Polar H10 Review (2022 update) ❤️ Comparisons, Polar’s Greatest HRM

Polar H10 Review

This Polar H10 Review looks in detail at the new functionalities introduced into Polar’s flagship heart rate monitor/chest strap.

Polar H10 ReviewPolar’s H7 has been superseded by a newer and better chest-strap heart rate monitor (HRM), the Polar H10.

I’m going to assume, as I would do with a Garmin or Suunto chest strap HRM, that it’s accurate. Some of Polar’s marketing literature states increased accuracy over the previous H7 model. The H7 has historically been used by Sports Labs as an HRM-of-choice due to its accuracy. For me to say if it is more or less accurate than that I would need to do research to a scientific degree of accuracy. That’s beyond what I do here.

WHAT’S NEW?

The new pod and strap are interchangeable with the previous strap and pod on the H7. But other than the same spacing for the connector quite a lot else has changed.

The strap is visually different. The rear of the new strap has 50 or so circular rubber ‘dots’. These give a combination of grip from the rubber; and sweat dissipation through the fabric. This reflects the multi-sport intention of the Polar H10. I compared this to Garmin’s HRM-SWIM (swim, not tri, not shown), with the HRM-SWIM the ENTIRE rear of the strap, excluding the sensors, is sticky. That’s great for the water but perhaps less so for running/cycling where the sweat would not be wicked away. So Polar’s H10 is going to be fine for running/cycling BUT is there enough grip for pool swimming?

Polar H10 Review h7The clasp has also changed. The new strap is great to buckle up but perhaps a little tricky to unbuckle. Or, said more positively, it won’t accidentally come off! One of the more annoying things about the old style clasp which was used extensively by most companies for their HRMs was that different brands had the pointy bit (below) pointing up and down. Whenever you changed brands the clasp buckled up the other way. The new clasp will work either way around. Although annoyingly, with all previous straps the unclasping was at the side whereas now it seems to be at my back, I could twist it around I suppose 😉

I’ve only recently got the H10 so I am not able to comment on the strap’s longevity in any respect (strap or clasp).

Polar H10 Review h7

The final aspect of the strap to consider is the sensor area ie the shiny rubbery bit, below. As you can see the two main sides of the rubbery strip are mostly unchanged BUT there is an extra inch long strip further away from the centre.

Polar H10 Review H7That’s similar to Garmin’s slightly older HRM3 strap (one of my favourite straps). Although that particular aspect of the strap design was not followed through to the latest HRM4-TRI/HRM4-RUN/HRM4-SWIM.

So why is there increased accuracy? Polar said to me that the H10 “has additional electrodes to reduce interference and silicon friction dots to keep the sensor in place“, so in fact it is the STRAP that increses accuracy rather than the POD itself.

 

Garmin 945 Sigma id.TRI Polar Vantage

THE POD

Like the H7, the H10 pod is still Bluetooth SMART compatible meaning that it will work with many smartphones, pieces of gym equipment and Polar’s sports watches/cycling computers. It will not work with older Garmins, or indeed any ANT+ only device. However, with the Fenix 5 / Fenix 5 Plus, it appears that Garmin may be moving forward to specifically extend the compatibility of their 2017 onwards devices with Bluetooth SMART HRMs such as the H10. ie it WILL work with the Fenix 5 series and other high-end Garmins as an HRM.

The H10 supports Bluetooth Low Energy v4.2 (SMART).

Aesthetically the pods are quite different. I suppose the newer one has a more modern look about it. I prefer the older version but looks don’t matter for a HRM, in my opinion.

Polar H10 Review H7

When I first heard about the H10 I assumed it had a notably lower profile, below. However, they are similar. I’d assumed that a lower profile would be better for pool swimming (it would). But the profile differences seem so trivial as to make little difference to whether or not the strap twists when turning at the end of a pool lane. It’s much more likely that the strap will make the difference there.

Polar H10 Review H7

I never liked any of the brands that had HRM pods where a coin had to be used to charge the battery. Finally Polar has come up with a superior solution in this regard. The CR2025 battery is now VERY easily removed with a screwdriver (or similar), changed and re-inserted.

Polar H10 Review H7

IN USE

I had a little splash in the pool tonight as part of my Polar H10 Review research. Just testing out how well the H10 stayed on. There were no issues with it coming off the chest at all. HOWEVER, I WASN’T PARTICULARLY ‘GOING FOR IT’ ON THE TURNS…just a 5m push off – I am a reasonably alright triathlon swimmer. I had the strap fairly tight. It may or may not get pushed off the chest with a more vigorous push-off/turn.

