For those who train with heart rate monitors often, you probably know all too well know the tell-tale sign that your little device is lying to you about your heart rate. It starts off fairly innocently with a gentle rise in heart rate (HR). But before you know it your HR is blistering through the 150’s, 160’s, and right on through the 200bpm glass ceiling. Sometimes you might even reach into the mid-200’s.
After you finish your activity and get back to your computer, you’ll probably see something like this – a major HR spike, followed by more normal HR activity:
Frustrated, you poke at your HR monitor some, perhaps browse the Internets a bit – but in general forget about it, until it happens again.
Well, let me help ya out and explain why and what it’s doing. And…I can probably even help ya fix it too!
Proper Wearing Methodology:
Let’s first start with how to put the strap on. As the most important thing to do is ensure you’re wearing it correctly. On the Garmin ANT+ straps, you’ll want to ensure the Garmin logo is right-side up, and the electrode side of the strap is against your bare skin. Which side is the electrode side? Well, the side with the little bands, not the shiny side. I’ve circled these in the pictures below:
Garmin Premium HR Strap (also called soft HR strap):
And for all you Polar folk, their coded HR strap:
(Minor side note, as you may know, none of the Garmin ANT+ HR straps will read HR underwater more than an inch or two away from the watch, as I showed in my 310XT review while underwater. However, the T31 coded straps from Polar will work underwater with their respective Polar units – just ensure it’s noted as T31 coded. Also note that you cannot mix Polar HR straps/units with Garmin HR straps/units.)
Now, one last important item to note is that it goes UNDER your shirt against your skin. It should not be worn over your clothing. Also, the ANT+ folks note that from a placement standpoint “the strap is worn on the ribcage, below the pectoral muscles or breasts”.
All good and you’re still having issues? Onto the next section we go…
The root of all issues:
So assuming that you’ve got it all correctly ‘installed’, let’s look at what typically causes the spike in HR (if it’s over 200bpm, it’s likely not legit unless you’re a seven year old).
1) No moisture, dry air: During the winter months the air is often fairly cold, and fairly dry. This means that you’re less likely to have moist skin (due to even just skin perspiration), and even less likely to be generating any sweat right from the start of the workout. This in turns lowers your conductivity ability from a readings perspective. Which, means you often get incorrect readings. Simply introducing any moisture at all will usually remedy the situation – at least until you begin sweating enough to let that do its job. We’ll talk about moisture additives in the next section.
2) Synthetic shirts (quick dry/tech shirts): While all of us love not being suffocated in cotton shirts, an unfortunate side effect is that those synthetic shirts (normally called quick dry or ‘tech’ shirts) produce additional static electricity buildup that messes with the readings. This is most common when your skin and air are both rather dry, and very little moisture is present. In almost all cases, simply applying moisture will immediately resolve this issue. You can try rubbing the strap or your shirt with an antistatic agent – the ANT+ folks recommend simply a bounce dryer sheet, as that can help in some cases. As a side note, some of the Polar straps actually have an antistatic component built into them that helps to alleviate this problem to some degree.
3) Wind on the bike: One fairly common issue especially in the spring/fall when you’re wearing simple bike jerseys but the wind and lukewarm air temperature keeps you relatively dry, is that when you go down hills fast, or simply the wind hits the right way, you’ll get incorrect readings. This is often caused when the wind funnels down the front of your bike jersey and either induces additional static buildup as noted before, or introduces false readings through vibrations. I can’t count the number of times where it seemed my HR was directly correlated to how fast I was descending – despite the fact that I was working less. In this case, your best bet is either getting more gel to increase conductivity, or simply twisting the HR strap around towards your side a bit – that usually resolves is for me. I don’t recommend trying to lick the strap while descending at 40MPH…many things can go wrong there resulting in you licking the pavement instead.
4) Electrical Interference (powerlines, train lines, etc…): This isn’t typically reported on the Garmin’s, but more the case on the Polar’s. The Polar’s use electromagnetic signals to send the data from the coded strap to the watch, which can be interfered with by high tension power lines. The Garmin’s on the other hand use the 2.4Ghz frequency and don’t have the power line issues typically.
The fixes:
The good news here is that there are a ton of easy fixes that you can quickly try out to
1) Sweat: This first one is a bit obvious – but will explain why the problem often goes away after just a few minutes of activity. Once you start sweating it introduces moisture which in turn improves conductivity. This in turn makes the HR strap happy and you get better readings. So basically…work harder. 
