Garmin 010-12883-00 HRM-Dual Heart Rate Monitor

I transitioned exclusively to Wahoo from Garmin years ago, and have been using Wahoo heart rate monitors with Bolt computers.The Wahoo heart rate monitors inevitably work perfectly for just over a year and then begin transmitting erratic readings. Wahoo is good about replacing defective monitors, but I am honestly weary of using disposable monitors that cannot be repaired, don’t allow the battery to be replaced, are unnecessarily wasteful by being disposable and nevertheless are double the price of other heart rate monitors available on Amazon.So I have switched back to a Garmin chest strap monitor with replaceable battery, but that also offers battery life before replacement of around 1,000 hours (compared to 30 hours on my latest Wahoo monitor).I haven’t used a chest strap in years since the forearm strap monitors are so much more convenient.But the greater accuracy, the high build quality and the three years of use before needing to change an inexpensive 2032 battery…..those things all matter more to me than the added convenience of a forearm strap.This Garmin monitor instantly connected to my Wahoo Bolt via ANT+, and provides a perfectly accurate and stable heart rate signal. It seems less subject to interference and more immediately responsive to heart rate changes related to terrain differences, pace differences etc.I honestly wonder why Wahoo and other electronic fitness component manufacturers use rechargeable batteries that cannot be replaced when a simple 2032 cell can power a device like this one for three years vs maybe three rides on a comparable rechargeable device.

I just received my new Garmin HRM-Dual heart rate monitor chest strap from Amazon today and took it directly to spin class at CYCLEBAR Columbia Pike. I love it! It’s exactly what I needed.It supports dual Bluetooth signals and also ANT+. Now I don’t need a series of Garmin 010 10997 00, Polar H7, and Scosche Rhythm+ straps to combine together to connect to the Concept2 PM5, the iPod Touch, the Garmin 920xt, and even the Keiser M3 and the Schwinn spin bikes at CYCLEBAR. Technically-speaking, the HRM-Dual transmits real-time heart rate data over ANT+ connectivity and dual BLUETOOTH Low Energy (LE) technologyThe new Garmin HRM-Dual heart rate monitor chest strap replaces them all. Don’t pay attention to what DC Rainmaker says about this strap with regards to it being just bundle-fodder, this is the strap I have been waiting for. Yes, maybe the Wahoo TICKR through TICKRX are better value at the low end ($50) and offers more functionality like memory at the high end ($80); however, I will never use the Wahoo app nor will I ever need the memory feature. While the baseline TICKR does offer the same functionality at $20 less, it’s no a Garmin, its battery lasts 1/3 as long, and what’s $20 over the next decade that I’ll probably be using it on all of my machines and devices.Other than that DC Rainmaker did an amazing review both on his site and on YouTube.I also prefer the electrical (ECG) heart rate monitors over optical (PPG) heart rate monitors. While they both work, I have deep veins and so sometimes the optical heart rate monitors are either delayed or they can get lost for a few seconds. While the ICG monitors, such as the HRM-Dual, require moisture to make a solid connection with the pulse and heart rate, I keep a tube of Spectra 360 Electrode Gel next to my Concept2, which seems to work.Yes, it is more expensive than the competition but the battery lasts 3.5 years and it’s Garmin and when you think about it, if it replaces everything, even spin class, the rowing ergometer, the SkiErg, and my watches and bikes, then I’m good to go.I had been using both a Polar H7 around my chest and a Scosche Rhythm+ optical heart rate monitor that I wore on my arm. The Polar H7 supports Bluetooth and the Scosche Rhythm+ supports ANT+.So, I’m pretty psyched about it. It worked perfectly with my watch and my Schwinn Blue Carbon spin bike without a hiccup; however, the signal is pretty strong so my neighbor cyclist recorded my ANT+ signal on her monitor while she was riding as well. I mean, that doesn’t matter much to me—and most riders at CYCLEBAR don’t seem to wear heart rate monitors—so I’ll see how it works out over time.I needed a heart rate monitor that tracked ANT+ and Bluetooth, preferably more than one channel of Bluetooth LE. I am always either on a Bluetooth-enabled device or on an ANT+ device. Often, like at Spin class, I needed both at once and wore two heart rate monitors: first, two chest straps (awful) and then a chest strap and an arm strap. That was OK but the arm strapped required nightly charging and I am not 100% sold on optical heart rate monitors for anything more than my activity tracker. So, when DC Rainmaker reviews the brand new electrical (not optical) heart rate strap that Garmin released, I ordered it right away. It wasn’t even shipping yet. When it arrived, I brought it right to Spin class and it worked. The only down side, maybe, is that the signal for the Garmin HRM-Dual is strong enough that the machines around you might pick up your heart rate. Either the lady next to me at spin class and I were heart-rate synced or her Schwinn was also displaying my HR. But that’s not a bad thing. I assume that if the person next to me had a strap, its closer proximity might override mine. Maybe? One more possible downside is that the strap hooks with the same sort of bra-like hook and loop closure like the Polar H7 has, which can start to become less reliable as the strap gets older and a little more stretched out, instead of a proper clip or the sort of snap-button based attachments that the Wahoo TICKRs have (a nice feature) or the plastic clips, similar to what that old-timey-but-cheap Garmin 010 10997 00 heart rate monitors had.

Absolutely love this heart rate strap. Super easy to connect to my watch and helpful with my conditioning.

