FR955 HR no longer accurate
FR955 for about 3 years and has been mostly reliable. Starting February this year whenever I get out for a run my HR gets overstated by 20-30 BPM. This can happen at the start of run, or in the middle of it. At first I thought it was cadence lock, but my cadence is different. I usually do a warm-up and wait for GPS to connect before hitting start. Strap is tight. Garmin support said it's "noise" until the watch calibrates, but I've never had this issue in the past. Anyone else notice this? Is it really like this now? Makes the HR sensor useless, where in the past it was fairly accurate.
Update: Garmin support offered a refurb replacement for $220 (out of warranty), however mentioned it will have the same issue because I am not performing enough of a "warmup". Also it's not in stock in Canada so not sure when I would actually receive one.
Update 2: Garmin support suggested the following:
Select an activity profile (like Run).
NOTE: Don't start recording the activity yet.
Stay on the activity screen with GPS signal indicator.
This allows the watch to lock on to GPS and heart rate before you begin recording the activity.
Warm up for 5-10 minutes, enough to elevate your heart rate and get good blood flow throughout your body.
When ready, press START/STOP to begin recording the activity.
I've done this many times in the past and still had the issue. Do we really need to spend 5-10 min on the start screen before starting the activity in order to get accurate HR? Never had to do this in the past.
TLDR: Garmin support says you need to do a 5-10 min ritual before actually starting the activity to gain accurate HR date, but it doesn't work for me. I may buy a Coros and wear both at the same time to see what happens.