2) Licking it: This is the simplest option – and quite honestly what I do 99% of the time. I just give it a big lick. By ‘it’, I mean the two sensor pads on the back of the strap. This will usually ‘tide me over’ until I start sweating enough to keep everything all happy. And don’t worry folks – a HUGE LONG thread on BT the other day confirms that everyone else does it too. See, here’s my lick-job:
3) Heart Rate Gel: If you suck at licking, then you can instead use electrode gel to improve conductivity. This is what’s typically used in medical situations such as an EKG where you’re trying to get a better reading/conductivity. I actually use the gel mostly during the winter because I’ve found that many times on easy runs I’ll never actually produce a sweat due to the cold, and thus after a short bit of time my lick-job (as noted above), will actually vaporize. The HR gel is designed to last considerably longer on your skin/strap. This stuff is incredibly cheap, and the bottle will last you a long long time. Here’s my bottle I bought two winters ago:
You can pick it up usually as your local running store, or online for about $5-10. P.S., one little tip for those cold winter days (I know, it’s getting warmer now though), is to stick it in a sunny window sill, that will make it nice and warm when you put it against your skin:
4) Changing the strap position: Depending on what may be causing your exact situation, one option is to simply change the position. Try sliding the strap to the right, left, or up/down. Some folks even wear it on their back with great success. In fact, when I’m having a day with lots of issues descending on the bike and the HR being erratic – I’ll simply slide the strap around my side a bit, so the contact portions of the strap kinda straddle my chest and back. Works perfectly!
5) Replacing the batteries: Finally, last but not least – sometimes it’s just the batteries getting old. You can pickup the simple coin replacement battery at virtually any drugstore, and even most grocery stores these days. It only takes a few seconds to open up the back door of the strap and swap out the battery. I usually have at least one spare battery in my tri bag at all times, just in case.
Wrap Up
Hopefully this will help you get through those pesky heart rate reading errors and get on with your workout. If you have any related tips to fixing strange HR readings, feel free to leave them below in the comments!
What an amazing coincidence: yesterday I performed a workout that resulted in a graph that is absolutely identical to the HR-graph you used in this post! And herewith, that peak got an explanation, and I can cancel my cardiologist’s appointment! Thanks for posting this on this exact date.
Nice one, I’ve had spiked graphs in the past, time to ge me some gel! Interestingly (or not!) my strap tends to slip down until I get warmed up as well?
Yuck – I could never fathom licking my HR strap (I don’t love it THAT much). Despite periodic cleanings, I just can’t bring myself to do it. I usually just run my hand under some water (either from the sink at home or a water bottle) and rub the sensors with my hand. In a worst case without water available, I’ll lick my fingers and then touch the strap.
Interesting note about turning the strap around your body – never tried that one, but I’ll be sure to the next time it happens.
I usually have the opposite problems, I have these huge dips, into my resting zone HR ,while busting my butt on the treadmill, swimming or biking. At first I thought it was a battery issue but that only fixed it temporarily.
It seems to happen most while swimming which annoys me because I want an accurate calorie burn number, and I know that I burn more than 200 calories in 1hr of swimming at a moderate-fast pace!
Coincidental.. Was having this problem with my garmin the other day!
Is there any way to alter your stats after to get rid of those sectors, and maybe replace them with something more realistic? Kind of messes around with your stats for the whole session
I have the reverse problem. After my shirt gets wet with sweat, I start getting very high and erratic readings with the Garmin soft strap. There’s lots on this on the Garmin forums, but no solution!
i simply squirt a few shots from my water bottle before i go and it does the trick
Thank you for very publicly admitting that you lick your HRM strap! I too am a licker. I think saliva is a better conductor than plain water. I don’t know this for sure, but it’s certainly easier and often more convenient.
i always thought wetting the sensors as referenced in the manual referred to increased connectivity between the garmin unit and the hrm. thanks for the post, excited about more accurate HR readings at the beginning of my workouts.
So, maybe you’ve got some insight into this part of the equation, which I have long wondered:
How does the presence and amount of Chest Hair effect the HRM readings?
I mean, I’ll be honest, I’m a groomer, which means my legs are like those of a prepubescent girl, and I tend to keep the hair on the rest of my body fairly short. But if I don’t whip out the Wahl for a bit, my chest hair becomes a luxurious forest, complete with it’s own biology.
Granted, I haven’t thought to plot my Heart Rate results with my Chest Hair levels to come up with a solid theory.
So, any thoughts?
Great post Ray. I’ve been having this exact issue with my 310XT and wasn’t sure what to do about it. With my Polar S725X, either I got HR readings or I did not. There wasn’t a middle ground. Can’t wait to try some of these ideas, although the germaphobe in me isn’t too sure about the licking technique.
Thanks again!
Hey Gary!
Hmm, I’m not sure on the chest hair thing and how it might affect it. For better or worse, I don’t end up like a fuzzy bear. Perhaps someone else might know.
Sorry, but thanks for dropping by!
Great post. I go through that almost every workout even though I drown the contact areas in water before putting it on my chest. I think I’ll get some of that gel & see if that helps.
I bought the gel you linked to in your post and tried it for the first time this morning. It worked awesome! My heart rate graph was beautiful. No bogus spikes whatsoever. I’m sure these guys have seen a “Buh-Bump” in sales since your post (sorry couldn’t resist). Love your blog! Keep up the great work.
You wrote: I’ll simply slide the strap around my side a bit, so the contact portions of the strap kinda straddle my chest and back.
