Suunto Race and HR10 issue
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Hello, I hope this is the right forum since I suspect the issue is more with the Polar Belt. If not feel free to move my topic.
Been using the Suunto Race since half a year, most of the time paired with a HR10 and without issues. A few weeks ago I encountered problems with (what I suspect) dropped connections and my HR going really low while running and only catching it again after a good few minutes. I changed the battery and started wearing the belt more on my left side, as I read its more accurate that way. The dropped signal seemed to get a little bit better but the readings are still weird and Zone Sense does not work accurate.
In the first picture you can see Zone Sense working for only a fraction of the run. Also a weird spike of my hr to 180 for a few minutes while my RPE did not change.
The second picture showing a different run with Zone Sense also working for part of the run.
The 3rd and 4th picture showing another bug I encountered. The new peak pace feature showing me apparently going 4:29min/km for 5 minutes. I did not go that fast, my fastes lap KM was 6:35min/km as my autolap shows.
Its frustrating running and not being able to rely on accurate data.
My watch is up to date (2.39.20), I changed the battery in the HR10, restarted the watch, connected and reconnected the HR10, always wetting it with water, wearing it under my left chest (I am male) and have wrist HR disabled in the workout options. I also cleaned the belt. When I start the activity I can see that the belt is connected.
What else can I do to eliminate potential problems? Does Zone Sense not working mean that the connection is dropped?How can I find out if the HR Belt or the watch is the problem?
Thank you for your input.
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@valentin0711 don’t know if that’s the cause, but I read here that wearing synthetic shirts caused problems with HR Straps when rubbing up and down.
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@valentin0711 Your belt could be worn out, they do not last forever. For me with about 600-700h of exercise per year a Suunto belt lasts 1-1.5y. The sensor is fine but the belts wear out.
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@valentin0711 The H10 can connect to two bluetooth devices – that is a setting that can be activated in the Polar Beat app. I have read here that it can help to „forget“ (that is, disconnect) the H10 on the phone so that it only pairs with your Suunto watch. I also had some weird readings this year and my impression is that it helped to only pair the H10 with my Spartan Ultra.
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I agree with @Brad_Olwin, this is very likely a worn out belt.
If you have (or create) a Runalyze account and upload one of the workouts, it’ll show you a plot of the r-r data. I’m almost certain you’ll see random scatter of the data points for the periods when ZoneSense isn’t calculating.
Given you’ve already tried changing the battery, have washed the belt and are wetting it each time, you can’t do much more than replace the belt. Anything else will likely be a temporary fix at best and you’ll never know if you’re going to get accurate data.
The same has happened with my most recent Suunto belt after about 3 months, around 150-200hrs of running. Also with the 3 previous Suunto belts. The H10 I had lasted a bit longer but not much - maybe 250hrs, nowhere near what some people get. In the end I gave up and switched to a Polar Verity Sense (optical armband) but that doesn’t help if you want to use ZoneSense.
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@MKPotts I would also put a bet on the belt being worn out. It is typical behaviour with the fall in HR to very low numbers and then being able to recover if you shift the belt around a bit, lift it or press it hard against the skin. My previous H10 started behaving that way last season after ca 1 hour of running. This season also started to show the same error and Runalyze graph of the RR-stream looked like scattered buckshot, at first during the incidents but later all along the timeline. That strap I’d say survived ca 300-400 hours.
@ChrisA Interference from static electricity looks more like a short spike of the HR. I had one after four minutes at my last run (and using Suunto belt) which went from 120 bpm to a max of 148 and then down to 120 again over the span of 10 seconds.
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@Inge-Nallsson ah I understand, thanks!
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@Brad_Olwin @MKPotts @Inge-Nallsson you guys seemed to have nailed it, I uploaded some workouts to runalyze and the heart rate variability and r-r intervals of my last workouts are all over the place. Older workouts have accurate data.
@Mauerwegler thank you for your suggestion aswell, I had the polar flow app connected aswell and removed it (used it to check the battery levels on the sensor)
I ordered a new strap and will post an update when I had the chance to test it, but im fairly certain it will solve the issue.
