H7 Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Sensor

I read some of the bad reviews about this and was a little worried but ordered it anyways because overall the rating was around 4/5. And all I can say is that it was a great purchase and I should have never hesitated. This is my first HRM and first Polar product. I read a page or two in the manual which is basically all I needed. It said to turn on my Bluetooth and then open the apps I wanted to use the HRM with. First I downloaded and opened the Polar app. I told it to connect to the HRM and it connected but then a popup said "connection lost" About 30 more dialog boxes of "connection lost" came up over the next few seconds. Finally behind all of those I saw that it had successfully paired with the app. I had to click "ok" on all the "connection lost" boxes but I finally got back to the app and saw my heart rate being displayed. Yay! This is the only time the sensor/app had connection "jitters." All the additional times I've used the HRM with the Polar app or any other fitness apps there have been no issues at all. I only had to pair it once, not every time I use it like other users have reported. I just put on the monitor, turn on bluetooth on my phone, open the app and I'm good to go. I tested pairing it with Runtastic and Wahoo fitness apps; both picked up the sensor just fine, no issues. I was afraid that I'd have to pay money to "upgrade" the Polar app like other people have said they had to do, but honestly for HR monitoring the "free" version is awesome. It shows your current heart rate, the zone you're in, your average HR and max HR and you can display these a couple different ways depending on what is important to you. A tap on the screen lets you change the display on the fly. At the end of the workout it tells you how your time in a zone is affecting your fitness. Also you can sync it with the free Polar Flow website, this allows you to keep track of all your training. Currently I'm using the Polar app along side the Nike Running app. Even though the Polar app does GPS tracking/mapping, timing, etc I use the Nike app because all my old runs are on there. But having both open at the same time and with both using GPS is a non-issue, surprisingly it works great! So if you want to use the Polar app for the heart rate only and keep your old fitness app that is not a problem. I had no issues with dropout/spikes in the heart data and I barely used a few drops of water on the conductive strap as it said in the manual. I have not had any battery issues like other people reported. I think they forgot to unclip it from the strap when they were done working out and as a result drained the battery. It uses a CR 2025 button style battery that is user replaceable. The manual states that it has a 200 hour battery life. Also another reviewer said that there must be a problem with these because amazon stopped selling them for a short while. I looked at the used section and saw about six "amazon warehouse deals." They all had minor cosmetic issues I believe. I think the problem was that amazon was sending these in padded envelopes and they'd been mangled and returned. Amazon started selling them again this week which is when I ordered mine. It came in a sturdy box and arrived in perfect condition. All in all this is an awesome piece of tech that is easy to setup and does exactly what it promises. The Polar app is great for HR monitoring even without paying for the special "training" upgrades. I've only had this unit for about a week but I love it and have used it during multiple runs without any issues. I'll update this review and report how it's working out after a few weeks. I'm sure it will be performing great. And if you have any questions just comment and I'll try to answer them if I can. If you found this review helpful please click the button.

