Heartrate monitor options

[Hackster]

Looking for advice.

I have a Garmin Edge 520, and I'm tired wearing the chest heartrate monitor.

So I'm looking for an inexpensive alternative. 

Are there such things?

Someone mentioned that a 2nd-hand entry-level Garmin watch with heartrate monitor function could be a useful workaround.

Edited February 16 by Hackster

[Geno92]

Hi Hackster.

I have the Garmin 520 and I have a Garmin Instinc Crossover Solar. I can not get the 520 and the watch to connect to one another for the hartrate function. In other words whentever I ride I have to use both to record the ride and at the end of a ride I need to delete one of the activities from Strave. Not sure if I am doing something wrong, but I need to buy a HR monitor for my Garmin 520

[HdB]

Most semi-recent Garmin watches should be able to broadcast HR, at least via ANT+ (which would be fine with your Edge 520). More recent ones via Bluetooth as well.
For example, my VivoActive 4 can only do ANT+, so fine to connect to my Edge or PC, but not to my tablet.

Something like this would be another option:
https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/sensors-mounts-and-accessories/876234/xoss-beat-band-pro-heart-rate-monitor?return_to=L2NsYXNzaWZpZWRzL2FsbC1hZHM_cz1oZWFydA

Wahoo, Polar, Magene and probably others have similar devices, my wife has the Wahoo Tickr Fit.

Edited February 16 by HdB

[Mamil]

My forerunner 955 can broadcast HR but it isn't as accurate as the chest strap - I have read that newer generation wrist based measurements have improved accuracy but the proof is in the pudding.

[Ncayi]

1 minute ago, Mamil said:

My forerunner 955 can broadcast HR but it isn't as accurate as the chest strap

I was just about to say the same thing. It has to be super tight and placed higher up on the wrist to improve accuracy. 

[droo]

7 minutes ago, Mamil said:

My forerunner 955 can broadcast HR but it isn't as accurate as the chest strap - I have read that newer generation wrist based measurements have improved accuracy but the proof is in the pudding.

This.

Can be done, but results are a bit crap.

[christovdw]

How about trying an arm strap?  should be a lot more comfortable....

https://easybike.co.za/products/wahoo-tickr-fit?variant=52873478963510&sfdr_ptcid=47320_617_750095749&sfdr_hash=cb134845bb99ee5552d521941854c58f&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=887964861&gbraid=0AAAAADwJYes3K8Z5ZebPVvKmB5eZvmarS&gclid=CjwKCAiAncvMBhBEEiwA9GU_fuWQvY1DAB-NlTzIZHYViEOUcHCnLy954WB8oycxalo8CyysZE61WhoCLKIQAvD_BwE

[Fisan]

Wrist-based HR + grip-based sports do not go well together. 

I have a Garmin with the latest/Elevate Gen 5 optical sensor, but the writst-based HR measurements are rubbish when MTB'ing. People say the same when rowing, paddling, using weights in gym, etc. ...then again, some people have more success.

[michaelbiker]

Polar OH1 or one of the Aliex arm bands works well - like the Magene 803.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_c4c9KLrD

[Jaco Steyn]

I am actually quite happy with the accuracy of the wrist-based heart monitor. With last year's 98.5km RideJoburg I used my Garmin Forerunner 55's wrist HR monitor, and I also used a chest-based HR strap, my Garmin Edge 130 Plus collected that data. Below is a comparison of the two different ways of collecting the HR data, which you can see compared very well with each other. The average HR of both for the race duration was 152bpm. On the top (FR55) HR graph you will see there's a downward spike at about 3 hours. That was due to me being sprayed with water by spectators along the route.

[Tomik]

No problems with the Forerunner broadcasting HR to an Edge, except mine takes a while, like 15 minutes) to give a good reading - seems like it needs a bit of sweat to work accurately (which differs from the poster above) or I wear it too loose. But I still prefer it to the chest-based ones. 

[shaper]

Been using one for 6 months for cycling and running, connects to my garmin watch and edge computer, no issue and am happy with the accuracy https://share.temu.com/hXoeRsp0WEB