Customer Reviews

Cables Unlimited USB1510 USB Acc, USB To Irda Adapter

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I ordered this USB to IrDA for communication between my Polar RS800sd and my Windows XP SP2 computer. It works great and I have had no problems transfering data. This product is an excellent alternative to Polar's expensive USB to IrDA. Note that IrDA was super seeded by bluetooth etc, so these adapters for IrDA have become hard to find. That is why Polar can charge such a high price.

The official website of Cables Unlimited can be found by searching "Cables Unlimited". You can then search "USB IrDA" on their site to see all the technical information. Note the driver is also available on the web, so if you lose the disk you are still in business. Summary of the main features:
- Supports IrDA data rates to 4Mbps
- No power adapter. Runs off USB bus
- Compatible with IrDA 1.3, USB 1.1
- Plug and Play compatible
- Transmit distances to 1 meter
- 30 degree max transmit angle
- Comes with an additional short USB cable

I would recommend this product. I am not sure if the cheaper options on Amazon are any good, as some people have said they are a bit temperamental. Do these cheaper models work with Polars? Maybe someone could post a comment on this review if they have a cheaper option that works with Polar products.

This one has worked fine so far. It is true that the manual has poor English, but Windows can walk you through the installation with the usual Plug and Play installation. There is no need to worry about that aspect. Also, you should always plug the adapter into the _same_ USB port every time you use the adapter, this will prevent you having to falsely "reinstall" the driver. This is a Windows idiosyncrasy and has nothing to do with the IrDA adapter.

Another reviewer said he was having trouble getting the Polar to be found by the IrDA. You need to position the Polar very close, a few centimeters, to the IrDA to get a good signal. IrDA is not like using a normal wireless Internet signal or a wireless mouse etc, you MUST BE VERY CLOSE and have a CLEAR LINE OF SIGHT to transmit properly. IrDA is unreliable even at the best of times. You may also have to sheild the sensors from objects that emit infrared light like bulbs etc. So put your Polar watch a few centimeters from the IrDA and make sure the transmitters on the polar watch (the small holes or whatever you have) face the IrDA plugged into the USB port. You may have to hold it there or get something to put the watch on that is the same height as the IrDA.

Also for people having troubleshooting issues here are my settings: In your Polar software (I have Polar Protrainer 5) verify the following settings:
Options -> Preferences -> Hardware -> IR Communication port -> This should be set to "IrDA"
Options -> Preferences -> Hardware -> Mobile Connection -> Make sure this is unchecked
Then from the same window:
IR Communication port -> Options -> Make sure the first four boxes are checked.

Let me also supply you with the USB-IrDA driver settings that work for me. In short everything is set to DEFAULT. I am using Driver Version 1.3.0.0 from the CD that was supplied. To see the settings follow:
Start->Control Panel->Wireless Link->Hardware->Properties->Advanced
-------------------------------
DebugLevel: None [Default]
Extended Mode: On [Default]
Extra BOFs: 00 [Default]
Infrared Transceiver Type: Vishay TFD [Default]
Min. Turn-Around Time: 1.0mS [Default]
PowerDown: Disable [Default]
ReadDepth: 20 [Default]
ReadThreshold: 05 [Default]
Receive Sensitivity: Enable[ Default]
Receive Window Size: 04 [Default]
ReceiveMode: Fast [Default]
Send Window Size: 01 [Default]
SIR Turbo: Off [Default]
SIRTweak: Enable [Default]
Speed Enable: 4000000 [Default]
Time to Wait: 700 [Default]
Turbo Mode: On [Default]
Write Depth: 20 [Default]
------------------------------
I hope these posts are of assistance to anyone having problems connecting to their Polar.

I'll just add, if I had more money to spare I would have gone with a more expensive version, but I decided to buy the best HRM possible and make do with a less expensive IrDA adapter for the time being. If money is no object, you might want to consider an adapter with better support.

