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Garmin

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Muttley Aug 2021 4:23pm, 23 Aug 2021 1,200 posts	0 Muttley I could ask this on the Garmin forum but I'll try here first. My Forerunner 245 can be a bit slow to latch on to my heart rate (I don't wear it as a watch, I just strap it on to go for a run). But once it settles down it's fine. On the underside of my wrist I have nice fat veins and I'm wondering if I should wear the thing "upside down", so to speak (which is how I wear my ordinary watch anyway). Would this work better for the hrm, but would it be at the cost of something else, like GPS reception? Any ideas?
Eawoman45 Aug 2021 4:50pm, 23 Aug 2021 112 posts	0 Eawoman45 Thanks for all the feedback folks. I’ve asked for a 245 for my birthday in Oct. Going back to Garmin after a few years away with a FitBit. I want a running watch rather than a health watch. I’m aiming to start some more serious training as I approach middle age. Want to get as fit and as fast as I can. And a new gadget is fun! 😂
Badger Aug 2021 7:05pm, 23 Aug 2021 14,111 posts	0 Badger Good choice. Muttley, would expect that to give you cadence lock if the sensor is bouncing across the big veins, and it’s not going to do the gps lock much good either. Can’t hurt to try though! Nothing too far wrong about optical hr but implementing it in a watch is tricky, it works a lot better in a stretchy strap further up the arm.
The_Saint Aug 2021 3:21pm, 24 Aug 2021 6,864 posts	0 The_Saint I had really good experiences with optical HR on a 735XT then a 645 but the 245 OHR has been shocking since approx last October. Whatever the issue is, it has persisted through many software revisions.
chunkywizard Aug 2021 4:11pm, 24 Aug 2021 12,481 posts	0 chunkywizard Have you tried factory resetting the watch and connecting it to Garmin Express? sometimes watches get in a state where its the only option...
The_Saint Aug 2021 5:14pm, 24 Aug 2021 6,865 posts	0 The_Saint Tried everything other than going to Stonehenge on midsummer night and asking a druid who normally fixes 305s to have a look.
chunkywizard Aug 2021 5:45pm, 24 Aug 2021 12,484 posts	0 chunkywizard how old is it? Try phoning Garmin and see if they will replace it.
The_Saint Aug 2021 10:04pm, 24 Aug 2021 6,866 posts	0 The_Saint Less than a year (just) but I think Garmin are in denial about the issue, I use a Polar OH1+ with it to give proper values.
Big_G Aug 2021 5:56am, 25 Aug 2021 1,046 posts	0 Big_G I still read the disclaimer from Garmin's own website, so don't bother with the OHR for running (I think it is accurate for RHR for me anyway). I tested my Fenix 6x with the additional HR data field that was mentioned a few pages back (so I had both the HR strap and wrist sensor displayed), and it was woeful compared to the HR the strap I use, so that confirms it to me (I think it was Larkim who was wondering where the data for the data field turns up - it is available on GC on a separate graph). I guess we are all different but me, the wrist sensor lags behind and takes a long time to catch up with a change in effort, plus it is not consistent in that it is sometimes it is displaying much higher values than the HR strap and some times much lower (I am talking +/- 20bpm). The average over the whole run was very similar between the two, but using it in real time isn't workable for me. This is the disclaimer from the Garmin site about wrist sensors: 'While our wrist HR monitor technology is state of the art, there are inherent limitations with the technology that may cause some of the heart rate readings to be inaccurate under certain circumstances. These circumstances include the user’s physical characteristics, the fit of the device and the type and intensity of the activity....'. For me, the 'certain circumstances' appears to be 'running'! I was hoping that the wrist sensor readings would at least be in the right ballpark on the Fenix, but I also had the same issue with the 735XT.
chunkywizard Aug 2021 7:15am, 25 Aug 2021 12,488 posts	0 chunkywizard Saint, definitely call them and try and get a replacement. If the 645 was good for you then the 245 should be as well. What do you have to lose?