Strange reading from my Garmin today.

Running Bing

Just uploaded todays run to Garmin training centre and noticed something very unusual.

My maximum HR is about 195-200. The highest reading I have on my Garmin is 195 bpm.

Did a session of cruise intervals with some faster 200's. The highest HR I reached on any of these was 180 (and that was only one, most were 174-177).


But three minutes into my warm up jog my HR shot up massively to 193 bpm:eek: even in very hard workouts I rarely record that high and this is three minutes into a very gentle warm up jog.

So my HR is up there for about 1 minute and then plummets back down to 137 and stays around that area for the rest of the workout.

Like I said I did not even notice this until I uploaded the data now. So is this a glitch with my Garmin or something else?

Woddle

This will happen from time to time, its the garmin and not your heart (more than likely)
It's happened me before but it's rare enough. I had a different problem the other day apparently I was running 3 min mile pace when it was closer to 9 and when I was running fast 7 min it had me at 10 min pace, I'm sure the marlay park trees were playing apart.

Running Bing

Glad to hear it has happened to somebody else before.


Yeah the Garmin can give some funny pace readings at times:D

Krusty_Clown

Might be an indication that your HR battery needs changing. On the pacing thing, I still find it much better to use pace/lap rather than pace, as it smooths out any anomalies over a greater distance.

In your case Woddle, were you wearing the boards singlet at the time? It makes you run much faster.

Running Bing

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Might be an indication that your HR battery needs changing. On the pacing thing, I still find it much better to use pace/lap rather than pace, as it smooths out any anomalies over a greater distance.

Yeah I agree. I just use the timer and lap function now when Im running around the track rather than setting 400m/800m/1000m on my garmin and keeping to a pace.


Glorified stopwatch really;)

Cerlan

That's happened to me on a couple of occasions. My heart rate has shot up at the beginning of a run only to come back to normal fairly quickly. The fact that it gradually went back to normal rather than went straight back made me think it was my heart rather than the garmin. If it's happened to others though, suppose it must be the heart monitor....

Woddle

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Might be an indication that your HR battery needs changing. On the pacing thing, I still find it much better to use pace/lap rather than pace, as it smooths out any anomalies over a greater distance.

In your case Woddle, were you wearing the boards singlet at the time? It makes you run much faster.

It was on lap/pace but it appears to have worked very well last night under very poor visibility up on 3 rock

silverside

- I too use pace / lap reading for pacing (it takes about 200m to settle down after i start the lap)
- I too get very high HR readings when warming up, I guess this may be because I havent sweated enough to make good electrical contact between my chest and the strap . Although it may be my heart too... I've never been interested enough to check by taking a pulse reading from my neck.

SucCes09

happened to me out cycling - HR was over 200 and i had just started (mind you i was going up hill!!!) - i adjusted the position of the monitor on my chest and it settled back to something that would not kill me...

osnola ibax

I really want to buy a 405, you can currently get them for about 220 euro on amazon, is this a good price and are they worth the money, I am a total gadget freak and think that's why I'm attracted to it

Running Bing

osnola ivax wrote: »

I really want to buy a 405, you can currently get them for about 220 euro on amazon, is this a good price and are they worth the money, I am a total gadget freak and think that's why I'm attracted to it

I was just joking when I called it a glorified stopwatch.

Its a nice bit of kit, worth it if you fancy treating yourself but far from essential.

The things I find it useful for is keeping track of my runs. I basically use it like a standard stopwatch but it records all the details of my runs including HR and I have that on my computer.

Secondly I do most of my running on grass, so off-road. The Garmin is invaluable for measuring how far I have gone. It means I no longer have to rely on mapymrun which would be impractical when running on grass around parks.