Both my husband and I use these with the Polar FT7 watch for a wrist display we can check during runs and Runkeeper for data tracking, and we love them. I have tachycardia (POTS) and it's important for me to both exercise frequently and monitor my heart rate while doing so, to make sure it doesn't get too high - even on meds and other treatment, it's easy for me to exceed 80% max HR in the first minute or two of a run without pushing myself much. The Polar sensors have been great for this - they're very reliable. It helps immensely to be able to tell when I'm tired because my POTS symptoms are worse versus when I'm simply tired. Also, *if* you use a Polar wrist display or the Polar Beat app (more on that below), Polar uses a very accurate algorithm to calculate calories burned based on heart rate (plus age, weight, height, and gender). This is great when I'm counting calories for weight loss. I also love that the sensor detaches when you're not using it, so the battery doesn't drain as fast. One of my few complaints is that my husband's monitor seems to be more prone to losing signal or showing a clearly incorrect heart rate (very high or very low) than mine is (although mine does that occasionally). This may be a problem with the watch (apps don't always pick up the same inconsistencies). I've also had it happen when the band wasn't tight enough, or the battery was close to dying - and I suspect my husband's chest hair has something to do with his more frequent inconsistencies. None of this is a big enough deal to drop a star, especially compared to previous monitors I've used. Watch Pairing: It pairs easily with the FT7 watch; we'd both been using those with the included non-bluetooth sensors, but the watches picked up the new sensors within 30 seconds. We didn't need any special pairing procedures; the watches picked up the signal on their own - and as far as we can tell, they don't get mixed up even when we're running side by side. Phone Pairing (Android): The important thing to remember here is that you don't pair the sensor with the *phone*, but with the *app*. If you go into the Bluetooth pairing settings in your phone, as you would to pair a headset, it won't find a signal for the heart monitor. This is normal. Instead, make sure Bluetooth is on, go into the app you want to use, and check the Settings. Most third party apps have a setting you can turn on to use a heart rate sensor. If I remember correctly, MapMyFitness handled both that and sensor pairing in the Settings when I used it; RunKeeper handles pairing from the map screen (turning on the sensor setting adds a gray heart in the bottom right corner of the map, which bounces when it detects an unpaired sensor and turns red and beats when it's reading your HR). Check the FAQ on the app's website or do a search if you're not sure. Apps (Android): - Polar Beat (Polar's app) is okay for stationary or studio workouts, but just okay. It does give you a nice HR chart and that lovely accurate calorie count that Polar is so good at. However, you'll want to keep it on your body if you're moving around a lot, because this app loses signal very easily if you get your body in between the sensor and the phone. For outdoor workouts, there are much better free apps available; Polar Beat would frequently fail to map my run at all, or stop somewhere in the middle when it lost GPS signal, and its distance measurements weren't particularly accurate. I haven't used it for runs since March 2015, so this may have changed, but I'm not holding my breath. - Third Party: I haven't found an app yet that doesn't pair easily with this, since Polar is the standard in heart monitors. I'm a fan of Runkeeper since it gives you access to your heart rate charts without a subscription, but that's personal preference. I've also easily paired it with MapMyFitness, Endomondo, some random app that's supposed to calculate your "morning readiness" from heart rate, and probably some other workout apps I'm forgetting about. Take your pick - most of them have pairing instructions on their websites if you need them. - Multiple App Pairing: You can use the monitor with multiple apps simultaneously IF the apps allow - some don't. For example, I was able to use it with MapMyFitness and Polar Beat (for accurate calorie count) at the same time without problems; Runkeeper, however, won't even detect the monitor if another app that's running is already using it. For best results, use the window cascade feature to look at what you have running in the background, and close everything that connects to the monitor if you don't need it. However, there's no problem with having multiple apps installed and paired with it as long as they're not all running; you don't have to re-pair each time you switch apps. For reference, both my husband and I have HTC One M8 phones. Multiple Devices on Signal: I've had no problems with the monitor transmitting to the phone and watch at the same time, nor with it sharing the phone's bluetooth signal with headphones. Random tips: If you can't get your phone to pick up the signal, do the usual (reboot, close and restart app, turn Bluetooth off/on). Then check to make sure the strap is snug, especially across the front of the chest, and make sure the sensor is snapped in securely. You can wet the sensor area of the inside of the strap (the vinyl-like part) with water (or, if that's not enough, with salt water or electroconductive gel) if you're still having problems. After that, check the battery. I also find that sometimes the watch, if you have one, is a more reliable test of whether it's working than the phone is. Changing the Battery: Pretty straightforward DIY. I've found it's easiest to use a narrow key ring to turn the battery cover, and make sure to *pay attention* to how the battery cover is oriented in the "loose" position before you remove it, because it's really hard to loosen it again if you replace it in the wrong position and tighten it, and it's not water/sweatproof unless it's seated right. It fits tight, but I had no trouble with it even though I'm sometimes not strong enough to open sealed jars. In summation, this is awesome and I love it. Mine has been working fine for almost a year with one battery change, my husband's for 7+ months. We'll see how long the fresh batteries last.

After having all 3 over the last 6 months I wanted to write a review to help everyone out. I am currently using the heart rate monitor with an iPhone 5S and generally for mountain biking. I use the iPhone app polar provides and also Strava for cycling. The polar works well, sync quickly and works well with the apps I normally use. Also the polar is compatible with gym machines which is another added bonus. It does use a CR2025 battery which is smaller and drains faster than the larger CR 2032 The Zephyr bluetooth HRM worked well also and syncs quickly. It works well with the polar app, but for some reason I cannot get it to sync with the Strava app (I am a premium member and it supports this feature). The polar bluetooth monitor works fine with the Strava app.Uses larger CR 2032 battery which lasts longer than the smaller CR2025 battery in the polar The Wahoo fitness was more finicky. Seemed to sync, but the heart rate would not pick up as rapidly. This was disappointing so I ended up returning the Wahoo fitness bluetooth heart rate monitor. To summarize Polar bluetooth H7 smart heart rate sensor Pros : Syncs well, compatible with the iPhone apps I use (Polar, strava), works with gym exercise machines Cons: If you want to be nitpicky, the CR2025 battery doesn't last as long as the larger CR2032 in the Zephyr Hxm Zephyr Hxm Bluetooth Pros : Syncs well, mostly compatible with iPhone apps I use, larger battery CR2032 lasts longer Cons: Wouldn't sync with Strava app which I use extensively Wahoo Fitness Bluetooth I had to return due to finicky, wouldn't pick up heart rate for a long time. Depending on what factors are most important you really can't go wrong with either Polar or Zephyr.

