Polar H9 Heart Rate Sensor – ANT Plus/Bluetooth - Waterproof HR Monitor with Soft Chest Strap for Gym, Cycling, Running, Outdoor Sports

I use this to connect to an indoor rower and also my bike computer. Faultless and more reliable than the Polar HRS it replaced. Good buy.

This review is for the Polar H9 Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) in Black. I purchased the HRM to prep for a Half Marathon, my first ever, with the hope of using it for Low Heart Rate training. It has been an excellent choice for a beginner like me and has helped accurately track my heart rate during runs. This has helped me improve my runs over the 2 months I've used it so far.Build and Quality:The HRM unit and the strap come packaged as separate items. The HRM unit is compact and lightweight, made from a durable plastic and the quality feels solid. Just holding it in your hands you can tell that the plastic is strong enough to withstand any bumps, etc. It houses a CR2025 battery that you can get to using a prying tool. The 'Soft Strap' is just that, a strap with a fine-weave and feels velvet-feel to the touch. The quality seems good and like anything elastic its durability will depend on how much it is stretched. It is adjustable and is fastened using a hook into a loop and the HRM unit and strap are connected together with a pair of snap fastener buttons.Features vs Functionality:Polar HRMs are known for their accuracy and I can confirm this sensor is spot on. The H9 is accurate and also very responsive to changes in the heart rate with minimal lag. Where my Garmin wrist sensor would lag before reacting to heart rate changes, the H9 was pretty much instant. Although, for the strap to measure heart rate accurately, the conducting area on the strap needs to be made wet before use to begin with and the sweat then keeps it wet for the rest of the workoutThe strap is made from a comfortable and flexible material and sits snugly against the skin once adjusted appropriately. I've not had any chaffing and on tuns I don'teven realise I have the chest strap on. I don't particularly sweat too much so all I do it wipe the strap down after use and its good to go for the next workout. For sweaty runners, you may need to wash it more often which might impact its longevity.As for connectivity, the HRM is easy to connect to Bluetooth devices and once paired will automatically connect the next time as long as the HRM is snapped to the strap. I've also tested connecting two devices and both recieve the heart rates in real time. However, if you ever need to let your running partner to use the HRM then you'd want to unpair this from your fitness tracker first before they connect to it. Else it would send their heart rate to your tracker.The claimed battery life of 400 hours is great but difficult to verify. So what I do to ensure the battery lasts is to unsnap one of the button from the strap to break the circuit.Value for money:The H9 provides accurate heart rate data for a fraction of the price of the H10 as long as you don't need the memory of the H10. This as brilliant value for money, specially for beginners.

Bought this to pair with a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro. Works flawlessly over Bluetooth. ANT+ didn't seem to connect properly, but Bluetooth works well.Once paired, the Polar automatically connects when I strap it on. Heart rate measurement is way more accurate than the wrist monitor built into the watch. I was struggling with higher-end heart rate values, knowing my rate was in the 140s and the wrist monitor on the watch was showing in the 100s. With the Polar, my heart rate was instantly being measured correctly, and I am now able to properly measure my cardio output for fitness tracking.Very easy to use. Once paired, snap onto the chest band, connect the strap ends and you're away. Automatically reconnects each time with no faffing. When finished, unstrap and pull the monitor off the strap and it goes to sleep. Perfect. Strap is washable. Very comfy to wear and doesn't slip when training.I looked at the H10 as well, but it's a lot more expensive and I decided I just needed an accurate heart rate monitor. So the H9 is great value for my needs. Cheaper than the Garmin equivalent.I suppose my only gripe is that to get the extended warranty, you have to install the Polar app and sign up, giving them all your details and allowing Polar to start gathering your health stats. No thanks. I installed the app to get the latest firmware, but then uninstalled it and I don't need the app now. Just using it with my Garmin and their app. Loses a star for that practice: happy to register for an extended warranty and even sign up for their emails, but I'm not sending them all my personal data on an ongoing basis. At this price I don't care about the extended warranty.

Had many Polar HRMs, they always just work. Obviously, the big difference with the latest breed is the ability to connect to devices other than Polar Watches etc. And, the ability to change the ruddy battery (which you couldn't previously do)!! Slightly more expensive than others but why compromise for a relatively small amount??? One thing to be aware of, you need to select "Advanced" in the "Bluetooth devices discovery" option in Windows if your using a Windows based training app (to enable Windows to see the device).