Bottom line is its not a necessity but if you have the money lying around and do a lot of running go for it....treat yourself;)

Woddle

osnola ivax wrote: »

I really want to buy a 405, you can currently get them for about 220 euro on amazon, is this a good price and are they worth the money, I am a total gadget freak and think that's why I'm attracted to it

If you like gadgets and running it's totally worth it but others might think not

osnola ibax

Yeah think I'll go for it, haven't heard too many negative reports here anyway, I am really enjoying this running lark and I think that the garmin will keep me even more interested with all the pacing / distance and location functions as well as being able to keep an automatic diary of your training. I think all of the data might add to my dcm '09 story aswell in a kind of dave gorman overuse of charts type way

silverside

I think garmins are brilliant

If you think of your body like a car, you're trying to get the best out of it so wouldnt you want a speedo / rev counter / mileometer / stopwatch ... I havent got too technical about heart rate zones but I'm getting a better feel for my body by keeping an eye on my HR at various speeds / efforts.

305 does most of what the 405 does (and some people find it easier to use) - its bigger tho.

TFBubendorfer

I've had that a few times on my 305.

I always put some water on the contacts of the HR strap before I put it on. If I forget to do it, or if I wait too long before starting the run then I'll get ridiculously high readings for the first 10 minutes or so.

The contacts need to be moist, and after 10 minutes I have worked up enough of a sweat for that to work properly. Before that, they require some water.

mithril

I regularly get readings of 220 (130% Max) for the first 10 minutes when I am doing a gentle warmup. I don't feel in any way physically under stress and can talk easily so I am confident it's an issue with the monitor. I recently changed the battery but the issue persists.I just ignore and heart rate falls to a more believable 165 as I start my proper workout.

osnola ibax

anyone aware of any reason, bar aesthetic, why the green garmin 405 is about 20 snots cheaper than the black one?

Supercell

That happens when the HR monitor slips too low on my chest, |i think its reading the juices splashing around my tummy or something!
That said i always notice a brief surge intially too, maybe the restance changes with salty sweat compared to regular water or no water starting out?

BeepBeep67

Just in the name of feedback from the 405 users on here:
I use the Timex Speed & Distance, have found no issues with accuracy, obviously wearing the armbard GPS receiver can be a pain, but then I only use it for tempo work and logging a new route, watch by itself is lighter I would imagine than the 405.
I am however thinking of changing to the new 405 (es or ex, can't recall).

What is the general feedback on the 405?
Anybody experience with both Timex and Garmin?

Just looking for some help in my thought process before I shell out the funds.

Tnx

Krusty_Clown

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

I am however thinking of changing to the new 405 (es or ex, can't recall).

What is the general feedback on the 405?
Anybody experience with both Timex and Garmin?

Just looking for some help in my thought process before I shell out the funds.
Tnx

Sorry, no experience with a Timex, but my 405 is brilliant. There's really no difference between the 405 and the 405cx unless you keep track of the calories you're burning while exercising (which I did for the first couple of weeks after getting the Garmin, but never looked at again after that), or have a slender wrist. So you can save a few quid by opting for the 405, which should become cheaper. If I was buying for the first time, I would definitely get the new 310 model,, which is waterproof, has a 20 hour battery etc, but is quite a bit larger (same size as the 305).

osnola ivax wrote:

Anyone aware of any reason, bar aesthetic, why the green garmin 405 is about 20 snots cheaper than the black one?

Because it's the colour of snot.

robinph

That is annoying if people are getting daft HR readings from the 405 monitor as well. I was having the same thing happen with the monitor for my Polar 625x and it would just stay fixed at something like 225 for a few minutes befor then staying at something equally daft like 60 for a while longer. Would eventually sort it self out once I was half way round my run, but I had put it down to wear on the fabric part of the sensor on the Polar straps after it continued doing the same thing after battery changes and had hoped the Garmin strap might prove a bit sturdier.

Guess it's just a common "feature" of all monitors then to keep you wanting to upgrade all the time.

osnola ibax

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Because it's the colour of snot.

Why would garmin choose snot as inspiration for the colour of their flagship fitness device. I've been telling myself I could live with the color for the sake of 20 quid but I'm not sure I could! Gonna put in an order for one of these soon, black one probably. I'm lovin the detail on the garmin connect links on your training logs krusty, maps with red lines etc. I wanna put a few red lines around my local racecourse and see exactly how slow I am.

