Back in 1982, a small Finnish start-up called Polar Electro released the first consumer-grade, wireless heart rate tracker. It was one of the earliest wearable fitness devices on the market. By the 1990s, it had created not just software to analyze the data its heart rate monitors were producing, but software that could detect heart rate variability and software to help users target specific heart rate zones.
The Polar H10 is a direct descendant of the first wireless heart rate monitor launched over 40 years ago. And despite competing in a much more crowded marketplace than existed back then, it still manages to be the best at what it does, even over five years after it launched in 2017.
Nothing on the market beats the reliability and reputation of Polar’s heart rate monitors. Even though the H10 is a few years old, it’s still the gold standard for chest strap heart rate monitors, and the benchmark against which the competition is measured.
Price and availability
If you want to pay the full price of $90, you may find the Polar H10 directly on the Polar website or at fitness retailers like REI. Of course, if you don’t want to pay full price and want next-day delivery, you can find it on Amazon for just under $80.
Design and hardware
The H10 heart rate monitor is smaller than I expected. It’s just over 2.5 inches wide (about the size of my pinky) and a bit over an inch tall. Inside the plastic shell is a 64 MHz processor and enough storage to store around 30 hours of heart rate data (Polar doesn’t say precisely how much storage its device has). Interestingly, it also has an accelerometer, but none of Polar’s official apps use the data it produces, and the only app to ever do so, Runfox, doesn’t work on the latest Android devices.
When transmitting data, the Polar H10 gives you three options. For smartphone connectivity, it uses Bluetooth Low Energy, which is how I use it. If you take your exercise a bit more seriously or are into cycling, you’re more likely to take advantage of the ANT+ connectivity used on many fitness computers andmore than a few phones. The H10 also uses an old analog transmission standard, GymLink, used in some gym equipment and older Polar watches.
Also inside is a CR2025 button cell lithium battery. You won’t be recharging your H10 battery, but since the CR2025 is one of the most common button-cell batteries, you won’t have any trouble replacing it.
Even though GymLink is an older standard, it uses a much longer wavelength than Bluetooth LE or ANT+, meaning it can transmit data while you swim.
Software and performance
Because the Polar H10 doesn’t have a display, all interaction with the heart rate monitor is done via a paired app. In this case, I used the manual-recommended Polar Beat app. Compared to Fitbit’s app, Beat’s navigation is not intuitive. This is offset by the fact that it’s not very feature-heavy, so you’ll have it figured out after you spend a few minutes exploring it.
On the main screen, you’re able to select and start recording a training session (there are over 120 to choose from). Swiping up opens a list of your latest training sessions and your personal bests from your training history. Tapping on a training session brings up the stats recorded for that session. I’m a bit of a numbers nerd, so I like having access to all of this information, but one area where the Beat app falls short is longitudinal statistics. I’m notjustinterested in how my individual workouts went; I want to see how my numbers change over time.
The shortcoming can be partially remedied with Polar Flow, another app from Polar that does just a bit more than Beat but still suffers from the same UI shortcomings. Although Flow lacks the simplicity of Beat, it may be a more enticing option because it has a calendar view of your workouts with that sweet longitudinal data that I crave. As a bonus, Polar Flow has an online portal where you can interact with your data outside the confines of your phone. So why don’t I use Flow? Because I can never get it to pair with my H10 when I’m trying to work out.
One thing that’s painfully lacking from either app is the ability to edit your workouts. Now, I’m not talking about tweaking calories burned or my heart rate values to make my stats look better for the socials; I’m talking about forgetting to stop a training session overnight,, so I’ve now got a 15-hour workout in my logs.
This lack of functionality can also be a problem when you’re doing a treadmill run. When using the Beat app, you can input your distance immediately after your run. However, if you miss this opportunity, it will never come again. These quality-of-life fixes should be standard on all apps that log workouts, especially ones that have been receiving regular updates for almost 10 years.
Setting aside my minor gripes about the software underpinning the Polar H10, the device itself is top-notch. It’s not a stretch to say that this is the most accurate wearable heart rate monitor for the fitness market, if not the entirety of the consumer market.
The reason is that the H10 relies on ECG readings to determine heart rate, a direct measurement of the heart’s electrical activity. Compare this to the PPG readings used by nearly all wrist-worn devices, that rely on interpreting the spectrum of light reflected off the body’s tissues, a process prone to errors from movement, moisture, temperature, and skin color.
But even when traditional fitness trackers get heart rate right (which is most of the time), they suffer from a lag in data. PPG sensors measure the change in volume of the blood vessels on your wrist to determine heart rate, so it takes a second or two for your fitness tracker-based data to reflect your actual heart rate. Because the Polar H10 directly reads your heart’s electrical output, its data is near instantaneous.
