Polar H10 longevity

I used to be able to leave it attached. Now it drains the battery. If I detach it, it lasts much longer.

Of note, I started wearing it in the shower to rinse it Post ride and that’s when it started acting up. So maybe don’t do that. :joy:

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Mine is eating batteries as well. Always removed from the strap.
I am removing the battery after each ride. Did not try polar support. No energy to fight yet another faulty product :slight_smile:

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A few times when my Polar H10 is disconnected the garmin still says its connected after a ride. I’m only on my 2nd battery (only got it in August though). The first battery went pretty quickly but that was before I started disconnecting the studs after every ride and the replacement seems to have lasted well with fairly frequent usage. The H10 seems :hand_with_index_finger_and_thumb_crossed: more robust than the Tickr it replaced, It seems to fail pretty quickly and whilst I brought it back to life a few times by spraying WD40 in the stud buttons and cleaning the stud buttons it became unreliable then died completely. Initial failure aside the Tickr lasted slightly less well than cheaper straps but not too significantly. If I get a year+ out of the H10 it will have lasted better but I think my best strap lasted 2years+ so hopefully the H10 exceeds that.

I detach mine from strap and it lasts pretty long (as in months with regular use) I have gymlink and Ant+ turned off, just leaving Bluetooth for transmission.

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Yeah I need to disconnect at least one side from the strap or else I will find my wahoo headwinds blowing full speed

My unit would drive you crazy sometimes then. When its completely disconnected from the stud buttons it’ll occasionally still transmit an Ant+ signal that triggers the Garmin :joy:

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It’s usually the opposite! The polar is pretty unanimously known as the Toyota Camry of HR monitors

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Double that

I’ve gone through 3 Wahoo tickrs vs 1 Polar H10 which refuses to die.

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I’ve got one and I think it’s garbage. Use it probably five times a week. Remove the pod and clean it after every ride. Hang it up to dry. Use electrode gel on the strap for contact. A few months in it started giving bizarre readings, or none at all. Then improved. Now the same again about a year in. No amount of battery changing or cleaning will remedy it. I think it’s just a dud. I had the same problem with the Tickr before that. Just resigning myself to buying a cheap one in the knowledge I will likely bin it every six to 12 months. Whatever happened to the old design where everything was sealed in? My old Garmin strap lasted years. I’d swear the problem is the way you have to pop the pods into the strap.

@MichaelDawes Yeah… I have to wonder too if fundamentally the pod approach does cause a higher chance of failure. I’ve gone through 2 TICKRs and am currently on a Garmin HRM Pro that has been pretty reliable. It has no pod, it’s built into the strap. Just had to change the battery so hopefully I got everything seated back in place or else sad times ahead for me. :eyes:

Aha I see the Garmin HRM Pro doesn’t have a separate pod - maybe the answer - anyone else have any views?

The trick with Garmin hrms is to burn them out in under a year and have Garmin mail you a new one under warranty. Switched to Polar H10 and now I just replace straps.

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The contacts corroded on every one of mine. Wahoo warranty’d them all, but I just got tired of the cleaning process everytime I used it. Shocking that this hasnt been addressed by now. Ive been on the same Polar strap for a good while now. The strap goes in the wash once a week, I replace the battery when it drains…thats about the extent of the care I give it. No corrosion, I put it on, its gives me my HR

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Mine is going through batteries at an amazing rate (like every 3-4 weeks). But I suspect the problem is the batteries. I bought them in bulk. According to my Karoo 2, the new batteries were 1/2 dead when I put them in. I think there’s something to disconnecting the pod when its not in use (I just pop one side off).

I think my first battery lasted only about this (maybe slightly longer) but since Ive started disconnecting the stubs completely the garmin after 3 months (and quite a lot of use) still says the HR Sensor Battery is OK.

I would suggest that you disconnect the POD after usage. It extended my battery life a lot.

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Just my 2 cents, but I think the straps fail because of popping the pod off - at least that is where mine tend to fail. It’s cheaper to buy batteries.

Pro tip though is to disable GymLink protocol on the chest strap. Every time I replace a battery it is renabled so the trick is to turn it back off.

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I’ve only ever had the Tickr fail at the studs; it rusted from day one and eventually cleaning to remove the rust failed but I’ve never had a stud come away or any visible damage to one.

Mine is lasting days. Went from 100% to 10% in under a week.

Maybe 7 hours of active use. Panasonic / Energizer batteries, so no cheap crap.

Its Energizer batteries I am using in mine and touchwood despite a high use (circa 10-20h a week) I am having no problems but my unit is barely 6months old. I forget what the stock battery was but I got around a month out of it when I didn’t always disconnect it after a ride. The second Energizer one lasted about 4 months at a guess.