Changing Garmin HR Monitor Battery

A couple of weeks ago, my Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS and HRM watch started giving erratic readings.  I'd be running along at an easy pace, with a heart rate around 125, then it would suddenly read 150, 160, or even 170! No increase in pace, but a crazy increase in heart rate. I would pause and re-tighten the strap and the problem would usually subside. Sometimes not. I started to use conductive gel on the HRM strap and that seemed to help a bit...but not perfectly.  I figured the battery might be weak so I bought a new CR2032 battery and opened up the battery compartment on chest strap.  Popped out the old battery, slapped in the new one. Refastened the cover and I was ready to go. Not.  After the battery change, I had NO HEART RATE READING from the chest strap. No amount of adjusting the strap or wetting the contact points helped. I tried turning the watch on/off several times. Nothing. Did a soft reset of the watch. Nothing. Tried to "rescan" for accessories. Nothing. While I struggled and got frustrated, my wife searched the web and found a promising lead on this blog post:

"I Fixed My Garmin Forerunner 305 Heart Rate Monitor"
http://www.runbulldogrun.com/forerunner-305/i-fixed-my-garmin-forerunner-305-heart-rate-monitor/

The various tricks I tried were mentioned on this blog post, but they had another potential fix...bend the gold battery compartment contact out (for a better connection).  IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM! 

I've now used the HRM strap for several runs, both indoors and outside...and it continues to work well. Thank goodness people post solutions on the web. And thank goodness wives tend to be smarter than husbands! Thanks wifey.

I'm now back to happy running...with all my good data in tow.