Highway_To_Hell

BeepBeep67 wrote: »

Just in the name of feedback from the 405 users on here:
I use the Timex Speed & Distance, have found no issues with accuracy, obviously wearing the armbard GPS receiver can be a pain, but then I only use it for tempo work and logging a new route, watch by itself is lighter I would imagine than the 405.
I am however thinking of changing to the new 405 (es or ex, can't recall).

What is the general feedback on the 405?
Anybody experience with both Timex and Garmin?

Just looking for some help in my thought process before I shell out the funds.

Tnx

I use to use a timex Ironman watch but I have now moved to a 405. I found the Timex GPS unit akward as it straps on to your arm and then the data recorder also had to be carried with you. I bought my Timex in 2004 and did have issues with getting a good gps connection and then it often got dropped. With the 405 I find the unit great as it is all in one and no extra geear to strap on, I have had no major issues with GPS readings (except on extremely cloudy days, where it might take a bit longer to connect). a few pouints to note:

1. waterproofness of the watch - I have used it on short swims (under 30 mins) with no problems but would be worried about using it for a longer time. - I believe this is rectified in the new version due to be launched this summer.

2. battery life - the unit is easy/fast to recharge but when running in GPS mode the battery life would be around 8hrs. - not an issue for most sports. - battery life is a lot longer (days) when not in GPS mode)

3. looks - It is not really wearable as an everyday watch.

SucCes09

I did have a weird issue with my 305 where it was pulling all my multisport times into the "Multisport" category every time i uploaded it? Only found this out when looking at totals and noticed that i had cycled 2700km since December. Oh how i wish i had....

I deleted these ghost efforts and waiting to see if the same problem occurrs again.

Anyone else ever get this?

osnola ibax

Just put in order for 405, I plumped for the cx cause it was only about 60 quid more expensive and it is the new version, I just won't head out this weekend. Best value easily was handtec.co.uk, this was £260, reg 405 with hrm was £205, that's about €317 / €250 incl p&p

ManFromAtlantis

with rain or sweat my 405 just goes mental. forget about using the bezel. i just lock it. doesnt really bother me, but seems like a huge design flaw.

Running Bing

ManFromAtlantis wrote: »

with rain or sweat my 405 just goes mental. forget about using the bezel. i just lock it. doesnt really bother me, but seems like a huge design flaw.

Yeah Ive been caught out by this a couple of times.

You can get three pieces of info on a single display though (so lap time, Av HR and pace lets say) so its not that big a deal to just keep it locked but once or twice Ive unlocked it to switch screens when its wet or my hands are sweaty and its a nightmare to get back to the screen you want. Seems like a minor issue but when your in the middle of a set of 1000m intervals you just want to dance on the thing:D

Not a huge deal for me but it is very silly they designed it that way:rolleyes:

asimonov

Running Bing wrote: »

Yeah Ive been caught out by this a couple of times.

You can get three pieces of info on a single display though (so lap time, Av HR and pace lets say) so its not that big a deal to just keep it locked but once or twice Ive unlocked it to switch screens when its wet or my hands are sweaty and its a nightmare to get back to the screen you want. Seems like a minor issue but when your in the middle of a set of 1000m intervals you just want to dance on the thing:D

Not a huge deal for me but it is very silly they designed it that way:rolleyes:

You also have the option of auto-rotating through the three display screens as well, so you can have upto 9 (3 X 3) datafields showing, and the bezel locked.

Running Bing

asimonov wrote: »

You also have the option of auto-rotating through the three display screens as well, so you can have upto 9 (3 X 3) datafields showing, and the bezel locked.

Did'nt know that. Thats a pretty handy feature.

Bambaata

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

If I was buying for the first time, I would definitely get the new 310 model,, which is waterproof, has a 20 hour battery etc, but is quite a bit larger (same size as the 305).

It's actually smaller than the 305. Im waiting on the new HR strap to come out before getting this. Supposed to be out by July so probably wont see it until August!!

Its 2.1" x 2.2" x 0.8" as against 2.1" x 2.7" x 0.7". Heres a good page to copmare - http://www.heartratemonitor.co.uk/garmin_forerunner_305_405_310_compare.html