Tips for getting heart rate monitor to work???

I have never been able to get my heart rate monitor to work consistently. I have a Garmin Edge 500, previously had a 305 (more than one) and since I started riding five years ago, I have always had issues whenever I tried using the HR monitor. So, for the most part I haven't bothered.

I am a full 34D and I'm wondering if this is part of my problem. Maybe I can't get it to go as high as it's supposed to go? I put it just under my "girls" , as high as I can get it, sometimes with the elastic of the bra over it. I have warn it on the tightest setting, which feels too loose and it would only sometimes engage and tell me my HR. DH uses the goopey stuff doctors use to do an ultra sound on his. He read somewhere that it helps get a better reading and it seems to work for him. So I tried that and it didn't work. Someone told me his wife makes hers tighter with safety pins. I tried that today, with the goopey stuff and still it only sometimes registers my HR. If I push against the monitor, I can usually get it to tell me my HR. I could try making it even tighter, but I'm not feeling very hopeful that will work.

Should I try putting it above my boobs? That doesn't sound very comfortable, but I don't think I have tried it. DH has changed the battery, and we have tried more than one strap as Garmin computers got lost, crushed, upgraded, etc. ;)

Any tips you guys might have would be great.

I use a Polar heartrate monitor myself - it helps to make the contacts wet (depends on the system I guess - I just let water run over my strap and the contacts of the actual monitor).
If the strap is very loose this could be a problem too. Could you just cut the strap and sew it back together in a tighter position?
Is it possible that the band of your bra interferes with the monitor (some of my sportsbras tend to flip the monitor over)?

Wet contacts do help. It doesn't have to be mashed up into your boobage, more like aligned even with where the bottom of your bra elastic is.

Maybe you do need a smaller strap? Chances are they make different sizes, even if you only got one. It should be tight, but not suffocatingly so.

If it usually works when you press on it, it sounds like the strap might be too loose so I'd try pinning (to test) and then perhaps cutting/joining the strap as suggested. Does it work reliably just lying down with the pickup pressed firmly against your chest at bra line? Given that it's paired and has a new battery, I can only suggest any firmware updates that haven't been done, or contacting Garmin Support. I use the premium strap which adjusts easily and no problems, but I had no problems with the previous monitor either.

Garmin's new "premium" HR straps are notorious for poor performance. If that's the one you have, I'd read some of the user forums for tips, and/or replace it with the old-style hard strap. It's not as comfortable, but if it works consistently and the elastic doesn't wear out within a few months ... I'll take a little bit of chafing on runs over 20 miles. (There's also a shorter elastic strap available for the old-style strap.)

If you're using it exclusively on the bike, one of the things they suggest is to try putting the electrodes on your back. Sometimes between gravity and the curve of your spine, a cyclist's posture can force the HR strap away from your body.

I use aloe vera gel on the electrodes - cheaper and easier to get than real electrode gel. If you go that way, just make sure you use 100% aloe without added oils or emollients that can interfere with reception.

Bra bands can push the HR strap crooked, too. That might be another reason to put the electrodes on your back where everything's flatter and there's more room to operate. I don't suppose it's as easy for you as it is for small-busted me to find a bra where the transmitter just tucks up in between, above the band.

Oh man...I just ordered myself a Garmin Edge 500, so hearing of this HRM issue concerns me a bit. I'm hoping I don't have any problems with it.

Everyone has offered some great advice, so I hope that helps! The only thing that I have to add is have you tried a sports bra that is made for heart rate monitors? Polar makes one in several colors last I checked. This would eliminate the issue of straps not being tight enough and moving.

I've used them for years now, and while others have had issues like yours, I've fortunately have had good luck with them. Definitely keep us posted!!

Polar transmitters, including the sports bras (I think Nike makes one too) aren't compatible with Garmin computers, unfortunately.

