Do all Heart Rate Monitor sensors suck....

Ian F

Ian F

Well-Known Member
...or do I just have shitty luck?

I have a growing pile of dead HRM sensors... two Wahoo chest sensors... one Wahoo arm sensor (that never worked at all)... and now a Garmin chest sensor... and it seems like all of them crap out after maybe a year. I've tried replacing the battery and that doesn't seem to fix anything.

FWIW, I run on the fast side of average. I can easily see a HR in the upper 180s or even 190s during a hard effort. Fairly high for my age (55). Because of this, I like to keep an eye on it when I ride.

Does anyone make a sensor that is reliable? Do I need to get some sort of smart watch? I'm just getting really tired of buying sensors that die after maybe a year.
 
I have had Polar H10 sensors for 5+ years that are very reliable. I’m not big on wahoo HRM, I’ve had the same experience with them as you.
 
do you wash the strap?
They are problematic.
a little moisture help get them started.
yes - they suck
my Garmin forerunner can transmit HR - is always works.
it is accurate? dunno - is relative measurement more important? yes.
 
my wahoo tickr battery cover door broke recently otherwise it was gucci

I just got the new rechargeable jawn and very excite to remove a 2032 battery from my setup
 
Scosche arm sensor seems to get good reviews. It's sealed, USB rechargeable through their clip on connector. DCRainmaker seems to use it as his standard sensor.

I use mine but generally only when infrequently riding indoors so I can't speak to real long term abuse but it is a few years old now and still works.
 
Santapez said:
Scosche arm sensor seems to get good reviews. It's sealed, USB rechargeable through their clip on connector. DCRainmaker seems to use it as his standard sensor.

I use mine but generally only when infrequently riding indoors so I can't speak to real long term abuse but it is a few years old now and still works.
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I second this. I’ve had good luck with my scosche arm band sensor. At best I use it 2x a week, but I sweat like a banshee and it’s held up for a few years now.
 
Iv been using bontrager chest straps. I'm on my 2nd one since 2013 ish so they hold up pretty well. 1/4turn sealed battery door (toolless change) and soft strap ftw
 
I went with a Optical arm band HRM on the trainer. I would go through 1wahoo chest strap a year riding zwift
Wahoo chest for outside rides. I think mine is 3 years old now.
 
I’ll throw the idea of a whoop in the ring.

I am loving the reports on how slow I am and how little sleep I often get.

It pairs w strava too


 
My hrmpro plus stopped working after chnahing the battery a fre weeks ago two I have an hrm 600 and it works fine for now but It was way too much money and I couldnt get it to stop cadence locking on a trail run I was pissed I had to just take it off.
 
Over the Bars said:
My hrmpro plus stopped working after chnahing the battery a fre weeks ago two I have an hrm 600 and it works fine for now but It was way too much money and I couldnt get it to stop cadence locking on a trail run I was pissed I had to just take it off.
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Isn't cadence locking more of a watch issue? Where the heat rate locks onto your cadence because of the light or whatever? Maybe the hrm hadn't synced to your watch yet? There shouldn't be any cadence locking with the strap cause it's not optical.
 
I'm still using a Garmin chest strap that came with the Edge 510 bundle I bought years ago. It's ugly, but works better than the 1 that came with the 520 bundle that I eventually gave to my wife. Clean it weekly and change batteries once a year.
 
I have the old Garmin chest strap that syncs with my bike units. It works but I have a newer Garmin watch with sensor I use for CrossFit and running. I've run them at the same time just to see what happens and seems they are about the same. There is sometimes a delay with my watch.
 
Mahnken said:
Isn't cadence locking more of a watch issue? Where the heat rate locks onto your cadence because of the light or whatever? Maybe the hrm hadn't synced to your watch yet? There shouldn't be any cadence locking with the strap cause it's not optical.
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No it can absolutely happen with both devices. Once I disconnected the strap the watch worked as intended. Cadabce lock so when the device senses your footsteps as your heart rate. It was showing around 177 when it should have been 134 ish I would stop let it reset then after 30 seconds of running it would go right back to it. Very frustrating never had it happen even once with the old one. Hopefully doesnt happen again. No issues on the bike or with road or treadmill running.
 
Over the Bars said:
No it can absolutely happen with both devices. Once I disconnected the strap the watch worked as intended. Cadabce lock so when the device senses your footsteps as your heart rate. It was showing around 177 when it should have been 134 ish I would stop let it reset then after 30 seconds of running it would go right back to it. Very frustrating never had it happen even once with the old one. Hopefully doesnt happen again. No issues on the bike or with road or treadmill running.
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I dunno, that's weird. From what I've read that usually happens with a loose watch strap causing the optical sensor to read your cadence instead of your heart rate. I've got a couple hundred miles running with the hrm600 and never had an issue like that. The only thing that happened to me once is the strap didn't connect to my watch so the watch had to search for the HR data when I stopped the run. That's why I asked if maybe it wasn't actually connected and the watch might have been the issue.
 
I went down a weird rabbit hole trying to diagnose the problem on my Garmin chest strap. I have learned that the button contacts get a small bit of corrosion on them if you sweat a lot and I clean mine every once in a while with steel wool. In addition I may have to pop it off, then I lick my index finger and thumb and create a lower resistance circuit then it wakes it up.
 
Mahnken said:
I dunno, that's weird. From what I've read that usually happens with a loose watch strap causing the optical sensor to read your cadence instead of your heart rate. I've got a couple hundred miles running with the hrm600 and never had an issue like that. The only thing that happened to me once is the strap didn't connect to my watch so the watch had to search for the HR data when I stopped the run. That's why I asked if maybe it wasn't actually connected and the watch might have been the issue.
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Apparently it happens more often when the strap is new and more often with trail running. I tried everything then gave up and took it off. I deleted and restarted the activity 3 times making sure it was paired each time and took my watch off just ti make sure it was still reading a heartbeat. Watch was on tight each time
 
Over the Bars said:
Apparently it happens more often when the strap is new and more often with trail running. I tried everything then gave up and took it off. I deleted and restarted the activity 3 times making sure it was paired each time and took my watch off just ti make sure it was still reading a heartbeat. Watch was on tight each time
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That sucks, I hate spending a ton of money on something just for it to malfunction out of the box. I've got some trail miles on mine but it's usually a couple miles of road running before I get to the trails.
 
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