Garmin HRM-Fit Review: A Great Idea, But Does It Work for Every Woman?

By: Tarin O'Donnell

My old chest strap HRM finally gave out this spring, which meant it was time to find a replacement and it felt like the right excuse to finally try the Garmin HRM-Fit. Instead of a separate strap wrapping around your ribs, this one clips directly onto your sports bra. I was hoping it would mean less stuff to think about and more freedom to just clip in and go, no matter what bra I grabbed that morning. Here's how it actually went.

Clip It and Forget It?

The pitch is simple: ditch the separate strap, clip the sensor onto the bra you're already wearing, and get the same heart rate data with way less hardware. As someone who's always tracking something, that sounded like a win before I even opened the box

The Bra-blem

Here's where it got complicated for me. The HRM-Fit only works with certain sports bras. Garmin specifies it needs a defined, compressive band around the rib cage. That's fine if you've got one bra you wear for every workout. But as a bigger-chested woman, I already have to think carefully about which bra I'm wearing for which activity. High-impact days mean one bra, recovery or mobility days mean another, and some of my bras are front-closure, which the HRM-Fit flat out doesn't support.

So instead of "clip in and go," I found myself asking "is this going to work with this bra?” before every workout, which defeated the whole point for me. If tracking across every single workout matters to you, this becomes a real limitation, not a minor one. And I know not everyone is tracking every thing. But think, walking, zone 2 workouts, etc. you may not be wearing a high impact sports bra for that, thus the HRM Fit, might not help you stay in that zone. 

Another thing worth mentioning: the clip hardware itself is bulkier than I expected. I was hoping to feel less stuff on my body, and the extra plastic didn't fully deliver on that.

Where the Pitch and Reality Split

I think Garmin was genuinely trying to solve a real problem for women. But it feels like this was designed and tested around one fit model: a straight-sized woman with a smaller chest. If that's you, this may honestly be the best HR monitor on the market right now, zero shade. But if you’re a curvy woman with a rotation of sports bras for different activities, including front-closure and lower-support options, and want to track it all, you're going to hit walls with this thing fast.

Something It Did Get Right

When it did pair with the right bra, it delivered. 

Who This Actually Makes Sense For

If you have one or two go-to sports bras that already meet Garmin's band requirements, this could genuinely simplify your setup. It's a strong option for someone with a more straightforward bra wardrobe, or only tracking certain kinds of workouts that go with said bra. 

Bottom Line

The Garmin HRM-Fit solves a real problem, for a specific body or a specific bra, that is. Solid product, narrow fit. If your sports bra and workout routine line up with what it needs, it's worth trying. If not, a full chest strap HRM is still the more reliable route.