Sports Tracker shop opens - buy Polar Bluetooth heart monitor

[Rafe]

Sports Tracking Technologies, the company behind Sports Tracker, has opened an online shop where you can buy a 'Polar WearLink transmitter with Bluetooth' (a heart rate monitor) for €69.99. If you're serious about tracking your exercise regime it is the must have accessory for Sports Tracker. The Sports Tracker application lets you track exercise activities and turns your Nokia smartphone into a GPS sports computer is available for S60 3rd Edition and S60 5th Edition devices (compatible with more than 100 million Nokia phones).

Read on in the full article.

[yade]

70 euros seems quite steep, I will be getting one however!

While I have a Garmin 405, I think that this is pretty cool. Not a bad setup. Goes to prove that Nokia can do things right when it tries. Now if it can find a way to sort its semi-crappy phones, things might turn around in the future.

[megapack162]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

While I have a Garmin 405, I think that this is pretty cool. Not a bad setup. Goes to prove that Nokia can do things right when it tries. Now if it can find a way to sort its semi-crappy phones, things might turn around in the future.

Please note that this is NOT Nokia, it is Sports Tracking Technologies who have been allowed to split from Nokia to concentrate on Sportstracker development.

To be honest, if selling these devices is their main income (apart from what they get from the Ovi store) then 69.99 Euro is a price worth paying for a superb piece of tech.

I've been using Sportstracker since September 2007 and it has become my only guaranteed item when I run, apart from some kind of clothing

[Rafe]

I think 70 Euro is very reasonable - this is a fairly specialist item after all. The standard low-end watches come in at abut £50 - and this is arguably a lot more useful. Quite competitive compared to other Bluetooth accessories too.

Given Sports Tracker the software is free its a nice way to support the service too.

I'd also point out this is not a Nokia initiative. It may have started as a research project in Nokia, but it is now a separate company. They're the ones who deserve the credit for making this accessory available.

I have been waiting for the BT Polar wearlink for almost two years. I wrote emails to Polar, to Nokia, to Sports Tracking. None of them could ever answer my questions if or when the BT wearlink would hit markets (the N79 bundled wearlink doesnt work with other Nokia devices!).
And now, after waiting for such a long period of time they release it for 70 EUR, which is even more expensive than the retail price of Polar's wearlink+. Thats ridiculous, I'm out.

[lark]

Unregistered you are being very unreasonable (bit par for the course for unregistered posts). The only competitors for a bluetooth heart monitor that is compatible for a phone are:

Zephyr HxM - 99 euros
FRWD B600 -139 euros

So 70 euros for the Polar is actually a very good price.

Instead you are comparing it to a Polar+ wristwatch plus hear rate monitor which is old technology (it cannot show you your route, provide real time graphs or connect to a web-site).

It might be a better idea to do a little research before you post; otherwise you reinforce the negative stereotype of unregistered posters (I know not all of you are cowardly morons).

Lark
-some of my best friends are unregistered

[Dead1nside]

Not only did Sports Tracker reply to overwhelming user interest for an S60 3rd Edition FP1 version of the new and updated Sports Tracker, but they've also answered the pleas of many to make this piece of hardware available for us to buy. When I get a bit of cash together I'll be purchasing one. Now the next thing on my wishlist, is a Maemo/MeeGo version -- as that'll be my next phone and I'd love to know that I can use both Sports Tracker and the Bluetooth heart-rate monitor in conjunction with it. Well done.

[XCZDddwW]

Hey there fellow members. You must visit this site to see why it is going to be the next big thing on the Internet : http://videostube.zapto.org

[megapack162]

Originally Posted by Dead1nside

Not only did Sports Tracker reply to overwhelming user interest for an S60 3rd Edition FP1 version of the new and updated Sports Tracker, but they've also answered the pleas of many to make this piece of hardware available for us to buy. When I get a bit of cash together I'll be purchasing one. Now the next thing on my wishlist, is a Maemo/MeeGo version -- as that'll be my next phone and I'd love to know that I can use both Sports Tracker and the Bluetooth heart-rate monitor in conjunction with it. Well done.