Here’s the HR compared to a wrist-based M200 (which you CANNOT assume to be right). I did crank it up towards the end and you can see that the H10 probably nailed those with the M200 lagging somewhat. I was faffing around with the strap at the start to get it comfortable too.

I don’t think too much can be drawn from this as a chest strap needs to be compared to a chest strap in a pool. I can’t really do that sensibly. I might update some more usage with it over time. Let me know if you specifically want to see anything.

m200-v800-splash

Here’s just one track of very, very many that are cuper cool when running and cycling.

fenix5x-garmin235-polar-h10
fenix5x, garmin235, polar H10 on Suunto Spartan

 

 

INTERESTING BITS

The H10 will work LIVE underwater with your existing Polar sports watch, such as the V800, providing GymLink is enabled through Polar BEAT (‘ON’ by default – check compatibility). The H10 does not need to cache data like an old analogue frequency marketed under GymLink is used for transmission (5KHz band) and the signal travels far enough through the water to reach the device on your wrist. Bluetooth SMART and ANT+ will only travel a centimetre or so and hence Bluetooth/ANT HRM straps do not work LIVE with wrist-based devices – caching is required by Garmin & Suunto’s straps for underwater use.

However, the H10 can also cache data (to the Beat app). It says on the box that it will cache one exercise. That one exercise can be 65 hours long and data is stored on a per-second basis. Hmmm.

Edit (2019): Interestingly the H10 can simultaneously pair to two ACTIVE BLE devices using BLE when the appropriate setting for that is enabled in the Polar BEAT app. Yep. It’s true.

The Polar FLOW app is the smartphone gateway to the internet for Polar’s sports watches. The FLOW app doesn’t record a session itself. The Polar BEAT app uses your smartphone as a recording device and you pair the H10 within the BEAT app.

I recorded a session with Polar BEAT and the H10. No cached data was received by the BEAT app. ie there were gaps in the HR track.

Hmmm.

I tried again this time noticing the ‘Save HR with sensor‘ option in the top right-hand corner. Ah yes. that worked. A strange and seemingly incomplete implementation. Very UN-Polar.

I then tried to pair to my V800 and it wouldn’t pair. Ah. The reason why was because the Bluetooth pairing with the smartphone was CLOSE BY AND ACTIVE. Turning off Bluetooth on the smartphone and the H10 was very quickly paired to the V800

I recorded a session with a V800 and the H10. No cached data was received by the V800. ie there were gaps in the HR track. The only track was from when the H10 was ‘in range’ ie about 5m.

So I guess caching for watches hasn’t yet been enabled or is saved for future Polar watches

The H10 is firmware updatable (see these instructions) through the Polar BEAT app – firmware is automatically updated, once paired. So lots of nice bits of internal hardware could be enabled by a new bit of firmware. NB Not tested as I have the latest firmware so the option did not appear.

Even though the H10 is Bluetooth SMART (v4.2) it CAN be paired with several Bluetooth devices (Source: Polar). However, it can only be used concurrently with 2 devices and one of those must use Bluetooth and one must use the GymLink/5KHz frequency. Edit: see below. This is no longer true..in a nice way. 2 Bluetooth connections ARE simultaneously supported (I’ve done it!)

Compatibility is good for Polar devices and will go back as far as the RCX5. Supported devices listed (here). Compatibility excludes W.I.N.D.-only devices.

Something wrong with the H10?: Unpair and forget every connection (double-check EVERY connection you’ve made is unpaired) then reboot it by taking out the battery and putting in a new battery (CR2025)

Here is the manual, that’s always interesting: H10 Manual.

H10 (or H7) is required for Polar’s Orthostatic tests on the Vantage and V800 watches. IE other HRV-capable, BLE chest straps will NOT work.

Edit: Comments below suggest that HRV/RR data is NOT cached and is ONLY transmitted live. I have not tested this.

Edit: Polar have now released an H9 model which has a less accurate strap and slightly fewer pod-based features BUT it’s cheaper and will be accurate enough for almost everyone.

RAMPANT SPECULATION

It seems to me that the trend in HR measurement is towards optical HR on wrist-based devices. Perhaps somewhat strange then that Polar has released a new caching HR strap when they already have a swimming solution.

OK the fitness/gym/class market is growing and maybe people want to start the app at the edge of the room and do the class wearing the strap. That makes sense. Although many of those people will be moving to optical HR on bands or on sports watches.

Polar’s new team sports shirt, I believe, includes an H10 module. The players do their stuff on the training field and then at the end the coach syncs data from all the shirts. This could be the prime driver in itself behind the new H10. (It’s not!).

The conspiracy theory is that the H10 is actually much more wonderful than it is letting on at present. I understand that it has motion sensors (Source: FCC filing) ie an accelerometer. From what I’ve described so far these are probably only of use in the team sports’ shirt. Clearly, with an onboard accelerometer, some form of running dynamics is on the cards for the Polar Vantage series.