Can you please make photo how exactly you wear it?
I bought electrode gel (work great at start), i bought anti-stat spray, so fixed almost all spikes, except downhills against strong wind on my road bike!
Tried to move strap to the side, but just a little. Tried also move strap on my back, but it worked only before ride with freshly electrode gel added .. then in training after downhill spike i stopped and moved strap on my back, but it did not work, i mean i get no HR data at all.
you said: I’ll simply slide the strap around my side a bit, so the contact portions of the strap kinda straddle my chest and back. Works perfectly!
Can you make a photo how exactly you have strap fitted, on left side i guess?
I use electrode gel, anti static spray and still have few spikes when descending againts strong wind on my road bike.
By the way would not help to stick something to strap from outside between strap and jersey (shirt)? but im not electrician, but i guess some shield would help.
Hi Karel-
I’ve uploaded a photo of wearing it slightly to the side, on the 310XT Product Review page I did, in the gallery at the bottom of the post (right before the comments section). Just click on that gallery and then check out the last picture in the series. Hope this helps!
link to dcrainmaker.com
I’ve been having this problem with my Garmin 310XT HRM except it gets worse as the run (or bike ride) progresses. It behaves normally for the first 15mins or so and then heads up to 200-240bpm numbers. It seems to get worse as I get more sweaty and electrode gel makes no difference. Moving the strap can fix it for a couple of minutes and then it heads straight back up to the silly numbers. It’s behaving the same for my husband and I know that my HR is not as high as the HRM is telling me.
It’s not even 6 months old and this started happening after 2-3 months and is at the point where I don’t even bother using the thing. I’ve read others having a similar problem to me and they have connected the GArmin HR sensor to the Polar wearlink strap and that has fixed the issue.
Do you have any insight into this problem?
Hi Os-
Given it sounds like you’ve tried everything, I’d suggest contacting Garmin Support. I know that there were some early batches of 310XT units with HR straps that they are replacing the HR straps on, without any charge. A quick ring to Garmin support may help you out.
Sorry!
I have a 310XT and used to get the same HR spikes, when the strap was dry or TOO wet. The solution for me is ECG contact gel (the same as licking the strap except it doesn’t dry as easily), but the real solution was to buy a Polar Wearlink strap without the transmitter and use the Garmin transmitter instead, it fits neatly. Has worked perfectly so far.
I resolved the spike problem with a Garmin Classic Heart Rate Monitor today – which should be compatible with most Garmin devices.
After 12 months of heart rate spikes with the Garmin Forerunner 310XT and it’s soft strap I bought a Classic Heart Rate Monitor which is not as comfortable, but a lot more resistant to static electricity.
When using the Garmin Premium/Soft strap that comes with the 310XT it generated so much static electricity against my clothes that I got a zap every 200 m when I discharge (when touching the HR monitor on the treadmill). But after I switched to the Classic Heart Rate Monitor I didn’t get a zap even after 8000 m.
So with the new HR monitor I was finally able to monitor my run accurately since I bought the very expensive 310XT..
Garmin knew about the problem when I contacted their support and offered to switch, but that included being without my HR monitor for 1-2 weeks which is why I simply bought a new one from Amazon instead.
I too have had problem with the Garmin soft strap, far into a run when the shirt gets very wet. I tried all of the usual things including a different shirt, electrodgel, new battery and it didn’t work. Contacted Garmin and got a replacement – same problem again. Now I will try a Polar Wearlink+ strap with the garmin transmitter and see if that helps. It seems lots of people are having problems with the soft strap, and since most problems come at the end of workouts it isn’t the normal lack or contact or static electricity problem that is covered in this acticle. Would be nice if DC Rainmaker could push Garmin to comment on the problem that their product has.
Great article. Thanks!
Very helpful article. Thank you!
This is the first time I’ve found documentation that precisely mirrors what I’ve experienced.
At first I thought I needed to see a doctor. But when I started seeing readings in the 240s at times when I wasn’t exerting myself and felt fine I realized there was an equipment problem.
In my case, I’d only see this happen on relatively cool days, wearing a “keep you dry” bike shirt and when turning into a strong wind.
Thanks again!
I recently contacted Garmin, and they suggested that I CLEAN the heart rate strap. They referred me to the instruction manual, and sure enough, it says to clean the strap after every use… and after every 5 uses, use dish soap.
The strap looked clean, but here is what I did. I wore it sitting in front of my computer, and around the house. HR 175 – 250. Yeah Right. Then, I cleaned it as suggested, and did a workout. Even wore a technical shirt. I’ll be damned. The thing gave perfect readings the whole time!! Two workouts under the belt now, with good readings. Let your users know!
After many random heart rate spikes, odd performances and general issues with my heart rate graphs, it finally got to a point where every workout started in the 250 bpm range and within 2 mins it was fine. I decided it was time to replace the battery….
So I TRIED to replace the battery which made it no longer work period.
