HRM Battery Replacement

UPDATE

Called Garmin and they offered to send me a new strap for free!! I opted to get the HRM Tri for a total cost of 30. It's rare I highly recommend a brand based on customer service but wow am I impressed with Garmin. A+++

I took mine to the jewelry store. $15 later, I had a like-new unit.

Oh, been there!! I switched to a Mio link, rechargabe wrist based optical hrm. I never looked back!

I haven't stripped the first screw yet and was going to give it another try...but glad I read this first. I'll be taking it to the jewelry store today.

Nice. I've found Garmin is actually pretty helpful when you call them about stuff like this. I agree that changing the HMR battery sucks. I've found a small, sharp screwdriver that works great though.

Do you find it as accurate / does it do everything the 920xt does? I love how easy it is to switch between swimming/biking/running/etc both indoor and outdoor. I've been reluctant to go optical for accuracy and also data purposes. Garmin also shows cadence which is helpful in reminding me why I'm so slow .

The Mio Link is only an HRM. It replaces the chest strap, not the 920xt. I haven't noticed any difficulty with it in terms of accuracy of HR.

For the HRM run, I killed that the first time I tried to replace it. I have an eye glass kit with super small screwdrivers (super useful for other tasks) and I ended up killing mine when I pressed it in too far and broke the little pillar inside. I ended up going back to the normal HRM. Never had any issues with it and all the HRM Run stats, I never cared about. Yeah it was neat to have 25 graphs on my run but vertical oscillation and other things aren't going to improve my run (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJWPwVF30yo). After seeing it was $100 for a new one, I just said f' it and went back to my cheaper HRM. Sort of mad I paid all that extra money for my Fenix 3 for it to die in less than a year.

We have a store in town called Batteries + Bulbs. They are great for replacing all manner of batteries from watches to cars. This is a franchise outfit so maybe there is one near you.

They have replaced the battery in my Polar HRM strap.