HRM strap battery swap

Once again I spotted erratic heart rate data from the 935. On checking there wasn't any running dynamics data so the heart rate strap was offline.

I've just swapped the battery and according to the blog it's 3 years since I did it last. Can't complain then.

HRM battery change

Once again I spotted failure of the HRM belt by super-high heart rate data causing the 935 to indicate a massive effort. The run on Sunday was a few km more than intended but was at a gentle pace.

Just before bed tonight I've fitted a new CR2032, as before it needed 2 attempts to restart and be paired.

It's over a year since last replacement so that's fair although I've not run much so it's not had heavy usage.

Garmin Swim Battery change

My V1 swim watch has been very unreliable for my last few swims. Stopping, data loss, time reseting itself etc but no 'low battery' indicator! Also the display has been crisp and contrast-rich which made me think the battery was fine.

Anyway, today I'd got the box of CR2032 in my hands so swapped it over.

Looks like it has been 11 months since the last replacement so perhaps not unsurprising. Let's hope the fault is resolved...

HRM-tri battery swap

On today's run a message popped up on my watch that the Heart Rate Monitor battery was low. It may well be linked to the cold weather but clearly it must be past its best. Luckily I keep a stock of CR2032 3V batteries in stock. There's a YouTube video of the process if, like me, you're not sure where the instructions are at home:

Note the the official instructions include a few extra tips.

Simply wet

The weather forecast was spot on, 95% chance of rain and it was. Anyway I was out of the house so committed to my usual 13km cruise to Oxstones. When I first bought the Garmin HRM-Tri I was interested in the R/L contact balance especially as I was always lop-sided. Then I forgot about it and noted that I was drifting closer to 50:50. Today's run is interesting in that I averaged 50:50 but started off to one side and moved across to the other.

If I'd been on a cambered road and gone 'there and back' it would be easy to explain. On a trail run where I was running around puddles it's hard to explain other than by linking to fatigue (or that the device simply drifts as it changes temperature and is thus useless?).

Forerunner battery dead?

Before yesterday's run I'd changed my Forerunner 100 overnight but half way through it showed 'Low Battery'. I put it down to the cold, and perhaps poor connection with the charging clip. Last night I made sure the clip was well positioned and by this morning charging was complete. I disconnected the charger and within an hour I heard the beep of 'Low Battery' again even though the watch was on standby. The battery indicator is low, of course. I've tried rebooting the watch and it still shows an empty batter but no inclination to charge. Maybe it's the end of the line for it? Although batteries are available online I wonder how easy it will be to get a good outcome. These things aren't built to be repaired.

Review of Alcatel Pop D1 for navigation: 0. History

The day that President Clinton announced that the civilian GPS signal would not be limited by selective availability I ordered a Garmin 12XL.

Image from Smithsonian Institution

In common with many civilian users the previous potential inaccuracy made the concept of GPS very poor value to me. I could use a map well so I didn't see much point in spending a  few hundred pounds for rough data. Without SA though a 12 channel device such as this could achieve real world 10m accuracy which is enough to indicate, for example, which side of a farm a path arises from.

In reality, the navigation facilities of the 12XL made it hard to pre-programme routes due to a limitation of 20 waypoints per route. Mapping software was also costly pre-2000 and it wasn't feasible for me to carry a laptop to review maps on a trip. Thus I tended to use the 12XL as a logger and input a few key waypoints where I anticipated problems. Of course, I also referred to it to get a grid reference when I needed a little encouragement. I also found that I could usually relate it to a map bought overseas either via an official datum/reference system or by a combination of trial and error and use of an unofficial reference formula inputted to the 'user grid'.

Three years ago I moved to using a Holux logger which despite my reservations has been a good workhorse, although recovering the data isn't intuitive. As a pure logger this has no utility in navigation. I also consider that the storage format is excessively 'lossy' resulting in poor detail of recorded tracks.

From the review by DC Rainmaker

Finally, I often run with a Garmin 110, another less-than-cutting-edge piece of kit, which has shown itself to be reliable in all weathers. It can be an aid to navigation by revealing distance travelled which is helpful, where permitted, in orienteering events. It is more reliable than my pacing over rough terrain, that's for sure.