Frequent dropouts with external HRM

Received my Epix 2 recently and have gone on a few runs to date. Each time the connector to the external HRM has been extremely shaky, with the HR reading "--" and frequent pop-ups of "external monitor connected" while running. The monitor is fully charged, and I have never previously experienced similar dropouts over many months of usage.

No new clothes, no other variables (that I can think of) other than the watch. I've included HR from my last run with my previous watch for reference, this has two "drops" but which were in fact me shopping to check my map.

Is this a known epix 2 issue?

Top Replies

All Replies

0 avikoren1 over 2 years ago

I have noticed something similar with the home tri while biking. It was instantaneous and then got better

0 martowl over 2 years ago

Not happening to me, I am using a Suunto Smartsensor HR belt, no dropouts for runs or 4h Backcountry Ski.

0 gaijin over 2 years ago

My HRM-Pro has been rock solid with my epix Gen2:

HTH

0 emvonotter over 2 years ago

I suppose it's possible the monitor decided to stop working properly right when I switched watches, independently. Seems unlikely, though.

0 phoglund_ over 2 years ago in reply to emvonotter

Your previous watch graph looks like its from Polar Flow. Do you have a Polar HRM?

I've a Polar HRM H10 connected with Ant and have no problem with drop outs. If you also have a H10 and have it connected with BLE/Bluetooth, you could try to connect it with Ant instead.

(It shouldn’t be any problem with Polar BLE, just that I've not tested that yet and no one else here either commented about it)

0 emvonotter over 2 years ago in reply to phoglund_

Correct, I am using a polar OH1 (which has bluetooth and ANT, I believe). I assumed it was connected by ANT but will double-check. Thanks!

0 ellefson over 2 years ago

I've had a similar issue with my HRM-Pro, but mine is much less frequent than yours - every 60-150 minutes. It might be better with 7.24, but I've only run once with 7.24. I think Garmin may still have some issues with ANT+ and BLE connectivity. My headphones sometimes disconnect at the same time.

0 emvonotter over 2 years ago in reply to ellefson

Cool, I'll try updating to 7.24. Thanks

0 brian.reiter over 2 years ago

I have experienced reliability issues on the f6X with sensors over BLE especially while listening to music. It seems like the entire BLE stack can hang and restart. BLE should have a higher data rate than ANT+ on paper but Garmin’s implementation of BLE seems distinctly less mature than ANT+.

0 1587148 over 1 year ago

Hi Yes it's happening to me. I'm using the Mach 1 (basically the same as an Epix) up to about 20 drop outs in an hour for a few seconds at a time. I'm using a Polar OH1 optical HRM.