Polar H9 Heart Rate Sensor

I have been using this strap for over a year to monitor my heart rate on runs and bike rides, and it has worked flawlesly throughout. I've only changed the battery on it once during this time when I noticed that it would not connect to my bike computer. I personally have never had the band slip or shift off my chest.Once you pair it to your watch or bike computer, it's remarkably simple to use - just put it on and it automatically turns on and starts transmitting to whatever device you have. When you take it off, it automatically powers down. There is no on/off indicator light, but I found that it's not needed, and would likely just waste battery.

This heart rate monitor has worked great! Easy to attach around my chest and it synchs with the gyms elliptical and treadmill machines right as I get on them. I like that the electronic piece snaps on and off, so I can clean the band after every use while keeping the transmitter piece dry.

The polar H9 is extremely difficult to pair with an iPhone. Still trying to get mine to work. Very difficult to get support from polar. They will flood you with 1 million FYI on their webpage. None of it helpful. Still trying to figure out how to actually talk to somebody or get some real advice. It’s a very common problem if you search on Google. Really for as long as these have been around it should be simple as possible to do.UPDATE: I returned it. I got so tired of trying to get this junk to connect to my phone. Randomly disconnects. This is with 2 different H9's. Its just a poorly designed product and the app performance and features are poor.This company lives on its reputation, certainly not its technology. Thank god for Amazon easy returns.

I’m not sure why people having such problems with this strap. I’ve had mine for over three years and just starting to have issue with it syncing to app. App easy to use and feel it’s very accurate when used side by side with machines tracking. Do half hour cardio and half hour on weights and can leave it 10 ft away from when working out and still connects. For 50-60 bucks well worth the money. Just ordered new strap to see if that helps with syncing issue if not will gladly by new one.

After using an earlier generation Polar sensor for many years, I decided to buy this one when I bought a Garmin Venu 2 smart watch recently. The earlier Polar model couldn't be paired with the Venu 2.This H9 model paired with Venu 2 very readily, and it's communicating my heart rate to it as reliably as one would expect.My one and only complaint is with the elastic band's clasping design. It's extremely simple, and it's in that simplicity that I think Polar missed the boat. There's a thin plastic hook that one inserts into a small fabric "eye." Not only is the fabric's opening so small that it can be hard to see, but it has a tendency to come unhooked occasionally. The design could be much improved with an equally simple snap. Otherwise, the band is comfortable; and the transmitter functions great.Update after 2 months: After using the H9 6 times a week, it needs a battery (CR2025) after only 2 months . Perhaps the original battery was of low quality. I would have expected longer battery life. Fortunately, it's designed so that the battery is easy to change.

I almost returned this until I looked up how to get it working on the web. You have to pair it WITH THE APP, NOT your phone! If you pair it with your phone the app will not see it, at least as far as I can tell.The third time I used it I had to restart my phone for it to pair for some reason. Since then it has paired automatically whenever I open the app and have the thing on my chest. No restart needed.There may be better apps to use. I use the Polar Beat app which does what I want just fine. There is also an app called Polar Flow but I think it sucks. Not needed. But if you open the Polar Flow website (not the phone app) you will see that Polar Beat syncs all your data there and keeps track of all your activities on a calendar.I get the strap slightly damp as well as the spot on my chest where it goes, then put it on. I make sure it's paired in the app, then when I get to the gym or my hike I hit Start on the app. When I'm done I remove the monitor from the strap which turns it off.All I needed was a way to track my heart rate while I'm working out and it does that just fine. The cheap watches here on Amazon do not track your heart rate accurately, especially at higher rates. This thing is great.

I've only owned this for about 2 months now, with about 3 - 4 hours of intense sweat contact per week. But my impressions so far it's better than Garmin HRM Dual that lasted around 1.5 year with similar use pattern. The Garmin had noticeable corrosion on metal contacts, the metal buttons on strap was separating, would drop connections frequently towards end of life, and the ultimate failure points around screws on plastic unit seemed to be a silly design flaw. Unless the Garmin was a case of planned obsolescence, in which case kudos to that Garmin engineering team, it was an inferior product compared to the Polar. The Garmin failed because the thin plastic pieces beneath the tiny screw heads cracked and crumbled away so back cover could not hold battery in place. Seal was broken and the internals corroded to failure. All those weak points on the Garmin seem to be addressed on the Polar. In addition, the Polar actually pairs better with my Garmin products more quickly, consistently, and easily without having to wet the strap when I first put it on. Polar strap is a little narrower but for me its more comfortable because of softer elastic fabric. Minor downsides, the Polar strap loop and hook is not as robust and easy to use and narrower strap sometimes gets a little bunched up.

Product worked well, but then stopped working almost exactly one year after purchase. Unfortunately it seems I can no longer get a replacement.