The description of how caching currently works, above, also seems quite restrictive.

My strong suspicion is that the H10 is destined for greater things this year or next, with a new generation of running, triathlon and maybe cycling watches. Indeed I expect some form of running dynamics to be introduced into the Polar Vantage series in 2019. We shall see.

COMPARISONS

For running/cycling it’s hard to get excited about which strap to use unless they have some really special feature like the 4iiii Viiiiva. It only becomes a talking point when an HRM is particularly bad in some respect. I think Garmin’s HRM3, for me, turned the corner in terms of the elimination of spikes and troughs on earlier models. Until then the Polar HRMs were always seen as the gold standard but I think Garmin caught up with the HRM-TRI.

Under a wetsuit Suunto, Garmin and Polar are all going to be fine.

For pool use, I’m erring towards wrist-based oHR. I even use the Polar M200 just for the ease of it and take a slight hit on the accuracy. I’m looking forward to the Suunto SPARTAN Sport WHR (Wrist HR) which should be here imminently. That might turn into my “goto” pool watch. We’ll see.

Back to straps.

My personal favourite is the HRM-TRI which I have only once had problems with (lost cached session but recovered it). I don’t like the HRM-SWIM as the strap is too rigid for my liking and hard to adjust. The Suunto is pretty and nicely small; it needs an improved, stickier strap for pool usage.

The H10 seems ‘solid’ to me. Early days.

UPDATE – Polar H10 Review

As of 14 April 2017 I’ve used the H10 about 4 times each week with a Suunto SPARTAN for ‘normal’ usage as an HRM. Absolutely no problems.

As of 26 June I have had to replace my H10’s battery. That is sooner than I expected. I have had the strap always on my desk and it is possible that being knocked frequently caused it to turn on and consume battery

As of 10 Jan 2019, I have been using the H10 fairly frequently over the last 3 months with my Polar Vantage V & M. Zero problems with running any cycling (note the H10 does NOT give HR to the Vantage underwater)

As of March 2019, Polar has announced that the H10 will soon support ANT+ !! as will the OH1 armband. ANT+ Finally!

TIPS – Polar H10 Review

To extend your watch‘s battery life on long exercises, why not unpair the H10? then use Polar Beat to initiate and cache the HR for that really long hike/ultra?

Use Polar BEAT to change a setting on the H10 that allows it to simultaneously PAIR AND BE SIMULTANEOUSLY ACTIVE with 2x Bluetooth devices (yep, not 5Khz).

ALTERNATIVES – Polar H10 Review

Assuming you want a BLE chest strap as an alternative to the Polar H10 Review ed here, then you could also consider Suunto’s Smart Belt.

2015 Review : Suunto SMART Belt – HRM Heart Rate Monitor

or Wahoo’s TICKR-X (Wahoo TICKR-X Review)

Wahoo Tickr Review | v2 2020 Gen 2 | Tickr X HRM

 

Another great alternative is Polar’s OH1 optical armband. (Polar OH1 Review)

Polar Verity Sense Review | the other opinion, in detail

 

Best REI/Wiggle/PMC price is linked to. $/Eu/£70 and UNlikely to fall in 2018/9.

But remember if you want CACHING then your receiving device MUST be from the same company. So Suunto’s caching will only work with their watches.

RECOMMENDATIONS

This Polar H10 Review concludes by saying that the H10 is Polar’s best Chest Strap to date.

  • If your old strap/pod has broken then why not get the newer one? No reason, other than price, not to.
  • If you want the increased accuracy then that will come from the strap and not the pod. If you have the H7 then your H7 is compatible with the new strap. Go for it, just buy the strap. (You might as well buy the new pod at the same time).
  • Unless you use an app there is no reason to upgrade for the caching or (hoped for) running dynamics.
  • I always found the Garmin HRM3 strap to be good. That’s probably cheaper than this new polar strap (I’m just talking strap and not pod there)
Best REI/Wiggle/PMC price is linked to. $72 or £60 and UNlikely to fall in 2018/9.

PRICE & AVAILABILITY

 

Power Meter City
10% Discount Coupon ‘the5krunner10’ or 10% store credit with Garmin

In the USA the H10 is available with a 10% discount from PowerMeterCity (checkout code: the5krunner10) and you help this blog and this Polar H10 Review in a small way by purchasing from there. Thank you. It should be about $10 cheaper than the normal Amazon price.

