Polar H10 Ant+
Denisha Simcoe
Next, you can adjust the strap length using the small clasp towards one end of the strap. You want a strap reasonably snug. Generally speaking, most people wear it on your chest below the nipple, but some men will wear it above if it starts to slip down. The Polar H10 straps are pretty good about not slipping though, thanks to the tiny little anti-slip dots you see on the strap, which are both on the interior sides and back areas (note that the H9 straps lack these anti-slip dots):
Seriously, take that tiny coin cell battery/holder, and just drop it on the table or ground. I can often do it on the first or second attempt if you hit the angle just right, the battery will happily bounce out.
(Note: All of the charts in these accuracy sections were created using the DCR Analyzer tool. It allows you to compare power meters/trainers, heart rate, cadence, speed/pace, GPS tracks and plenty more. You can use it as well for your own gadget comparisons, more details here.)
My gripe about the HRM-Dual (and older siblings like the HRM-3 and HRM-Run 1st gen) is you have to a use jewelers Phillips head screwdriver to remove tiny screws to change the battery. This exposes the entire logic board when you replace the battery. There is a red gasket that you need to be carful not to damage when you separate the case and put it back together.
In the past I used the H10 for running and Garmin HRM dual for Zwift but the latter one lost connection way too often. Now I suck it up and use the H10 for Zwift even if the strap is still wet from the morning run. Way more comfortable than the Garmin one anyway.
My garmin tri cheststrap is 4 years old. Still works, but the anti slip spots start to come loose. Now is 4 years okish I guess, but what I want to know for this kind of devices, besides does it work properly, how long will it last?
I have an H9 and got a spare Polar Pro strap with it. I ended up giving away the H9 Soft Strap and getting another Pro Strap. It would have been cheaper to just get the H10 kit and a Pro Strap in the first place.
The Polar Pro strap is great as a replacement strap for a Garmin modular HRM like the HRM-Dual or the original HRM-Run. I have used an HRM-3 pod on a Polar Pro and Polar Soft strap with no issues. I have a training partner who uses a modular HRM-Run with a Polar Pro strap.
Huh. Interesting. I never experienced this problem going back to the 90s with HRM straps so I have something to really feel thankful for. My wife does occasionally comment that I have skin like an elephant.
@Brian, thank you for that link
I use the H10 most mornings for readiness/hrv readings. I take it as being the most accurate device for that and for sport when combined with its strap which stops slippage and has a large sensor surface area to touch the body. So I agree with what you say of the H10 over the H9
I use the HRM-PRO (or TRI) as a partner for any high-end garmin watch partly because of habit and partly because of the swim hr caching that is supported to those watches. The accuracy is acceptably fine. As you say, the running dynamics are only of peripheral interest and use to very many people.
If you want something other than wrist oHR for swimming with a Garmin your choice is limited to HRM-Tri (discontinued?) or the HRM-Pro. You just have to accept that they are disposable. The price premium they charge for mediocre build quality irks me.
I think the complaint about Polar watches automatically connecting to the HRM that you are also wearing is unique to gadget testers. For almost everyone that behavior is what you want. The more likely failure case in my mind would be someone putting on a brand new HRM for a run with their Garmin and failing to pair it at all.
So true. I actually bought a used Garmin HRM pro on Ebay. It failed after a few months, bought a 2nd one, the same destiny within 2 months. I opened it up for curiosity. I found that the circuit board had corroded must be caused by moisture and salts. The funny thing is that the O-ring looked fine. This was the case for both straps
I love the Verity Sense (and the OH1 before it). And really comes down to preferences on comfort (where you want to wear the sensor), charging (how often you want to charge it), and whether or not you want the data sync bit (which, the Verity Sense does super well compared to the cumbersome way the H10 does it).
Garmin user here but I replaced my old Garmin Tri HRM with a Polar H9. The fact that you can snap the pod off makes it much better longevity wise. When the strap goes south you just buy a new one (could even buy the H10 one to replace it). In my case I had to throw the Garmin when the strap went unusable.
The Polar H9 battery lasts about 9 months for me. The strap is good for a few years apparently unless you have a mishap that physically damages the wires inside like a crash or excessive bending or folding.
