Saturday 8 February 2014

Do we have a beat?

During last year seeing I had the full  Garmin Edge 800 Performance & Navigational Bundle, I decided to install the cadence sensor and started to wear the heart rate monitor aswell on my rides.

A few months ago I was looking at the my Garmin 800's screen and the heart rate registered 0 bpm. I thought hello, the strap has slipped or something so I wiggled it about and it started to read my heart rate again but then when to 0bpm again.

I thought "Damn I'm dead. Atleast I died on my Brompton" which isn't a bad thing I might add.

Reading up on the heart strap and found that a few people where having issues with it after a time. I also found out there was a cheaper heart strap that works and cost alot less. The Polar Soft Strap just so happens to be a direct replacement for the Garmin Heart Strap.

As you can see the heart dongle snaps right in no modifications needed.
  • Very Comfortable and Lightweight Chest Strap, Extremely Sensitive to Hearts Electrical Signals.
  • Construction: Fusion of Soft Fabrics and Adaptive Electrodes
  • Helps Sensors Pick up Heart Rate Quicker and More Accurately
  • Compatible with all Polar Heart Rate Sensors, Utilising the Same Snap Attachment Method
  • Warranty: 2 Years;

Original Garmin Strap (TOP) Polar Soft Strap (BELOW)

I have to say I'm pretty happy with it as I have been using it alot even on my normal commutes to work of late. Real test will be on a decent long ride but with the weather the way it has been recently it may be a little while.

Polar Soft Strap Set on amazon

3 comments:

  1. I had the same issue. The original Garmin one I had (it was the old hard rubber one) died after a year so I ended up with a cheaper(!) Garmin premium one (the soft fabric one).

    Didn't know the Polar ones worked with it as well - guess as long as it's ANT+ it'll work?

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    Replies
    1. Will post tomorrow about the Power Tap ANT+ Speed & cadence sensor I installed over the weekend.

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  2. I also got the Garmin soft fabric one but it started not to give proper readings & I died a few times. I just got the polar strap & the Garmin sensor snaps right in.

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