I ended up buying this unit to start with. TLDR this unit ended up getting replaced with the Polar H10 instead. That is a much better unit compared to the Garmin. Here is a comparison between the two units if you aren't sure which to buy.The strap.I'm a big boy at 275 pounds so I bought the larger strap to go with the unit. The garmin strap was trash. Too thin and soft and so it just rolled up with movement. The Polar strap is a little firmer though so it can better stay flat without rolling up. This is huge when it comes to comfort as when the strap rolls up it will dig into your skin a little more. The Polar strap I could probably wear all day long without issue.The unit itself - Big win for Polar.The Garmin unit at first wouldn't detect my heart rate. Tried all the tricks from submerging it in water, licking the pads, getting all sweaty and then trying it. Nothing. Only way I was able to get it to work was buying conductive gel and using that on the pads. Next problem was once I started working out I had about 20-30 minutes before it quit working. What sucks is you wouldn't know it though as it doesn't display 0. Instead, it just keeps displaying the same heart rate that it was able to detect. This kind of sucks though as your heart rate could be very different, but you would never know.what makes it even worse is once the unit quits working, that's it for the next couple hours. It WILL NOT WORK no matter what you do. Dry the strap out, clean the strap and pads, apply more gel, apply less gel, dunk the strap, dry it out again. NOTHING!Had this happen during Full Frontal 4DP test by The Sufferfest by Wahoo. Figured it was just a fluke and I'll try again. Once again half way through the test it just quits and will not work for the next couple hours. That's a pretty crappy deal to get half way through that test and then just have the heart rate quit working invalidating the whole test.Figured ok maybe it's just too much. maybe I'm sweating too much, maybe my heart rate is going wonky. Who knows. Lets just do a normal training run instead that's hopefully not quite as intensive. Again 20-30 minutes in it would just quit. This happened EVERY SINGLE TIME for any type of ride I did. This is kind of worthless. You get through any warm up, and just starting on the actual workout at which point the unit bricks itself and won't work for the next couple hours.The Polar unit on the other hand worked right from the start. I have never used the conductive gel with unit. Hell I don't even have to wet the strap down or anything. I just put it on and start riding.Don't think I have had it actually drop out during an exercise. I have tested it though to see what would happen if it does quit detecting my heart rate by lifting up one side of the pads of my chest. This is another huge win in that if it does quit detecting your heart rate this will show 0. Very much unlike the garmin still displaying the last heart rate detected which is incorrect. Even if that heart rate was from 10 minutes ago.The polar unit also has the ability to be used through third party apps to detect your heart rate variability and such. You can even download apps so you can actually see the electrical signal from your heart if you really wanted to though I have no way to confirm how accurate that is. It's just the fact that Polar opens this up for use like that unlike the garmin is a huge win.Overall I wouldn't bother with the Garmin unit. If you are unsure which to buy, just guy the polar H10. Much better unit over all in every way.The strap.I'm a big boy at 275 pounds so I bought the larger strap to go with the unit. The garmin strap was trash. Too thin and soft and so it just rolled up with movement. The Polar strap is a little firmer though so it can better stay flat without rolling up. This is huge when it comes to comfort as when the strap rolls up it will dig into your skin a little more. The Polar strap I could probably wear all day long without issue.The unit itself - Big win for Polar.The Garmin unit at first wouldn't detect my heart rate. Tried all the tricks from submerging it in water, licking the pads, getting all sweaty and then trying it. Nothing. Only way I was able to get it to work was buying conductive gel and using that on the pads. Next problem was once I started working out I had about 20-30 minutes before it quit working. What sucks is you wouldn't know it though as it doesn't display 0. Instead, it just keeps displaying the same heart rate that it was able to detect. This kind of sucks though as your heart rate could be very different, but you would never know.what makes it even worse is once the unit quits working, that's it for the next couple hours. It WILL NOT WORK no matter what you do. Dry the strap out, clean the strap and pads, apply more gel, apply less gel, dunk the strap, dry it out again. NOTHING!Had this happen during Full Frontal 4DP test by The Sufferfest by Wahoo. Figured it was just a fluke and I'll try again. Once again half way through the test it just quits and will not work for the next couple hours. That's a pretty crappy deal to get half way through that test and then just have the heart rate quit working invalidating the whole test.Figured ok maybe it's just too much. maybe I'm sweating too much, maybe my heart rate is going wonky. Who knows. Lets just do a normal training run instead that's hopefully not quite as intensive. Again 20-30 minutes in it would just quit. This happened EVERY SINGLE TIME for any type of ride I did. This is kind of worthless. You get through any warm up, and just starting on the actual workout at which point the unit bricks itself and won't work for the next couple hours.The Polar unit on the other hand worked right from the start. I have never used the conductive gel with unit. Hell I don't even have to wet the strap down or anything. I just put it on and start riding.Don't think I have had it actually drop out during an exercise. I have tested it though to see what would happen if it does quit detecting my heart rate by lifting up one side of the pads of my chest. This is another huge win in that if it does quit detecting your heart rate this will show 0. Very much unlike the garmin still displaying the last heart rate detected which is incorrect. Even if that heart rate was from 10 minutes ago.The polar unit also has the ability to be used through third party apps to detect your heart rate variability and such. You can even download apps so you can actually see the electrical signal from your heart if you really wanted to though I have no way to confirm how accurate that is. It's just the fact that Polar opens this up for use like that unlike the garmin is a huge win.Overall I wouldn't bother with the Garmin unit. If you are unsure which to buy, just guy the polar H10. Much better unit over all in every way.