adidas and Polar's Project Fusion training system
posted August 10th 2005 8:45AM
Watch out Nike,
adidas (that's pronounced ah-dee-das)—you know
'em, you love 'em—and Polar, a bodily monitoring company, have teamed up to develop Project Fusion, what they're
calling the first fully integrated training system. The long and short of it is Project Fusion enhances adidas adiStar
Fusion apparel (such as shoes, t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, bras, and women's tops) with Polar's s3 Stride Sensor,
WearLink transmitter, and their RS800 Running Computer, so all your training is as accurate, simple, and pain-free as
possible (well, free of the geeky kind of pain, anyway). You've got to really want it, really taste it in your mouth…
to actually plunk down 680 bones on the set, that is. Don't worry, you'll have until next spring to save for it.
[Via GizMag]
I've used a Polar heart rate monitor before. Lets just say its 'distracting' when you have this tight thing strapped around your chest while trying to shake your cardio style. It would be much better if the watch monitored your pulse through the wristband on the watch (I know it's less accurate, but it would be worth it).
Given how much the Polar watch & chest strap systems cost, this really isn't that much more expensive. The main problem I see is that, unless you buy two of them, you're going to be doing a lot of laundry and wearing the thing out just that much faster.
Max also has a good point, these things can be uncomfortable for some people to wear for two or more hours. I wonder if they're attempting to make the clothing more comfortable than the straps. By describing it as "Special fibers bonded onto adidas tops," it at least sounds more comfortable than a skin-tight piece of webbing around your rib cage.
I never found the band that uncomfortable, it was just a bit distracting in that it slipped downwards occasionally. If you have any lats whatsoever, that shirt may be a decent solution. I wonder whether it will be compatible/interchangeable with all there other coded transmitters. That would be nice, especially if the price isn't too much more than the cost of the strap + under layer individually.