After some searching, someone recommended putting the battery in backwards to short-circuit the HRM. This did the trick! So if you are having weird graphs – as some do in the comments above…short circuit then replace your battery!
Hi Rainmaker,
Please could you advise me on the following matter: I would like to use a heart rate monitor watch with a chest strap in the winter however I have an old Polar watch and my strap is not working (the watch do not receives any signal) under a shirt and/or thin jacket (not even under a sigle very thin T-shirt). What do you think, is a Garmin working under a shirt and a thin jacket
(is the technology different) or should I forget to count calories and zones in a cold winter outside? I am considering to buy a Garming Forerunner 305, it would be fun to see all (motivational) data. (Unfortunately I have a lot of overweight and I can only walk so I need to have a jacket on mee). Thanks a lot in advance for any advice! Peter
All of the above solutions worked for me when I was using a Polar S720i, but with my Garmin 310XT and soft strap, I am still having problems. I have been training indoors all winter, where it is neither cold nor dry, and I am pouring with sweat not long into my workout, and I still get erratic readings until well into the session. For the first 3 months of ownership it worked fine, but now I have these problems every time I use it.
Bingo – my symptoms met your cure, in my case, cheap electrode gel stopped the dry contacts issue.
Many thanks, –Pete
Ray, any word on when the new-new premium soft strap is going to be available for stand-alone purchase, if ever? I’m a 310xt user, and I’m now on my 2nd polar Wearlink+ strap, which seems to last a little longer than the original Garmin soft strap, but still has problems of its own.
Do you think they will ever offer the new strap standalone without the transmitter? Based on their offering for the existing soft strap (strap+transmitter together as the only option) I’m guessing not.
If not offered soon, I’m thinking about just going back to the old plastic strap, but if I’m going to buy a whole new strap/transmitter, I’d rather it be the newest one.
Hi Chris-
Yes, they’ve been offering the standalone strap since back in January. Any ‘premium strap’ bought off of Garmin.com will ship the newest 2010 version. And the majority of straps bought off of Amazon will (just look for the product ID number to end in: -02).
Enjoy!
Hi Ray, I have read your article, and I keep getting false data on my 310. My graph is just a bit different. The peaks above 100% max, is placed in the middle of the trainings session, instead of only the beginning.
Example.
1 km = 103 % max
2 km = 111 % max
3 km = 116 % max
4 km = 91 % max
5 km = 94 % max
Im pouring water on the strap before I put it on my chest. And I place it as you describe.
Do you have any ideas ?
Best regards,
Anders, Denmark, Europe
My wife and I have been experiencing similar problems to the ones described. We both have the Garmin premium strap and have been using them for a year or so. After buying gel, wetting the contacts and reading a lot of ideas, nothing seemed to be helping. I was about to give up and try a different strap when I stumbled upon a solution. I believe that the electrical connection that is made by BOTH snaps is important. Like most people, I always unsnap the HRM on the same side every time, and had never unsnapped the other side. So I unsnapped and resnapped the unused side 20 times or so, and have had zero problems since then. My wife has had the same results with her strap. No more gel, and I haven’t even been wetting the contacts before I go. Hope this helps someone.
That really helped! My heart rate monitor kept currint out – fixed it with gel for a few days, but after reading your post, unsnapped and snapped the monitor and I am off again! Thank you!
Well your snap idea got me to thinking that “corrosion” might be building up in the snap on the strap (pardon the rhyme), I took a small paring knife and carefully scraped the surfaces in the strap snap. Eureka! It’s been working now for 5 minutes straight. I may have to add this to my training regimen.
Try this: Link your wrists with a pair of anti-static straps used by electronic and computer repair techs antistatic strap . You can find them at electronics stores eg StarTech. Buy two, connect them end-to-end, put one on each wrist, and although my testing has not been exhaustive, I think you will see a disappearance of the high heart rate in the first minutes of your run and the elimination of heart rate bursts later in your sessions.
I can’t get the screws out of the battery box on the premium heart strap. The other hear rate strap I ended up stripping with a coin. Why is this so hard to get the battery out?
The screws are beyond small.
I actually seem to have the inverse problem. After 30 – 1 hour, my Suunto HRM starts to wander – either hiking slowly to the 220′s, or stabilizing around some 150 – no matter the terrain or the effort. I ride in warm weather and sweat profusely – my synthetic shirt is soaked – so it is not a dryness problem – I even thought the shirt could be electrically shorting the sensors(?) – it seems to start often after some strenuous portion – where my breathing may get less cadenced – I thought the R-R measurement may be screwing up the values – but the log does not show that… Suunto replaced the strap (not including the transmitter) – no improvement..
Thanks a lot for posting this. I’ve had this happen numerous times, and it’s been much more frequently as of late. After reading your article it makes perfect sense. It’s getting colder, I’ve been doing more rides early, when it’s REALLY cold, and I’m definitely not working up a sweat early on, cause the first couple of miles are flat or slightly downhill.
