Slow deteriation/cracking of Heart Rate Monitor plastic on back of watch

I saw similar things before, on glasses as a result of cleaning them with specific fluid to clean you glasses. Are you using something of a body lotion?

Why not just use normal soap (that you trust to clean your body of bacteria)? I remove my watch when I shower each morning but I usually give it a bit of a scrub using suds from my bar of soap. Isopropyl seems like overkill to me and if I was seeing what your pics show, I would stop!

Max

Under "device care" in the owner's manual, it says to rinse the watch with fresh water if exposed to chlorine, salt water, sunscreen, cosmetics, alcohol and other harsh chemicals because damage may result. I suspect the alcohol was the cause of your problem.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I just missed that part. It does seem alcohol does react with some, not all, plastics. The monitor does still work and hopefully it'll last long enough for a better watch to come about.

A thought came to me for helping other people - i have had issues with Bug Spray/Mosquito spray (with DEET ) on things like tackle boxes and other plastic things which causes them to get 'greasy' or 'foggy'.

I would be very careful with it's use around watches.

I don't want to spend $150 on a repair just to find out the PH of my sweat is the problem or something else entirely out of my control. I clean the watch with isoprypyl to stop any bacteria growth.

It does seem alcohol does react with some, not all, plastics.

I guess you can now be more comfortable with spending $150 on a repair, knowing you caused it by something that is within your control, and that it's equally within your control to refrain from doing it to the replacement sensor? :p It didn't sound to me from your wording that avoiding the expense was the primary concern, but merely not wanting it to be a recurring issue that a single expense would not stem out.

Seven months with my 235, over 1,400 running miles. No issues. After each run I put in under the faucet briefly, dry it off and charge it. I tighten it one notch when I run, the rest of the time it sits comfortably on my wrist, not that it is uncomfortable when I tighten it. Might be the best Garmin running watch I have owned, I would be too embarassed to list all of them from over the years. I started with the 101- lovingly called "the brick". We have come a long way- thanks Garmin. Currently at 84,946 running miles and counting. Nick

I guess you can now be more comfortable with spending $150 on a repair, knowing you caused it by something that is within your control, and that it's equally within your control to refrain from doing it to the replacement sensor? :p It didn't sound to me from your wording that avoiding the expense was the primary concern, but merely not wanting it to be a recurring issue that a single expense would not stem out.

Right, my goof. It's late enough in the year that I'm hoping for a improved product to come about before the cracks present a problem. Lots of speculation and rumors to get me excited.

I've got exactly the same problem with the wrist hrm on the back of my Forerunner 735XT.

Bought this watch in July 2016 and it has been working without any issues... lately I've had a couple of runs where I've started the activity and then noticed during the run that the distance is not being recorded although other fields pace and time are displayed. I always let the device get a GPS fix and then wait a further 30-60 seconds before starting. If I try and save the activity at the end the 735 hangs on 'saving' and can only be brought back to life by resetting. Also I am unable to go back into an activity [it will immediately jump to 'saving' and hang again] until I've performed a full factory reset. Weird. I'll keep an eye on this.

Anyway, back to the original point. I've noticed the cracking on the wrist hrm and I only run the watch under water after use to clean sweat off it and dry it out. It might sit with some sweat on after, for example, commuting to work until I've had a shower/wash but that's about it. I'm very careful with my devices and it hasn't been dropped or bashed or anything similar.

Anyone else getting the same issue?

I am a bit worried about water ingress although this doesn't appear to have happened as yet.

Just noticed I've posted this on the 235 board, so I'll go and put it on the 735xt board now!