# Garmin HR monitor showing ultra high readings on tonight's ride



## dereknz (May 3, 2011)

I have had the Edge 800 since June and have not had a problem with the heart rate strap until now. With tonight's ride I wet the strap contacts and was wearing it for around 25 minutes before the ride started as it was a local club ride that started in another town which I drove to. I usually mtb, this was a road bike ride which I have just started doing with the club using my old 1980 road bike. On Strava the 33km ride shows my average HR at 197bpm and Max 254bpm. I stopped 7km into the ride and licked the strap contacts but made no difference to the high readings. It's only months old so the batteries should still be fine. It was a warm gusty evening. I used the same cycle top I mtb in.

I have just ordered ultrasound Gel to use on the contact but haven't had problems in the pass wetting or licking the contacts.

I'm 54yrs, current resting hr is 42bpm and usually max out around 190bpm on the mtb 
I had a medical checkup last week with my GP prior to a 12hr mtb race I did last Saturday
I'm the fittest I have been for a while with the training for the 12hr, coming 3rd in 35+ yrs vet cat.
I do have mitral valve prolapse but don't see that causing the high readings

I've included a couple of strava analysis screenshots of the overall ride and a 12km segment to show the heart rate graph
The 12km segment, 15:54 minutes long with an average speed 46.0km/h shows average hr 233bpm Max at 254bpm,

Mountain Bike Ride Profile | Club Thursday night road ride near Rangiora | Times and Records | Strava


overall ride shows the stops and the heart rate quickly drops around 100bpm


12km segment

the heart rate graph doesn't show any spiking


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## Idshooter (Oct 27, 2006)

May need to replace the battery in the strap. When this has happened to me I've done this and bingo problem solved.


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## dereknz (May 3, 2011)

Ok, thanks, I'll replace it tomorrow.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

I went to your Strava page and overlaid different metrics. It seems like the HR spikes are somewhat associated with speed (basically, it only seems to be a problem when you're moving). I have read about some folks have had issues with their jersey flapping in the wind causing bad readings. Not sure what folks have done to resolve it, as I don't ride with a HRM and haven't paid that close of attention.


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## dereknz (May 3, 2011)

I've put in a new battery, just hope it's something this simple but suspect it may not be after what you have mentioned NateHawk. My riding top is loose fitting, it was a gusty evening with around 80km/h wind gusts. Riding into it on the way out and strong tail wind coming back. Loading the Strava GXP file into Garmin BaseCamp I see the 15 minute 12km segment only 16 seconds of the segment I was within my heart rate threshold <190. As you mentioned as soon as I stopped riding my hr reading shows back to normal, 181bpm dropping and dropping down below 100bpm in 90sec.

I did notice with the 12hr race on Saturday the hr spiked at the start of the race due to strap contacts not being wet enough as I was in a hurry to put the hr strap on, going to the start line I realized I wasn't wearing it. Only took a few minutes into the race for the hr to show correct readings.

We get gusty nor-westerlies this time of year so will see what happens on my next windy road ride with the new battery installed


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## slocaus (Jul 21, 2005)

NateHawk said:


> I went to your Strava page and overlaid different metrics. It seems like the HR spikes are somewhat associated with speed (basically, it only seems to be a problem when you're moving). I have read about some folks have had issues with their jersey flapping in the wind causing bad readings. Not sure what folks have done to resolve it, as I don't ride with a HRM and haven't paid that close of attention.


Bingo. A base layer over the HRM to keep the jersey from flapping against it will solve the issue, along with the contact gel.


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## dereknz (May 3, 2011)

Still waiting on the gel to arrive to see if it's an issue with poor contact between the strap and my skin. Spiked to 202bpm on last nights ride wearing a base layer under my cycle jersey


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## thasingletrackmastah (Nov 15, 2005)

Are you using the soft belt, or the old fashioned plastic belt?
The old one works better, the soft belt is prone to intermittent contact causing spikes in your reading.
old:









new:









Read this.
Rainmaker was happy with the Polar softstrap, which in fact is just as bad...


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## dereknz (May 3, 2011)

Using the soft belt, it's around 5 months old and around 240 hours of use









I've been on 6 rides since starting the thread last Thursday, only the last 2 there has been no spike in my HR readings. These two rides I was wearing a base layer and used hand wash liquid on the 2 contacts as still waiting on ordered gel. Once the gel arrives I will experiment with and without wearing a base layer with my cycle jersey I have been wearing to see if the jersey is interfering with the readings.


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## barefoot40 (Apr 5, 2010)

I have the same spiking reading occasionally with my 810 using a Wahoo HRM strap. This same strap had an issue occasionally with a Bontrager computer as well. It comes and goes and works correctly most of the time. The only thing I can figure is it is worse when the strap gets too dirty.


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## SLR (Jul 5, 2005)

You have Garmin's newest strap, I had the same problem last year, during this time, with Garmin's old "new" soft strap. Only occurred with one of my jerseys which is different material from my others. Funny it only happened when the temps went down, I think it's they dry air mixed with the static from the jersey's synthetic material. I tried changing the battery, HR gel, and rubbing the jersey with a dryer sheet and it didn't help. My solution so far is to use a different jersey. YMMV


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## thasingletrackmastah (Nov 15, 2005)

The Polar softstraps have the same problem.
It is important to wash teh strap after each use, rinsing with water is not enough, it seems.
Must have something to do with sweat and salt I guess.
Polar also has a new soft strap, same problems there.
The old plastic ones are better, but a little less comfortable.
After the problems I had with my Polar soft strap I was glad to find that Garmin still sells the old plastic type


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## dereknz (May 3, 2011)

The ultrasound transmission gel finally arrived today.
I have been using the hand wash liquid while waiting for the gel to arrive for my last 6 rides and have not had any HR spike readings. All these 6 rides I have been wearing a base layer under my cycle jersey. 
So it looks like poor contact to my skin is causing HR spike readings as I was getting spikes with and without a base layer on
All the HR spike readings apart from the road ride were very short duration. The ride road the HR reading shot well above my Hr threshold and stayed above my 190bpm threshold for long periods in the ride, 1 hour of riding shows my average hr at 197bpm. 
Now that I have the gel will try riding without a base layer on and see if I get any spikes, if I do then I'll know I also have an issue with the cycle jersey/strap combo


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## thasingletrackmastah (Nov 15, 2005)

And this...


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## alphazz (Oct 12, 2012)

Like mentioned earlier. Downhills and into the wind can cause high readings because of clothing making contact with the sensor. I have it happen with mine and it happens more with some of my looser fitting clothing.


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## miatagal96 (Jul 5, 2005)

With my Polar, sometimes funky high readings were remedied by tightening the strap. The straps seem to stretch out over time.


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## jselwyn (Mar 14, 2012)

Can be static,too. Make sure the strap is clean and you can rub it down with a dryer sheet. You could also try rotating the strap on your body to a more front/back orientation.


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