Allergy to 645M, band suggestions

We would encourage you to reach out to us through our Product Support channels. We would be happy to discuss with you any concerns that you have regarding skin allergy or irritation. You can contact us through phone, email, or chat for direct assistance.

Yes, of course. But I'd still like suggestions on non-garmin bands if anyone has one.

Replaced mine with a black leather. Wear 24/7, shower, hot tub etc. no issues. Dressed it up nicely. See link and yes saw your comment on leather.

https://www.clockworksynergy.com/shop/product-category/oem/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0ZD6k-OH2gIViyaGCh0zHgLaEAAYASAAEgL3GPD_BwE

haven't washed it or my wrist,

Sorry, but this crops up with increasing regularity with these devices being worn 24/7. Why would you not expect to develop some sort of skin irritation because you wear something tight that does not allow air to circulate underneath it and compound the problem, by not directly washing the skin or the device and allowing it to dry properly?

You, and others might well be allergic to the band, but I'm betting that if you start improving hygiene around the irritated area along with providing opportunities for the skin to breath, you'll quickly see a difference.

Yup, I've got a similar issue. And while Philip may attribute it to bad hygiene habits, I don't wear my watch 24/7 - I regularly take it off and let me skin breathe. Oh and I don't shower with it.. Maybe it's the fluoride in the water?

With that said Brad, here are some of the tactics I use to control the skin irritation: I alternate the wrist I wear the watch on, sometimes even wearing the watch face on the ventral side of my wrist. I find that this doesn't effect my readings too much. I've also gone ahead and ordered a few replacement straps from Amazon. I'm still waiting for them arrive, and granted they are from China, so I'm not planning on wearing them 24/7 either, but swapping them out occasionally when the irritation gets bad.

Pillman mentions leather bands: I've had bad skin reactions to leather watch straps as well, but I think that could be a good way to go as well!

Hope this helps and good luck!

I have the same... what I do is rinse the strap (with water, and clean my wrist of course) once/twice a day, this helps, but still occasionally has issues, so i switch it to the other wrist for a day, to help it recover.
(what would be useful is if garmin made it quicker to toggle the left/right wrist setting ... perhaps the quick select function)

i'll probably eventually get another strap, if i can find a quick release one.

I am surprised if it is hygiene related - not that I shouldn't take better care of my wrist, but I've worn a watch almost all the waking hours of my adult life and never seen anything similar. But so far, limited exposure on my other wrist has shown no problems. I should be okay regardless just by paying more attention - this took a long time to develop a rash and it only got bad after I ignored it.

Garmin is sending me replacement bands at no cost. They didn't specify details of what they were sending, but as long as it is made of different material it should fix the problem. If not, I will pick up something on Amazon.

The 645M comes with a silicon band, just as my Fenix5X, and I also started to have allergy problems after some weeks.

The problems went away after I got a leather band, but this is not a solution when doing sports. And metal is too heavy for me.

You may try some bands made of natural rubber (called "Kautschuk" in german) or Silicagel, that works fine (at least for me).

Too bad Garmin only offers rubber bands made out of silicon.

I use this on on a 645M - it's nylon. I didn't have an allergy issue, but it can breath a bit more than silicon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079FHCHS9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've always had problems wearing any band 24/7, regardless of manufacturer. I'll switch wrists (dominate during much of the day, non-dominate during workouts/ sleep, etc) and Always take it off to shower. I use that time to clean the band and let it dry.

Also, I picked up a stainless steel band to wear to the office (work from home so it's only occasional) which really dresses it up and gives me a chance to soak the original band in alcohol. Seems like overkill for many but my wrist was sloughing skin some kind of terrible with my last watch until I adopted this approach.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B075LJFKRX/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1