No issues after 12 month daily indoor and outdoor usage, no battery change yet
For me it was the strap that failed quickly. I had my tickr for about 6 months before it started having drops. Strap looked fine, no issues with contacts pealing or anything else I’d read about. I was figuring it must be the tickr pod for awhile. Tried replacing batteries to no avail.
During those 6 months I would always rinse the strap thoroughly but not use soap too often. (I’d always used a Garmin straps previously and this protocol generally worked fine if I also ran it through the washing machine from time to time. But Wahoo said not to do that with theirs.) It got worse and worse over the next month when I finally realized I should use soap (just hand soap). Washing with soap every time immediately helped for a few rides, but it quickly got worse again over the next few weeks.
At this point I knew it was the strap so got an off-brand replacement from Amazon. It’s been working great again so far (~3-4 months). Washing with soap now after most rides so we’ll see if that’s enough. The only weird thing with this strap is that my max HR (and every other range) is measured about 8-9 beats higher. Otherwise, the data looks good though.
my first one was replaced at the start of the year and the replacement is starting to fail this week. so its about every six months they die on me so far.
Yep, On my third Tickr. 1st one died after about 8mo. Wahoo replaced. 2nd one only lasted 3mo - and I totally babied that thing. Wahoo replaced that one too. So - at some point I’ll get a Polar or Garmin once Wahoo stops replacing these for free 
The battery life is a lot worse than my previous Garmin. Not sure if that’s a penalty of it being Ant+BT (I’m only using Ant+ same as the old one)
So far so good with the strap though - almost 1yr old.
I was thinking of the tickr fit. But kind of losing faith in their products. Half of what I own from wahoo fails within a year.
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Had a garmin then the tickr and now have a 4iiii’s hrm and also the garmin hrm swim. My favorite by far has been the 4iiii’s. It stores activitys for later download(I don’t use it) also it allows other devices to connect to it like the cable device does. I also use it for hrv in the mornings.
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Heavy sweater here. Had the strap issue where the contacts break off within the first year - was replaced under warranty. Also had the issue where the ends of the strap split in half - had to glue them back together.
I used to have an issue where the TICKR would chew through batteries like nobodies business. However, I now turn off my computer (that I use for my trainer and that sits next to where the TICKR is stored). Since I started doing this, I haven’t had any further battery issues - so I think there may be an issue where the TICKR was staying permanently connected to the computer and draining the battery…?
Suggest that if the battery keeps dying, you look into any permanent connections to a nearby computer or phone…
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I’ve had two Tickr sensors go bananas on me - within weeks of each other. Owned both for 18 months to a year and up until then, sensors were rock solid (heavy sweater, used four-five times a week indoors). Wahoo have replaced both. In interim had to buy a Garmin as a stop gap so now I have three devices(!) Can’t draw any conclusions about reliability of Garmin but strap seems very high quality.
I sometimes think with this equipment it just comes down to luck…
I’ve had two TICKRs die after less than a year. I’m a very heavy sweater and now changed to a Polar OH1+ which seems to be going well so far.
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Same deal here, heavy sweater and high volume… on the third first two lasted 12 months
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Maybe it is a ‘heavy sweater’ thing. I sweat only a moderate amount (often the strap is soaked, but no raging torrents). I’ve had mine for a little over 2 years now, used for about 10 hours a week on average indoors and outdoors and haven’t noticed any build quality problems with it at all.
The only issues I’ve had has been trying to get it to connect to third party hardware (Wattbike and Garmin Watch), but I’m not completely certain that’s a problem with the HRM as the Wattbike worked after it had a firmware update and the Garmin is a Garmin.
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I bought one early this year, only because I wanted a “bilingual” sensor (ANT+/BLE) for the trainer. It’s ok, but the battery is already dying (6 months). I use Garmin straps outside (running and cycling, ANT+ only, which is fine) - they last for years. Any dual ANT+/BLE recommendations?
If you do not reconnect the strap after taking it off (i.e. let one of the contacts open), it should not power on, try to connect or maintain a connection.
I had annoying ‘heart rate would freeze, then jump up/down’ etc problems, so bought a replacement strap ($16) and it solved the problem (contact on the original strap had corroded through).
I do now occasionally shine up the contact points on both the Tickr sensor and band with a bit of wire-wool to get it back to nice and shiny and ensure the connections are good.
Sweat shouldn’t really matter-- the Tickr seems waterproof to my eye, the battery compartment has a gasket on it-- guess anything is possible over-time, but I’d certainly the check band and contacts first before replacing the entire thing,
I’d definitely recommend the Polar H10. It’s a big improvement on the Garmin HR strap I was using before. The developer of HRV4T recommended this strap to me for its accuracy. The recent firmware release provides ANT+ connectivity, so it now works with ANT+ and BLE.
Y’all are making me nervous. Just replaced my 3+ year old Tickr strap after it broke at the contacts (both of them). Hoping the strap lasts more than what’s being reported here.
I always left one side open and not in contact. Now, I take the module completely off the strap to let the sweat dry out too.
I don’t think the strap has to be connected to both sides in order for the HR module for it to connect, only to actually record HR.
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Thank you, mystery solved with weird readings that freeze at the same number. Unsnapped it, whole thing is broken there.
I had the same issue after 3 weeks. Bought locally and they replaced it. I am expecting it to happen again based on what I have read and will not buy another wahoo product as a result.