On Sunday 8th July, Phil Powell of Sat Nav Warehouse will be taking part in the Manchester-Blackpool bikeride. A grueling 65 mile cycle in the wind and the rain in conditions better suited to a pedalo than a bike. Whilst he will be taking along three GPS devices to test along the way, the ride is being done to promote awareness of Organ Donation and it’s important role in saving lives. Having recently seen an Uncle’s life saved by an organ donor who gave his organs to save lives of up to nine people, the importance of registering was brought home.

So, we’re not asking for your cash sponsorship! All we ask is that you simply follow these steps to register as an organ donor and post to your Facebook timeline so others know you’ve registered.

1) Visit https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/registration/registration_form.asp
2) Go to your Facebook profile page (click on your name at the top right of the screen) and select “Life Event” at the top of your timeline
3) Via “Health and Wellbeing”, select “Organ Donor”
4) Press “save”

Tell us you’ve done it so we can say thanks! Tweet us or tell us on facebook: www.facebook.com/SatnavWarehouse

Then spread the word. The more people that do this, the more lives we can potentially save. For more information on organ donation, please visit: http://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/ukt/Default.asp

This video demonstrates how simple it really is to link your new Polar RCX5 Tour de France with the G5 GPS Sensor;

This video demonstration shows exactly what comes in the box when you order a Polar RCX5 Tour de France watch from Sat Nav Warehouse;

So, having been out of stock for a couple of weeks, my Polar RCX3 Tour de France training computer has arrived. Unfortunately, this means that I have no more excuses to avoid training for the upcoming Manchester – Blackpool bike ride on July 8th!

So, there will be a series of videos coming shortly to detail how the Polar RCX5 works, how you set it up and what you can gain from the added training software. For now, these are my first impressions of using the device.

Out of the box: The Polar RCX5 Tour de France comes in some nice simple packaging and inside you will find the RCX5 watch on top. Below that, you will see the WearLink+ Hybrid heart rate sensor, W.I.N.D Cadence Sensor, G5 GPS sensor, Belt Clip for G5 GPS sensor, Universal Bike Mount and DataLink USB stick for wireless data transfer.

First Impressions: What a great looking unit. Compared to the Garmin Forerunner 305 i’m used to using, this is featherlight and about a fifth of the thickness and displays more information. The Forerunner has integrated GPS which accounts for the bulky size and i thought a watch without integrated GPS would be a pain. Not so, the G5 GPS sensor is slim, light and comes with a clip so you can securely clip onto your shorts or the WearLink Hybrid heart rate monitor. A separate GPS receiver is definitely NOT a disadvantage.The bike mount is a handy accessory, especially if you don’t want to be looking at your wrist each time you want an update on your progress.

Setup: Being a typical male, instruction manuals are not for me. It’s worth noting that you do get hard copies of three detailed manuals for the watch, GPS sensor and Cadence Sensor – not always the case these days. Upon switching the RCX5 on, the setup was as simple as any. You are guided through entering your watch preferences, then details on your gender, age , weight etc. I’ll post a video shortly on how to pair your GPS sensor but again, this is very simple and quick. One thing the manual doesn’t detail (unless i skimmed over it which is possible) is that you will need to download some free software from polarpersonaltrainer.com in order to get your DataLink talking to the RCX5 but that only takes a couple of minutes.

Software: WOW!! That’s all i can say. The polarpersonaltrainer.com website blows anything Garmin has to offer out of the water. I took the liberty of setting up a training program with Blackpool in mind and straight away, I’m presented with a diary view with different sessions laid out for me. Today is day 1 of the training program so i’ll be able to tell you more once i’ve synchronised everything up tomorrow. In the meantime, i could see from last nights game of squash that i burned over 400 calories, 24% of which was fat.

Overall impression: This watch is the business. It is lightweight yet well made, comes with a generous bundle of accessories. You can genuinely use it out of the box and the user interface is far FAR superior to Garmin and has one less button! I would have liked the option to switch between miles and kilometers but then Garmin doesn’t offer that either. One feature i loved was bringing the watch close to the heart rate monitor switches to a screen of your choice – in this case it was the time of day so we could see what time we had to be off the squash court. My favourite fitness watch yet!

For more information or to buy one of these limited edition watches, click here. Alternatively you can still buy the regular RCX5 in red or black here.

