Polar S520 Heart Rate Monitor

The main features of the Polar S520 heart rate monitor are:

• Continuous heart rate monitoring
• Aged based maximum heart rate calculation
• Polar Fitness Test: It gives OwnIndex and predicts maximum heart rate.
• You can measure speed and distance while cycling by turning on the bike functions.
• Record your heart rate in 2 ways: Basic Use or Exercise Set.
• Basic Use: You exercise without any settings.
• Exercise Set: Choose between Basic Set and Interval Training Set. You can preset up to 5 Exercise Sets.
• Basic Set: You can set up to 3 heart rate training zones and up to 3 consecutive timers and a recovery calculation.
• Interval Training Set: This consists of a warm up phase, followed by up to 30 repeating interval (and recovery) phases, and finally by a cool down phase. You can choose 4 types of interval types: time-based interval, heart-rate-based interval, distance-based interval or manual interval. You can also program a time-based, a heart-rate-based, or a distance-based recovery calculation at the end of an interval.
• Heart rate zone alarm can be turned on or off.
• OwnCal calorie counter
• Record lap and split time up to a max of 99 laps.
• Stop watch
• Extra large display
• Real time information display: Current heart rate, average heart rate, heart rate as % of Max HR, stop watch, time of day, split and lap times, lap number, calorie count, current, average and maximum speed, trip distance, cadence (*)
• 1 complete file: Date and time of exercise, duration, average and maximum heart rates, recovery value, total distance of exercise, average and maximum speed, average and maximum cadence (*), limits of target heart rate zones, time in, above, below target heart rate zones, calories burnt, cumulative calories burnt, cumulative exercise time, cumulative riding time, odometer, detailed interval training information, detailed lap information (including speed at the end of lap).
• It records heart rate at a sampling rate of 15 seconds up to 120 samples. When the memory is full, it is compressed and a longer averaging period is used (30 secs, 1 min, 2 min, 4 min, 8 min) depending on the recorded exercise time.
• 5 summary files: Date and time of exercise, duration.
• Basic time keeping: Time, date, alarm, two time zones
• Backlight
• Water resistant up to 20m
• Polar UpLink to transfer data from a PC to the Polar S520 heart rate monitor. Requires a Windows PC with a sound card and loudspeakers or headphones.
• Coded analogue wireless transmission from its chest strap.
• PC download via Polar Sonic Link. This requires a PC with a sound card and a microphone.
• Polar Precision Performance Software: Use it for detailed analysis of downloaded training data (complete file).
• Bike mount, Polar speed sensor included
• Polar cadence sensor is optional

Note 1: * = only if optional Polar Cadence Sensor is fitted

Note 2: The differences between the S520 and the S410 are denoted in bold above.

Note 3: Polar S520 and Polar S510 possess the same features. The difference is that Polar S520 comes in a stainless steel case whreas Polar S510 comes in a plastic case.

Summary

The Polar S520 heart rate monitor is basically the same heart rate monitor as the Polar S410 with additional cycling features to measure speed and distance and a larger display. Note that in order to measure cadence, an optional Polar Cadence Sensor has to be purchased.

Useful Information

The next monitor in the Polar S series is the Polar S610i heart rate monitor.

Not sure which heart rate monitor is right for you? Take a look at the Which Heart Rate Monitor page.