Suunto Race S and Suunto HRM belt not working anymore

tschogo

Since a few days my suunto HRM belt doesn‘t work properly anymore. I‘m usually able to connect it just fine before a workout, it also shows up when starting the training. However, when the training starts, the HR reading is not there anymore (just „- -„).

The HRM belt is from Suunto as well, pretty new (Jan 2025), not used a lot (max once a week). I also replaced the battery (to no luck), restarted my watch.

Nothing helped so far. Any ideas?

Adrian.S

@tschogo I don’t have any specific advice for you, but I had similar problems with the Garmin HRM Pro strap: it stopped working after 6 months – I sent it back under warranty and bought a new one because I needed it quickly for a competition.

After 3 months, the new one also stopped measuring my heart rate. I sent it back under warranty.

Now I have two Garmin belts and a Polar H10, which is more comfortable, practical, and so far reliable.

New things can break too.

tschogo

@Adrian.S oh good to know. Many thanks. Which of the two do you like more? I‘ll get myself one of those then as well

Adrian.S

@tschogo Like Suunto, Polar has a replaceable chip, so you can wash the belt when it gets dirty. The Garmin belt is integrated, so… it can always has smell of sweat.

Overall, the Polar H10 is the market leader in heart rate belts due to its accuracy.

However, with Suunto, you can be sure that the belt can store up to 60 minutes of your heart rate without a watch, should the watch malfunction or the battery die.

When you reconnect the Suunto belt to the Suunto watch, you will see in your activity that you have not lost your heart rate measurement.

The same applies to Garmin watches and their belts.

Polar does not support this, but I don’t care because watches don’t tend to break on their own during activity

Overall, the Polar belt is more comfortable than Garmin and definitely cheaper. I haven’t had a Suunto belt yet.

suzzlo

@tschogo what about battery? Have you checked this?

tschogo

@suzzlo Yes, it’s part of my original post

tschogo

@Adrian.S Thanks a lot. Got myself a Polar H10. It will reach me tomorrow. Let’s see, if the belt itself actually was the issue

BrunoH

@Adrian.S said in Suunto Race S and Suunto HRM belt not working anymore:

However, with Suunto, you can be sure that the belt can store up to 60 minutes of your heart rate without a watch

Only 60 minutes? Are you sure? I have recently cycled a few 90 minute routes with my Suunto smart sensor while the watch was placed on the handlebar. It recorded the full exercise HR just fine. I’ve also done some 60+ mins swims and I am pretty sure the sensor can’t broadcast the activity HR to the watch until you get out of the pool. Radiowaves don’t like water.