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520 Heartrate issues

Former Member over 8 years ago

Hi,

I know this is a long shot as an internet search has given me no results......

I have a Garmin 520 bundle since the beginning of may and for the first month it was great, after than I started to get fluctuations in my HR during a ride. Tried all the usual stuff, wet sensors (saliva & gel), changed battery in strap sensor, master reset. I have two straps, one soft strap I got with the unit and an older sensor on a polar strap that I purchased when I had issues with my 500, which is the reason I got rid of it.

I had some issues with my 500 that I had before it, some are similar and even though Garmin customer support have been great and offered a replacement unit and the store where I purchased the unit a full refund I really don`t want to have to move to a different type of bike computer!!!

I use it extensively for training..... I train in HR zones and frequently do interval training and find that it does what I need it to do!! The strava live segment thing doesn`t interest me, I just like to train with it, upload to trainingpeaks for my coach and occasionally view a club run afterwards.

By the looks of things it seems that I can`t get along with Garmin for whatever reason ;-(

Anyone have similar experiences? My only other options at this moment is to purchase another make but I`d rather not have to.

Neil.

0 michaeljswann over 8 years ago

I was a long time Polar user and switched to Garmin a few months ago. I bought the Edge 520 bundle but I use my old Polar Soft Strap instead of the Garmin one. Mainly because I need the larger size, but also because I heard of people having problems with the Garmin strap.

My Polar strap is well used and I have no issues with it apart from the very occasional drop out of heart rate for maybe a second at a time.

The HR transmitter that came with my Edge 520 fits onto the Polar strap. My only concern might be long term because the snaps on the Garmin pod are a bit bigger than the Polar ones, but so far I have no problems.

The thing is to use the Polar Soft Strap (rubbery contacts), not the WearLink Strap (meshy contacts). The WearLink strap needs more care and breaks down quicker than the Soft Strap.

The transmitter is also paired to my Forerunner 230 and works the same as it does on my Edge 520.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I've had my 520 with the Garmin heart rate strap for a year. After about 2 months I started getting drop outs and on longer rides the readings would go hay wire for the rest of the ride.

Doing research on the web it appeared the most likely reason was salt build up in the strap. The Garmin instructions mention the cleaning routine they recommend. In my experience the cleaning routine needs to be more aggressive than their instructions.

What has worked for me is straight after a ride soaking the strap in water for about half an hour. Then soaking the strap in a bowl of water with some dish washer soap for about an hour then rinsing it. Finally once a week it goes through the washing machine for a quick wash with my gloves.

I ride three times a week with two of those rides usually up to 3 hours and since starting this cleaning routine I have had no more than two 1 second drop outs from the heart rate monitor in the last 10 months.

0 michaeljswann over 8 years ago

With the Polar Soft Strap, all I do is rinse it in the shower after I'm done and let it hang on the towel rail to dry. I remove the transmitter pod when I'm not using it.

0 ANNOUNCEMENT over 8 years ago

oh yes, you need to rinse your strap after every ride. and fyi the warranty doesn't cover the strap.