Garmin HR strap replacement

Alek

Ever since I got my Edge 800 with premium strap, I was getting massive spikes (200+) in HR recording for the first 5-10 minutes of the ride. No common solutions seemed to help - wetting with electrode gel, wetting the whole strap etc.

I have emailed Garmin about it and they have agreed to replace the strap. I had no time to send the old one back, but this morning I have received the new one.

It seems to have incorporated a conductive layer outside of the electrodes - I guess the the problem is due to electrostatic charge from synthetic jersey. Also, you need to wet three spots on it now.

Haven't tested it yet but if anyone is experiencing the same issue, it may be worthwhile to email Garmin, even if just to get a spare strap and transmitter :-)

Old one:


New one:

slap/dash

Good to know, the other day I apparently climbed tinkers hill and kept it at 39bpm

Hani Kosti

Seems to work better but also scratches more (my skin is in bits after 100k cycle)
Trade off I guess

Beasty

Does explain one or two of my own "experiences" when I just assumed the heart was about to blow-up ...

Alek

The first time I've seen 234bpm on the screen I stopped and checked my pulse on the side of the road...

Beasty

I have only seen it 2 or 3 times and then when analysing post race data - it would shoot up in the first 5 mins or so (a couple of times on Manchester velodrome), and then settle down

Still, managed to get my heart fully checked out on the back of it as at one stage I thought it was being caused by an irregular heartbeat

AmberGold

I have two straps, one does this constantly. I'll be mailing them today.

ashleey

It's the transmitter struggling to decode your heart rate from static. I have the polar one also that I adapted to fit the garmin transmitter. I also got a replacement from garmin after the first strap gave up. Soaking in soapy water overnight cured the faulty strap, so I have 3. You have to rinse the salt off them after every use. Sometimes I get the bad recordings at the start still on all three. The new design looks interesting but wetting the electrodes and putting the strap on as much before your ride as you can helps. Driving to a sportive with the strap on helps!

Alek

Unfortunately, problem still persists - the HR graph smooths out only after 7min - http://app.strava.com/activities/76735808

I'm not too sure if soaking would help, as this time the strap was used straight out of the box, only wetted...

ashleey

alkos wrote: »

Unfortunately, problem still persists - the HR graph smooths out only after 7min - http://app.strava.com/activities/76735808

I'm not too sure if soaking would help, as this time the strap was used straight out of the box, only wetted...

Mine is definitely rubbish if I'm only wearing one shirt in the summer and the wind gets in your face. Once it gets colder and I wear a base layer then it is more reliable. Maybe zips are an issue?

Kaiserkel

I have same problem with standard strap - BPM often 200-240 during first 10-15 minutes of many rides, especially bad downhill/into the wind.
Goth premium strap foc as a replacement but its even worse - although only tried it twice.

Alek

I thought that the new conductive weave should help with the synthetic shirt generating static charge... apparently not really.

Rua_ri

alkos wrote: »

I thought that the new conductive weave should help with the synthetic shirt generating static charge... apparently not really.

This thread is really timely for me right now.
I am awaiting replacement ( its in the post ) of my replacement premium HRM as it was giving really high readings and then not registering at all.
I am using an Egde 500 and the strap was only 5 months old and used lightly.
Not sure if i am going to get the new type or strap or the old one as its under warranty.
Here i was thinking that a new one was going to fix the issue?

Alek

I was hoping so. Now I have two, both not working as they should :-/

I will test the new one more, though.

Cond0r

I had similar problems with mine last year, and got it replaced by Garmin FOC. Seems they know it's an issue. The new strap is starting to show signs of dodgy readings early in rides now too - temporarily solved by wetting the electrodes beforehand.

doozerie

Are these issues unique to the premium strap? Any of the issues that I recall seeing mentioned elsewhere seemed to relate only to the premium so I'm wondering if it's a problem that doesn't occur at all with the cheaper strap - if so then getting the non-premium strap might be less frustrating.

I've been using one of the cheaper straps for a few years now with no problems (other than irregular reading when the strap battery is fading). I suspect the premium strap is a little more comfortable and moves around a little less but the cheaper strap is largely fine so worth considering perhaps if anyone is getting sick of persistent issues with the premium one.

