Forums >Gears and Wears>Garmin HRM Issues
I'm having issues with my HRM. I have the FR 210 with the soft strap. The last few runs it has gone awry after about sixteen minutes. Typically what happens is that it has my heart rate fall to 70bpm. For a 16k run at 6:09 pace it calculates my calories burned at 310. I have washed the strap, tightened the strap and even used conductive gel. Nothing seems to work. Any ideas?
Unfortunately the Garmin softstraps are notorious for this issue. The old garmin hard plastics straps were far more reliable. This post from running gear guru DC Rainmaker tackles this problem head on. You'll get a nice fix for pretty cheap.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/solution-to-heart-rate-dropoutsspikes.html
If you still want to hold out hope on it as is, he also has general tips on getting your HR monitor to function, but I think the softstraps are just beyond normal help.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/04/troubleshooting-your-heart-rate.html
Good luck!
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You may find this Polar soft strap works better than the one in DC Rainmaker's review. I don't think this one was out yet at the time. I already had the one in the review, and it wasn't working well.
Mine's been working about 5.5 months now. I do have occasional spikes (or extended high rates), but they seem to be related to days when the sweat soaks the monitor. Not sure why since it should be waterproof. I did give it a more thorough hand washing a few weeks ago, and it seems to be working consistently fine now. Temperatures are also getting more normal (50-60F).
delicate flower
My Garmin soft strap gets a little wonky at times too, and mostly it's the insane spikes. DC Rainmaker was helpful with a few tips. I make sure to moisten the sensors before each use, and do a little readjusting if I notice a spike (usually just tug on the strap a little). The HRM is pretty much useless for the first few miles of any bike ride before it settles down. It consistently gives me readings of >250 on the bike until I start to perspire a little.
<3
The soft strap is worse than the old Garmin strap (which is the one I prefer). I get huge spikes especially when it's hot and humid (HRM gets too wet and moves too much). I might try the Polar if it's workable with the Fenix.
Damaris
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I gave up on the Garmin soft strap and bought the old style. Since the change I haven't had any issues. With the soft strap I was wonder woman, regularly completely runs averaging a HR of 250bpm. I tried numerous tips and tricks suggested to help my old soft strap, but nothing really worked.
One day I decided I wanted to become a runner, so I did.
That was my exact problem. Oh, according to it, I'm dead!
I find the old style better but I still have issues when it's super humid. Not as bad as with the soft strap. I am sad they switched the strap but I still find it on www.runningwarehouse.com and/or amazon.com.
I bought this Polar soft strap to use with my Garmin Forerunner 210 based solely on AKTrail's recommendation. I had almost given up on using the HRM feature with my Garmin -- the data was getting pretty useless. The Polar strap works with the Garmin HRM transmitter without any modifications. It's soft and comfortable like the Garmin strap. About $19 on Amazon. Thanks for the tip!
running metalhead
Same here!I broke my soft strap and I am using the Polar one instead. It actually shows no strange "peaks" as it usually happens. I get some with my Suunto one but it's pretty reliable too, specially since I rinse it I am pretty sure that these strange peaks and all the issues commented are caused by the bad quality or design of the electrodes of the Garmin soft strap.
- Egmond ( 14 januari ) : 1:41:40 (21K)- Vondelparkloop ( 20 januari ) : 0:58.1 (10K but did 13.44!!!)- Twiskemolenloop ( 4 maart ) : 1:35:19 (3th M45!)
- Ekiden Zwolle (10K) ( 25 maart )- Rotterdam Marathon ( 8 april )- Leiden Marathon Halve ( 27 mei )- Marathon Amersfoort ( 10 juni)
I ordered the Polar soft strap. Tried it this morning. No spikes!
Thanks everyone.