Concept2 Forum

I am thinking of buying the heart rate monitor with chest belt and receiver so I can see my heart beat while I row and not have to look the watch in my wrist all the time, but I am concerned that the wire is going to be an annoyance during the rowing, anybody that uses one can give me an advice?

The heart monitor pickup attaches to the bottom of the rail with adhesive tape and it has a wire that runs along the bottom of the rail to the back of the monitor. There are guides for the wire that attach to the rail with adhesive. The chest belt receives the signal from the pickup, so there is no problem with the wire getting in your way. The only problem that I encountered was forgetting to disconnect the wire when I broke down my rower. After doing this a few times I broke the wire. It would be nice if the wire was in two parts so you could disconnect it at the point where the two pieces of the rower go together.

Paul Salata

Oops, the chest belt transmits the signal to the pickup which then sends it along the wire to the monitor. I had it a bit confused in my previous post.

Sorry, Paul Salata

paul s wrote:The heart monitor pickup attaches to the bottom of the rail with adhesive tape and it has a wire that runs along the bottom of the rail to the back of the monitor. There are guides for the wire that attach to the rail with adhesive. The chest belt receives the signal from the pickup, so there is no problem with the wire getting in your way. The only problem that I encountered was forgetting to disconnect the wire when I broke down my rower. After doing this a few times I broke the wire. It would be nice if the wire was in two parts so you could disconnect it at the point where the two pieces of the rower go together.

Here it is, three years later, and (if I purchase the Polar HRM kit) I'm about to be "bitten" by this.

Question: If I were to mount the HRM pickup on the box frame, rather than on the underside of the monorail, it wouldn't interfere with my daily assembly/disassembly of the C2; but, would the pickup still pick-up (receive) the signals from the chest-strap transmitter?

Who knows, and wants to share?

It's analog FM radio. So works best line of sight with the transmitter.

The wire from the HR receiver dongle to the monitor is a stock stereo extension lead with a 3.5mm TRS jack plug on one end and a 3.5mm jack socket on the other.

The polar receiver works out to a range of 6 feet once it has made connection.

Some people have put ot on the plastic by your feet and it still works.

Mine is mounted under the monorail a bit further forward than C2 recommends (I worked out half the distance of my chest position in the stroke and put it there).

The Polar system works fine with a standard or coded belt but will not work with the newer Polar W.I.N.D system.

You pretty much have no other choice unless you buy a PM4 with the receiver built in that also has the wirless Suunto belt.

HR on the Monitor is much better than trying to use a watch, unless your using the watch for pure logging purposes to view later.

jbhoren wrote:
Question: If I were to mount the HRM pickup on the box frame, rather than on the underside of the monorail, it wouldn't interfere with my daily assembly/disassembly of the C2; but, would the pickup still pick-up (receive) the signals from the chest-strap transmitter?

Who knows, and wants to share?

I keep the receiver on top, between the foot boards. The only thing that I do to keep it in place is to run the wire through a small (1' jaw) c-clamp attached to an adjacent vertical section of frame. This keeps the receiver in line of sight of the transmitter and also allows me to disassemble the erg with the cable and receiver secured to the flywheel section.

I still have problems occasionally with lack of reception, especially on the cool downs, even though I often tweak the connections in between the work out and cool down.

Bob S.

I recommend that you embrace new technology and get a PM4 monitor with chest belt to retro fit your erg. You don't want to stuff around with wires and an unreliable signal all the time.

Although I sold my C2 erg I have kept various monitors and heart rate items and have 3 different heart rate systems:

1) Polar chest belt and wired receiver that plugs into a PM2+. I found this unreliable however on a plus side the reciever could pick up a signal from various other chest belts not manufactured by Polar.

2) Suunto chest belt with PM4 monitor. As I no longer have a C2 erg I carry the PM4 monitor and belt in my sports bag for the odd occasion where I swap the monitor over with one on our rowing club ergs for crew workouts. Hence I can directly see my heart rate on the monitor without the need for wires & pick up. The signal is always reliable.

3) Sigma chest belt with Rowperfect RP mate monitor. This works exactly the same as a Suunto belt & PM4 monitor. In fact I get exactly the same heart readings regardless of what point I'm into a given workout. So both wireless units appear to be very reliable and accurate. One difference though is that the RP system also provides power per heart beat display which I reckon C2 should have on their PM4s.