Polar H9 Heart Rate Sensor

All I wanted was the ability to monitor my heart rate during workouts and long walks without spending hundreds of dollars. I did not care about steps since my cell phone already does that for me on long walks. This Polar heart rate monitor does exactly that. It automatically pairs with the elliptical and spinning bike that I use at the gym. Using the Polar Flow app, after entering my date of birth, I can graphically see what zone my hear rate is in and how many calories I've burned while working out, including while doing resistance training. It also shows a nice graph of my heart rate over the entire workout. Couldn't ask for anything more.

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.

No matter what I tried, moistening the strap, changing positions of the sensor, disconnecting the sensor from the chest strap while not in use, changing batteries, and using different apps, this heart rate monitor constantly failed to accurately demonstrate my heart rate. Using the Polar flow app, it graphs heart rate during the exercise period. Every time my heart rate was peaking (above 120 I'm 70) It would stop registering and even decrease. I walk the same hills and course every time. As I started a grade, my HR would begin increasing 90-95-100-106 then flatten or decrease even though I was increasing my speed or reaching a greater grade. I have sessions recorded and in each the recording show an increasing rate and then flat line or decrease until some arbitrary time it would resume, always after finishing the hill. I have researched everything I could find to resolve this issue with no luck. In my years past, I have used Polar chest straps with wrist mounted display and never had an issue. As a final note, the return window is only 30 days with this product and I find others who experience similar problems.

I was worried that it might not pair to my exercise bike. However it was no problem. I put on the unit, started pedaling and the heart rate displayed right away. No pairing procedure of any kind.I must say that the bike was designed to work with Polar. My concern was that it was too old.I was also concerned that the strap would be too short, but that was not a problem either. I normally wear 3X clothes, but the 2X strap fit with room to spare.