Best Heart Rate monitor compatible with Garmin Forerunner

dubbs2009
dubbs2009 Posts: 310
edited August 2014 in Training, fitness and health
Hi, I have 2 Garmin standard H/R monitors but they are just not reliable - they track HR for rides of 1 hour - but on longer rides they seem to lose the ability to track the data properly - see http://www.strava.com/activities/153970141/analysis to see what I mean - You can see it seems to be working nicely up until 40 miles - then up and down and rubbish data! Very annoying - this is a brand new monitor that is a few months old and not seen much action... What could be causing this? The strap does not move, its tight and with lots of moisture to make it work well - Cell is new (I assume with the new monitor), seems consistent this lack of ability to work on a long ride - very very annoying...

So.. I am planning on getting my money back from Garmin to replace the one I have now.... What I now need to know is... what should I replace it with? I want something super reliable - happy to pay for quality - any suggestions?

MUST work with Garmin Foreunner 305 for now and then an Edge 800/810/1000 as I plan to upgrade some day soon...

Any thoughts on a) what the issue with the current one might be and b) what the best on the market is?


Cheers

dubbs.

Comments

  • steve6690
    steve6690 Posts: 190
    Is it the garmin soft strap you're having problems with ?. If so, they can be very unreliable. I can recommend the Wahoo one. The new Wahoo Tickr is ant+ and bluetooth compatible.
  • dubbs2009
    dubbs2009 Posts: 310
    steve6690 wrote:
    Is it the garmin soft strap you're having problems with ?. If so, they can be very unreliable. I can recommend the Wahoo one. The new Wahoo Tickr is ant+ and bluetooth compatible.

    Nah it's the standard one - I had one which was great for a good few years - then would not work reliably... I replaced with a new one and this one straight away is very poor > Its this one > http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Monitor- ... B000UOD5QM

    I will have a look at the Wahoo one cheers
  • rollemynot
    rollemynot Posts: 436
    There is nothing wrong with the monitor.... It is more likely the strap. Get a Polar strap off amazon and clip in the garmin monitor. I used the soft strap and was getting spikes and lows then no recording, I have been using the polar strap for a year with no blips. Check this link from DC Rainmaker http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/solu ... pikes.html
  • dubbs2009
    dubbs2009 Posts: 310
    Rollemynot wrote:
    There is nothing wrong with the monitor.... It is more likely the strap. Get a Polar strap off amazon and clip in the garmin monitor. I used the soft strap and was getting spikes and lows then no recording, I have been using the polar strap for a year with no blips. Check this link from DC Rainmaker http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/solu ... pikes.html

    Thanks - appreciate your tip and link, but I don't have the soft-strap version of the Garmin HR - I have the standard one - e.g. 31F549s2M-L.jpg and it does not connect in the same way to the strap...

    Just found this - so will have a good read through and see if I can work anything out.... https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?10372-Heart-Rate-Monitor-Showing-False-Reading
  • dubbs2009
    dubbs2009 Posts: 310
    For those having similar issues - I can confirm the Wahoo Tickr is a great HR monitor that works really well with Garmin devices. Had no issues whatsoever since sending back the Garmin HR monitor and using this Wahoo Tickr. Great bit of kit!

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