External HRM keeps disconnecting

I bought an Instinct watch and HRM-Dual strap for running. The watch is able to find the HRM and connect it via both ANT+ and Bluetooth. However after it has connected, I'm able to see my heart rate on the watch only for few seconds. After that the heart rate drops and HRM is disconnected from my watch.

If I navigate back to "settings -> sensors & accessories -> hrm-dual" it says disconnected, but after navigating there, it quickly changes to 'searching' and to 'connected'. After that I'm once again able to monitor my heart rate only for few seconds until it disconnected again.

Link to a youtube-video that describes the problem: www.youtube.com/watch

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Former Member over 5 years ago +7 verified

5267698

Sounds and looks to me as normal behaviour.

Is this your first Garmin watch ?

Going into the sensor menu triggers the watch to search for sensors and connect to them so the you can setup the sensor…
5267698 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member +1

Thanks for your answer.

Yes indeed this is my first Garmin watch and actually the very first smart watch overall.

Now I'm able to monitor my heart rate!

There is no (at least default) widget for monitoring…

All Replies

+1 Former Member over 5 years ago

5267698

Sounds and looks to me as normal behaviour.

Is this your first Garmin watch ?

Going into the sensor menu triggers the watch to search for sensors and connect to them so the you can setup the sensor.

Leaving the sensor menu gets the sensors to disconnect after a few minutes.

While the sensor is still conneccting and going into the heart rate widget you see HR from the strap.

This lasts only as long you stay in the widget !

Leaving the widget starts the disconnect timer for the strap sensor.

Starting an activity or an App keeps the sensors connected for the duration of the activity.

At the start of an activity the watch will also search for all paired sensors for a few minutes and connects with those found alive.

Have a neck injury watching the video.

When you wait a bit longer the hr should connect to the HR strap.

The "--" indicates it stops using wrist hr and is going to read strap hr.

Others correct me when wrong

happy & safe sporting

0 5267698 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Thanks for your answer.

Yes indeed this is my first Garmin watch and actually the very first smart watch overall.

Now I'm able to monitor my heart rate!

There is no (at least default) widget for monitoring your heart rate (via external hrm) and seeing a current time?

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to 5267698

welcome to the Garmin beta testers....

widgets only run for a short period of time

apps can run longer, like an activity

a watchface can also show hr logging (not real time values - that I know of)

for just monitoring your hr the wrist hr is enough...not too loose band

0 5267698 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

Thanks again for your reply!

I think I understand this now.

If I use external hr for running, but while running use the watchface (and therefore monitor my hr via wrist), does the Garmin Connect app receive chest data or the wrist data?

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to 5267698

5267698 said:
If I use external hr for running, but while running use the watchface (and therefore monitor my hr via wrist), does the Garmin Connect app receive chest data or the wrist data?

while running your watch switches from being an activity tracker into being a sports watch

the source hr for the monitoring will come from the activity source

either wrist or strap, not both, but it keeps monitoring

...

you can start an activity at your desk, check and learn the behaviour and afterwards discards the activity

just do silly things with the watch, do not be afraid, you bought a military design

have fun

0 3557293 over 5 years ago in reply to Former Member

When I go running I prefer wearing the chest strap HR. Does this mean that there is no way to keep on using the external HR for another few hours after I ran? I understand that I could create an activity "having a drink at the bar" and then starting that so that I can keep on using the external HR but that does seem a bit strange as a workaround. I would expect there to be an option to stay connected to the external HR regardless of the fact whether the watch is in activity tracker mode or sportwatch mode. Is this possible?

0 Former Member over 5 years ago in reply to 3557293

3557293

you want the hr strap logging hr instead of the ohr while the watch is working as activity tracker

you did not find any setting or option in the watch that let's you do this

you have to ask Garmin to build, provide such option

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/forms/ideas/

happy & safe sporting

0 durus over 5 years ago

Hi. I observed the same behaviour on my Instincts as well. On the main screen, the HR value of external ant+ sensor dissapears in few seconds. When I switch to next HR screen, value is still present. Tried also with wrist sensor switched off. I consider this as SW failure and contacted Garmin support. They promised to check and find solution so Im waiting for reply.

0 razmichael over 5 years ago in reply to durus

If you observed the same behavior as the OP then it is not a bug as the thread describes (the OP has a feature request based on his/her needs). If you are seeing strange behavior when in an ACTIVITY then that may be an issue but it is not clear from your post.

0 3302822 over 5 years ago in reply to razmichael

I've got a fenix 3 and turned off wrist reading hrm instead choosing a strap, either wahoo or suunto strap. It would connect and show hr for maybe ten seconds then just drop off..... Nothing to do with hrm as it connects to 735xt all the time and new batteries were in.... Any comment?