I have a Polar HRM so I'm not sure if my tricks will help, but I had better luck when I moved the strap lower down on my ribcage--I think the contact/rubbing with my bra strap would make the sensors lose contact with my skin, so now I put the strap about an inch below the bra. After you get over the sensation that it's about to slip down (it never has) it's fine. I also use a store brand version of K-Y jelly on the contacts, particularly in cold weather where I can't count on sweat to keep the contacts wet. I've noticed a hierarchy of effectiveness--the HRM works most consistently when I'm swimming and least consistently when I'm cycling, which makes sense--when I'm swimming it's wet all the time and I have no bra on and I"m wearing a skin-tight suit, and when I'm cycling the constant breeze dries off my skin pretty quickly and my position makes the strap lose contact easily.

I haven't used my Polar HR monitor in a few years... it always got interference and would show my HR at 300! I actually had two; bought the "smaller" strap, which worked well, though. I used to just lick the contact points before putting it on. Yea, not for germ-a-phobes.
I was paying so much attention to the damn thing, I stopped using it.

I think there's abit of confusion here, or perhaps I'm confused :p My suggestion was to use a sports bra made for heart rate monitors... Polar or Nike whomever makes them. I'm NOT suggesting using a Polar transmitter with a garmin...I thought perhaps that sports bra would help hold the transmitter in place... regardless of whether you use Polar, garmin, Sigma or Vetta.

My ta-tas are on the large side and my rib cage is small (32DD), my best result have come from licking the sensors and then sans strap tucking the monitor part up under the girls with the elastic of the sports bra keeping it in place...so far so good with that technique.

I have both hard straps and soft straps for my Polar HRM and my Garmin Edge 705.

Yep... straps come in diff sizes, I have a small. I'm 34D bra also. I just tuck my strap up under the edge of my bra band. And yep yep... the soft strap for both products, unfortunately, does not perform as well or long as the hard ouchy strap.

OK, besides running water over the electrodes before you put it on to pick up the heart rate... the wet makes the contact... you need to remember to rinse it in clear water (no soaps) AFTER you use it... to cleanse it... hang up / drip dry.

I've helped many peeps at my gyms, and have personal experience as well, of straps not working because the dried sweat crystals are clogging things up. This was at the advice of a service tech when I called in for help because my unit wasn't working properly.

Good luck, hope you get some resolve.

Polar has told me, more than once, that the soft strap must be washed from time to time - in the washing machine! Periodically I toss it in the washer with my bike clothes - and it always improves the performance. I just replaced the strap I from last year as the end of the thing where it hooks just came apart. As long as I wet the contacts on the strap I've not had a problem with it picking up my heart rate. I do have a bra that tends to push it out of the way though...I really need to replace that thing :o

In the washing machine??? :eek: I don't think I'd do that to a Garmin strap. Cripes, their cadence sensors aren't waterproof. :rolleyes:

The strap that went with my old Forerunner 301 needed to be scrubbed with an old toothbrush now and then. Dried sweat crystals is probably the least of what was in there. :eek: The way the ANT+ hard strap is designed, I've never needed to do more than rinse my transmitter unit (and I don't do that as regularly as some people might) - and I've got a lot of pretty scuzzy miles on it. :p I do wash the elastic strap once in a while.

Thanks guys. You have given me many things to try. I think I'll start with ordering the small strap. Even though safety pinning mine hasn't seemed to help, maybe the smaller strap will somehow help. I have noticed, actually, that my strap loosens when I wear it (but still didn't work right at it's tightest).

I will be careful to clean the sensors.

I will try to lower it and see if that helps. (Already tried putting it "under" the actual bra strap. But typically it goes just below the bra strap.)

I'll look for the Polar sports bra to attach it to.

And if none of that works, I'll resort to trying the older, less comfy strap. Hmmmm. Dh might even have one I could try right now.

