Suunto t3c HRM

[John Hendrie]

I won a Suunto t3c in a drawing a few years back and have never figured out how to use it effectively. The User Guide is almost unintelligible. If anyone out there has mastered this device I would love to pick your brain.

I have a PM3 monitor so my training data will come exclusively from the wrist watch readout

Thanks in advance

[Carl Watts]

Your probably better off getting a Polar receiver to plug into the PM3 and get a Polar HR strap, then everything in the results in the monitor ties together and you get an average HR for the row and HR at the end of the splits which is pretty much all the average person needs to track your performance plus you don't need to be a rocket scientist to get it working. An added bonus is the HR is on the PM3 screen and not on a watch thats hard to read while rowing.

[John Hendrie]

Your probably better off getting a Polar receiver to plug into the PM3 and get a Polar HR strap, then everything in the results in the monitor ties together and you get an average HR for the row and HR at the end of the splits which is pretty much all the average person needs to track your performance plus you don't need to be a rocket scientist to get it working. An added bonus is the HR is on the PM3 screen and not on a watch thats hard to read while rowing.

Thanx for the feedback Carl. I do already own a polar HRM since October 2005. It is a T31 coded transmitter. The problem is that it is VERY erratic - cuts out periodically during a session (PM3 goes blank). When I look at the log following a session there is sometimes data at the splits but there are many splits which are blank. I have tried relocating the pickup but that doesn't solve the problem.

[Carl Watts]

The problem I had with the earlier hard plastic Polar Chest straps like the T31 is you have to put water on them and your chest before fitting as it drys out and stops working. I have since moved to the Polar Wearlink with the fibre strap and if you soak this in water it doesn't have time to dry out before you start sweating, even for slower training rows.

The range of the Polar is a limitation and its about 6 feet at the very best, but with the strap working correctly the location of the pickup is not critical to it working reliably.

Obviously the battery life is also an issue in the chest strap. The older versions used a larger non user replacable Lithium battery but the newer ones had a smaller battery so depending on useage 7+ years it may be on the way out.

[John Hendrie]

Thank you Carl

I will try replacing the battery and see if it helps

john