I never experience this running, due to the fact(from your explanation) that I sweat like a pig, even during easy runs.
I’m glad I read this, I was worried that my Garmin was starting to die on me. Glad to know of these solutions.
can you wear the heart rate monitor on your thighs? Wearing it on the chest is very uncomfortable
?
thanks
“can you wear the heart rate monitor on your thighs?”
I think not. I believe the HR strap picks up the electrical impulses from the heart that trigger heart beats rather than the actual beat or pulse. To confirm, try it on your thigh and see if you get a reading.
As well as the spikes, I get a similar issue to gideons on longer rides. Usually after really pushing it my reading drops and stays at some really low value. Any ideas why this might happen ?
Great post, DC. Thank you. We get questions about high, wacko readings on occasion in our heart rate training group at RunningAhead. I think I’ll make a permanent link to this. Keep going!
To add to the comment #33 by Greg:
I also own a Garmin PREMIUM HRM STRAP. My legacy Polar strap always works flawlessly. After three months of use, the newer Garmin PREMIUM started to give me erratic mid-workout readings. After having eliminated all the rest (wetting the electrodes with salty water, varying the position of the strap, wetting the t-shirt to remove statics, resetting the transmitter by removing the battery, all to no avail), the only thing that worked for me was:
anti-scratch electrical contact cleaner.
You can find it in any hardware store, it is a silicone grease spray that cleans, desoxidizes and protects all kind of electrical contacts. Usually applied to automotive contacts and hi-fi appliances.
If all other solutions fail, try this one, and enjoy the run!
Alex, France
Just to confirm: apply the electrical contact cleaner onto both snaps (white metal parts), not onto the black electrodes!
Alex, France
I have this problem a lot when running in cold weather. Instead of heart rate gel, I tried aloe vera gel and it worked like a charm.
Ray!
I was just ready to smash my Timex HR soft strap to the wall when I came across your post …
Thanks to your ECG gel hint you’ve made me save 50 bucks and a lot of angry!
Long Live to Ray (and to his precious posts) !
Thanks my friend, very informative
thanks a ton for this informative post… downhill 36 mph and a 240 heart rate. your explanation was right on.
I was having problems with my Garmin Premium HR strap. I read this post and the comments and tried everything except buying the gel. I considered adding “one more thing” to my list of items I need on a ride/training to be a last resort.
However, desperate, today I had a breakthrough. I took off the snapped-in sensor and completely wet the fabric strap. I wrung it out the best I could and then strapped it on and put he sensor in place. This worked for me like a champ. I don’t know if the synthetic fabric the strap is made of was interfering with a charge of its own or it was the soaking that finally made the right contact, but this has solved my issues completely. Hopefully just one more success story for troubleshooting to share.
Today I found one of sources of mysterious HR spikes during running. I wear a Fixx Road ID (dog tag style)which would come into contact with my chest strap. Once I removed the tag, my HRM functioned normally.
A bit off topic, but can one mix and match HRM straps w/monitors as long as they are of the same brand?
I need to have the battery replaced and I was hoping to use another (both Polar) in the meantime…
Does wearing a sports bra with an underwire cause problems with heart rate showing up or being incorrect?
Are all chest band the same, not transmitter onley the soft strap. Looks like Wahoo, Polar and garmin uses the same type of alastic strap, but it it possibel to mix eg. Wahoo transmitter on polar strap ?
Most of the ANT+ ones are the same, but the Polar straps are different (different material, texture, etc…). But the Wahoo, Garmin, Timex, Cycleops, _____ (fill in the blank ANT+ vendor) all use the same OEM behind the scenes.
Dos that mean that Wahoo Blue HR also can use the Polar Wearlink strap ?
I assume that the elastic strap onley contains a sensor and all the differens is in the transmitter ?
Yup, correct, no problem at all (I’ve tried it). They all mix and match. Enjoy!
Does anyone know if it’s possible to wear a Garmin Ant+ HR strap at the same time as a Polar Wearlink Strap (5khz coded)? Wondering if either would interfere with the other. I like the polar for fitness features, but want to capture data to use with Sports Tracks software, which can’t use Polar live.
I believe Ant+ is 2.4Mhz, so I’m hoping there would be no interference.
Thanks,
Michael
Like several other posters, my problem starts mid run, usually around 20 minutes in. I will be at 170~ bpm, and then notice a gradual decline. Everytime I look down it will be slightly lower… 165… 160… 155… and it just continues to taper off until I finish the run. If I go long enough it will get down in to the 70′s. I almost get the feeling that instead of actually tracking my hr, it’s averaging my heartrate but registering 0 for the second half of the run, and constantly averaging the increasing amout of time at “0″ with the earlier rate of 170. But I can’t find anything that would explain this behavior…
By the way, this is a new unit. I’ve only had it a few weeks.
