Completely pissed with HRM

[deepakvrao]

I have a Edge 305 which works perfectly for me. The strap is a bit lose for my wife, so I shorten it with a ziptie. With the ziptie it becomes really tight, but just does not detect the HR.

Have tried electrode gel, salt water etc. Sometimes it picks up after a lot of sweating but is irregular. Have tried placing the electrodes on the back but still doesn't work.

Have ordered one for her but am at my wits end as to how to get it to work. Any suggestions?

[Biciclista]

are you talking about the wrist watch part? we had to get a special one that fit me- women's wrists are a lot smaller than men's are.
if it's the other part that goes around the chest, it still sounds like it is too small? maybe they have a smaller size?

[spazzdog]

Does the transmitter snap onto the chest strap?

If yes, you can use those sticky gel thingies that docs use for EKG's.

Long ago I had one like that. Went to a medical supply house (sometimes big rug stores have them) with transmitter in hand and found some that had same size snaps.

Stick those puppies on your SO's chest where the transmitter would be if on strap. Snap the transmitter onto the stickies. Go exercise!

Good Luck!

The cool thing is those dealies don't slide when you sweat AND if memory serves, they're pretty cheap.

spazz

[witeowl]

New battery for the chest strap?

[TrekTheKaty]

Maybe the zip tie is interfering with the signal? I'd buy a second strap for your wife--so you can just swap the strap out when you switch. It needs to fit properly.

[OakLeaf]

The Garmin HRM straps have a lot of adjustability, so if she's so small that the strap is too big for her, maybe the electrodes are just too far from her heart to register?

(For reference, I wear a 34-band bra, and my Garmin HRM strap could be shortened at least 4" from where I wear it.)

I know it's tough to give up on the GPS, but maybe a different brand HRM might fit her better. Maybe one of those sports bras that has the pocket for a Polar HRM right in the band.

I don't know about disassembling the transmitter to be able to use EKG electrodes, but if you could find a used one cheap on eBay or whatever, it might be worth giving it a shot...

[spazzdog]

no "disassembly" necessary... my transmitter snapped onto the strap. I just replaced the strap with the sticky (did I mention disposable) EKG dealies.

don't know if it would work with the model discussed here.

spazz

[OakLeaf]

The Garmin strap is one piece and disassembly would be required.



It looks like it snaps apart, but I didn't pull on mine hard enough to actually find out.

[malaholic]

Sometimes it picks up after a lot of sweating but is irregular

Is she remembering to wet the contact points down before she starts riding? If it's dry, the HRM might not register properly.

[deepakvrao]

Thanks guys for all the suggestions. I had tried everything except for two things:

1. The new strap - which I'll keep as a last resort as it involves spending money and getting stuff from the US
2. One electrode on the front and one on the back - worked today for about 2 hours, but then so has other positions.

Now that one electrode front and one back seems to work, I have to see if it works consistently over multiple rides.


This is the new strap which was suggested on BF.

[meganm]

I've had issues with the HRM staying under my bra without chafing. Otherwise I really like the 305 as a bike computer.