#2 I have a rotation of 3 straps and I take the strap in the shower with me and give it a once-over with soap and a rinse after a workout and leave it to dry. I have 1 or 2 workouts daily. I always start with a new strap. This is for sanitary reasons.
Hello Ray, do you have any experience or thoughts on using HRMs like Polar H10 to measure HRV? It seems to be na interesting method to evaluate fatigue, but I am concerned about accuracy and reliability of such measurements.
I know a handful of people use an H10 (manually triggered by a phone), and then manually merge the HR file after the fact. But honestly, that seems like a mess. I wish Polar would just support it on the H10 or at least Verity Sense (as it has a darn swim mode).
How is the durability on the newer Polar straps? With the Garmin soft straps, I find the conductive pads peel off within a matter of months (had one replaced under warranty, then I gave up). I bought a Polar strap several years ago (which fit my Garmin pod) and the same thing happened (not as fast as with the Garmin straps, though).
Thanks for covering HRV. Would be interesting to see Alpha 1 numbers for a workout when based on different straps (in that its a hrv based metric so the calculated value would be different if it gives different hrv numbers)
This blog is fascinating if terse. He seems to have discovered later that ANT+ retransmission causes artifacts when doing his high data-rate precision collection at but with Bluetooth there is high agreement between the Suunto Movesense pod and the Polar H10.
The difference between 46, 50, and 54 is huge (+-4). I have seen a study that show the VO2max estimate is ok on average across the study group but for individuals the deviation from measured by gas exchange can be significant.
Many people noticed that their VO2max estimate changed a lot when changing from the f5 to the f6 or when different firmware comes out. I think this is also evidence that the estimate is not comparable across device generations and even firmware revisions.
A phenomenon I see a lot is Joe gets and Bill do a workout together. Joe struggled a bit to keep up. At the end his f235 says 54, yay! But then Bill has his f6 that says 47. A third training partner may see 50. Hmmm.
In the current implementation VO2Max is mostly used as a way of checking if the the user is getting better or worse. Is he running with higher HR for the same GAP or lower? Based on that every run will make VO2Max go a little bit lower or higher. Very rarely will you go up or down more than 1 point because of that. Then depending if the training load is increasing or decreasing you get the status: productive, overreaching, etc.
Interesting. The chest straps measures the electrical signal produced by your heart beat, so it certainly makes sense that there could be electrical interference from nearby sources. And it makes sense that BLE and ANT+ are affected the same; the interference is affecting what the strap is sensing, rather than the data connection between the strap and your device.
How old is your strap? Has this happened since new? If this problem just started recently and the strap has seen a lot of use, it could be the strap is just more susceptible to interferences. Also, you could try using electrode gel to create a stronger electrical connection between the strap and your skin. A stronger signal coming from your body means less chance of the strap picking up interferences.
Interesting! That certainly does suggest leaving it connected does deplete battery life like Polar says in the manual. In his review, Ray says he leaves his connected all the time so I would be curious about his battery life experience.
I would definitely suggest disconnecting after each use to see if your battery life improves. When I am done with a workout I just disconnect one side of the sensor to keep the sensor attached to the strap but electrically disconnected. You could do the same to prevent mixing your units up.
Then I started getting low readings like you describe. e.g. running at 150 bpm but the reading would slowly decrease down to 120 bpm. When that would happen I would shift the strap around on my chest and it eventually started working again. I never experienced that before, but I was getting into colder weather so thought maybe it was lack of sweat causing bad skin contact.
hi
the following refers to h10 monitors, the last 4 weeks in a row i hit 191 doing the same work out, today i used my spare h10 that i have had in the cupboard for around a year, it read max 186 but i was going harder , why such a difference / now i am going to have to go and buy 2 more and do my own expeiment.
Based on this and configuration #4, I can totally see poor battery life as a result of leaving the H10 sensor attached to the strap after a workout. The unit will say ON until the fabric strap dries out completely, which could be multiple hours. Your best bet for optimal battery life is to remove the H10 from the strap in between uses. I just undo one side of the sensor so it stays attached to the strap, but electrically disconnected.
Personally I have been very happy with the H10 and would recommend it to anyone. It has worked flawlessly for me up until a few weeks ago when I was getting bad/inconsistent readings, which I determined was a result of the strap failing after 2.5 years (2-3 hr/week avg use).
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