I just wanted to add my experience as one of those people who have a problem with the HR reading artificially low numbers. It starts out seemingly ok, but after 20 minutes or so the reading will drop down to 100 or below, even though I’m maintaining a similar effort as before. This happens with both the old stiff strap, and a new soft strap. I have tried it on my back (even worse), wrapped around my side (about as bad), and I have used the giant tube of electrode gel (no apparent effect). It seems I’m unmonitorable. Is there any common thread among us getting the low heart rate readings? I tend to be a heavy sweater, I’m not sure what else would be relevant.
After trying all the tricks found here and other places, my solution to the heart rate strap problem is to return it for a new one. Each time I have done this, the new strap works for about 45-50 days before it starts some sort of shenanigans. I use the strap at least 14 hours per week. When the errors start I just return it again.
Garmin needs to figure this one out and I do not need to be purchasing 7-8 straps a year.
I have tried every trick here plus trying the Polar Wearlink strap which will allow the Garmin monitor to snap on. I find that whilst the Garmin soft strap will spike irrespective of any fix you can think of, the Polar drops out and is totally unresponsive if I don’t rinse and completely dry between uses. Additionally as others have mentioned, all the straps seem to behave reasonably ok for a month or so then become problematic.
Dom
Thanks! I’m new to the tracking life, and this article was so informative and consolidated what I needed. Hardly anything like it out there.
Oh my, I feel so silly… I thought the small black metal things right under the snaps (soft strap) were the electrodes, and I was looking for solutions because that part was not touching my skin (I have a slightly sunken chest)… Now I realize it is not such a bad design after all. Thanks for switching the lights on in my brain! Now if only I could find a good software to display my HR on the computer… I got Golden Cheetah and ANTHRM to work, but still looking for something “nicer”.
Can a single heart rate strap pair with two different monitor units simultaneously, say an FR 70 and an Edge 500, for use in a triathlon or the like?
Yup, no problems at all – I do it all the time, especially for testing. Will probably actually do it in a little bit here for a few tests.
This is a great post, thank you! I know this is a big delayed, but do you have any insights for the folks who experience the drastic dip in HR after about 30 minutes of activity? This is my current problem and driving me nuts. It consistently displays down to 35-40 bpm after 30 minutes, which is frustrating to see. Any thoughts? Could it be moisture getting into the battery? Or is there a way to clean the battery connections?? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!!
Add me as one more that has had lots of problems with the Garmin premium HR strap. The last one lasted me only 3 months (I tried everything.) The old style lasted me longer so that’s what I bought to replace the last premium garmin. The other thing I like about the classic is that all the electronics are in a plastic band which is easy to clean, whereas on the soft-strap you have contacts (decreased reliability) and wires/contacts on a soft-strap that you’re not allowed to wash. With the classic strap I throw the elastic in the washer and it’s cheap to replace when you need to (unlike the premium soft-strap)
Hi Dc rainmaker, I saw your post about heart rate spike. How about gaps between the heart rate? here’s a pic to clearly illustrate what i mean. link to fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net
Had the same problem, on both mine and the girlfriends heart rate monitors. Solved by soaking the straps in water and some mild dishwashing soap over night.
As you sweats, the salts in the sweat is fairly hard to wash out of the belt with regular water. The soap will do the job.
Good luck :O)
I solved my problem of low readings for the soft Garmin heart rate monitor by placing it above my nipples and not below.. worked perfectly for a 45 minutes run outside. I’ll try this out again on a longer run this weekend.
I used to get this problem for almost every ride. I used three different chest straps and monitors, and several different jerseys. It seemed to be more related to the jerseys, though not totally predictable. But when I bought an Endomondo jersey I got it at the start of every ride, with any type of strap and monitor.
Then about a year ago I started adding a Lenor tumble drier antistatic sheet to my stuff after every wash. Since then I’ve never had a single spike with any kit at all.
But, not all tumble drier sheets work as well. I tried the Tesco brand, and the spikes came back. So I went back to Lenor and they disappeared again.
Cheers, Alan.
I’m writing is to offer up a hint as to getting better contact with your HR Strap. Here’s what I’ve found to work pretty well. And, not judging, it’s generally more pleasant than licking the strap. But I digress.
After applying chamois cream to my junk I do a light rinse of my hand with water and schmear the chamois / water mixture on my chest, right where the HR contacts would be. Then I wet the HR strap contacts under the tap and finally “strap on”.
I’ve yet to have any idiosyncratic BPM irregularities using this technique. It seems to work with Assos and Chamois Butter. Let me know if it works for you.
Rainmaker,
I’ve been having problems with the Garmin Premium Heart Rate Monitor Strap (Soft Strap) with my 910xt. It seems to drop the bpm reading every now and then, no matter how sweaty I am. I thought it was the strap, so I called Garmin and they sent me a new one. I used the new strap with my old monitor for several weeks and everything was back to normal. But now the new strap is having the same problem. So as a test, I tried using my PolarWearlink monitor with my Garmin soft strap, and it worked fine (you can tell it’s consistently on, because it makes a ticking sound when it’s connected). Has this problem happened before? Any guidance? I am really at my wit’s end!
