Pairs right up and works without a hitch so far, hasn't dropped connection and does everything I'd want it to. One time before a ride I had to de-pair and pair again after it wouldn't connect, but that was just a weird one-off thing seemingly.
The reason I took off a star is because the unit I received was very obviously a used and returned open box with a bunch of grease everywhere, but I figured as long as it worked it was no harm no foul even though it was supposed to be new.
I don't know how many heart rate monitor straps I've owned over the decades, but the interval of replacement is getting longer as the durability improves. This design looks like it should last longer than the previous one. The clasp design seems the same, but they moved the 'skin protection tab' to the opposite end of the strap. So far it hasn't shown any tendency to come unhooked on it's own, which I found to be an issue with my previous one. They have also simplified the length adjustment, there is now only one adjustment loop instead of two which makes it much easier to get right.
This replaces my Garmin Edge 830 and is a huge advance in many ways. It's notably faster--nice to see the road incline in near realtime vs. a 10 second delay and everything loads much quicker. It's a major step up in navigating the various menus. The display is awesome--much easier to read, more options, more responsive.
While its increase in size is noticeable, it's worth it for the better, clearer display. Good for us aging baby boomers!
My only gripe is that that attachment piece on the bottom is more centered on the unit so it doesn't fit well with many of the existing Garmin and face-plate mounts. I have a Bar Fly mount and even with their special mount adapter, the back of the 1050 is barely clearing the face-plate bolts. Not sure why they couldn't have positioned it so it fit existing mounts.
Has an older strap that died on me. I couldn't find that model but still needed one for indoor biking. I paired it easily but the app showed connected without showing the data. I tried all kinds of things and the instructions weren't really great. I asked Gemini and it immediately told me to try the button on it to change modes since different devices need different modes. Would have been so much easier if the HRM would donut automatically or the HRM would switch modes automatically. Just an annoyance since this is a one time thing unless you connect it to different devices that need different modes.
Anyway I would prefer a simple one that just works and I also noted that this HRM need to be more moist than the previous one I had and it stopped working on e 20 mins into a workout.
Not sure there is a better one out there but in case you don't swear much like me or the default mode doesn't work for you
