Garmin HRM strap

Coach H

Is it worth paying £20 extra for a Premium HRM strap over a regular one?

rjsmith

Heard a few stories about the premiums not lasting. I've been through two (both giving extra high readings at times) so gone back to the original garmin strap of old. Maybe not quite as comfy but don't notice it after a while.

Silly Old Hector

I had the original strap fail and received a premium under warranty.

There are threads on this.

maddog 2

tried the premium. More comfortable but kept giving super high readings, so I flogged it and went back to the std one, which works fine.

big_p

i have the standard and mrs big p has the premium, both have been faultless.

mkviken

i had this debate when i bought my edge 500 last week but in the end went for the standard HRM and i can definitely say it is totally comfortable and so far has been totally reliable with no spikes or loss of signal.

personally i would just get the normal type if it were my money

bickers

I have the standard and the first time i used it i apparently peaked at 221bpm - i had eaten weatabix though so must be that

Its been faultless since though

Grill

3000 miles on the premium strap in under 3 months and it's as new. Not sure what part of it isn't supposed to last, but I recommend it.

TheStone

CRC doing the premium one quite cheap at the moment:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=44126

rich164h

Nowt wrong with the standard one. I've had mine for perhaps 4 years now and I've had to change he battery once. Other than that it's been faultless.

Coach H

Thanks everyone.

Went for an Edge 500 with a standard HRM - £187 from Evans

mkviken

could have saved another £2 from wiggle!


i got my edge 500 last week and its great. really pleased with it. used it a couple of times on the indoor trainer and done a couple of routes too.

havent tried the virtual partner yet but will do this week if weather improves

Monty Dog

The Garmin fabric strap is notorious for failure - mine went in 6 months. Polar is a better quality replacement.

Coach H

mkviken wrote:

could have saved another £2 from wiggle!

Thanks, but not in the Blk/Wht/Grey!

Monty Dog wrote:

The Garmin fabric strap is notorious for failure - mine went in 6 months. Polar is a better quality replacement.

Well I hope the Premium (fabric) is OK as that is what I recieved, not the standard advertised.
I am going to see how it goes.

rjgr

Keep the receipt! I'm on my third premium strap. Two bought, one warranty replacement. Don't know why they fail but premium stap definitely less reliable than the old/base model.

IMHO High spike readings can be due to dry air = poor contact with body, rectified when you start sweating, or use an electrode gel, or from static from tight fitting polyester running kit. Sometimes cured by an anti-static spray. (Never experienced on the bike, perhaps less friction between shirt and strap!). I'm anal enough to use both cures but still get intermittent wild readings when beating myself up on a treadmill. But as it is training for a run -after a swim and a bike ride -I don't expect sympathy here.