Beasty

doozerie wrote: »

Are these issues unique to the premium strap? Any of the issues that I recall seeing mentioned elsewhere seemed to relate only to the premium so I'm wondering if it's a problem that doesn't occur at all with the cheaper strap - if so then getting the non-premium strap might be less frustrating.

I've been using one of the cheaper straps for a few years now with no problems (other than irregular reading when the strap battery is fading). I suspect the premium strap is a little more comfortable and moves around a little less but the cheaper strap is largely fine so worth considering perhaps if anyone is getting sick of persistent issues with the premium one.

TBH I've gone back to the old one, and don't really notice a difference comfort-wise. I'm not too sure what "real" benefit you get with the Premium

Alek

Today I've wetted the new one really well, under running water and applied a fingertip of washing liquid to all tree pads. No problem, the HR graph is smooth as a tomato.

nordicb

Have premium one as well, was aware of issues before buying, but luckily no problems at all. I just rinse it after every exercise in warm water and let it dry.

Cond0r

And after my previous post in this thread the data from the HR strap has gone downhill. Rubbish readings at the beginning of rides, and now just dropping off to <90bpm at relatively hard efforts. Sent another mail to Garmin, let's see what they say this time.

ashleey

When my readings were dropping, I changed the battery and left the strap soaking over night in a bowl of washing up liquid water ( not too strong). Problems solved. The early spikes in readings are still erratic and are worse on windy days and my top is flapping a bit

Cond0r

ashleey wrote: »

When my readings were dropping, I changed the battery and left the strap soaking over night in a bowl of washing up liquid water ( not too strong). Problems solved. The early spikes in readings are still erratic and are worse on windy days and my top is flapping a bit

I tried this with the previous one, but it didn't help all that much. Might try it again though.

Cond0r

Update: Garmin simply placed an order for another new one to be sent out, no questions asked. They must fully accept that the design of these things is prone to these issues.

Rua_ri

UPDATE: Received under warranty my new HRM today. It is one of the new types as outlined in the first post. I will test it this evening .

Cond0r

Rua_ri wrote: »

UPDATE: Received under warranty my new HRM today. It is one of the new types as outlined in the first post. I will test it this evening .

Oh cool. I hope I get one of the new ones too so. Just to confirm this was via garmin.co.uk/support?

Zen0

Moved from Polar HRM to Garmin standard strap a few months ago. The standard Garmin strap may not look as classy as the Polar strap, but it's no less comfortable and no less reliable (so far anyway). I had hesitated buying a unit with the standard strap, but a (temporary) price drop on Amazon proved too much of a temptation. From what I have seen here, I wouldn't pay extra for the Garmin premium strap, and would be inclined to avoid it. The standard Garmin strap is fine. It does get a rinse after every use.

Rua_ri

Cond0r wrote: »

Oh cool. I hope I get one of the new ones too so. Just to confirm this was via garmin.co.uk/support?

Yeah it was through the UK Garmin.
HRM was posted from the states though.

Rua_ri

Update: Went out tonight with the new type HRM. Worked perfectly. Happy with that. Hope it lasts longer than the last one.

Plastik

How old was your HR strap Alkos?

My own (non premium) strap seems to have kicked the bucket. I thought it was the battery gone but changing hasn't helped, nor a thorough cleaning. September '11 purchase though, so it's well out of warranty.

clog

Try putting battery in the wrong way round for a few seconds before inserting it normally to re-set unit.
Got that tip on here and its rescued 2 premium units that I thought were dead.
On a realated note I find that a polar wearlink strap works perfectly with a garmin premium sensor, much less prone to spikes.

Plastik

H'actually, after posting above I decided to try and chance my arm to logged on to Garmin to log a call. They suggest taking the battery out for 5 minutes, sticking it back in, and searching for the HRM again. Whaddayaknow ... it worked!

Alek

How old was your HR strap Alkos?

Relatively new, 2 months maybe.

The new one is working perfectly so far, as long as I wet it well.

Cond0r

Just got the replacement from Garmin. It is indeed the new HRM3-SS, which has a new 3rd contact point, and a care label which tells you to *machine wash* the strap after every 7 uses. The fact that this new one is machine washable suggests to me that the sweat buildup issue should be a thing of the past. Woohoo!

Details on the hrm3-ss:
http://www.garmin.co.za/news.php?newsid=164

If anyone's having issues with their HRM2-SS, I'd highly advise opening a case with Garmin to have it replaced.