Comments on: Heart Rate Monitor Malfunction?

By: jeremy

jeremy — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:28:35 +0000

I’m a 32 year old ironman triathlete. i hit max 184 bpm on all run swim & bike workouts. on a 3hour48 min 56 mile bike ride today my polar 200sd told me my max heartrate was 227(121%)i assumed it was a malfunction because i never saw it go over 184 (98%) but … i ‘felt’ fine, ‘normal.’

By: brian

brian — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:22:14 +0000

I am using the garmin 301 & have the same issues, it basically the material that we wear for biking that interferes with the sensors. Wet the jersey & it works correctly. Hope this helps.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:16:53 +0000

I have a Sunnto heart rate monitor and its separate from my bike computer and sometimes the heart rate will spike or be sporadic when the two sensors are too close together. If thats not an issue for you then I would say what the others were about getting a better reading through wetting the sensors.just an idea

By: Bob Mallin

Bob Mallin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:14:45 +0000

I also use the Garmin 305. I am 59 and have had a couple of these episodes. Being a physician, I stopped to check my pulse manually, and found that it was accurate= 210. Both episodes ended in about 5-10 min. I had no symptoms. After the second episode I checked with a cardiologist. We agreed that this probably represented some asymptomatic Supraventricular Tachycardia. This, usually benign, arrhythmia tends to occur more frequently with exercise as we age. I underwent a full cardiac work-up anyway, and no abnormalities were found. Best thing you can do is to learn how to check your pulse rate and find out if your heart rate monitor is accurate. Any heart rate over 200 is likely to be abnormal and should be evaluated by a physician.

By: John

John — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:14:14 +0000

Yes, I agree with Brian. I have a 305 but had similar issues with a timex in the past. I found that synthetic shirts and any type of necklace (in my case dog tags) caused the type of error you are experiencing.

By: rikki

rikki — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:13:20 +0000

G’day Bob,some monitors pick up high readings from power sources such as high power cables along the road side,even if someone has a hr monitor on riding beside you can effect your monitor with funny readings. hope this helps.

By: Stephen Bourner

Stephen Bourner — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:12:44 +0000

It is not entirely true to state that someone around the age of 50 should have a max of 170 and not have readings of 200 plus.I am 47 years old and have a max of 201. I regularly average in the 160′s on my training rides. I have been told that I am a ‘high beater’. My only concern is that if it is true what they say, that we all have about the same number of heartbeats in a lifetime, then I am using mine up fast!

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:08:55 +0000

I am not familar with that type of heart rate monitor but by the looks of it it has the same sort of sensors as mine (Polar CS200) which i would recomend to anyone but sometimes in the cold of winter I used to get the same problem but by wetting the sensors before puting the monitor on makes the readings acurate and concistant.

By: Richard Spinks

Richard Spinks — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 08:46:12 +0000

Simple and easy to me!Dab the button on the bike computer until ‘time’ comes up then take your own pulse from wrist or wherever to see if it matches the HRM. If it does you’re in trouble, if not buy a new HRM like mine for $20 and save a lot of time and money. RS.