Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Anyone thinks working is an effortless and affordable passion to soar into. Get a pair of sneakers and some fundamental athletic dresses and get out the door. Just before lengthy, you may possibly choose to prepare for a race. Soon after that, you may even make a decision that you will need a GPS enjoy to observe your miles and give a lot more superior exercise session facts. Inevitably, it feels like a webpage from “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Nicely, there’s just one more accessory to incorporate to your managing utility belt — the Polar H10 coronary heart price upper body strap.
Polar’s workhorse H10 isn’t a new upper body strap. It’s outlived some of its start day functions by a great margin. It is also the chest strap our complete staff utilizes as a command machine when writing wearables assessments, but we’ve never ever penned about it in fantastic element. That variations currently.
About this article: I examined the Polar H10 upper body strap for 6 months. The unit, like all the models used by our group, was purchased by Android Authority and Polar experienced no say in the information of this posting.
Established it and overlook it
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
The Polar H10 chest strap is as uncomplicated as can be. It has no buttons or switches, and the only opening is a battery cap for changing the provided CR2025 following about a yr. Definitely, the greatest selection you have to make is which sizing band is suitable for you — they vary from XS to XXL.
After you’ve settled on a dimensions, it’s time to pair the Polar H10 to your cellular phone (and then to your GPS watch of decision) and get to monitoring. Pairing can be a lot easier mentioned than completed, but only mainly because you have to appear to grips with two distinctive Polar apps. Polar Movement is the equivalent of Samsung’s Galaxy Wearable app, with controls for watches like the Ignite 3 or Grit X, while Polar Defeat addresses activity tracking for innumerable workout sorts. There is a bit of overlap concerning the two, and neither (or the combination of both) is as intuitive as applications like Garmin Join or Coros’ equivalent.
Simplicity is the Polar H10’s contacting card, other than for when it arrives to companion applications.
The superior news — and why we like the H10 so much — is that you really don’t definitely have to have Polar’s applications after the initial setup. I quickly paired the upper body strap to my trusty Coros Pace 2, which automatically changed the readout from the watch’s optical coronary heart fee sensor. Not like most wrist-worn exercise trackers, the Polar H10 employs an electrocardiogram (ECG) to keep track of your heart amount. To get nerdy, that implies relying on the electrical signals from your coronary heart rather than the transform in the measurement of your blood vessels.
The big difference among an optical coronary heart fee sensor and an ECG will not subject much for a basic jog around town. If you are not attempting to force your heart fee, 1 won’t be a great deal more quickly or far more correct than the other. On the other hand, Polar’s ECG commences to shine a little bit brighter for the duration of sprints and tougher intervals with swift improvements in your coronary heart fee. It’s quicker to choose up on electrical variations, although enhanced blood movement can take a several excess seconds to strike your coronary heart.
If you’re itching to get your Polar H10 hooked up to yet another wearable, you must know that you have selections. You can possibly roll with Bluetooth Small Vitality (BLE) or ANT+. While BLE gives the a lot quicker transmission of the two, ANT+ could possibly be the superior solution if you are connecting to various gadgets like a GPS look at and a Zwift stationary bicycle.
Earning a area in our coronary heart(rate)s
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
The Polar H10 is growing older — it launched in 2017, immediately after all — but it’s carrying out so gracefully. It’s served generations of Android Authority reviewers, bringing the correct same set up and encounter every single single time. If I examination it towards an Apple Look at Sequence 8 and my colleague Kaitlyn checks it versus a Samsung Galaxy Look at 5 Pro, our details will have a popular thread. Is it a ideal science? No, but neither is having an individual use 4 watches throughout two wrists for testing applications.
On a more personalized amount, I like to take into account myself the de facto runner for the Android Authority staff. Occasionally it goes perfectly, and in some cases, it does not, but possessing a chest strap which is stood the exam of time helps me to trust the information I’m collecting. Although I like a easy jog all around city, I sprinkle in some interval get the job done and velocity teaching in this article and there, and the Polar H10 aids my Coros Tempo 2 preserve up.
As the de facto runner with desires of speed, I want all the facts I can get.
There are a several retired characteristics that remind us that the Polar H10 isn’t as younger as it the moment was, but they come to feel like small much more than stray gray hairs. For instance, it launched with the means to overlay your heart level details on footage captured with a GoPro — the GoPro Hero 4, especially. That feature only stuck around right until the Hero 5 — we’re now on the Hero 11 — but the upper body strap hasn’t seemed back. It nonetheless has the principles locked down, GoPro help or not.
Polar H10 critique: Ought to you invest in it?
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Polar could possibly introduce one more top quality coronary heart price upper body strap down the line, but there is no warranty it’ll get paid a place in our hearts. The Polar H10 chest strap stays an great addition to any health and fitness monitoring set up.
Would you have on a heart rate chest strap?
4 votes
It’s water resistant to 30 meters, provides 400 hrs of battery daily life from its little mobile, and you really don’t have to pay excess for its “pro” strap. Versatile connectivity alternatives and a broad range of usable temperatures (-10°C to 50°C) only insert to the environments that the Polar H10 can crack. If you need a upper body strap with a verified pedigree, you just can’t go improper with the Polar H10.
Basic setup • Flexible compatibility • Precise heart rate monitoring
The Polar H10 is a chest strap you can set and neglect, as prolonged as you get the match ideal
Polar’s H10 is a attempted and legitimate chest strap which is outlived some of its start attributes. It is our team’s go-to heart level observe when testing other wearables many thanks to the basic set up, extensive-lasting battery life, and flexible compatibility with watches from Coros, Suunto, and a lot more.
