Polar FT4 brand new-- not working. (please any advice!)

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  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    SNAP!! I got mine yesterday, put it on about 2 hours ago while doig housework. It's stopped after 1 hour 26 min

    You realize that it isn't accurate for that type of activity? If you were just playing around to see how it works, fine, but if you think it's giving you calorie burn for doing housework you'll be getting highly inflated numbers. HRM's are set with math algorithms for significantly increased HR. They should be used for dedicated cardio exercises and aren't accurate for weight lifting either.

    The strap needs to be really wet and laying directly on your skin, just about where your bra band would go. I've heard some people say that the metal in an underwire can interfere but I don't know why anyone would be wearing an underwire bra to exercise.
  • smw1023
    smw1023 Posts: 34 Member
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    I received my Polar FT4 and the same thing...00. I tried everything and followed online troubleshooting, my sweet husband even ran to the store to buy a new battery to make sure that was not the problem. So the next morning I called Polar and after running through a quick list of troublshooting, all of which I had already done, he told me it must be thr transmitter and that they have full 2 year warranty and sent me a prepaid UPS label to ship it back. I am still waiting to get it back, hoping it will work this time!
  • smw1023
    smw1023 Posts: 34 Member
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    Got my Polar FT4 back in the mail yesterday with an invoice that said the ransmitter failed electrical test. I strapped it on for my workout and it worked beautifully. I am so pleased with Polar's customer service. Send yours in.
  • LottieLou13
    LottieLou13 Posts: 574 Member
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    Can you get it TOO wet? That's what I've been afraid of. If not, I'm just going to put it under the running water until I know it's good and wet.

    Nope, I wear mine swimming sometimes :smile:
  • LottieLou13
    LottieLou13 Posts: 574 Member
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    Mine seems to work better (not saying 00) when I am a bit sweaty. When I first put it on and its dry it tends to just say 00, wet it on the net mesh like parts on the chest strap and it should sync ok :smile:
  • juliemouse83
    juliemouse83 Posts: 6,663 Member
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    I got mine yesterday, and it worked great as soon as I strapped it underneath (and i mean RIGHT underneath) the girls. Having the sports bra on helps a lot, too.
  • poundis
    poundis Posts: 93 Member
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    I have had that happen to me lots of times. I usually just keep waiting and eventually it picks up my heart rate signal. My husband thought it may be the battery too. I just think that the battery should have a longer life than that. Now, that I see it is a common problem, I may call customer service as well.
  • sc1234
    sc1234 Posts: 42 Member
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    I have the FT6 and it worked perfect the first year and a half, now I'm coming up to the 2 year mark and it works 50% of the time. Sometimes shows 00, sometimes "check heart rate transmitter", sometimes heart rate of 220+.

    I've changed the batteries on both ends (watch and strap) and jumped through all of the hoops, washing it, snapping the thing on right side up, snapping in on upside down (sometimes seems to work better), strap tighter, strap looser, etc. etc.

    It'll work great for 50% of my workout these days. Too bad.
  • radscorpion
    radscorpion Posts: 55
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    Hi!

    I've just got an FT7 and I've already had a couple of instances where it's disconnected.. After a bit of internet research apparently with other people who have had issues, they invested in some "conductive gel" and it worked perfectly. Also another thing that I read was that the tightest setting of the strap is 30 inches and for anyone with an under 30 inch waist should possibly look into getting a shorter strap if it persists. I haven't tried the gel or the strap personally, but I'll definitely be testing it out if I continue to get grief :P

    Hope this helps someone ^-^
  • smuckers722
    smuckers722 Posts: 11 Member
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    I've had my brand new Polar FT4 for two days, and have been trying to use it the whole time, and only once have I gotten it to work. I have tried everything, and read everything I can. The strap is as tight as it can be, I've gotten the strap good and wet. I've even tried just working out and seeing if it will eventually pick up a heart rate, but it just says "00" for my heart rate. I was hoping after I got it to finally pick up the first time it would work consistently afterwards, but no such luck. Now I am unsure what to do next because I bought the item brand new from Heart Rate Monitors USA co. online and unsure if I need to see if they'll replace it, or if Polar would replace it... sigh.
  • Brenda_Pancakes
    Brenda_Pancakes Posts: 288 Member
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    Yeah, mine does that 00 crap every once and awhile too. It'll work fine for a week or two, them BOOM - I can't get it to quit doing that.