 

 

Garmin 945 Sigma id.TRI Polar Vantage

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97 thoughts on “Polar H10 Review (2022 update) ❤️ Comparisons, Polar’s Greatest HRM

  1. I just ordered me one of these. I love the HRM-Tri and its been my go-to strap for everything, but when i’m doing things that involve lots of movement, it slides all over the place. I don’t think it is messing with the signal all the much just becomes annoying when I am doing things like burpees or jumps and the thing starts making its way down to my stomach.

    In these cases all I am looking for is an accurate HR report and the Polar is known for giving that. I’ll just use the Tri for runs/cycles and the H10 for the workouts. Plus, it’s nice that I can machine wash the strap.

  2. how does the M200 track your heart rate in the pool? I didn’t think any wrist based optical would work well in the water. I use T31coded with Polar A300 now. And H7 for my land based exercise, usually linked to Beat App iOS or the A300.

  3. Thanks for your review. My only interest in Polar H10 is due to its advertised support for two concurrent Bluetooth connnections, e.g. iphone and Apple Watch. You say H10 supports two concurrent connections if one of them is Bluetooth and the other gymlink. Have you tried two concurrent Bluetooth connections (not with GoPro camera)?

    The duration of exercise cache is 65 hours??? Is that correct?

    I read the Bluetooth range is below average. I wonder if H10 is upgradeable to Bluetooth 5.

    1. if I wear it with one suunto showing hr it will NOT pair with another. just tried it.
      65 hours. Source Polar. as said it will only save one exercise and that one exercise can be 65 hours.
      range: don’t know. at least 5m. But use the cache??
      h10 IS firmware upgradeable. if to v5, I don’t know. I would have thought so,

  4. I heard a rumor that Polar is announcing something today or tomorrow? Do we have any advanced information?
    Thanks
    Alan

  5. Hi, I’m a HR newbie, and deciding between purchasing the H7 or the new H10. As far as I can tell, there’s very little difference! It will be used to record squash, netball and gym sessions. What is really confusing me however, is the whole “caching/recording” business. I do not own a smart watch, I will use it with the Polar Beat app – so does the phone need to remain within 5m of the chest strap at all times during the session?! Is there a difference in this between the H7 and the H10?

    Thanks!

  6. How do you get that data out and plot it to make the nice graph you showed in this review? I am trying some data collecton experiments with H10 and can’t figure out how to get the data out of Polar beat.

    1. I use polar H7 with ICardio App, this works really well, graph, and all other info

  7. I have the M400 with H7 sensor, and I’ve been happy with it. But I occasionally do a swimming exercise (indoors) and wanted to record them. I couldn’t do it, since even though the H7 can transmit with both bluetooth and Gymlink, the M400 doesn’t have a Gymlink receiver. So I bought the H10 to record the swimming sessions. Note that it’s actually cheaper to buy the M400 and buy the H10 separately, than buying the V800. However, if you are doing triathlon, the M400 + H10 is not a viable solution, since the H10 alone won’t record gps and speed. It’s only good for indoors swimming.

  8. I have H7 strap and pod. the strap is really worn out from many exercises. Would the H10 strap work with H7 pod?

      1. not necessarily.. imagine the GPS accuracy improvements achieved with two receivers working in harmony.

        In fact a “slave” GPS wrist band might even be useful.. yet more gear!

        (I’m an RF development engineer)

      2. IIRC Polar used to make one back in the day (10 years ago?). one of the other benefits for them NOW would be to transfer the battery drain away form the watch. but i still think the trend is towards everything in one place if feasible.

  9. Hi. Will the data recorded by the h10 ( pool) could be transferred to thé suunto spartan ?

  10. Hi, I’m a HR newbie and currently going through the pros and cons for the Polar H10 vs the Wahoo Tickr X which seems to be more and more popular. The reason why I’m considering the Tickr X is that I’ll get the Wahoo Elemnt Bold as well and I think they would work well together since it’s a one brand solution. However, I’m a little concered about the accuracy, since Polar has been around for years and it’s pretty much the gold standards when it comes to HRM. Do you have any thoughts or recommendations on that?

    1. i personally would favour polar for accuracy.
      tickr-x will be accurate. .
      I would always advise a one brand solution as then if things go wrong the supplier can’t blame someone else.

  11. This is an excellent review, thank you for it. So I used to have an H7. I liked it a lot before it was stolen, and am contemplating on getting the new H10, however, I tend to use it mostly in the gym, specifically with a class that pairs with the H7, but they have no news on whether or not it will work with the H10. It would kind of suck to get it and then have it no pair.
    Any thoughts? Do you THINK it will still work, seeing as it is still an app that functions with polar equipment?
    (Class is called BRZone (from Body Renew))

  12. I have tried to record heart rate on open water swims with my H10, but the recording is inconsistent, leading to huge gaps on the graph when I sync the data to Polar Beat. The strap stays in place throughout the swim and seems tight enough. Any idea how I can improve the recording? I’m a little disappointed, since an important reason I bought was over its ability to record heart beat during swimming.

