Is it hard to adjust to a HRM?

[Catrin]

Catrin-yes, I believe the battery is in the chest strap. I went online to look at their instructions and it says that the battery is "plugged" right into the top piece for water protection purposes. Ok, I can handle that.


When it says to throw the whole thing in the washer without soaking, spinning dry etc. How do you do that? My washer tempoarily soaks while it is getting its water, it spins in between wash and rinse cycles.. Do you just hand wash yours?

Thank you
Red Rock

Yep, it is provided and you just plug it straight into the chest strap. Some models you can switch out the battery yourself, others have to be sent into Polar - or so I have been told.

I hand-wash mine with every use - and it gets used a LOT - for all of my exercise/biking activities. A short time ago it started acting strange, couldn't get a signal, or the heart rate it picked up was something insane like 220, just weird stuff. I talked with them and they said it was time to put it in the washer. I put it in the most gentle cycle my washer has and it was fine - and it took care of the problem. I would not do that regularly however. Others may have better information on this.

[OakLeaf]

I don't know how your HRM is set up, but with mine, you can detach the strap from the part with the contacts and the transmitter. Periodically I'll throw the strap into the washer (front-loader) in a lingerie bag, usually with stuff like cycling gloves, and air dry it.

I wouldn't put the transmitter or the contacts in the washer, whether they're separate pieces or one piece, just because of all the twisting, even in a front-loader. They have to have some degree of water resistance to deal with sweat and rain, and some of them are used by triathletes in the water. When the contacts get cruddy (which happens more often with some designs than others, and also more often with some types of electrode gel than others, if you use any) - I take a toothbrush to it. Takes two minutes and gets it cleaner than machine washing would, anyway.

[mariacycle]

I assume you're talking about the type of HRM that rest just underneath your bra, in which case they are very easy to adjust without lifting your shirt because of their elastic strap. Once you get it fitted around you the only adjustment you'd have to make is *maybe* hiking it back up if it feel down though that has never been my experience.

[Red Rock]

Catrin,OakLeaf,and mariacycle thank you for all of your help and input. I will have to look at it more carefully after this input.

There is a difference between the electrodes and the strap in the back. I would think if one part gets sweaty, so would the other; so it would be good to throw the whole thing in and wash it well a few times, when needed of course.

As far as placement goes, I think I have that figured out. I will have to adjust placement depending on what I am wearing each day. As the temperatures go up, I wear fewer clothes, or more breathable ones at least.

Now for more happy exercising...It totally made my day in that I did not "explode" when I ran today. It was also nice to be able to get feedback while exercising. Then to top things off I had a whole lot of recorded information on my run afterward. Now it makes sense to write it down and journal. Maybe that is all I needed to get some postive feedback on what I am doing. Lets hope this never gets boring.

Red Rock