Health and fitness
To take full advantage of what the Polar H10 offers, you must know a little about heart rate zones. Everyone has a maximum heart rate (HRmax), beyond which you are physically incapable of pushing yourself. Exercising within different percentage ranges of your HRmax can effect different physiological benefits. There are several different heart rate zones depending on who you ask and what studies you read, but Polar uses five zones to help guide your workouts.
The most common way to estimate your HRmax is to subtract your age from 220.
At the low end of the intensity spectrum (50–60% of HRmax) is very light exercise. Shoot for this zone when you’re on your off day, or you need to recover but still want a workout. Between 60 and 70% of your HRmax you’re in what’s popularly called the fat-burn zone. You should be able to maintain this level of exercise for a long time, and it’s at this level that your body will preferentially burn fat instead of carbs.
In the 70 to 80% range, you’ll start to accumulate lactic acid faster than you can use it, affecting your endurance. You’ll also start to see benefits to your circulatory system and greater returns on your cardiovascular health. If you want to run faster for longer, push your workout to 80–90%. You’ll also use carbohydrates as a primary fuel source instead of your fat stores.
Above 90% of your HRmax, and you’ll be working near the peak of your capacity. You’ll be shooting for this level if you’re doing high-intensity interval training.
The Polar Beat app has a Voice guidance option in its settings that will tell you when you transition between each zone, freeing you from perpetually checking your phone (or connected Polar smartwatch) to check your heart rate. This feature is useful, but becomes problematic when you’re working out near the transition between one zone and another and the app tells you each time you bounce between them.
The voice guidance is also used in some basic coaching functionality in the Beat app. These coaching functions can be accessed via the hamburger menu in the app under Upgrades.
Benefit Target will let you set an intensity goal for your workout and use voice guidance to keep you on target. Fitness Test will estimate your overall fitness level by having you relax for five minutes. EnergyPointer will help keep you in the fat-burning zone or the fitness-improving zone. Running Index keeps track of your longitudinal running stats and helps you train for a specific running goal.
Polar can also estimate your calories burned during a workout based on your heart rate. When paired with your phone’s GPS, it can get speed and distance data. All of this information goes into your workout summaries in the Polar Beat app, whichusuallypairs with Polar’s Flow service, from which you can get good reports to help you make sense of your workout trends.
Given that most modern wearable devices feature a rechargeable battery, it’s surprising that the Polar H10 relies on a CR2025 button-cell battery for its power needs. At first, it may seem like a shortsighted move on Polar’s part, but the more I think about it, the more I think it’s the right choice.
Polar advertises that the H10 can get around 400 hours of life from one battery. On average, I use it for about five hours per week, which means I’ll get over a year of use out of one battery (400 hours ÷ 5 hours/week = 80 weeks). Sure, lithium-ion batteries can be recharged and have a useful life of around three years. However, after those three years, you either have to replace the battery yourself — potentially damaging your heart rate monitor — or you have to buy a new one. By relying on a replaceable, very common battery type, the useful life of the H10 is greatly prolonged.
Competition
Polar’s biggest competitor for the H10 is the Garmin HRM-Pro. For the extra money, the HRM-Pro offers detailed run analytics that the H10 doesn’t have (despite having an accelerometer), such as stride length and ground contact time. It also supports up to three simultaneous Bluetooth connections compared to the H10’s two. On the other hand, the Garmin device is permanently affixed to the strap, and you need a screwdriver to change the battery.
If you want to save some money, Amazon’s pick for a chest strap–based heart rate monitor is the Wahoo Tickr. It has the same basic features as the H10, but if you can spend a bit more money, the Tickr X has cycling and running analytics and, like the HRM-Pro, up to three simultaneous Bluetooth connections.
Should you buy it?
If you’re serious about using your heart rate to influence your exercise or training, the H10 is the best, most accurate device you can get. Although $100 is towards the high end for this sort of device, it’s not a lot to pay for a top-of-the-line training device with 45 years of engineering expertise behind it.
Of course, if you’re looking for something with more specific integration into your training, say for a triathlon, then there are more feature-rich devices on the market for a similar price. Similarly, if you’re just dipping your toes into the fitness tracking pool, you might be better served by getting a fitness tracker that offers more metrics with a more user-friendly software ecosystem.
All told, the Polar H10 does heart rate, and it does it better than anyone else. There’s a lot it doesn’t do,, but knowing how fast your heart beats is important to you, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something better.
The Polar H10 is the gold standard when it comes to chest strap heart rate monitors. It’s meant to measure heart rate and it does it to near medical precision.