    1. try and wear it under a tri-suit or wetsuit and see what happens when you SWIM
      try and wear it for a RUN and leave the app at home
      you can try electrode gel on the sensors
      you can try and make it tighter.

      1. no, sorry.
        the only way is tell the F5 you are running…then you can see ohr.
        or buy a Polar V800 with H10. the 5Khz gymlink signals travels through water. Bluetooth does not (much)

      1. Thanks, for the prompt reply, very appreciated.

        Maybe more for the record in case anyone interested stumbles on this thread: just got reply from the local Polar representation that the cache has no RR info. Have no other source so not 100% sure – on the other hand, adding RR would probably more than halve the recordable duration, and, if they would have implemented a lower power HR only mode also battery life, so, maybe a somewhat understandable design decision.

        Would still have loved to have a reliable stand-alone RR recording method.

  13. Dear the5krunner,

    I own M400 with H7 strap. I consider to purchase H10 because I need strap to be able to work without watch (cache data offline), e.g. for climbing.

    I know that it is possible to launch Polar Beat and execute caching for H10 and later after workout to sync it back.

    But is it possible to execute caching without mobile phone? An example would be, I come to the gym and executed workout with my watch and I see my current HR on the watch. Then I take off my watch and start indoor climbing, them after my few minutes climb I come back to the watch and see current HR. As climbing hall can be very big and high, therefore Bluetooth connection might be lost, but I expect H10 to cache data and therefore later to be able to analyse it via Polar Flow and have HR of my whole workout as H10 strap is always on me. Is it possible?
    If it is possible to execute H10 caching only via Polar Beat, what would be the end result? If:
    a) I execute recording with Polar Beat and enable caching
    b) Turn OFF Bluetooth on phone
    c) Start workout on my watch and want to see H10 live data (I hope it is possible in combination with caching being activated?)
    d) Have my indoor climbing without watch, with few visits to my watch to double check my HR
    e) Finish my workout on watch, enable Bluetooth on phone and stop recording session on H10 via Polar Beat.
    I am interested whether I will have two training sessions registered in Polar flow one from Polar Beat and another one from Watch or it will be merged under one?

    Thank you.

    1. jeez. lot of questions there.

      you start the session on the samrtphone.
      you lose BLE connection…that is ok
      you come back to the smartphone…all the hr data is retrieved.

      1. Yes, this is the obvious part. But in case if it is not climbing but running with footpod and then swimming, without clicking the phone?

        For swimming I expect H10 to record data in cache and them have it merged into one workout. (Please, don’t tell me about V800 with GymLink which is designed for Triathlon) 🙂

      2. if it’s obvious don’t ask the question! 😉
        it will cache regardless of the sport.
        i dont think it will merge the data in FLOW…i think that is planned for the future

      3. 😀
        OK, so main design of H10 is to be either used standalone without watch using Polar Beat or being used in real time using watch in the same way as H7, no combination. Is that correct for now?

        Thank you!

      4. Not correct now; I think what you are asking is possible, at least for the most part, provided I understand your question correctly.

        The H10 caching cannot be initiated (or stopped) from the M400, at least in the current software, you need the Polar Beat smart phone app for that. However, when you start the caching on the H10 with Polar Beat on the smart phone and then turn off the bluetooth on your phone (or walk away from your phone), it IS still possible to connect the M400 to the H10, see the realtime data, and it is also saved on the M400 in addition to saving on the H10.

        Eventually after you download data from both H10 and M400, in the Polar Flow it appears as two SEPARATE workouts, but happening simultaneously. The data from M400 will have heart rate, GPS location and speed etc., and the H10 naturally only has the heart rate, but it does know the time of day when the data occurred. The data of the to saved workouts is not actually merged, but you do get both data.

        I have done this several times to test the functionality, and also just in case, if I have low battery on the M400; I initiate caching on the H10 as well, in order to at least get the heart rate info in case the M400 shuts down mid-workout.

        As for going beyond the M400 range during the workout and climbing down occasionally to check your heart reate… I’m not 100 % sure, but I think that if you just leave on the selected workout program on the M400, it will try to reconnect continuously, and when you come back to range it connects and you can check the realtime data on the M400.

        Did I answer your question?

      5. Dear Putterix,

        You are awesome! You really answered my question!!!

        think that if you just leave on the selected workout
        program on the M400, it will try to reconnect
        continuously, and when you come back to range
        it connects and you can check the realtime data
        on the M400.

