Garmin HR belts: is there a Fix to avoid HR spikes?

Ever since i’ve had my edge 500 whenever i’ve used the HR belt i get completely toss HR readings, usually around 240bpm for minutes at a time which ruin my averages data. its not the battery and it seems to happen with every piece of clothing i own, is it worth moaning at Garmin to try and get a replacement? or is there another belt which will work better? i use a Suunto HR monitor normally but its not ANT+ so it won’t link up, but i’ve had any issue with it, so I know my heart wont go 240bpm!!

is it happening in one particular place ?

i noticed mine spiked once when i had a police speed camera pointed in my direction on auchmill road – i was stationary

HR just went bananas.

Friends who have Garmin HRMs all use Polar belts with the Garmin transducer plugged in, I think some models need a bit of stanley knife action to get them to fit.

Nope, happens everywhere! it seems the newer versions have been improved, mine is 2 years old, but un-used as its always been useless

NEver had this on mine and it’s a bottom end Forerunner 110.

I have never had a problem with the old style HR belt, but it did eventually die after about 5 years use, they are still available. Bought a new style soft strap style transmitter to replace it, but with all the talk of problems online also purchased a polar soft strap to plug the transmitter onto at the same time, that set-up has so far been faultless for a few months.

New battery in HR belt?

just did a 3 hour ride with my 810, and no spikes. do you have a hairy chest?

not batteries, nope i’m skinny, not hairy chested either! might take a punt on the premium soft strap monitor, it doesn’t seem to be an uncommon problem with earlier belts

This is weird. I get spikes with my Polar but not my Garmin…. Work that one out.

This is often due to clothing interference, especially when windy or going downhill. Usually better when you’ve sweated a bit I find. Happens with most hrm. I’ve had it with polar, timex, suunto and garmin!

Try some ky jelly on the sensors. No really!!

I get it on my Garmin HR straps (both old and newer ‘premium’ models). Its more apparent on certain days, typically colder weather. Might also be due to static from tumble drier in the winter, as that’s when I notice it most, but it happens at other times too.

As mentioned above, I too had problems with garmin soft strap for edge 500 and then it packed up completely after 6 months.

Replaced with Polar soft strap and no problems since in the last six months.

Are you using a helmet light?
My polar H7 spikes if the power cable to my helmet light gets too close to it.It’s OK if the battery is in my camelpack, but not my jersey pocket.

no HR spikes for me, but I do get the odd cadence spike sometimes.

Chris. – I had exactly the same problem. As has been mentioned above, switching to a Polar belt has sorted it – £15 instead of £45 & the Garmin sensor just clips in. I think the problem is that the belts simply have a shelf life.

Vdubber67 + 1

Flapping wind proofs seem to affect readings especially if you’re wearing something baggy ish underneath. Try wearing a tighter top and keep it moist…

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/12/annual-public-service-announcement-how-to-fix-heart-rate-strap-dropoutsspikes.html

I’ve just changed from an 800 to an 810 but I’m still using the belt that came with my 705 and it’s never given me any problems (touch wood). I can’t even remember when I last changed the battery.

Mine gave high readings for the first 5 minutes of every ride until I changed to a natural fiber jersey. Now wear a bamboo cycling jersey and all is well.

Chris, is it one of the soft straps?

I had no end of problems with the Garmin soft straps (newest versions) with erratic readings and searching online suggested wind, jersey material and all manner of other thing might be responsible. I had a warranty replacement and still the same problems. As far as I can tell it is a known problem with Garmin soft straps.

In the end I got another warranty replacement but opted for the hard strap as the soft one appears to be too temperamental and not worth the hassle. I’d rather have something I had 100% confidence in working correctly and touch wood no problems since switching to the hard strap. Although side by side they feel different, once you get riding you will not feel any difference going to the hard strap IMO.

There are also a few compatible Polar soft straps which would be the best option if you want to stick with soft straps (I think the DC Rainmaker review lists these)

If you are having trouble with the hard strap then I have no idea what might cause the issues! Firmware update required?

I had this problem a few times, i tightened the belt a little and made sure the contacts were moist. Since I have had no problems.

Do you lick the contacts? I only ever get spikes when i forget to do so.

It’s a known problem and cannot be cured by batteries, licking, tightening, not washing the strap, etc. It’s a fault with the strap, not the electronics.

I bought this[/url] and it cured all the problems you describe with my Garmin softstrap HRM. You need to trim the rubber cups from around the two press-studs then the Garmin unit clips straight in.

The HR strap has worked perfectly ever since with no stupidly high readings at all. It seems to connect more reliably when you first fire up the Garmin before a ride, too.

Like many other people, I replaced my inconsistent, (and subjectively very uncomfortable) Garmin soft strap with a Polar WearLink version, and the random HR recording problems vanished (plus it’s not cutting into me like the Garmin version did, but maybe that’s just the odd shape my ribcage 😉 ).

I had a initial surge of panic the first time my HR rapidly rose to over 200, but as I’d only been out for maybe 20 seconds, and err, felt fine, that panic quickly passed, and it went completely when my watch carried on showing >240bpm with the HR strap held in my hand, then with it hung in the hedge behind me. 🙄

Spit helps too, as does getting/keeping the sensor strip clean after use.

Found the polar soft strap to be utter rubbish, one good crash and it was just total gibberish, replaced it with the standard Garmin item, lot better, one thing I have found is the cardiosport gel really helps, my spit appears not to be wet enough.

Ironically I never had problems with my Garmin soft strap, but have started getting them since replacing with a Polar one (the Garmin one was falling apart).