Polar H10

Verdict

The Polar H10 is one of the most accurate heart rate monitors you can strap onto your chest that’s comfortable to wear, offers long battery life and is a good fit for everything from faster runs and all-out HIIT sessions.

Introduction

The Polar H10 represents the best Polar currently has to offer when it comes to tracking your heart during exercise.

While it looks just like another chest strap-style monitor, Polar has sought to make sure the H10 is better built to stay put when things get really sweaty, offer strong connectivity with the best smartwatches and smart gym equipment and make sure you’re not going to worry about battery life.

The H10 sits at the top of Polar’s pile of HR monitors, above the Polar H9, and is regarded as the gold standard of heart rate monitoring.

So, should this be the one to buy if you want to more reliably track your heart away from your wrist? I’ve been long-term testing the Polar H10 to find out if this is one of the best heart rate monitors to strap on.

Design and Comfort

• Available in two strap sizes
• 3 colour options
• Waterproof up to 30 metres

The H10 looks like a pretty regular heart rate monitor chest strap. There’s a module you clip onto the front and electrodes that sit against the chest.

The textile strap comes in your choice of fun red beat (pictured), black crush or black shades and in two strap size lengths: M-XXL or XS-S size options.

Inside of the strap there are a series of silicon dots, their purpose is to prevent the strap from slipping out of place even during the sweatiest workouts. This will make sure the H10 is always delivering accurate and consistent heart rate data.

The fit in general has been very good. The strap material sits pretty soft against the body and those dots grip ever so gently to help improve what is already a very secure strap.

I’ve used it for indoor and outdoor runs at a mixture of paces and distances, indoor cycling and rowing workouts, strength sessions and HIIT workouts and the H10 isn’t one to slip and slide around.

The monitor is waterproof up to 30 metres, though I found that the best solution to getting useful heart rate data in the water is to use it underneath a wetsuit. You can get a reasonably snug fit to reduce movement without a suit, but ultimately it’s going to be more problematic using it exposed in the water for pool swims.

When you need to change the coin cell battery, there is a compartment behind the sensor module that is relatively easy to clip away and swap in a new one. You might need a screwdriver to initially loosen that compartment, but after that it’s easy to clip back into place.

Features and Performance

• Great accuracy across a range of workouts
• Strong connectivity across devices
• Enough memory for one workout

Like all chest strap monitors, Polar uses an ECG sensor to measure the electrical activity from your heart and turn that into real-time heart rate data that can be displayed on a device like a phone or watch. It’s just dealing with heart rate, and doesn’t dish out any additional metrics about your fitness and general wellbeing.

Polar offers both Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity to connect to a broad range of devices from connected gym equipment like treadmills and bikes to smartwatches and training apps like Zwift.

There’s also the option to pair to two devices over Bluetooth, making it useful for setups like indoor bikes where you might need to share data. While it’s primarily built to relay data to other devices, there’s enough memory to store a single workout.

I’ve used the Polar H10 for various exercises, across a range of intensities with a particular emphasis on high intensity workouts. It’s these types of workouts where optical sensors typically found in smartwatches and sports watches tend to falter and struggle to keep up with the sudden spikes and drops in heart rate.

I strapped the H10 on for runs, rides, home workouts, and swims alongside another heart rate monitor chest strap and the data accuracy has been excellent. It didn’t falter on interval and HIIT-style workouts and during sweatier workouts, it stayed in place.

I’ve connected the H10 to a range of devices with minimal issues. I’ve paired it to sports watches and smartwatches including the Garmin Forerunner 965, Apple Watch Ultra 2 and the Suunto Race. I’ve also used it with apps like Strava, Zwift and Polar’s own dedicated Beat app. I’ve also connected it with gym equipment including a connected rower and indoor bike. The connectivity support has been solid with no concerning issues to report.

Battery life isn’t something you’re going to need to worry about for some time. It uses a CR2025 coin cell battery, which many other heart rate monitors use and is the kind of battery that powers a lot of traditional watches.

Polar says it can last for over 400 hours of training time and you can extend that time by making sure you disconnect the sensor module from the strap to make sure it’s not trying to power it.

When paired with some devices like sports watches, it can indicate whether the battery is good or low, but it’ll be some time before you need to think about replacing it. This isn’t a heart rate monitor that’s going to last a week or two. It’s going to be powering your workouts for months.

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