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I'm thinking about buying my girlfriend a running a garmin for Christmas. It would appear that the hr strap and her sports bra may want to compete for the same bit of skin on her chest, does this cause an issue / rubbing / discomfort?
Alternately are the hr monitors inbuilt into watch strap such as TomTom better?
new Garmin 225 has built in optical HR based on MIO technology.
Mio make wrist hrm, pretty good.
I asked Mrs BaB the same question when she started using her Garmin one 13 months ago. She runs 5k-13Miles and says it has never caused an issue
Don't know any women using the chest straps, so can't comment on the comfort or otherwise, but I have the wrist mounted heart rate monitor and it's waaayy better than my previous chest straps (Suunto, Garmin, Polar). Had the Mio link for a year and it works pretty seamlessly with my Garmin watch.
It does need to be on the same wrist as the watch whilst running (I guess getting the signal through my body is tough). Whilst cycling, I use it on the opposite wrist.
Friend has Garmin 225 and likes it. Garmin 235 is released today (I think).
friend of mine wears one all the time, and AFAIK it causes her no concerns or discomfort at all.
I've just replaced a Wahoo HR monitor strap (after it died from sweat getting into the battery space) with a Garmin soft strap. The hard plastic bit at the front of both of the straps sits just under my sports bra (Shock Absorber FWIW) and I've never had a problem with discomfort/rubbing etc from the strap.
The Garmin strap is ever so slightly more comfortable than the Wahoo one was, mainly because it doesn't tend to slip down my torso (which the Wahoo one did occasionally).
I only cycle with this combo however, I don't run. I don't know if running causes extra jiggling that may induce discomfort (although, if she has a good sports bra, I guess it shouldn't be an issue).
Saw this thread and passed it across to the mrs - she being more qualified than myself to answer.
Her response, was, to be blunt, she uses a non under wired sports bra (shock absorber) and the garmin strap sits under that. Minimal issues given the number of runs she has used her kit for. If the wearer is not that lean around the solar plexus then the strap may pucker and rub.
Way more comfy than the old polar jobs apparently
Optical hrm may not work through clothing, so may factor into winter running (mrs likes to see her watch when she runs so she can see pace etc).
Sports bra's are available with the strap bit of the HRM built into the bra itself, then you just clip on the transmitter bit.
see [url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shock-Absorber-Sports-S00BZ-Black/dp/B00V670NNU ]here[/url] for an example, others are available.
IANAL but I do use different transmitters with different straps and polar, wahoo and garmin transmitters all seem to work with one another's chest straps so I would assume that they should all work with the sports bra connections too.