Thanks for any help!
-Andrew
Initially my Garmin 305 HRM worked very well; it could, in fact, give hospital equipment a run for its money. However, over a period of time I started getting erratic readings and then it faded altogether. After some back and forth with Garmin, they agreed that they would look into the problem (it being in the warranty period).
Just before sending it of, as an experiment I decided to put the strap on upside down – and it started working as of old! Yes, upside down – not back to front! Now the Garmin logo is the wrong way up when I wear it, but the readings are fine. Garmin has said that there should be no problem wearing it like that. Go figure!
My wife had major issues, which we tried everything to fix, including swapping straps (used two version of polar, and the garmin one), conductive gel (she’s a physiotherapist, so we have gallons of the stuff). Nothing worked.
Then we moved the strap to above the breast, and perfect now.
Had the same trouble with peaks. Followed your advice and swaped strap to Polar WearLink. It works perfectly!!! Thanks very much Ray for the post – you save me lots of time correcting wrong HR data.
Manuel from Germany
I recently had some cramping around my heart rate monitor during a Half Ironman, so took it off mid run and put it into my Spi-Belt. When i uploaded the data, voila, i had a heart rate the whole time…after i took it off…the heart rate was very similar to my foot cadence….i think for those that are getting readings in the160- 200 range that don’t think they should, it could be too loose and measuring your body’s up/down motion instead of your heart beat. Here’s my data…notice it went from 140ish to 160s steady(i tend to have a slow cadence in the 90 degree weather)
link to connect.garmin.com
In terms of cleaning it….i wear it into the shower every once in a while and it seems to do the trick for cleaning…
I’ve been having a lot of problems recently, leading to a graph almost exactly like the one above, with ridiculous HR reading during the first 6-8 minutes of my warm-up on the treadmill. I’ve tried changing HRMs/straps/monitors, using spit/salt water/ECG gel. Nothing seems to make any difference.
After reading this article it has suddenly clicked that the start of the problem coincides with my gym changing to new treadmills. I’m getting static shocks when I touch the control panel. It appears I’m running on a van de graaff generator.
I just got my first “Garmin premium HRM” and so far it is working well. I see in the manual (yes I’m one of those crazy people that reads the manual) it says to unsnap the HRM from the strap when not in use. I’m not sure if this means after each run or if it’s not going to be in use for an extended period. I’m concerned about damaging the snaps (on either the strap or the HRM unit) if they are are used so often (off and on each day).
Any thoughts on this?
Thanks,
Les
Yeah, I’ve never bothered to do so, I think you’re fine.
I replaced my Polar FT60 with a Timex Run Trainer about 2 weeks ago. HRM was working fine most of the time but on a walk recently I had spikes. I think it was due to dryness and the fact that the strap was not tight enough. Made sure to retighten strap after each use and that helps. Yesterday morning after an hour on my stationary bike, my rate started to spike into the 170 to 190 range (usually my HR maxes out at 160 tops). I sweat heavily and I am wondering if too much moisture causes problems. I had small spikes today after I got off the bike and was stretching. When I stood still, my HR went back to normal. Has any one used the timex transmitter with a strap from another manufacturer successfully? Should I wash my strap with soap?
Question I have a Garmin edge 800. THere seems to be a lot of variation in calories burned between and my friends riding. I just purchase a Polar RS300X heart rate monitor watch with the wearlink 31+ chest strap. Could I wear the polar chest strap and my Garmin Edge 800 work with it? I want to compare my watch to edge 800 calories burned.
Thanks
Could you use something like Vaseline as a gel for your heart rate strap?
Finally, an answer to a serious concern. I have an implanted defibrillator and have been shocked by it from running too hard. My heart rate went way up and BAM! So I started using a Sportsline monitor. It started giving me huge leaps in bpm, from about 120 to 180 and climbing. That really worried me and I contacted my doctor (no help there) and the manufacturer of the monitor and the defibrillator. They had not heard of the problem. The last thing I wanted is for it it be accurate, that my heart rate really was surging. This gives me some confidence.
Really helpful advice. I have a Polar and whenever I go downhill on my bike at hit anything over 25mph my max heart rate leaps to 200+ only to settle back to the normal rate once I am on the flat. I am thinking of wrapping bubble wrap round the monitor to protect it from wind chill. No one has thought of THAT!!! Followed the advice and bought a bottle of gel through Amazon. Amazingly cheap and very effective.
I have a Polar FT80. When I wear an acrylic shirt, the heart rate jumps to around 160 as soon as I start running. It stays like this for about 10 to 20 minutes. After reading this blog, I changed my shirt to a cotton polo shirt. Got a good result straight away with a proper reading. The resulting graph was smoother and there were no spikes. The shirt was the only thing I changed. Same wetting procedure and same wearing location. No gel.
Thank you for helping me solve my problem.
