Scosche+ optical for training. You gotta wear it tight but once you do so, it's rock solid. Mine has been solid for nearly 2 years now, with zero loss of it's excellent HRM capture.
It has sucked for racing for me though - I dont' want to lose it off my arm in the chaos of a wetsuit swim (despite the 360 deg velcro) and if I leave it it T1 or T2, it seems to turn itself off and refuse to turn back on likely due to all the other HRM signals in the area. (Yeah it's weird - I've tried it multiple times in multiple races, but it literally won't turn on on the racecourse with other racers in the vicinity, but if I'm all alone and/or after the race and in my car, it turns on immediately. I of course pair it with my Garmin before the race, so it's not the issue of initial pairing - it drops the pairing as my Garmin departs with me on the swim.)
I'm going to buy a dedicated HRM strap and use it just for racing. But for training, the Garmin HRMs die in about a year, every time for me. I've gone through like 7+ of them, all versions. The worst part about the Garmin chest strap failure is that it's gradual - so you feel like you should keep using it since you're getting like 90%, then 80%, then 70%, of your data, and only after you've suffered annoying drops more and more for like a month, you realize you should probably get a new one. And no, changing the pod doesn't solve it, nor does changing the battery individually, or the soft strap portion individually. After a year+, nothing will save it.
I've also used replacement compatibile straps from Polar, and same deal - failure after a year, maybe a bit more. The Polar strap lasted longer for me but also suffered more regular drops so it wasn't better at all.
The Scosche still will likely require a replacement soft strap every year if you're using it a lot - $15. (Battery is USB charged, built-in, no need to replace that.)
It has sucked for racing for me though - I dont' want to lose it off my arm in the chaos of a wetsuit swim (despite the 360 deg velcro) and if I leave it it T1 or T2, it seems to turn itself off and refuse to turn back on likely due to all the other HRM signals in the area. (Yeah it's weird - I've tried it multiple times in multiple races, but it literally won't turn on on the racecourse with other racers in the vicinity, but if I'm all alone and/or after the race and in my car, it turns on immediately. I of course pair it with my Garmin before the race, so it's not the issue of initial pairing - it drops the pairing as my Garmin departs with me on the swim.)
I'm going to buy a dedicated HRM strap and use it just for racing. But for training, the Garmin HRMs die in about a year, every time for me. I've gone through like 7+ of them, all versions. The worst part about the Garmin chest strap failure is that it's gradual - so you feel like you should keep using it since you're getting like 90%, then 80%, then 70%, of your data, and only after you've suffered annoying drops more and more for like a month, you realize you should probably get a new one. And no, changing the pod doesn't solve it, nor does changing the battery individually, or the soft strap portion individually. After a year+, nothing will save it.
I've also used replacement compatibile straps from Polar, and same deal - failure after a year, maybe a bit more. The Polar strap lasted longer for me but also suffered more regular drops so it wasn't better at all.
The Scosche still will likely require a replacement soft strap every year if you're using it a lot - $15. (Battery is USB charged, built-in, no need to replace that.)