        Yes, I almost sure H10 will try to reconnect to paired watch in same manner as H7, so coming closer back it will display current HR.

        One more additional question if you don’t mind:

        Is it possible to enable caching for H10 just once via Polar Beat and never switch it off? As I am not sure how it works when sessions is over and you disconnect pod from the strap. Does it assume that workout is over and then overwrites is when it is reconnected to strap again or it records second workout? What happens when memory is full, does it overwrite previous recording?

        For example, I would be happy to enable caching forever and synchronise it with Flow via Beat app only when I need data.

      6. No, it’s not possible to cache forever. For some reason you can only cache a single workout (at least in the current software). That one workout can be super long, I think more than 24 hours, but you have to wear the strap and the pod continuously. When you disconnect the pod from the strap, it assumes that the workout is over, it will NOT continue when you put the pod back.

        After putting the pod back and connecting to it with Polar Beat, you have the option of downloading the saved exercise the Polar Beat, or you can just start a new one right away, but the new workout will then overwrite the previous one.

        What I’d suggest you do is that you put on the strap initiate the H10 caching when you are still at your house (or whatever), if you can’t bring your smart phone with you.

        One final advice: just buy the damn thing and see for yourself, it’s great. 😉

        I would wish for a few things, though: the ablity to at least initiate the H10 caching via the M400 and preferably also download the data to the M400, so no need to bring the smart phone. Also it would be good to be able to cache more than one exercise in the H10. Memory is not the issue, there’s plenty of it; it’s an arbitary limitation.

  14. No problem. I hope at least some of the “missing” functionality will come in a future software update.

  15. I have just ordered a polar 10. Does anyone know if it is comparable with Nordic track recumbent bike vr21? let me know a link where it states compatability and i will look

    1. What I meant to ask is this: does anyone know if the polar 10 will sync with the Nordic track gym equipment like the vr21 recumbent bike?

      1. Thanks for the quick response. Interesting point here is I contacted the Nordic Track service department and the agent said they promote using a Polar heart rate monitor with the machine I have. According to reviews I’ve read the VR21 is suited to sync with a monitor. It will be interesting to see if it works. In any case I’ve order a polar 10 and if it doesn’t sync with Nordic Track it should sync with my apple phone and Apple Watch 3.

      2. Thanks for the great feedback. Here’s another question. Do you think the polar 10 will work with a Garmin Edge 25 cycling unit. My fear is it won’t work.

      3. Interestingly. Thank you again. Unfortunately I just ordered the polar 10 from amazon. I don’t buy from amazon ofoten so don’t know if I can cancel order or return it. Is wahoo as good as they say polar is?is wahoo compatible with apple phone and watch and Strava?

      4. Your service is amazing. Now that you suggest a wahoo, I contacted amazon and I might be able to return the polar 10 probably having to pay shipping. Based on our exchange of material here do you recommend me doing this? I have the Nordic track bike, use Apple Watch , iPhone ,Strava, and a Garmin Edge 25. I wonder what the cost difference is? Thank you

      5. The Polar transmission via 5khz legacy analog gymlink signal is much more likely to work with any Nordic Track equipment than Bluetooth or Ant+. And the Bluetooth Smart will pair with Apple Watch.

  16. I have a couple questions.
    I use the H7 with my Polar Beat app, during biking, and indoor workouts.
    For swimming I stick with my trusty cost effective A300.
    I was never able to get a reliable signal from the H7 while swimming. Polar tech support told me that the T31coded strap/transmitter is still the most reliable while in a pool. I have found this to be true.

    Does this new H10 work while swimming to transmit realtime gymlink 5khz signal to Polar wrist monitors like the V800 or A300? Is it as good as the T31 in the pool?

    Also I wonder why they didn’t include the 5khz signal on the OH1?
    And I wish they included swim heart rate 5khz in the V430 with a chest strap.

    I still think these are the most reliable.

    Isn’t there a way one could get an EKG signal from 2 wrist bands that would transmit a signal to bluetooth or a watch? That would be so cool!!

    1. hi
      gymlink is supported by the H10
      i haven’t got a T31, sorry.
      the OH1 caches
      ekg/2 wristbands comment – sorry i dont understand that. Cool might not make a profit 😉

  17. I was also wondering whether you or anyone else has used the H10 while swimming to get real time heart rate transmitted to a Polar device like the V800 or A300?
    I have tried this with the H7 and it doesn’t work. Even though this functionality is listed on the Polar web pages.
    I don’t care about caching as much as I want to see my heart rate in real time.

    1. Weird… the H7 (and the H10 as well) should work real time when swimming with V800 or A300, since they both have the Gymlink receiver (which the M400 is lacking). It’s one of the selling points of V800 over the M400. I haven’t tested it myself, though.

