Help! My Polar Ft7 isn't Working Like It Used to!

merryberry99
merryberry99 Posts: 350 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've had my Polar Ft7 for a little less than a year now and have never had any issues. Yesterday I went for a strenuous hour walk and realized when I was finished that I had barely burnt any calories. I tried to tell myself that is was just a fluke, but the same thing happened today. I walked/ran at a higher speed than normal, sweated by booty off, and nearly worked myself to death, but barely burned what I burned a few days ago when I didn't work nearly as hard.

I always wet it and use it the same way; I can't think of any deviation that I've made recently. The clothes I wear are not different. Everything seems the same, except for the way my HRM is working.

I read online that this isn't a sign of a low battery and that I haven't even had it long enough to be having battery issues. I guess that could be wrong. I do think I'm getting in somewhat better shape, but I'm still in that sluggish, just getting into the swing of thing phases, so I don't think that's it. Plus, I was used the HRM last summer and it never hit this issue.

Does anyone have any suggestions or advice? I'm so frustrated because I feel like the HRM has been both motivational and helpful in counting calories more accurately.

Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • badbcatha05
    badbcatha05 Posts: 200 Member
    I found that 2 things made my Polar HRM give wonky readings-- When I would get super super sweaty, it would read zero for my HR... clearly not the case. Almost like it couldn't make a good enough connection to my chest. And when the batteries were low, again- no heart rate. I think if it's reading a 0 HR, it will show no calories burned for that period of time
  • amypomm
    amypomm Posts: 140 Member
    I had the same problem so I tried another heart rate monitor that I have and it told me the same thing. I just don't burn calories like I use to when I was heavier. I upped my calories because I thought maybe I was low on energy.
  • Robin_Brown72
    Robin_Brown72 Posts: 104 Member
    This may be a dumb question, but how often do you wash your chest strap? I rinse mine after every use, but I think it's important to wash it after every 5 uses. Mine wasn't picking up my HR one day last week, so I threw it in the wash - worked fine the next day. Just a thought.
  • craigheon
    craigheon Posts: 167 Member
    What Robin said. You need to wash the strap at least once every week or two, max. The metal part where the chest piece snaps on develops gunk/sweat/salt inside the snaps, and therefore cannot get an accurate reading sometimes. If you don't have the time to throw it in the wash, at least rinse those metal snaps under the faucet. Give that a try and see if it helps!

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