How to pair a heart rate monitor to your Garmin watch
Use your chest strap and ditch the watch's heart rate monitor with these steps.
Garmin watches have become increasingly reliable for wrist-based heart rate tracking. However, pairing an external heart rate monitor remains the best choice if you want the most accurate workout HR data.
Whether you favor the lower latency of a chest strap over the Garmin wrist sensor, or if it offers more detailed insights than your device, connecting an external HRM to your paired devices is simple.
Follow the steps below to get started—and note they might slightly vary depending on which Garmin watch you own.
1. Begin from the Garmin watch's menu
Bring up the menu on your Garmin watch by holding down the 'Up/Menu' button for a couple of seconds.
2. Find 'Sensors & Accessories'
From here, scroll down into the 'Settings' section and find 'Sensors & Accessories' before pushing the 'Start/Stop' button to select it. You may have to select 'Connectivity' to access this option initially.
3. Select 'Add New'
The option to 'Add New' should be just under the option to 'Auto Discover', which we recommend having turned on if you don't already. Select 'Add New' to continue.
4. Set your external device to pairing mode
Before completing the next step on your Garmin watch, ensure your external device is both turned on and in pairing mode. This will naturally vary depending on the brand of heart rate monitor you're trying to pair.
5. Select 'External Heart Rate'
Use the 'Down' button to find 'External Heart rate' and use the 'Start/Stop' button to select it.
6. Confirm your device
The watch will then begin searching for your external device.
Once it discovers it, you'll see its Bluetooth name appear, at which point you can push the button that corresponds to the green tick on the screen to complete the pairing.
7. Using a paired HRM for activity tracking
Once you've established the connection to your Garmin watch, you'll want to know how to quickly connect to it when you're about to start activity tracking.
Luckily, this is pretty painless. Ensure your device is turned on and ready to be paired.
If your Garmin watch has 'Auto Discover' turned on (head back to Step 3 to do so), it's likely to pop up just before you select an activity.
You can connect the pair manually by returning to 'Sensors & Accessories' and finding your device.
