The Scosche Rythym works great and is a huge improvement from the older HR straps. I use it with my Cycleops Joule.

I've had the old Garmin, the new premium Garmin, and the Wahoo TICKR. The Wahoo has been infinitely more reliable and accurate.

I have all three. I don't see how the TICKR strap will be any different than the Garmin straps in the long run. After trying the Rythym I don't use the straps anymore! It is the best.

You do have to adapt to having a strap on your arm. I set mine around bicep.

There are two potential limitations: 1) you have to regularly charge it vs. the long lasting batteries in the typical HRM straps; 2) the charge doesn't last as long as most modern gps watches or bike computers - 6-7 hours at best.

I've been using the Rhythm for a year. Mine has been crapping out lately. First it seemed to be a battery related issue, but then it comes back at times and works normal so it may be the switch. Scosche tech support has sucked so far. An email went unanswered for 2 weeks and it took a message on FB to get a response. Then after some back and forth, providing my receipt, etc. they emailed me a form letter response with a warranty claim form attached. Failure of electronics is common and I've gone thru this with Garmin before. Say what you will about Garmin, I would have had a return authorization in a day or two and my replacement in hand within a week. We'll see how it goes.

Scosche has worked really well for me. Stable, accurate, and consist. I charge it once a week.

Hello 2wheels and All,


Of the units I use now ........ I like Tickr best, Garmin with Polar strap 2nd, and Scosche 3rd.


Tickr just works every time ..... with a light to indicate it is on (and has an onboard recording function), Garmin is OK too, Scosche needs frequent recharging and can be location sensitive for getting a reading (but can be useful if you have heart electrical anomalies since is senses pulse rather than heart electrical signals).


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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

I've been looking at the rhythm as another garmin strap dies. Does it work through layers/ under arm warmers as well??

I had the same static/strange readings issue with my Garmin HR strap. Bought some Bah Bump electrode cream off Amazon for $7 and no more issues.

Yeah. I always wear it under a short sleeve and in the winter, it'll also track just fine under a jacket. The short battery life could be a problem, but I always just charge it every time. The real bummer is: the button is pretty soft and easy to turn on, so I will often get off work to find that it has been running all day in my bag. Oh well, not so terrible to miss data every once in awhile. Annoyingly, it takes a long press to shut it off...6 seconds, just timed it!

Even though they claim 8 hours, after 11 months of near daily use, I got 9.5 hours out of it transmitting via ANT+. There may be battery life differences with BT vs. ANT+.

My experience. No static issues with garmin straps but holy god, are they uncomfortable. I've got scars on my chest from them.

Bought Soche rhythm. I had no issues getting data but 1) as mentioned battery life is sad. 2) strap velcro not very robust and easy fir it to be dead when you didn't think it would be. Inside of 3 months it took adding a safety pin to keep it from opening, otherwise it would just unvelcro and fall off. 3) In the 4th month it died, only showing like 72 bpm no matter my activity level. I don't know how it happened but I found what looked like a tiny scratch on the plastic over one if the lights. Figure that was why. Tried to find warrenty info and figured F it, for $70 it was not worth my time. Tossed it.

Bought the Mio Link. No issues. Sad about its battery life though. I turned it on after the swim, wore it through my pr bike split, and it died a few min into my run = wholey inappropriate for 140.6 races. For perspective, that's < 6.5 h on a full charge.

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To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

The scoesche is good and very convenient, but in the winter the velcro usually gets caught on long sleeve shirts and falls off. Battery life is an issue too, and it does seem like it's starting to fade after a year and a half of regular use.

Tickr is very reliable, for some reason the strap is tolerable. I tried the tickrx too, I don't know if there was too much going on with the run dynamics, cadence etc and that caused a lot of interference but it didn't work as well.

Wrist straps for me. I can't imagine going back to chest straps after trying both Mio and Scosche. Scosche is a better for me btw - more reliable, but does have some drops and spikes in colder temps. But not an issue in SoCal :)

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Got a Scosche Rhythm+ based on Ray/DCR and other forum folks' recommendations. I've used it on the fleshier inside and top of the forearm and on both the inside and outside of the bicep, all seem to work about equally well. But I notice that when standing still, I can make the reported heart rate jump 10 points just by flexing the arm muscle, and 40 points by waving that arm around. Band is pretty snugly secured, I don't think extraneous light is getting in. This is not confidence inspiring. Interestingly, the same effect doesn't seem to manifest during a workout, and the numbers I just got back from my first cycling workout with it seemed reasonable, though I have nothing with which to compare it. Does this seem odd or par for the course?

I use my Scosche on the wrist. Either the opposite wrist, or just above my Garmin. Overall it is accurate, but it is definitely slower to respond to immediate changes than a HR strap. I haven't tested mine swimming yet, haven't got full confidence in 1m submersion being safe for swimming, but I did hold my hand underwater in the sink and it was working just fine when next to my Garmin.

I assume you're positioning the sensor on the inside of the wrist? Since the wrist in general is less fleshy, seems less optimal but awesome if it works.

Can you affect the heart rate readout by flexing your arm muscles or waving your arm around? I.e. standing still, if you do those things, does the heart rate stay constant?

Submersion is probably safe but I doubt you'll get effective wireless transmission through the water.

You assume wrong. I get accurate readings with the sensor on the outside of my wrist, just above my Garmin. It is slow to respond to changes (maybe 2 or 3 seconds delay), but is accurate overall.
I can affect the reading by moving my hand a lot at the wrist, but that is unnatural. In all fairness I have only really used it for cycling so far, but that has not seemed to be a problem.
I think I have clearly proved the transmission is not a problem when next to a Garmin. I'm not betting my device on your probably just yet ;)

Great that you're getting a sufficient seal on the outside of the wrist.

I'd be surprised if you get transmission under water in a pool, but please report back!

Is there something I'm missing? Why would pool water be any different to water in a sink?

I am assuming your sink allowed inches, not feet, of underwater transmission. Others have reported that these devices are unable to sustain a connection in the pool. But happy to be proven wrong!

Relatedly, it's worth being aware that velcro loses most of its holding power in water.

The signal will take the shortest path. No need for it to go on a joy ride.

I see your point, if the Scosche is on the same arm as the Garmin. That's great news that it seems to work!

It is. I unscrewed the back to check the seal. It's ok, but not great. I think it could easily be strengthened with a simply piece of cling wrap as an added gasket. The bit that concerns me most is the charging contacts. I'm not sure how they are sealed into the case. Perhaps the addition of a little silicon (leaving some exposed so you can still charge the device) or similar around the join might help?

Please back that up.

I'm getting the impression you deploy that line a lot. Is it generally well received?

I was a white water, river, and lake canoe trip guide back in the day, and velcro closures become very unreliable when immersed, so for example on Teva sandals, we'd either back them up with additional elastic bands or use buckles instead. My guess is velcro loses 70-80 percent of its strength when submerged. But I can't logically explain why the hooks and loops should be impaired by water. And it's possible some velcro could be engineered to do better in water.

Nope, wrong again, first time I'd used it.

I'm pretty sure you will find that velcro does not lose most, or probably even any, of its holding power in water. Rather that there are simply more forces being applied on it in water than you realize. At a quick glance I would say approximately 784 times greater force than air.