Forerunner 245 Music + HRM-Run heart rate dropouts - This is the reason

Wish I researched this thread earlier.  I have a 245, non music. I bought the watch right when they launched 2 years ago. I used the strap and watch combo for running and video based workouts.  NEVER HAD an issue

Suddenly 2 months ago I looked at my watch during a workout and no heart-rate and from there it happened all the time!

I've done the following and nothing helped:

- Changed HRM Run battery (original was still full, tried anyway)

- Shutdown/restart watch

- Bought the Polar strap which transmits to phone and watch simultaneously.  On the phone I never lose the heart rate, on the watch lose it all the time.

- Turned off sensors, various alert combos

- Upgraded to Beta Firmware

Clearly Garmin broke something in a release somewhere.  My experience and this thread supports that.

I was a long-time Polar user, never once had this issue with those guys going back to 2002.  Unfortunately, the rest of their tech hasn't kept up.  But now, the primary purpose for me and a lot of us is to track reliable heart rate when working out, that's why buy the heart rate straps.

I really hate when companies do this to us when they sell us a product that works and then subsequently break it.  Almost feels like forcing us into buying a new device as I saw people on this thread mentioning it.  I'll research to see if this worth of a BBB submission.

Garmin, clearly you have issue here please fix it.

Sorry to hear this.

I made dedicated tests, for me it seems, the loss of HRM signal is linked to the way HRM belt connects. No issue with ANT+ version, and loss of HRM signal when sound alerts (such as auto-lap) if belt is only a bluetooth connected one. Maybe this helps you.

I bought a HRM band from Decathlon last week. I use it for cycling as well as running and I only have the issue when cycling. As I have very limited experience using the Forerunner 245 Music with a HRM band my conclusions seem a bit superficial but it I noticed that the connection is lost almost always after a heartrate or round notication. Not really sure as I do not always look at my watch but when I did and the connection was lost most of the time I received a notification a few seconds before. 

Yes, this is perfectly matching what I experienced.

If sound alert on, and HRM band is only BT connection, every time there is an alert, HRM signal is lost. 

If sound alert is off, so only vibration, and HRM band is only BT connection, no issue

If HRM band is ANT+ connection then even with sound alert on, I have no issue

For the people who use the FR245 in combination with the HRM-RUN belt: do you only lose the HR signal or do you also lose other data such as Vertical ratio etc.?

Hmm. Sorry to read this.

My experience is different. When I have an issue, it is not a drop, but a lost signal. Whenever it reconnects, it is the correct heart rate shown. It appears as a total 0. 

See below.

"I have sound alerts disabled on the watch"

I had difficulty, as a new user, what and when I disable. So just to confirm, what I switch off, is not only the sounds e.g. saying tempo by km, but also the short "peep", I hope this is the correct term.

So totally no sounds, only vibration. Also, no phone alerts on. And then, for me, it seems fine. Wrist heart rate is also off, I never use that, for me it is totally out of scope (not reliable)

I can confirm i have the same issues. when i use lap function (auto or manually doesnt matter) i'm losing signal to heartrate (using strap) for about 20seconds.

frustrating

Yes, firstly I started to lose running dynamics stats, then heart rate drops appeared.