Hi DC – I know this is an old thread, but got a super high readout at the beginning of my run today (200-220 Yikes!), adjusted strap, waited for sweat — nothing. Then unclipped the HRM from the strap (whilst running, too) and put it back on and whoa-la, normal readings. Not sure what happened between the HRM and my 610, but whatever it was that seemed to fix it.
Hi DC,
The erratic readings have mainly 3 reasons.
1.Not wet enough sensor. Solution–apply gel.
2.Static electricity (this is to blame for spikes during startup). Has to do with atmosphere condition, clothing ( mainly synthetic). Solutions–Try to discharge yourself, just before your workout, by touching ground, choose your clothing (try to find which of your cloths create the problem)
3. End of battery life– get a new one silly!!!
just my 2c
my HRM problem was that I would get intermittent signal. it would work fine for 30 seconds, a minute, whatever, then nothing. Sometimes it would start up on its own or immediately if I touched my finger to the electrode area. I simply moved the contacts to the left so that one is over the base of the heart and the other one is on my side and have had no loss of signal now for 15 minutes. thanks a lot
I got my soft strap with Garmin 500 and was having all those problems. Garmin screwed up the design, that’s it. Bought the old Garmin strap and it has been working great for 18 months. Changed battery once when reading started to be irregular. Buy the old one for $37 at amazon and stop having problems.
I just pee on mine. Then I don’t have to lick, the salts and minerals conduct, and it is warm to boot!
I have chest hair and been having problems with the Garmin Premium Heart Rate Monitor Strap (Soft Strap) with my 910xt. I also had problems with a Timex strap I used to use on another watch. Commion problem is that until I build up a sweat the readings are of little use and the strap can slide down a bit too so that I end up having to pull the damn thing back up a few times. I’m sure some of the public think I must be wearing some sort of a bra but with a beard they must be a bit puzzled. I will try the Gel as licking drys too quickly, however I think the manufacturers should consider adding some small pimples to their electrode contact surfaces. These pimples would nudge their way through hairs and get a skin contact in a faster time than the flat surface.
Hi, I happened to have a polar HRM strap, just swapped out the sensor w/ my Garmin, and my HR fluctuations were immediately resolved. Thanks so much for the very helpful article.
Hi, I ran a loop twice. Its hilly and makes you work hard. But, I got two very different heart rate readings. On the second (erroneous) run, I improved my time considerably, and expected to see a bit higher heart rate, but instead I have peaks at 240-250 and of 210 at various points in the run.
See comparison pic at: link to plus.google.com
On both runs I wore shirts that were made of Polartec Power Dry material. The only two differences I can think of are (1) it was windy while running the second time maybe gusts over 20-25 Mph, (2) The shirt on the second run was thinner material so it would contact the skin more.
Given the comments on static, is that what I am seeing?
Wind tends to dry out the fabric much quicker, thus decreasing the moisture available. It looks like in those sections, you didn’t get good connectivity. Sometimes on cycling, you’ll see issues at higher speeds (i.e. 30-40MPH) with wind and loose fitting jersey’s causing super-high HR’s like you noted.
Has anyone tried the Garmin HRM3 heart rate monitor and strap? I have 3 Garmin HRM2 heart rate monitors, two Polar monitors and several Garmin and Polar straps. Two of the Garmins haven’t worked for quite some time and the last one stopped working today. Changing the battery and extra cleaning the strap didn’t help at first, but I did get it going again. I have been looking at strapless monitors, but I feel I might be trading one problem for another. Also, I am not sure there would be any that are compatible with my Garmin 310XT. So, I came across the HRM3, which apparently was just released and I ordered just the strap on Amazon.
Can anyone adress the opposite? My Polar hrm seems to measure too low..
The quickest fix is to have a close fitting jersey. End of story.
My Garmin Edge will also pick up other HR monitor straps on some days, skewing my readings..
Assuming you’ve paired it once to your strap, it will only ever connect to your own strap. It’s possible however that you may have having spikes/drops and those are what you’re thinking is other straps.
I wish that were true. I didn’t even have my heart rate strap on one day and some other cyclists pulled up beside me. My Edge showed “HR Monitor detected” and I had their heart rate information until we were nearly 20 feet apart.
I thought you could only connect with a paired strap as well. The only explanation is Garmin recycles their unique identifiers. Being in Denver, you can’t go 5 minutes without seeing another cyclist.
The ride in question is right here:
link to connect.garmin.com
See how I have heart rate at 39:42 right at a light as someone pulls beside me. I continue to record heart rate until 42:10 when we are far enough apart. Since i didn’t have my strap even with me, I didn’t have heart rate for the rest of the ride.
You know, thinking back, there’s a bug I saw a number of firmware versions ago where the unit will go into a searching mode if it can’t find it’s normal HR strap friend – doing exactly what you describe. I’m pretty sure it was fixed though. Have you validated you’re on the latest firmware?
Also, any chance for a soft-reset?
Interesting, I was on firmware 3.0 at the time.
I may soft reset, leaving for a self-supported trip in a week and don’t want to mess with perfection too much at the moment.