I’m also a fan of the Verity, it’s the most comfortable I’ve had for cycling. I forget I have it on, so far (knock on wood) it’s been the best optical HRM I’ve used.
The Polar H10 can do that as well.
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After countless warranty replacements with previous Garmin HRMs using the 4-screw casing (whole unit dying once the battery compartment had been opened, or new batteries lasting on a week or two), my Pro+ has been faultless for 18+ months.
The new compartment design is way cleaner and works well, stats are accurate, and it records a good signal in all conditions.
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Now that it’s 2025 it looks like the Garmin HRM 200 came out since this thread started. Kind of deciding between that or an H9/10 or a Trackr HR. Thoughts? I don’t need the extra features on the H10 but the nicer strap seems nice
I went with the Polar H10 and have only had a few snafus. Just changed my first battery after nearly daily use. The strap is fine, I did get some lovely chafing from it during a 50k but that’s bound to happen when you have something tight to your skin for that long.
Every once and a while it just doesnt want to ‘wake up’ and i need to remove the battery and put it back in. Its easy enough to do but still takes a few min before starting your run/ride. There was also an issue with the app where it would not ‘detect’ the device and i needed to ‘forget’ it from my phone before going through the initial pairing exercise again.
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That’s not something I think is acceptable for a $100+ monitor. I’ve never had to do that with my first gen Tickr which was about half the price.
Anyone have experience with the new HRM 200?
I know I have already said it in this thread, but it is hard to go wrong with a Coospo or a Magene at less than a third of the price of a Polar or Garmin. Quality seems to be the same if not better. And at current prices, you can buy at least 3 for the same or cheaper. Which gets you a fresh strap when you do replace, cause even if the electronics last 5 years, usually the strap needs to be replaced at some point regardless.
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I wouldn’t say it was better quality after my CooSpo randomly failed on be after a couple of years, where as, touch wood, my H10 is still OK after 4 years. But as you say CooSpo are cheap in comparison and when it was working it seemed to be accurate. IIRC correctly I replaced the CooSpo strap after about a year when readings started to go dodgy (it seemed good till then) and it was good for another year. I thought it was doing similar a year after that but a new strap never cured it and it was actually on the way out and a few days later it just randomly died.
Does anyone know which HRM’s have the shortest averaging period for the number they broacast? My Garmin HRM Dual seems to send something like an average of the previous 20-30seconds (based on a few anecdotal observation of dropouts and return to average on steady-state rides where HR fluctuations are minimal).
I’ve done some searching but have struggled to find data published by manufacturers. I guess I could ask them directly, but maybe someone already knows the answers.
I went with the Wahoo TRACKR end of end of last season and its been pretty good so far. I personally like that it is rechargeable. I have not killed it yet and really dont take care of it haha.
I actually pulled the trigger on the earlier version of it, just to try, having been happy with a chest strap from them. I have eczema, and am finding the (any) straps a source of skin irritation so looking for a different indoor/ non race HRM to minimise that.
I have a 4iiii
It works fine. I had an issue with battery consuption and the customer service advised me how to perform a “hard reset”. It’s fine now. Altough the strap is asking for replacemtne after about 1.5y
While my Garmin HRM Dual does send an update every second during activities, it’s obviously not my “current” HR. Here’s a snip from when I was soft-pedaling & coasting early in a ride with a dry HR strap, and I was getting readings slightly above my max. The first snip shows numbers at 10:08 into the activity, and second snip shows numbers at 10:21 into the activity.
Based on experience with coasting/soft-pedalling, my HR was probably between 85bpm and 105bpm during the period of “181 bpm”. I adjusted the physical position of the strap (in which the HR declined to 174 over a few seconds, then it started to drop very consistently every second over a 14 second interval, and a few seconds later I paused the activity. Assuming an HR of 95bpm, this matches pretty much exactly what the HR strap would broadcast if it were using an average of the previous 30 seconds (see excel calculation below).
I’ve had similar experiences a few other times (from too low coming back to “correct”, and from too high going back to “correct”).
The polar h10 broadcast about every second, but it also broadcast the rr intervals (the time in ms between two beats) that can be used for current hr (you still need to use an average due to the variation introduced by breathing). I will try to check tomorrow for more precise data.
Edit:
- The polar H10 broadcast values about every second, I don’t know what the variation comes from. For higher HR, it still broadcast about every second, and send multiple rr (peak to peak heart rate time) in one block. I don’t know what it does below 60 bpm. The heartrate values that it broadcast look immediate. It must be a short average on the rr values but i cannot find any info about it. rr values have a 1ms precision, so 1kHz sampling rate.
- That was for the nerd part. for the practical part, heartrate looks immediate. I did sprint intervals yesterday, and my heartrate was dropping 7 to 10 seconds after finishing an interval, so definitely not a long average (especially with heartrate lag vs effort).
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Good to know - thanks.
Got one from the same place - only a couple of rides with it but all seems spot on. Good recommendation
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Long term use of the H10 has uncovered a few issues.
- Pairing continues to drop on occasion, requiring a hard reset and unpair + repair to devices. (AWU & Wahoo Roam V2)
- HR drops throughout steady state efforts or unrealistic HR readings during intervals. Pics below
- Support through polar website suggested various troubleshooting tactics (which i’d tried) and resorted to asking me to send it in for review + repair. I’ll likely do this in an attempt to get a new unit and avoid these issues, though i just think its not a good product vs truly a defective unit.
I’d no longer recommend this HRM.
800m run repeats shown below with reps shown by the increase in pace (blue)with the 1st, 4th, and 6th reps showing a rather expected HR curve and reps 2,3,5 showing unrealistic dips followed by sharp climbs to the expected levels.
Shown below the last bit of an 8 mile Z2 run where pace stays relatively consistent and HR showing sudden jumps to the tune of 20bpm. My watch was saying ‘above zone’ & ‘below zone’ in pretty quick succession while my pace was exactly the same and minimal change in elevation.
To counter that I’ve had a H10 for 8 years with none of the issues you report.
I have issues with any HRM paired over bluetooth to my Wahoo Roam V1, including my latest H10. Forcing it to pair via ANT+ has worked without issue. I don’t have any issues with the H10 when paired over bluetooth to other devices though.
How is your strap looking? Mine just started having issues and when I looked at the strap, the electrodes were cracked all over. I ordered a new strap from Polar the other day.
Speaking of which, has anyone used the cheap Amazon replacement straps? I thought about it but in the end went with the Polar one.