I'll keep you posted on my progress. :)

Just to clarify - the small strap I linked to goes with the hard strap, and attaches by means of plastic snap buckles. It's not compatible with the soft strap, that integrates the electrodes into the strap, with metal snaps to snap the transmitter onto the outside of it. Garmin only has the one size of replacement soft straps on their website.

I wear a 34 band, so it sounds like I'm a little bit bigger around than you. I have the hard strap with the standard sized elastic and I don't even have it adjusted all the way tight - I have almost 3" between the adjuster and the buckle, with the strap unstretched (adjusting it would double it, so I'd be able to make the unstretched length smaller by about 1-1/2"). With the hard strap, comfort isn't an issue for me on the bike at all - and in a pinch, like now when I have a big incision from having a mole taken off my back, on the bike I can wear the transmitter under my bra without the strap. Even running, as I said, it only bothers me on the longest, sweatiest runs. For those, some masking tape to smooth the battery cover, and a little body glide under the buckles, helps quite a bit.


Good luck...

I've been having a similar issue with a Garmin HR monitor. I can't seem to find the right position for the sensor. I tried wedging it under my bra band and that was uncomfortable, but positioning it right under the bra has yielded some problems picking up HR.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Just to clarify - the small strap I linked to goes with the hard strap, and attaches by means of plastic snap buckles. It's not compatible with the soft strap, that integrates the electrodes into the strap, with metal snaps to snap the transmitter onto the outside of it. Garmin only has the one size of replacement soft straps on their website.

I wear a 34 band, so it sounds like I'm a little bit bigger around than you. I have the hard strap with the standard sized elastic and I don't even have it adjusted all the way tight - I have almost 3" between the adjuster and the buckle, with the strap unstretched (adjusting it would double it, so I'd be able to make the unstretched length smaller by about 1-1/2"). With the hard strap, comfort isn't an issue for me on the bike at all - and in a pinch, like now when I have a big incision from having a mole taken off my back, on the bike I can wear the transmitter under my bra without the strap. Even running, as I said, it only bothers me on the longest, sweatiest runs. For those, some masking tape to smooth the battery cover, and a little body glide under the buckles, helps quite a bit.


Good luck...

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Thanks for the clarification. I had seen the smaller strap on the Garmin site last night (didn't realize you gave me a link at first) ... and just assumed it would work with my monitor ... so good to know it won't, although ... BUMMER!

I guess I'll start with asking DH if he has an old version HR monitor. And I'll check out that Polar bra thing as well. I guess I'm off to do that right now. I'm a 34D, by the way. So should be the same rib cage size as you. I did have a woman tell me I could be a 32DD after she measured me for bra size once ... and I was having trouble finding a 34D that fit well. I bought a 32DD and it was uncomfortably tight. Maybe I'm really a 33!

I seriously want smaller boobs. Maybe that will fix ALL my problems!

Ok, so I kept forgetting to ask DH when I was in his presence if he had the old Garmin HR monitor. So, I resorted to one of the new and improved methods of communication and emailed him! I just got an email back saying, "Yes, in basket right above sock drawer."

Haha! So I may have my problem resolved ... sitting there in the basket right above the sock drawer. ;)

Not sure when I'm riding next. Probably Sunday or Monday. I'll let you know how it goes.

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Originally Posted by Jiffer

I'm a 34D, by the way. So should be the same rib cage size as you. I did have a woman tell me I could be a 32DD after she measured me for bra size once ... and I was having trouble finding a 34D that fit well. I bought a 32DD and it was uncomfortably tight. Maybe I'm really a 33!

I seriously want smaller boobs. Maybe that will fix ALL my problems!

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Ha, I think we have the same bra size! Sad thing...I'm a 33D AFTER breast reduction surgery. :(

I have yet to try my HRM that came with my Garmin Forerunner 305...ever, because of the boob/bra thing. And I have had mine for almost 3.5 years. In fact, I just got my 2nd 305 this week, since the first one was starting to act flaky. So now I have 2 never-used HRMs. I need to sell one of them, at this point.