      Are you sure you had Gymlink activated on the H7? Sounds like it’s possible that you only had bluetooth on and Gymlink was turned off. Connect your smartphone’s Polar Beat app to the H7 and check if Gymlink is on.

      1. I bought H10 and it works with my A300 while swimming. H7 is supposed to but never did. And gymlink and all was on.
        Any news on updates or new version of the V800?

  18. In your (very informative) review, you said you weren’t ‘really going for it in the turns’. Have you since swum with the H10 and really gone for the turns? Has the strap stayed on?

  19. Hi, thanks for your great review!. I’m new to HR gadgets and want to buy a HR chest strap. Is H10 works well with Strava on Iphone 6, i will be mainly used it for running. Thank you.

  20. Excellent article and some interesting observations.

    Used the H7 (two of them) now 5X a week for three years so around 1000 sessions… rock solid stability most of the time, spikes sometimes but usually strap related, wish Polar Flow could edit out the spikes!

    How difficult is it to see that a +50 or -50 bpm HR drop/rise in 5s is not normal )))

    Just ordered an H10 as I wish for a spare strap and sensor for travel, to be honest another H7 would have been fine but the price differential was not great.

    Bluetooth is about the same reliability as the previous WIND for the RS800/CS600 – great – was happy with WIND but Bluetooth is far better for syncing.

    Many thanks.

    Also… the OH1 is not good… could see in Polar Beat, but proper pairing and session saving were disastrous and would not work with Flow no matter how hard I tried…. this product needs to be redesigned at least in firmware… accuracy as well no good for anybody serious about their training.

    1. thanks edward, yep the h10 is pretty cool – dont forget to enable double-device pairing via the app (just because it can!)

      oh1 is good enough i reckon. to be fair i just use it for cached session and to compare to somethig else – usually to show that it is close to a hr strap and that a oHR based watch is wrong but that it isn’t the tech but rather the position worn.

  21. Since you’ve (presumably) been using this device for some time now, what’s the verdict on strap durability? The Suunto Movesense strap I bought in mid-January lasted all of two months before I started getting wildly weird readings (like HR allegedly 230 or more at the very start of my run, and random weird troughs and spikes during with no corresponding decrease or increase in effort). A closer look at the contacts shows that the rubbery coating under where the sensor pod sits is already torn around the contacts, which may or may not be (contributing to) the problem but Amazon reviews suggest that the Suunto straps do have longevity issues.

    If it really is the case that I can only get two months’ use out of a Suunto strap I’d be more inclined to toss the Suunto sensor and replace it with a Polar. Which would certainly be cheaper than purchasing six straps per year!

    1. my straps seem to last at least two years regardless of the vendor.
      the h10 strap is a variation on what has gone before which has been used widely both in sports and by sports scientists, no probs here. maybe i use them less than some peopel as i rotate them…either way i def would get one year of use for say 5 hours/week.

  22. My Polar straps, for H10 and H7 last forever, even when I use for swimming. The only issue I have had is battery related. The H10 was requiring frequent battery replacements. I use Maxell and other name brands. They sent a new one, so far, so good.
    Anyone else have battery drainage issues?
    Is there a suggested brand of battery, CR2025, that is clearly better?

    1. battery test: i tried googling but couldn’t find the link i was after sy. it’s on my blog somewhere too.

      the performance of these batteries is FAR FROM the same between vendors. some last a lot longer and some are best value per minute of usage.

      1. Thanks. If you come across any objective information, I would love to know. I use Maxell’s lately.

    2. Thanks for weighing in. That sounds very encouraging, I just might be switching to the H10. Even if battery life becomes an issue, batteries are rather cheaper than new straps every two months!

  23. Looking for some help please:
    Hi, I just bought the H10 the other day. I downloaded the Polar Beat app, did the 5 min fitness test just to make sure it was pairing and working ok, which it did thankfully. Then the next time I used it I brought it to the gym, before going to the gym did what it said in the above video, I put the strap on and the H10 and then the app picked up my heart beat. I did not realise I had to bring the iphone with me to the gym as I thought the H10 had “internal memory” which would store the data and then when I got back to my iphone it would pair again and transfer the data though this was not the case. So today I went to the gym today, I brought the iphone with me and like in the video I put the H10 on, I got my iphone out and the app picked up my heart beat. Like in the video I left the phone in my locker. After my workout I took the H10 off the strap so it knew I was finished my workout. I went back to the locker did what it said to do in the video, though the data which it showed on the iphone did not represent my workout. I’m guessing now I need to bring my iphone with me and put it on the treadmill while I’m running so it can transfer the data in real time. Is this the case? I have read that the H10 stores 1 workout at a time, if that is the case then I don’t understand why it did not record my workout, the H10 was definitely working as the treadmill picked up the H10 and displayed the data on the screen. I did an intense workout for 30 mins then pressed the stop button on the treadmill and started another workout to cool down. I wondering if the H10 picked up that I stopped the first workout and started a new one and only stored the last workout?

