Replacing a Broken Bryton Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) Strap with a Polar SoftStrap

My Bryton Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) has had a lot of use, but the last time I removed the sensor from the  strap , one of the button clips came away from the strap with the ANT+ module.

You can see on the left hand clip the part from the strap.  The rivet had broken, and looking at the strap I couldn’t see how to replace it.

The Polar Soft Strap

Reading that the Polar soft strap fitted the Garmin HRM and could be used as a replacement for that,  I looked at the Polar strap and the buttons on the strap looked as though they were the same distance as the Bryton model. (See the post on www.dcrainmaker.com for details about the polar strap and Garmin HRM.  I’d  recommend spending some time exploring this sire if your into training and tech.)

The Polar strap is also quite cheap.  On Amazon, it retails for around £13, so it was worth a shot.

When I got the strap however it has a protective plastic sheath around the dome fitting.  The recess in the back of the Bryton HRM is too small to fit.

However the  fitting itself looked as though it was the same size as the HRM. So  I got a sharp knife and carefully removed the top 2mm of the sheath to expose the dome.

Here is the picture showing the two domes, one with the plastic sheath removed to expose the top of the button.

You can see the rubber surround  is about a 1mm thick.

With a sharp knife, carefully cut away.  The rubber is quite hard to get though, so I found going around a few times was the easiest and then I used a pair of needle nose pliers to pull the rubber away from the surround once the cut was made.

The rubber surround removed with the scalpel I used. You will need a very sharp knife to cleanly cut through.

The HRM fitted onto the strap. The rubber presses against the back of the HRM so the fit is firm.

Another view of the strap and HRM.

I popped in a new battery and put the strap on.  It immediately paired with my Garmin Edge 800.