Garmin Premium Heart Rate Monitor (Soft Strap)

Use this for running or road bike works very well very accurate and very good fit, strap is very soft and does not irritate my skin. Good quality material battery life is over 8 hours. Would recommend and it’s a must if you cycle or run.

The Garmin soft strap heart monitor is very comfortable and fits well. I forget that I even have it on when cycling. My heart rate is very accurate and I have had my hr monitor for a few years now. I highly recommend this product.

I’m comparing this with the wahoo tickr. Both work well in terms of accurately measuring heart rate. I like how this one has a bit lower profile on the heart rate monitor part. The wahoo is easier to change the battery and I like how it’s snap connects it. Both work great and can’t go wrong either way!

Better than their basic strap

I had the basic Garmin Strap first and it worked okay. The biggest issue i had was that it would give me a massive skin rash under the rubber band strips that go from the middle sensor to the elastic part. This rash took forever to heal and when it did it would come back in one use of the starp.I then bought this upgrade strap in hopes that it would not cause a rash. For me this fixed the problem. I have used this thing several times a week and no rash has come back.Even without the skin irritation issue i found this strap to be much more comfortable to wear. Just the comfort factor alone is worth the extra money for me. You can hardly tell you are wearing it compared to the basic one. I also find this one much easer to connect the hasp on. Quick to put on and off.

Garmin soft strap

i own the "hard" strap version and had seen a few positive reviews suggesting the soft strap was more comfortable. To be honest, I really didn't have any comfort issues with the "hard" strap but I bought a soft strap anyway.Shipping through HRMUSA was fast and the price was lowest I found on the web. Unfortunately, however, the strap was a disappointment. It didn't offer any benefit in terms of comfort AND it has several downfalls: 1. Strap doesn't extend to same circumference (I'm a big guy) and consequently the strap material is stretched and has formed creases...and these create hot spots on the skin...bummer. 2. The belt attaches differently when putting on. Much less convenient that the hard strap attachment mechanism.I wish I could send it back but it's too ... Morei own the "hard" strap version and had seen a few positive reviews suggesting the soft strap was more comfortable. To be honest, I really didn't have any comfort issues with the "hard" strap but I bought a soft strap anyway.Shipping through HRMUSA was fast and the price was lowest I found on the web. Unfortunately, however, the strap was a disappointment. It didn't offer any benefit in terms of comfort AND it has several downfalls: 1. Strap doesn't extend to same circumference (I'm a big guy) and consequently the strap material is stretched and has formed creases...and these create hot spots on the skin...bummer. 2. The belt attaches differently when putting on. Much less convenient that the hard strap attachment mechanism.I wish I could send it back but it's too late now. Before buying be sure to ask yourself: Is my current strap really that uncomfortable? And if your chest size is above 48" you may want to keep looking elsewhere.

Get the regular Garmin HRM strap instead

I purchased a Garmin 310XT that came with the premium HRM strap. The GPS unit is great, but I fought with that strap for over a year - exchanging it, playing with placement on my chest, changing electrolyte type, washing it, not washing it, changing the battery (you need a special screwdriver that only watchmakers or optometrists carry), you name it. It NEVER worked properly. At best, I had it working about 80% during a month or so, otherwise it was horribly intermittent.For some reason the strap caused the 310xt to lock on to a different, incorrect harmonic of my heart rate about 30% of the time, and it would only shift to my true heart rate after a rest break or other similarly big shift in heart rate. After a while, that 30% error became 100%, and the strap ... MoreI purchased a Garmin 310XT that came with the premium HRM strap. The GPS unit is great, but I fought with that strap for over a year - exchanging it, playing with placement on my chest, changing electrolyte type, washing it, not washing it, changing the battery (you need a special screwdriver that only watchmakers or optometrists carry), you name it. It NEVER worked properly. At best, I had it working about 80% during a month or so, otherwise it was horribly intermittent.For some reason the strap caused the 310xt to lock on to a different, incorrect harmonic of my heart rate about 30% of the time, and it would only shift to my true heart rate after a rest break or other similarly big shift in heart rate. After a while, that 30% error became 100%, and the strap never registered the correct heart rate. Then the monitor started to only communicate with the GPS unit intermittently, so I rarely got any heart rate, correct or not. Completely useless, incredibly frustrating, and a massively flawed design (if other internet reviews are any indication - I'm not the only one to experience this).Fortunately, MEC's rock solid guarantee allowed me to swap the "premium" HRM strap for a "normal" Garmin strap, which is also cheaper. (Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU MEC.) The difference was astounding. I barely touched the standard strap to my chest and it immediately locked on with supreme accuracy and never wavered. Perfect performance, lower profile, equivalent comfort, and much easier battery replacement - I can't believe I didn't get the normal strap sooner.Do yourself a favour - don't mess around with the "premium" heart rate strap, it is a horrible mess. Buy the "normal" strap and you'll never have an issue.

Great Shopping Experience with Heart Rate Monitors USA!

I wanted to comment on the excellent experience I had with this retailer; particularly regarding shipping. I received the product super-fast (ordered the item on 9/18, received item on 9/20)! The product was exactly as expected for a brand new item.Note: I don't consider this a product specific review but there is plenty feedback that the product is highly accurate and reliable and the only real way to track heart rate during workouts. I did want to mention that more often than not initial readings are off or non-responsive when starting a workout but it entirely has to do with the moisture connectivity and is easily fixable.

The sensor was connected to the strap. So betting battery is dead. Was open box

The sensor was connected to the strap. So betting battery is dead. Was open box

Use of the Garmin HRM Premium soft strap and Transmitter in Colorado

Once I got the two adjusters to fit to my size chest (a guy thing), sometimes stuff looks backwards - I thought oh how much more pleasant on the chest compared to my old one. No pinching, yeah! Do remember folks go in and acknowledge with your Garmin 810 which I use to set it to recognize this transmitter and you are off to the races. Both the strap and transmitter are working flawlessly with 4 rides since I received my goods from Heart Rate Monitors-USA. I usually clean my strap sans transmitter with a soft washcloth wettened and gentle liquid soap then rinse with a clean dampened cloth after 10 wearings unless I soak it with sweat. Then every fourth wearing. Last strap lasted 4 years.

Work well but junk when trying to replace battery

I've owned 2 of these and both are now junk because I cannot change the batteries. 4 very small screws must be removed to replace the battery and these become frozen over time. I very carefully tried to remove them with high quality jeweler's screwdriver set, but there is always at least one that is frozen & can't be removed. I end up stripping-out the phillips head on the screw & it becomes impossible to get these soft, tiny things out. You get stuck with buying a new one. I don't know why Garmin used such a difficult design. Polar and others use a simple coin-turned cover that can be removed easily & safely in about 5 seconds. This design with the soft, tiny screws is just plain stupid.