Garmin HR strap dead.

Have tried a battery change to no avail. Any other suggestions before I write it off and buy a new one?

Wetted the contact points before strapping it on (oo-er 😀 ) / given it a clean?

I think it doesn’t power up to be detected until it’s got a complete circuit, i.e. strapped on your body and good contacts.

I think it doesn’t power up to be detected until it’s got a complete circuit, i.e. strapped on your body and good contacts.

Usually, it’s working by the time I’ve got on the bike; if not, the sweat usually sorts the contact issue (as an aside, someone was selling conductive gel for HR straps a while back, which sounded a) unpleasant, and b) not really necessary).

Maybe this?…

“Both the Premium Heart Rate Monitor and the standard Heart Rate Monitor utilize a CR2032 battery. If a battery is placed in the device too soon after the old battery is removed, it can cause the accessory to experience a power overload causing the device to fail to operate.”

https://support.garmin.com/support/searchSupport/case.faces?caseId=%7Bd320e3a0-0a6b-11de-76c5-000000000000%7D

Another shoddy bit of Garmin engineering if it can be trashed just by swapping a battery over too quick!

Also see How to get the Garmin heart rate monitor to work after a Battery change

Probably the strap is worn out.
Happened to mine after about 12 months of use – contacts go leading to erratic readings (tried new battery etc).
Buy a Polar elastic strap much better quality and cheaper than a Garmin one – it’s what I did and heart rate reading were back to being consistent.
This is the one that the Garmin hrm pod will clip onto
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/polar-spare-elastic-soft-strap/%5B/url%5D

Yep my Garmin strap went after 6 months. If it’s the new type with the removable transmitter just replace it with the Polar strap.

^^ what makes the polar better? seen it mentioned a few times, went out day before yesterday and mine (Garmin) was showing 195bpm from the off, newest model, circa 6 months old

What forester says. Get the polar strap it’s miles better. My garmin strap even with a new battery would spike upto 230bpm’s when I would expect to be around 140. Swapped to the polar strap with the garmin clip in transmitter bit and had no issues at all.

Polar seems to better quality + more durable. My Polar strap has not missed a beat for the last 12 months (with the Garmin pod). I should also add that the Polar elastic strap gets washed at 30 degrees in the washing machine every week.
Plus whatever for buying the Polar strap.

Give Garmin UK a call, and see what they say.

Phone (freephone from UK landline): 0808 238 0000
Phone (within UK): 0870 850 1242
Phone (outside UK): +44 870 850 1242

Put the battery in upside down for ten seconds. Sort of an ultra reset on Garmin HRMs. Won’t damage it.

It’s the old style one.

Putting the battery in upside down sorted it for me when mine stopped working.

Mine stopped working a little while back. I’d had it for around 6 months, tried everything you suggested to fix the problem with no luck.
Called Garmin and they immediately offered to send a replacement which arrived 3 days after the phone call was made.

Is it the soft version? Mine died after a few months and they are known to be a bit shoddy. Garmin replaced it for me under warranty where I requested the hard strap version which has since been faultless for 2 years. Garmin soft straps have known issues and the cure is either a hard strap or more durable Polar strap. If you have problems with the hard strap then I guess sending it back to Garmin is the best option and you’ve just been unlucky. I always put a few drops of water on the contacts before use BTW as it doesn’t always work “dry”- have you tried this too?

I always put a few drops of water on the contacts before use BTW as it doesn’t always work “dry”- have you tried this too?

Yep, tried that.

As it’s the hard strap and (it transpires from finding the order) five years old, I think it’s time to cut my losses and buy a new one. Is the Polar strap definitely ANT+ compatible? I thought they used their own wireless protocol?

Unfortunately no.

If you can get another Garmin hard strap. If not you’ll have to bite the bullet and get the Garmin soft strap + ANT+ transmitter and be prepared for it to fail and then splash out on the polar strap which you connect the Garmin transmitter to.

Last time I looked there were very few alternative Ant+ HRM options. YMMV.

I think the idea is that you would use the Polar strap and Garmin transmitter. Since you don’t have the soft strap Garmin version this is kind of pointless- perhaps you’re better off buying a new Garmin hard strap? 5 years use isn’t bad going and most people seem to like the hard strap Garmin one from a durability point of view

Ah – I see – it’s the strap rather than the HR sensor that’s the problem with the Garmin one?

Ah – I see – it’s the strap rather than the HR sensor that’s the problem with the Garmin one?

With the newer soft strap yes.

I’ve found this on the ever GPS-geeky DC Rainmaker which explains all.