While we don’t intend to waste money on equipment and other cool gadgets to ramp up our fitness routine that’s just what we sometimes wind up doing because we didn’t take the time to read the owner’s manual.  But, who has time to read the manual? You just want to use the thing, right? What follows are five of the most important things you can do to ruin your Polar heart rate monitor, so avoid them at all cost.

Number #1:

Change the battery yourself.

Some of the Polar heart rate monitors require that an authorized Polar service provider change the watch battery. To be safe, always use a service provider. To save a few dollars, crack open your manual to see if your model allows owners to do it themselves. If you don’t do it right you could damage your heart monitor watch and/or void the warranty.

Number #2

Fail to clean the chest strap consistently.

Okay, yuck to those who would even think to not wash this thing. You should rinse the strap under running water at least after each use. Then towel dry. You need to clean and dry it as a strap that remains damp all the time remains activated which can shorten the life of your monitor.

Number #3

Douse the chest strap in rubbing alcohol in an effort to sanitize it.

Good intentions gone awry. This will damage the material. Will we are on the subject of using anything other than water and mild soap to clean, be sure to stay away from steel wool or any other abrasive material like scouring pads. Also, do not use any chemical products to clean your Polar heart rate monitor.

Now you know of three things you should never do if you want your Polar heart monitor to last. If you’ve already done the unthinkable and wish to try Polar again be sure to check out the different models now available. They just keep getting better and better.