# Womens heart rate straps.



## nOOky (Mar 20, 2009)

The gf finds even the Garmin soft strap I bought her uncomfortable. It slips down, or if it's super tight she then gets red marks from it. She is looking for either a new heart rate monitor, or something else Garmin compatible. She is 5'2" 123 lbs with a 34D chest. It's worse when she is exercising and lifting weights, but still irritating when cycling.
I'm just soliciting opinions on a comfortable womens strap that won't slip down. She almost always has it under a sports bra. I'm wondering if a good seamstress could sew the sensor part of the hrm right into the bottom elastic part of a good sports bra, or maybe velcro it in or something.
Ideas anyone?


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## love4himies (Jun 12, 2012)

If it was sewn in, wouldn't washing the bra in the washer be a problem? 

I've only used the polar monitor and have never had a problem when I've placed the monitor in line or just above the bottom bra strap and find that was enough to keep it from slipping while I was jogging.


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## il sogno (Jul 15, 2002)

I use a Polar strap and place it just below (farther down from) the bra.


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## nOOky (Mar 20, 2009)

The module on the Garmin straps pops off and you can wash the strap, not sure about any others. I'd like to see a Polar strap in person to see how it looks. It could just be that her anatomy is weird and the strap naturally wants to slide down, hence I was thinking about sewing the strap right in the bra. I remember Polar used to make one like that? But she's picky about what she wears...




love4himies said:


> If it was sewn in, wouldn't washing the bra in the washer be a problem?
> 
> I've only used the polar monitor and have never had a problem when I've placed the monitor in line or just above the bottom bra strap and find that was enough to keep it from slipping while I was jogging.


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## maximum15 (Feb 6, 2004)

My wife uses the Garmin soft strap without issue, so I guess she is lucky. One thought is to try wearing it "backwards", with the sensor portion on the back instead of on the chest. I don't know if that would be more comfortable or not...just a thought.


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## Kernyl (Dec 23, 2011)

I've used both Garmin and Polar with no problems. I put it on right underneath the breasts where the band of the sports bra hits. I guess I tend to wear it fairly snug so it doesn't fall down, if my skin is a little red when I take it off, it goes away. Maye she just needs to experiment to find the right balance between comfort and tightness.


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## Alfonsina (Aug 26, 2012)

She can adjust the strap to make it tight enough, even if she has the large strap she can do this with minor sewing, if it slips it is not tight enough. 
Polar makes an actual bra with a fitting for their sensor (34d is a tough call for sports bras though, it might not be good enough support), but IME Garmin soft and polar soft strap are almost the same thing. I wonder if she is wearing an underwire bra that pushes the sensor off, because with a good compression fit her strap and sensor should fit under the bra band. I am 34DD and an under wire always causes issues hence I don't use them. I am not too delicate though and a little red mark is not going to irritate me. If the bra band is as thick as any 34D high impact support bra should be, the garmin band will tuck under the bottom band.


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## Lanna (May 27, 2012)

I'm 5"3, 118 pounds, 32D. I've used the polar hr monitor and the bontrager hr monitor. The polar hr monitor would bother me when I first put it on. It was mainly the compression on my ribs. Once I started working out, I just got used to it. I barely notice the bontrager strap.


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