    When it starts that in the beginning of my workout this is what I do:

    Take the strat off, take the transmitter off the strap. Get the strap wet again (couple seconds under faucet each little gray part on the strap). Then WET YOUR SKIN. No lie, this works for mine. Slap the strap back on and fasten it. Then take a towel or cloth and wipe off the little snap clasp things where you snap on the transmitter. Get them nice and clean and dry, then snap back on the transmitter.

    Usually, when I do this - it works. I don't have any issues mid-workout when I do this in the morning.

    Good luck! :)
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
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    My advise? Swap it for a Garmin!
  • ApexLeader
    ApexLeader Posts: 580 Member
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    i have a zephyr hrm and they say to use a little moisture on the receiver. not sure if that will help you, but it might help.
  • pineygirl
    pineygirl Posts: 322 Member
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    I had to send my first one back to Amazon, because it did the 00 think the third time I tried to use it. The new one I have works fine. I use it with conductive gel, and I got a tighter chest strap with this one because my ribcage only measures 25" around.

    I think the first one had a bad battery in either the trasmitter or the reciever.
  • smuckers722
    smuckers722 Posts: 11 Member
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    Hey guys, I spoke with Polar tech support today, and they were very helpful! They instructed me to remove the backing of the battery from the monitor (not watch) and take the battery out and leave it out for three minutes to reset the sensor. Then we put the battery back in, and I put on the monitor and turned on the watch.. and voila, it was picking up an actual heart rate, not telling me I had a heart rate of 00. Maybe this will be useful info for someone else!
  • JustJudy
    JustJudy Posts: 142 Member
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    I'll have to try that. Having same issue but can't callCS due to time difference.
  • bcassill2013
    bcassill2013 Posts: 72 Member
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    I'm very interested in getting the FT4, so, hopefully it isn't a quality issue?
  • sc1234
    sc1234 Posts: 42 Member
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    I have the FT6 and it worked perfect the first year and a half, now I'm coming up to the 2 year mark and it works 50% of the time. Sometimes shows 00, sometimes "check heart rate transmitter", sometimes heart rate of 220+.

    I've changed the batteries on both ends (watch and strap) and jumped through all of the hoops, washing it, snapping the thing on right side up, snapping in on upside down (sometimes seems to work better), strap tighter, strap looser, etc. etc.

    It'll work great for 50% of my workout these days. Too bad.

    So I thought I'd look into the 2 yr warranty - I shipped away the product to Polar, turns out I've only had it 1.5 yrs and then they wanted me to pay $50 to fix it by changing the batteries (which I already did on my own troubleshooting and didn't help) and to replace the strap (which I found out is not under the 2 yr warranty because it fits in the regular "wear/tear" category).

    I had just paid $10 to ship it and now $50 to fix it, I told them to keep it, I can buy a new one online.

    My last one died around the 2 yr mark. So it seems every 1.5 - 2 yrs I have to buy a new one.
  • woodsy0912
    woodsy0912 Posts: 323
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    Ugh I am also getting sporadic glitchy readings and 00 readings. So frustrating because it worked like a charm for 2 months. I haven't done anything different besides tighten the strap as I lose weight either. I even changed the transmitter battery and it worked for one workout then back to its crap.

    I will be calling Polar to get a new transmitter.
  • rainbowbow
    rainbowbow Posts: 7,490 Member
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    It should be right under your breasts and TIGHT.

    I have never ever had a problem with mine not registering my Heart Rate unless it was lose. :)

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