watch. The stride sensor is not backwards compatible. Does anyone know when Polar expects to ship watches that support the new Bluetooth 4.

It needs to have Bluetooth Smart supported added to it. Whether or not Polar decides to do that this fall or next spring is really the big question. Hi Any update on this working with Wahoo? I have asked Wahoo — but sadly they have not even responded. Thanks for this review and for reading this question.

Not yet today. Thanks for all of your amazing reviews! I just picked up this stride sensor hoping that it would work with MiCoach. Sadly, it does not seem to. I really thought it would since so people are having luck with the H7 heart rate monitor in that app.

Have you heard anything about them adding support in the future? Cheers, S. These are the problems we are all facing. Next year the Bluetooth SIG will start register apps against a very small fee and then you can go there and see what the app is capable of.

You could also choose to go with Polar Beat which has the support for the sensor. So does anyone know when the stride sensor will be incorporated into the Polar Beats app for Android? Currently only version 1. I prefer the Polar Beat App, what is the chance it will read the Adidas pod?

Are these pods more proprietary than the HRMs? Both these pods are fully Bluetooth Smart compatible. You can read the Polar pod from the Adidas app, and the Adidas pod from the Polar app…and vice versa. Hi Ray, Great Review. A google search sent me to your website and was really impressed with all your reviews. I am using the Polar H7 with my phone. I use the miCoach app on my phone. I run both in open and on a treadmill or covered track, where GPS is not accessible.

I am currently considering a Bluetooth footpod. Do you think this will work on my phone with the miCoach app or any other app? Polar H7 works with Runtastic on windows phone. Just tried it out. That said, honestly, think about the size of a volley-ball.

Now, think about the size of a ping-pong ball. Thanks for the reply and thanks for trying it out. Woahhh, such a big difference in size. Does anyone know if the Adidas bluetooth speed cell work worth with apps like iSpeedRun or Endomondo?

Hi Ray! Assuming the Stride Sensor is well calibrated i. I understand for outdoor runs, the main plus of the Stride Sensor is the cadence. Could you suggest any good material online on training with cadence? On a track the stride sensor will generally will. For most people GPS will give better overall accuracy though because calibration slowly gets out of whack on the sensor movement on shoe, etc…. As for cadence, this should help a bit: link to running.

Quotes from link to fellrnr. Cadence is reasonably easy to modify and I believe it has more impact on running efficiency and injury than any other single thing. Thanks Ray! This is useful. And happy to learn that Jack Daniels is both a distiller and a famous coach! What is the current app support of the footpad now on iOS?

I know digifit does not support it yet. Hi guy, your analysis is really ver cool. Yesterday, I used both sensors together while I was running, by 50 mins. Finally, I just measured distance and speed with GPS sensor. Does Polar or any other app support stride sensor on Android already? Will this get fixed or should I sell the stride sensor? As such, do you happen to know if I can actually get that kind of info with the aforementioned combo?

The cadence sensor is direct to the device, and nothing to do with Android. Am I mistaken here? Heart rate variability, yup. Stride length. Various running position stuff, yup. Do you have a pointer or a screenshot to what your referring to? However, regardless of what the V currently supports, the foot pod might be sending more detailed information that other devices such as the iPhone can record. Currently the V has no such support that I can see. The only thing that I fail to understand is how is it possible that the most updated, most capable, most expensive product Polar has to offer does not have the ability to record what an Iphone app seems to be able to do, most specially when the Polar apps have never been the pinnacle of quality, fully-featured sports apps in the business, precisely.

Yet the Amazon guy leaves leaves little to no doubt…. A swag, perhaps, but not accurately. There are numerous products that are just coming onto the market, that will be doing this though, measured at the footpod level.

Check out this: link to dcrainmaker. I still believe, though, that either that guy on Amazon is a world-class-bored prankster, or we might just get some actually useful info from the dang sensor as it is. Polar user manuals from either product are effectively useless in this regard. I just found out it is not available in my country Philippines. I might get lucky with the Polar BT pod though, hence my question above. Does it matter what orientation the footpod is mounted in?

Could it be attached to an ankle strap instead of the shoelaces? This would hang it sideways or vertically instead of mostly horizontally like on a shoe.

Just curious since I have multiple pairs of shoes and with the wet season here now snow season soon I often swap to a different pair of shoes while others are drying out. Thanks for all your reviews. Right now I find the Adidas one pretty cheap and it works really well with most devices. This sensor will work with the Polar M at the end of Q1 — link to updates. Has anyone tried to use the sensor in combination with the v watch and a gym bike?

It would even be possible to combine the gps data and the cadence while cycling outside there is no technical reason why not. I was wondering if the ismoothrun app will track my mileage on the treadmill by using the Polar Footpod? Hi Ray, first of all thank you a lot for your websites.

They helped me a lot. I would like to ask you about something. Polar also launched a Bluetooth Smart chest strap heartrate sensor, the H7, in June That same heart rate chest strap now, with Bluetooth Smart, is going to last a couple of years. At the time, IMS research projected that by more consumer medical devices would use Bluetooth Smart for wireless than any other technology.

Last week, ON World released a report on sports and fitness trackers , predicting that million mobile fitness and health sensors will ship in , with two-thirds for activity tracking.

Skip to main content. Polar launches stride-sensing activity tracker for runners. By Jonah Comstock May 30, More regional news. Google's new app aims to help folks with speech impairments communicate. November 11, Menu HOME.

Search Query Submit Search. May 31, Facebook Twitter Flipboard LinkedIn. View 1 Image. Popular Stories. Load More. Sign in to post a comment. Please keep comments to less than words.