Sat Nav Warehouse will be taking to the roads in July in support of Organ Donor Awareness and we’ve just had the jacket designs back from the printers. We will be cycling the 62 mile event in support of Organ Donor Awareness on July 8th. Other events will follow throughout the year and if you want to help, it won’t cost you a penny!

That’s right, as a publicly funded organisation, NHS Blood and Transplant are unable to accept financial donations. So instead of asking for sponsorship, we’re asking for you to show your support by visiting our Facebook event page where you will see how you can register as an organ donor and post to your timeline so others know you are a donor.

Every year, Sat Nav Warehouse chooses a well deserved cause to support. In 2010 we supported The Christie Hospital in Manchester. Lat year we supported the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. This year we are purring our full support behind an excellent campaign to encourage people to register as organ donors.

The cause:
NHS Blood and Transplant helps save thousands of lives every year. Each year around 3,000 people in the UK benefit from an organ transplant but currently, there are around 10,000 people in need of a transplant to save or dramatically improve their lives in some way.

Put simply, more people need to sign up to the organ donor register and it couldn’t be simpler to do. People on Facebook can now show their intention to become an organ donor in their Timeline.

Timeline is a new addition to Facebook profiles, which allows people to record major life events. A new ‘Health and Wellbeing’ menu forms part of the Timeline feature from which people can highlight their intention to become an organ donor and, if they wish, click through to NHSBT’s Facebook page to officially register.

Our request to you:
We urge you to sign up, add to your timeline and then post on our wall “I’m supporting NHS Organ Donation Campaign” and you will automatically be entered into our prize draw to win yourself a Polar fitness watch.

It’s not going to cost you a penny, just five minutes on Facebook to do the right thing.

What do you need to do?
1) Simply visit https://www.facebook.com/organdonationuk and click “Register Here”

2) Follow this simple guide to add your signup to your facebook profile by clicking here.

3) Visit https://www.facebook.com/SatNavWarehouse Like us and post  “I’m supporting NHS Organ Donation Campaign” and we’ll enter you into the prize draw!!

What else is going on?
Well, we’re going to be taking to the road and participating in the Manchester – Blackpool Bike ride on July 8th which is a 65 mile slog starting at Manchester United and finishing on Blackpool Promenade. It’s a tough ride but if it helps raise awareness then it’s all good.

Thanks in advance for your support!

Phil
Managing Director
Sat Nav Warehouse

We have taken the decision this week that when we take to our bikes for the Manchetser-Blackpool bike ride, we are going to make sure we do so in honour of a very good cause. We will be cycling in aid of raising organ donor awareness. Details of how you can follow and support us will follow but in the meantime, here’s some statistics as to why we’re supporting this cause;
In the UK between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011:
- 3,740 organ transplants were carried out, thanks to the generosity of 2,055 donors.
- 1,008 lives were saved in the UK through a heart, lung, liver or combined heart/lungs, liver/kidney, liver/pancreas or heart/kidney transplant.
- 2,732 patients’ lives were dramatically improved by a kidney or pancreas transplant, 156 of whom received a combined kidney/pancreas transplant.
- A further 3,564 people had their sight restored through a cornea transplant.
- A record number of 567 non-heartbeating donor kidney transplants took place and accounted for one in five of all kidney transplants.
- 1,045 living donor kidney transplants were carried out accounting for more than a third of all kidney transplants. ‘Non-directed’ living donor transplants (also known as altruistic donor transplants) and paired and pooled donations contributed more than 60 kidney transplants between them.
- Almost 675,000 more people pledged to help others after their death by registering their wishes on the NHS Organ Donor Register, bringing the total to 17,751,795 (March 2011).

All statistics we produce and publish undergo a rigorous validation process to ensure, as far as possible, that information is factually accurate.
Last updated August 2011

With the launch of our new website, we have decided that in order to really put some of the new product range through it’s paces, we need to set up a challenge designed at testing them, and us, to the limit…

So, without further ado, Our MD Phil Powell and Sales Manager Benn Dickinson have entered the Manchester to Blackpool Bike Ride. 65 miles of pain which is scheduled to take place on Sunday 8th July. We will be picking our GPS training kit this week and then blogging details of our progress between now and then so we can show you which product is the best piece of kit for the job! Do we go for a GPS watch or a cycling computer for training?!

If you want to take part in the Manchester – Blackpool bike ride, more details can be found HERE.