    1. Hi
      You don’t have to have the phone with you when you workout. I use the H10 for swimming.
      As long as the H10 is paired, you put it on. Then pick your workout, like for example “Cross Trainer” or Indoor Running. In the upper right there are 3 dots. If you click there, a screen message appears on the bottom. Train with Polar Beat or Save HR with sensor. If you pick “save HR with sensor” you can start the workout. Leave your phone wherever you want. When you finish there will be an ending button to press.A square “stop” button . then you will save or discard the workout.
      This should help.

      1. Hi Alan, thanks for taking the time to reply. That is a big help. To be honest I did not even know there was a “treadmill running” option, I just saw “running” and naturally choose that one. Ok, I will follow your instructions next time and hopefully it works (3rd time lucky). Thanks again!

  24. Are there any other forums where this item is reviewed and discussed?
    Thank you for your help here. Not sure why guys like the DCRainmaker never reviewed this item.
    I swim and save HR with sensor. But I am losing workouts when I frequently can’t SAVE the workout at the end. It is really buggy. Not reliable.
    I have been back and forth with Polar on this. They tell me to delete all the bluetooth pairings with the H10 in my settings on iOS. Why would a new pairing setting get created every time? is this normal?
    It’s a bit frustrating. I do better with old school T31 straps, but that won’t pair to a phone.
    I still also like to see my HR so I can do HR intervals.

    1. is the problem because it can’t re-establish the pariring to the app?
      I don’t get that, though it does sometimes take a good minute before returning within range. The only difference for me would be that I use it like this for running/cycling (don’t ask!) rather than swimming, although i have used for swimming as well. I tend to use the aerobics profile or a general indoors profile on BEAT (I cna’t see how that would make any difference though)

      if it is the re-establishment of the connection then Polar’s best tack would have been to ask if you had a supported phone!! anyway…can you try BEAT on a different phone?

      1. well thanks for your response.
        today for example I use it for a swim workout and at the end, the “save” button just did nothing when I pressed it.
        I have updated firmware, I have latest version of Beat, iOS 13.1
        I checked to see only one H10 was listed in bluetooth pairing list. I maybe should have deleted and re-paired it. But why should I even have to do that?
        I really think this is a glitch and Polar isn’t being transparent about it. Or they don’t care about the H10 anymore. They want to sell Vantage and other watches.
        I wanted to compare swim heartrate with my Apple Watch but oh well

  25. Do you know if there are issues with the H10 and battery drain since the last firmware update. Since I applied that firmware update my battery life has dramatically reduced. I cant see anything on the Polar website that suggests there is an issue or a fix.

    1. yes
      PITA
      I haven’t got to the bottom of it
      I am trying to detach one end of the pod before storing until the next workout as it is otherwise ALWAYS live and trying to pair…so try that.
      having said that I seem to have lost my h10, so my testing of battery drain is on hold (I should have 2 more but can’t find those either….sigh)

      1. I had a similar problem with battery drain.
        It stopped but I have no idea why. Wish I did. I did buy some better batteries on Amazon. Maybe that helped. Celewell is the brand. I also think a bigger CR 2032 would fit, and they are slightly thicker and last longer.
        Have you had issues with saving HR to sensor?

      2. no issues with saving hr, tho it takes a while to reconnet when i come back in range of the samrtphone
        yes you have to have good batteries and they are not all the same.

        i thought i tried bigger ones ? I did on one HRM recently and i couldn’t quite get the cap back on.

  26. I am still frustrated. There are many issues with inability for me to get my workouts from the H10 when I “save HR to sensor” and it won’t download to the phone.
    The polar A300 works better for getting a reading but I would rather not wear the watch.
    Believe it or not, the Apple Watch does a pretty good job in the pool. too. I am trying it out.
    Plus you get lap data.

  27. Hi everyone,
    can anyone comment on the size of the strap? I have one inch wider chest that the xxl. that means that i have to buy the additional larger strap or the M-XXL size fits a bit “bigger” guys? I cannot understand why they do not provide a wider version with the purchase of the H10. Is there something I am missing?
    Thanks.

    1. i think there will be an option to buy the h10 with a wider strap instead of a normal strap. although i admit to not seeing one.
      the h10 pod will likely work with your existing strap
      look at the h9 too

      1. they have one on an extra charge 35 dollars but not available right now.
        Anyway thanks a lot!

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