Where did you hear about an S60 3rd Edition FP1 version of Sportstracker, I've also got an N95-1 which seems to record tracks much more accurately than my N86 and would love to stick Sportstracker v3.05 on it?

@lark:

To keep a sense of prespective, we re talking about a piece of plastic attached to an elastic strap (granted: inside this 'piece of plastic' is a sensor for monitoring the heartrate and a BT module).
And for even less than the above mentioned EUR 70 you get a Polar wristwatch WITH a wearlink+, which might be older and inferior technology, but you get BOTH. You shouldn't compare the the BT wearlink to a Polar watch PLUS wearlink+ and complain about the lack of route tracking and online services, because the single BT wearlink won't help you either. You still need a Nokia phone.

You re right that I didn t know anything about the competing BT heart rate monitors and by looking at the Zephyr and FRWD I m simply shocked how anyone would pay EUR 100+ for it. I think it s a common thing to charge for inflated prices in the fitness industry though.

Regards,
TB (Still unregistered but far away from being a cowardly moron)

[clonmult]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

You re right that I didn t know anything about the competing BT heart rate monitors and by looking at the Zephyr and FRWD I m simply shocked how anyone would pay EUR 100+ for it. I think it s a common thing to charge for inflated prices in the fitness industry though.

Regards,
TB (Still unregistered but far away from being a cowardly moron)

TB, this isn't an issue with BT heart rate monitor pricing, its more of an industry wide pricing "thing". Notice how Apple are pushing their cheap bits of plastic for stupidly inflated prices, or how Nokia have a range of devices with the same underlying hardware ranging in price from £80 to £400+.

That sportstracker technologies are finally managing to sell the kit is quite an achievement - polar appeared to be quite adamant that they would definitely not sell it on its own.

In comparison to direct competition, its well priced, and I'm definitely going to consider investing in one as soon as I can.

[Dead1nside]

Originally Posted by megapack162

Where did you hear about an S60 3rd Edition FP1 version of Sportstracker, I've also got an N95-1 which seems to record tracks much more accurately than my N86 and would love to stick Sportstracker v3.05 on it?

It's official, thank God. https://twitter.com/sportstracking/status/16222758872

I'll be buying the Heart Rate monitor to show my support and because they've finally been able to make it available to users. I saw someone selling one for around £200 on Ebay, just because it's so rare.

Originally Posted by lark

Unregistered you are being very unreasonable (bit par for the course for unregistered posts). The only competitors for a bluetooth heart monitor that is compatible for a phone are:

Zephyr HxM - 99 euros
FRWD B600 -139 euros

So 70 euros for the Polar is actually a very good price.

Instead you are comparing it to a Polar+ wristwatch plus hear rate monitor which is old technology (it cannot show you your route, provide real time graphs or connect to a web-site).

It might be a better idea to do a little research before you post; otherwise you reinforce the negative stereotype of unregistered posters (I know not all of you are cowardly morons).

Lark
-some of my best friends are unregistered

The Zephyr and FRWD hrms are rechargeable , Polar is not rechargeable... Thus less but still too expensive. Pro's and con's

This page states that the Polar Bluetooth Heartrate monitor is compatible with S60 3rd Edition. As the E71 is an S60 3rd Edition device I would assume that this means it is compatible, however when I followed the S60 3rd edition link, this page tells me that the software is only compatible with the S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, which the E71 is not.

As it happens I have successfully installed and am running sports tracker on my E71, even though the OVI store originally blocked me from downloading and said it would not work on my device. The E71 is not listed on supported devices, only E71x. Now that it is running I would also like to use the heart rate monitor.

Hence, can someone confirm if the Bluetooth heartrate monitor is compatible with the E71?