Chest Strap for Garmin Watch?

[Rigpig]

What's the advantage, are they more accurate, do any brand work or does it have to be Garmin?

Questions questions questions!

Loving my new impulse buy though

[Grannyhugs Graduate10]

I wear a garmin chest strap which links to my garmin watch. Cant say I've noticed any difference in the readings compared to the watch on it's own. Not sure why I still wear it.

[Buddy34 Graduate10 in reply to Grannyhugs]

That's interesting Grannytobe as people have said the chest strap was more accurate.

How's your weather😊

[Grannyhugs Graduate10 in reply to Buddy34]

Windy with snow blowing through about 1 deg. Opted not to go out with our (slow) walking group today. Leading health walk on 70min walk yesterday came home aching, changed into running kit and went out 30mins between storm showers - brilliant. Think I've changed from Walker to runner. You got loads of snow?

[Buddy34 Graduate10 in reply to Grannyhugs]

It started melting then froze so it was like an ice rink when I was out with the dog. It has been snowing a little bit again . Too dangerous to run , I'd probably fall 😊

[Grannyhugs Graduate10 in reply to Buddy34]

Take care out there

[Buddy34 Graduate10 in reply to Grannyhugs]

Will just need to wait and see😊

[GrandpaSteve]

I've found the watch HR got a bit glitchy when my arm was sweaty during a workout. I found a chest strap did fix this, but it was a bit of a pain. So far I've not had that problem when running.

I seem to remember any ANT+ monitor will connect - but check that in Fenix forums.

You can also download apps to put a HR graph on your phone, which can be a useful tool during a workout.

I also tried a bicep HR strap once, but it wasn't reliable.

So many toys...

[damienair Administrator]

I don’t know, I’m falling into the keep it simple camp. At our level we are just running, not competing for a place in the Olympic Games. I have VO2 Max, Cadence, Heart Rate and a few other bits and bobs. I personally think they are meaningless at my level, which is a first third to middle of the pack at parkrun. So I ignore it all. All I care about when I am running is average pace, distance and time. The Heart Rate Sensor on my watch seems to work perfectly fine, I just don’t pay any attention to it. Heart Rate Sensors, whether on your watch or chest strap are never going to have the accuracy of a 12 lead ECG machine. Chest straps are from a few years ago when Heart Rate Sensors were not built into the watches. I think you would just be doubling up on meaningless tech.

Damien

[ForbiddenPlanet Graduate10]

Thanks for those interesting comments, esp from Damien and Gtb. I was planning on getting one sometime, so useful to hear those opinions, and I can save my pocket money for some other toy instead.