HR Strap - Life Expectancy

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SteveTries
SteveTries Posts: 723 Member
edited January 2015 in Fitness and Exercise
Elevated HR readings from my Garmin 310XT are making me wonder about the life expectancy of the HR strap. It's a little over 2 years old and about 2,500 kms of running use, so roughly 250 hours of use.

What I am experiencing is readings that are significantly above 100% of my HR maximum. This isn't a momentary spike, this will happen mid-run, sometimes at the start of the run and persist to the end. A quick pulse check confirms my heart rate is nothing like the reading. Now this is a fairly common occurrence with HR monitors and the resolution is normally (in order):

1) send the strap through a washing machine cycle
2) clear all historic data (specific to some garmin devices)
3) change the battery in the strap transmitter
4) upgrade to latest firmware.

9 times out of 10 it's the first one; give it a wash. This time it works for about a week then re-occurs. I've tried items 2 thru 4 to no avail.

Any other advice welcome and any experience of life-span for the strap would be good to hear too.

Thanks

Replies

  • martinmcneely1
    martinmcneely1 Posts: 17 Member
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    I have two GARMIN HR straps, my first one is still going strong after 3 years continuous (ran 4 marathons over 3 years. And plenty of miles in between) use but I now keep it as a spare. My second one is the 'modern strap' which I have used for 8,000 miles cycling and never had a problem but I do know other athletes how have reverted back to the 'original' hard strap. If you're strap is the modern one then I'd put it down to the actual strap. You've done well to get 2 year +
  • SteveTries
    SteveTries Posts: 723 Member
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    Thanks for that. It is indeed the newer one. "Premium" I think they label it. Certainly the replacement price seems premium!
  • Pembo77
    Pembo77 Posts: 3 Member
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    I have a polar that was giving me low HR readings. After changing straps and heaps of testing (with Multimeter) I came to the conclusion that the battery was not seating correctly. Not sure how yours is setup up but after doing this a few times (reseating the battery) it eventually became reliable again and havn't had the problem since.

    Maybe its affected by vibration during running.. i really dont know. Just thought id chime in with my 2c worth, if its of any benefit to you.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
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    I was getting an error, check heart rate monitor, on my Polar FT7 and a low reading, plus the date became incorrect. Tech support suggested a new battery (they gave me the wrong number).

    Replaced the battery (the watch guy knew better) and it works fine now. It's about a year old. Also, you can't snap the sensor on upside down because that check heart rate monitor comes back on. ;-/ lol
  • SteveTries
    SteveTries Posts: 723 Member
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    I've got one more now to add to the list of things to try:

    5) get a nail brush, add a bit of soap and rub the sensor patches vigorously.

    Seems to have done the trick, at least for a while. I think the reality is this product has no more than a couple years of life and needs replacing.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
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    How regularly have you been laundering it?

  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Mine is going on 3 years... never washed it or even changed the battery in it.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    My Polar is 8 years old maybe and the strap still works. I've seen crazy high readings when biking under high power electrical lines. Anything like that around?
  • SteveTries
    SteveTries Posts: 723 Member
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    MeanderingMammal wrote: »
    How regularly have you been laundering it?

    I take it into the shower after every run. Half of the time I just rinse with water, the other half I give it a light going over with the wash cloth.

    Once every 5-7 runs it goes into the laundry for a machine wash.

    That regime has worked great thus far.
  • SteveTries
    SteveTries Posts: 723 Member
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    WalkingAlong wrote: »
    My Polar is 8 years old maybe and the strap still works. I've seen crazy high readings when biking under high power electrical lines. Anything like that around?

    No, though I have seen that once, I thought I was having a heart attack!

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