How I Ruined a Perfectly Good Polar Wearlink Transmitter
As a fitness gadget maniac, I'm not supposed to admit this, but... I occasionally make mistakes when it comes to handling my gear. My latest mistake was damaging the battery cover on the Polar Wearlink Transmitter that I use with my Polar S-725 Heart Rate Monitor. This occurred for two reasons:
- I failed to follow the care and maintenance instructions for the Wearlink Transmitter. In particular, I didn't "Wash and dry your transmitter after use," as directed by Polar. This resulted in a build up of crud around the battery cover which made opening the cover extremely difficult.
- I attempted to force the battery cover to turn and stripped the threads that should allow the battery cover to turn like a screw.
If I had followed the first direction, I'm sure I wouldn't have stripped the threads.
There's no reason why I couldn't have gotten a second year out of the Wearlink Transmitter other than my laziness. The battery is easily serviceable, whether you do it yourself or send it back to Polar for them to perform the service. I wanted to do the service myself this time, since I sent my Polar S-710 and T-61 Transmitter back for Polar Service last time and wanted to see if doing the work myself resulted in a less satisfying experience. Doing the battery replacement myself on the Polar Wearlink Transmitter has certainly been less satisfying so far.
I think the key to not having this happen in the future is to make sure that the back of the transmitter is cleaned at least once a week. The battery cover is a good place to use an old toothbrush and some soapy water and do a little light scrubbing to keep that dried sweat from building up and making that cover impossible to turn.
Another thing I'd recommend to do it yourselfers is find a coin that fits the Wearlink Transmitter battery cover when the unit is new. I tried a U.S. quarter, a screw driver head, and several other implements in a fruitless attempt to open the cover. I think I needed something thicker and larger than a quarter. Maybe an old 50-cent piece or a Canadian One Dollar or Two Dollar Coin. Your milage may vary.
Technorati Tags: Polar S-725, Polar Wearlink, fitness gadgets.
Comments
Yeah, I have trouble with those transmitters too. Usually after a year the metal buttons that clip the belt to the actually transmitter corrode.
You really think you'll clean that thing once a week? If I cleaned all the stuff I owned as suggested by the manufacturer, I wouldn't have time to participate in the activities said equipment was meant for.
Posted by: tony | June 26, 2006 1:30 PM
I wrecked by the 'coin battery cover opener' as well, but found a workaround using nose pliers.
Drill two holes into the battery cover. These holes are meant to provide a grip for the nose pliers, that's all. They should NOT go through into the battery chamber.
Also, I think some WD40 on the buttons should clear the gunk.
Posted by: Rudy | October 24, 2009 3:11 PM