I bought an HP Pavilion Vista 64 laptop at a big box store only to find out that I couldn't do a USB Hotsync with my Z22 because Palm didn't have a 64 bit USB driver. I also found that the IR port on the front of the laptop is receive only for the remote control included with the laptop.

What I needed was not only a USB to IRDA adapter, but one with a 64 bit driver.

The USB 1510 provided the solution. As soon as I plugged it into the USB port of the laptop, Vista went online, found the driver, and installed it. I was able to set up IR Hotsync as I would have on any laptop with a built-in IRDA port.

As another reviewer mentioned, the adapter comes with an extension cable in case the USB port on the laptop is inconveniently located.

I've been using this solution for a couple of months now and I'm completely satisfied with it as well as with the prompt and reliable service I've come to expect from Amazon and their partners.

Message from Cables Unlimited website dated 7 Feb 2010 in response to a user post: The factory and manufacturer of the chip used in USB-1510 is not compatible with Windows 7. If the issue can be resolved and a driver developed that will be stable in Windows 7 and Windows 7 64 we will remove the notice from the USB-1510 webpage that this is not compatible with Windows 7.

I was looking for an USB to IrDa adapter because I recently bouhght a new laptop which has no infrared port. This really sucked for me becuase I have an Uwatec Aladin Prime diving computer which transfers data from my dives to my laptop via infrared. I Bought this device, and I must say that so far it works perfectly with my Aladin Prime. Another plus is that it works on Windows Vista. The only thing it needs to improve is the instruction manual, which is poorly translated to english.

I bought this because of other posts that it worked with the Polar heart rate monitors for downloading data. It might, but I can't get my unit to synch with my Polar S725x. I tried it on a Dell Latitude laptop and on a Dell 8300 desktop with no success. The Dell diagnostic on both machines says the device is working fine, but when synching, I should get an icon in the taskbar, and don't. I do get a blinking "COM" message on the Polar which should indicate it sees the IRDA device. I am now thinking that I might have a defective unit that appears to be working OK to the Dells. One note: Polar sent a message that the speed should be set to 9600 baud and the min. turn around time to 10 ms (settings, control panel, wireless link, hardware, advanced). It didn't help. Whatever. I'm going to try another unit.

I could not synchronize my Palm Z22 with my new Sony Vaio because of the lack of Palm USB driver for Windows 7 64k. This irda adapter from Cables Unlimited Cables Unlimited USB1510 USB Acc, USB To Irda Adapter solved the problem, allowing hotsync over infrared.

I purchased the IR Dongle to overcome the lack of a USB cable driver for the Palm Z22 PDA (And others) to work with the associated Desk Top (6.2.2) in the Windows 7 64Bit environment. I read a review on Amazon that said the IR Dongle would work, an it did work for a brief time, long enough for me to upload the data on the Z22 into the DT, but from there-on, the connections is dead. The Dongle works in the XP environment, so it isn't broken. Communicating with Cables Unlimited technical support I learn that the drive associated with Vista and Windows 7 isn't stable (in my case completely stopped working - in spit of several reloads).

I do not recommend this device for use in a W7 environment.

I bought this unit to replace a failed Polar IrDA-to-serial adapter I used with my Polar S720I and S725X watches. It works great with both, and cost half as much as the Polar interface. Plus, I run the Polar software on Windows in VMware on a Macbook Pro, and have no problem with the virtualization software seeing this device.

I bought this hoping to synch my old Palm Pilots m515 and V with my new HP G-70 64-bit laptop. There is no driver to make the 64-bit platform work with the Palm Pilots.
Cables Unlimited USB1510 USB Acc, USB To Irda Adapter

Despite the warnings from a few of the other reviews and the explicate statement on the Cables Direct website that this adapter was not compatible with Window 7, it works just fine for me using Windows 7 / 64bit Premium.

Just like many of the reviews here I simply plugged it in, Windows 7 connected to Windows Update, downloaded the correct driver and restarted the machine automatically. When it booted up, Polar Protrainer 5 saw it as an IrDA and connected to my CS600 Cycle Computer without any setup or configuration.