Heart rate straps...

[munkster]

My Garmin HRM is showing its age (at least five years old) and more importantly my PP is getting dropouts from it despite new batteries. I had this with my cadence sensor and on replacing it that was fixed so am thinking it's time to do the same with the HRM.

Question is: do I go Garmin again? Decathlon do HR straps, as do Wahoo. Anyone got any experience of these or even better more than one to compare? Even better still, with a PP?

Thanks for any insight.

[Velocomp]

I don't have experience with any of the straps except the Garmin. I would look for a strap that is comfortable.

[munkster]

Well, the one I have is comfortable. It just doesn't seem to be consistently talking to PP...

[speedyvelo]

I assume you wash the chest strap often, remember sweat has electrolytes and those conduce electricity. Garmin recommends to put the strap in the washing machine (cold and delicate) of course without the sensor once in a while. I had a similar problem and it was corrected after machine washing.

If you also need to replace the helmet, the Lazer lifebeam helmet has an excellent HR monitor and you will not need a strap any more. It works perfect with the Garmin. Amazon has one vendor selling it for 180 dollars.

[PaulK32]

I have used the Garmin HR strap. It works fine for 2 years; incl. a wash every month. I use as replacement a Polar soft strap (size M-XXL; ca. €15). Works fine, I use now the second Polar soft strap, still with the same Garmin sensor-block (4 batteries in 6 years).

[dracus]

Really happy with my wahoo tickr run

[romi]

I'm using a two years old Decathlon ANT+ only HR and I had no problem with it. No signal losing on PP and Garmin Edge. Still with the original battery inside, 4 to 8 hours usage per week.

[speedyvelo]

Question is: do I go Garmin again? Decathlon do HR straps, as do Wahoo. Anyone got any experience of these or even better more than one to compare? Even better still, with a PP?
.

A good alternative is a Helmet with a Heart Rate monitor. I have a Lazer Genesis Lifebeam. The benefits are: no need of strap, it measure pulsation of capillary flow using a fiberoptic sensor so you do not have the problems associated with the EKG pads. It transmits the signal using ANT and BT. My PP is only ANT and it works very well. It is very easy recognized by the Garmin 510 and the pairing with the PP works perfect.
Because Shimano bought the company you will have good discounts of the present helmets now.

[beermat]

I have been using a Garmin HRM for over 4 years now. Not had to change the battery yet and I never have needed to wash this either.

I did have one problem with this when I stored it in the outside bike shed. After a particularly cold night I found it impossible to connect the HRM to the Edge 1000. In the end I removed the battery, reversed it, closed the cover and then inserted the battery the correct way round. I seem to recall that this is a way of resetting the device.

Since then it has worked flawlessly although I keep the device in the house. BTW I always moisten the contact strips before I wear this.

[stewartclark2002]

I've been using Polar heart rate straps as a replacement for my original Garmin strap. One benefit is that you can purchase the strap on its own and the Garmin heart rate sensor will plug straight into it. I wash mine after every ride.