Hi, I am having issues with the heart rate monitor for some weeks. It works alright all the time, but when I start an activity (running), it just blinks and does not show any values. I have tried switching the device off and on, the heart rate monitor off and on, connected to Garmin connect (it seems that the device is up to date), but nothing works. I have not tried the hard reset yet. Is there anything else I could try?
but when I start an activity (running), it just blinks and does not show any values.
How long did you wait, and were you moving (or running) at the time?
My FR235 can take two or three minutes to lock on to my heart rate, when I'm prepping a run. It takes longer when I'm moving, such as walking briskly to where I usually start my runs (and therefore my heart rate would be increasing while the optical heart rate monitor attempts to get a lock on).
First thing to check is to see if the wrist heart rate monitor is turning on. To do that lift the watch enough and see if the green LED's are lit. Second, that flashing Heart symbol doesn't mean the monitor isn't working, it simply means the monitor doesn't have a good "lock" on your heart rate. Note, if your arm is moving that WILL delay the wrist monitor getting a good lock. In the event you decide not to wait for a good lock you can expect it to either not ever get a good lock on your heart rate or it might take 15 to 30 minutes or MORE. Stand as still as a statue and you can usually get a lock in 2 to 10 minutes.
BTW, now you may understand why I use a Chest Monitor. No waiting for a lock on those, if your heart is beating and you wet the contacts with a bit of spit the chest monitor is an instant on affair. I've also found the Chest Monitor to be much more reliable and accurate with any activity with any arm motion. To be blunt IMO the wrist monitor is only useful when you are either pretty idle or sleeping. Otherwise it can be very sensitive to ANY shifting of the watch on the wrist.
Tips on the Chest Monitor. First, use Polar soft straps, they are MUCH LESS sensitive to sweat and salt than the Gamin Soft Strap. Note, recent version of the Polar straps have a raised rim of soft plastic around the snap that needs to be trimmed with a razor blade to allow the chest monitor to snap in place. Second, rinse your chest strap after EVERY activity producing sweat and run them through the wash once a week. Fail to do that and the chest monitor can go into a sort of runway with the heart rate where it just keeps going up. If you see this and really want a good heart trace run the strap under fresh water, squeegee the excess water from the strap and put it back on wet.
Same here, the last few weeks the heart rate doesn't show at all while running. Did a full reset once and that fixed the issue, but I don't want to interrupt every run to do a full reset.
Hoping the next software update will fix this issue...
