Definitely not my experience. After my workout, I always remove the sensor from the strap. I easily get a year out of the battery. I usually put in 10-15 hours per week with the strap.
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Mine used to go through batteries frequently until I started removing the sensor from the strap and wiping it down after every ride. Now, one battery is going on months old. I also turn off my head unit and that is the only thing it has ever been connected to.
(I’m just wondering out loud here, but what if you connect it to say a phone on the 2nd channel and the phone keeps it alive for long after the ride?)
Also, I had such a problem with cheap generic multi-pack batteries with my Stages that I now just put retail (not oem packs) pack Duracells in all my sensors. This may have also helped the H10. It certainly turned my Stages from an occasionally frustrating piece of junk into a reliable superstar.
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+1 for removing the sensor from the strap — I had a huge jump in battery life too.
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Apologies if this has already been stated but I’m on my second H10 strap and sensor. I replaced the first one because it would be fine for say an hour and then it would drop out and the reading’s would be erratic. I raised a warranty request and they weren’t super helpful. No amount of resetting or battery change or strap cleaning fixed it.
The second strap started doing the same thing.
However, I discovered the fix!
So I’m pretty sure what is happening is that in a session, the sweat builds up around the strap and sensor and gets in the terminals and disrupts the signal. I believe this is the case as I “fixed” it by covering the strap connectors with vaseline/petroleum jelly. This completely fixed it and then the other day I forgot to reapply it after washing the strap and it failed again!
Definitely worth a try if you are a heavy sweater and having this issue.
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Touch wood, after my strap started to go funny I wiped it down thoroughly with a wet wipe (water based and chemical free apparently) and its been fine for months with just dry wiping it on my jersey/bibs/skinsuit when I change at work or after a TT and a dried wet wipe at home 
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I have the same issue. Perfect readings on HRV4Training in the morning, perfect readings on the bike outdoor (as far as I can tell, because I’m not monitoring closely my heart rate on the bike)
On my run, it usually starts ok, and then I have erratic numbers. Like showing 80BPM where it should be 160, or the opposite.
So I was wondering if the up and down against the fabric would trigger some kind of electrostatic noise.
But the sweat buildup might be the answer too, as I sweat so much more running than on the bike.
How often to you do that ? Before every workout ?
Would you mind posting a picture to see where exactly and how much vaseline do you use ?
@AJS914 @billytheconq @MrBirchling
Thanks for the help! I never thought to detatch the sensor so I’ll give that a shot going forward. I only did that periodically on my old Garmin strap to clean it. I’ve also just installed a new Duracell battery (think it had an OEM Panasonic on before).
That’s a great tip Alex!
Do you folks actually wash the strap in the washer? The most I’ve done is to rinse it off with water once in a great while and wipe it down after each ride. I’m not a heavy sweater though.
Never in the washer. I’ll just leave it on into the shower, rinse it well and then hang dry.
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I wash mine every few sessions as I use to for MTB and dirtbiking too. I just throw it in the washing machine with the rest of my kit.
I fill the snap connectors on the strap and then connect the sensor and wipe off the excess. Only needs to be done once after washing.
This is the strap after using it today.
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My original tickr didn’t like to be detached from the strap, and worked great. 2 strap replacements later the unit itself died. But my polar (have a 9 and 10 actually; one for indoor, one for outdoor) needs to have 1 connector unsnapped or it eats thru the batteries pretty quickly, particularly the indoor one. I have a dedicated TR android tablet, so I think the tablet and the polar talk for a long time after workouts. In general I have bad results regularly washing straps. I’ve been though several very generic $10 straps off amazon.
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Thanks, I’ll try that
Not me. I’m on my second strap. My first lasted over 2 years. The failure symptoms were inconsistent data, with frequent drops.
My routine is to remove the sensor after every workout and then rinse the strap in the shower.
I think 2 years out a strap is acceptable.
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Try not to just yank on the sensor which requires the fabric to take the force. I wedge my finger between the little button and the sensor and pry the button off the sensor.
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I’ve never taken mine off the strap once. I even ran it through the washing machine once, which didnt phase it.
My H10’s battery is still going after a year or so. 3-4 times a week usage. Thing is a tank
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Never had that problem my self but I’ve just checked my H10 is just over a year old. At a guess it was circa 6months old when it started to drop out in the wind but giving a good clean with a water based baby wipe (chemical free) seems to have sorted that.
Happened to me as well.
HR straps are annoying. Had an old Garmin plastic strap which lasted for 15 years or so. Since then just issues. With newer Garmins or the H10. I actually do not have any issues with the Tickr, have been using it for quite a while w/o any issues. Still, how complicated can it be make a reliable HR strap. And it’s not just me having issues.
Interesting. I had two Tickrs. Older one was ok, lasted 1.5 year. New one was plainly horrible and didn’t work properly from the start. Moved to H10 and there is no problems for now (over a year). But yes, it’s quite annoying that straps become such a weakpoint. The plus side (with wahoo) was that cheap strap from AliExprees looked and worked better than original strap.
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