Garmin slow to pick up HRM during winter

[MattTuck]

I had this problem last year in the winter indoors, and now it is happening outdoors. It can take upwards of 10-15 minutes of riding before my Garmin picks up my heart rate monitor.

I suspect it has to do with the dry air, and I've tried moistening the leads before putting on the HRM, but that doesn't seem to help.

Anyone else experiencing this and have a solution?

[teleguy57]

Yes. Wetting them wasn't enough in cold/dry. This works for me.

[kramnnim]

New style strap, or hard plastic?

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by teleguy57

Yes. Wetting them wasn't enough in cold/dry. This works for me.

I love this recommendation. Skip the BS and go straight to medical grade solution. Thanks.

Originally Posted by kramnnim

New style strap, or hard plastic?

This is the same strap that I've been using for 4 years with this garmin. Works fine in warmer weather, and works fine in these cold/dry temps once I get up to temperature. Both inside and outside, it seems to be about 10-15 minutes. It is just an issue in the first part of the ride, which I am attributed to poor conductivity across dry skin.

[coffeecake]

Originally Posted by teleguy57

Yes. Wetting them wasn't enough in cold/dry. This works for me.

Thank you for the suggestion. This will help me as well.

Now I am rubbing three gels on myself before a ride. Embrocation on my legs, chamois butter on my __________, electrode gel on my chest. Hopefully I don't mix them all up.

[OldCrank]

After the original band just stopped sending, Garmin sent me the new one, freebies.

I use slobber, one slurp on the band, one on my chest, works down below zero.

Oh yeah, remember to offset the pickups a bit to the left!

Good luck

[kramnnim]

My old plastic strap doesn't work in the winter until moistened with water. Have seen a lot of complaints over the "Premium" style strap...DC Rainmaker wrote something about it.

[OtayBW]

OP: Sure you don't need a defibrillator??

[shovelhd]

Spit.

[KF9YR]

I never had a problem using the electrode gel. I put a little on the snaps and a dab on the strap where it contacts my skin. This worked well with the Garmin soft strap that connected at the snaps. I did rinse the strap every use to get the residue off.

There is a new premium strap that hooks on the right side of your chest with a bra-style hook. I haven't had to use any gel with this one.

I live in Phoenix so the humidity is low (18% today). I feel they fixed the problem with the way they designed the latest version.

[Louis]

+1 on expectoration.

I just spit on the contacts. After a while your sweat takes over, and you're good to go.

[sworcester]

Bump bump gel does the same thing. Don't have that problem maybe because of the layers and temp.

[stephenmarklay]

I have used Gel above and spit. I also use a bit of water from my bottle that has electrolyte mix.

[SlowPokePete]

Coconut oil.

Just kidding....

SPP

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by Louis

+1 on expectoration.

I just spit on the contacts. After a while your sweat takes over, and you're good to go.

Yeah, this is the method I use also, I just didn't want to be overly vulgar when authoring the original post, so I went with "moistened". Maybe I'm not spitting a high enough volume, or my saliva isn't as conductive as it should be.