POLAR H9 Heart Rate Sensor

I’m darn near 60 and recently was diagnosed with A-fib. Nothing super serious but none the less… I had been wondering if I could trust the heart rate monitor on my fruit watch (optical) and decided I needed to try something different. I should say, the Polar H9 nor the fruit watch are able to accurately detect A-fib. I read reviews an read reviews and decided the Polar H9 would be what I need. If I didn’t care for it, I could give it to someone and not be out a gob of money.

Well, I’m keeping it. I like it but there are a few quirks. 1 – It feels a tad odd when it’s on you. Wear it snug so it works well and doesn’t slip around on you while exercising. I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time. Once I get it on and wet the contacts (I’ll get to that) I don’t notice it. The longest I’ve run with it on is 4 miles. It did not bother me at all while running. Quirk 2 – you have to wet the area under the strap where the contacts are so it reads accurately. I did try it out without wetting it and it worked fine. I sweat a lot so It got damp fairly quickly. Quirk 3 – Pairing. When you want to pair the device PAIR IT WITH THE APP NOT YOUR DEVICE. I paired it with my phone and then tried to pair it with my watch. Nope. I downloaded Polar Flow and it didn’t work. I then recalled something I read in a review about Polar Beat. I unpaired the Polar H9 from the phone and watch and deleted the Polar Flow app and downloaded Polar Beat. I did pair it with my phone through the Polar Beat App. Now, I did not see those instructions with the device. All was good finally. Can you pair with Polar Flow? Darned if I know since I got it to work with Polar Beat. I may try it later and if so, I’ll update this. But for now I’m sticking with the Beat.

The battery life is supposed to be 400 hours on a single coin cell battery. We’ll see. If that’s true, that should last me a while. I don’t think I’m going to get more than 6 – 8 hours of use a week so it’ll last about a year. Maybe when it warms up I’ll use it more so we’ll see.

Oh, the instructions indicate you should rinse the strap out after each use. Probably very good advice or this thing will get stinky and crusty and not last as long.

And regarding the accuracy of this monitor vs the fruit watch, they are very similar. That actually surprised me. I’m still learning the Polar Beat App so I can’t really speak to what you can and can’t do with it yet.

If things go sideways, I’ll edit this review. Cheers and keep moving.

The strap works as intended however i found that I’ve already changed the battery twice since I started using it while my Wahoo strap that sees twice the usage is still on the battery that I installed in the late spring (4months ago).
Also the strap buckle on this polar is being latched from the bottom rather than from the top which is a bit more complicated than the top insert.

Ótima qualidade! É ótimo custo benefício.

Prenderò sempre Polar, preciso e compatibile con tutto, ne ho presi di varie marche ma questo è il migliore, la fascia è ottima e non da fastidio, il sistema di cambio batteria è top. Ottimo sono contento dell’acquisto!!

I still like it, but have found that the Ant+ connection wasn’t strong enough to make a reliable connection to my handlebar mounted Fenix5 when bicycling out doors.

I switched to the bluetooth connection…back in the money. 😬👍👍

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A few more weeks in, working well. Super comfy/un-noticable. Works 100% with my Fenix5 & Garmin App.

The Polar app though…not impressed with that.

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Good initial impressions: it fits, it’s comfortable, it works and I like that I KNOW it’s “off” when I take the unit off the strap.

If it keeps working and LASTS…maybe it can be the first in about of about 20 in 30 years to last more than a year?

para monitorear ritmo cardiaco en rodadas en bici y ejercicio en general

I’ve been using Polar HR monitors for over two decades now. I was using my polar FT7 to track my workouts until recently when I was gifted a Garmin watch. The old polar HR monitor doesn’t have ANT+ so decided to purchase a Garmin Duo to go along with my watch it believing that the same brand would work best. What a mistake that was! The Duo was highly unreliable, kept dropping connection, etc. I sent it back and purchased this H9 sensor instead. Voila! It paired instantly with my Garmin and I’ve had no problems whatsoever! It’s also compatible with the Polar chest bands I already have, so I’ll always have extras on hand. What more could I ask for?

Quality product, highly recommended!