I bought this to replace my Polar H6 so I can connect my Polar RS100 fitness watch with Android phone apps such as Strava Premium and DigiFit. I received it yesterday and tested it on a mountain bike ride. It worked perfectly on my Moto G (first generation) smartphone with Strava Premium. I also verified that Polar Beat and DigiFit can receive my heart rate from it. If you're using Strava, you'll need Strava Premium. The free version of Strava does not record heart rate. The only functional difference between the H6 and H7 is that the H7 has Bluetooth LTE (aka LE, Smart), which allows it to communicate with Android phones and iPhones that support Bluetooth LTE. Both the H6 and H7 have Gymlink, which allows sending the heart rate to many fitness watches and gym devices. The H7 can transmit on both Gymlink and Bluetooth simultaneously. It allows me to wear my Polar RS100 fitness watch to keep track of my heart rate while I bike or run while simultaneously using Bluetooth to send heart rate data to my smartphone so I can record it along with GPS data. Before you can use the Bluetooth feature, you'll need to first go into your smartphone's Settings, activate Bluetooth, and pair it with the H7. You may also have to go into your app Settings and activate Bluetooth for the app. You only have to do it once. After it's been set and the H7 paired with your smartphone, in the future it should activate automatically as soon as you start the app on your smart phone. If you're like most of us, you hate the thought of using a strap around your chest, but it really seems to be the most accurate method of getting your heart rate. However after a while, you no longer notice it. I like the fact that the H6 and H7 do not require gel. All you need to do is wet the sensor pads before use. Some other straps require applying a gel, which I hate. Be sure to position the sensor correctly, in the right place, and with the strap just tight enough to hold it in place. Not doing so can result in erratic readings. I wear a large tee shirt and have a 33 waist. The M-XXL size on both the H6 and H7 can be adjusted to fit me perfectly and has enough adjustment to fit both a much smaller and a much larger person. I like the fact that the battery is easily replaceable. VERY IMPORTANT: Detach the H7 from the strap as soon as your exercise is completed. Leaving it connected drains the battery. The battery will last a long time if you don't leave the H7 attached to the strap when you're not using it. I've had an H6 for three years and I haven't yet replaced the battery. I've only used the H7 for one ride so far. If any problems develop, I'll update this review, but I don't anticipate any problems. I've been using the H6 for three years and the strap and sensor are both like new. Just be sure to wash the strap regularly. The only time I've had a problem with the H6 was in the first year, when I didn't wash the strap often enough. It began giving erratic readings, but after I washed it, it the readings stopped being erratic.

This is just a quick heads up for new buyers; I'll review the product in more detail as I use it. The instructions that come with the sensor are terrible. There's basically a description on how to put the strap/sensor on, but not really anything about pairing to Bluetooth. There are no pairing buttons or switches, the bluetooth and pairing start when you attach the sensor to the strap which contains the electrodes. There are no LED's to tell you that you are paired or in pairing mode. In order to pair you need three things which the instructions, in a sense, tell you. However, the instructions make it seem as if these steps are used to wear and use the sensor, not that it is necessary to follow the steps for pairing. In short, you must: 1) Wet the electrodes (which is the plasticized part on the strap, although the illustration makes it appear that you wet the strap) 2) Place the strap on your chest! This is required because it helps the electrodes to connect, I suppose. Or maybe it needs to receive a heartbeat. In any case, in order to pair, the strap must be on your chest and 3) you need to attach the sensor to the strap (which should be obvious). My Samsung Galaxy 7 (Android) would not find the sensor after a scan until I first installed the Polar Beat app (free) on the phone. I had to use the Polar Beat app to pair the sensor to the phone, it would not pair up using the phone's Bluetooth setting. Once it paired up, pairing with my other app, MapMyRun, was very easy. It would not seem likely that you'd need to wear it in order to pair it, and it would be a lot better if the instructions made that clear. Research on the web also mentioned "keeping it close, like in your front pants pocket". It took me a while to realize that they were talking about the phone, not the sensor. I hope that this helps you in setting up and saving some frustration. One other thing: I have seen reviews where people cannot get the battery cover open without stripping it. Indeed, they say to use a coin to unscrew the cover but since this was designed in Finland, perhaps they are thinking of a Finnish Marrka or Euro coin. In any case, I found that a 1980's era NYC subway token worked fine but that, as others mentioned, a US quarter or nickel would strip the screw slot. So far, with a very light workout, once set up, the sensor seems to work just fine. I compared the results with a hospital quality blood pressure meter and a finger pulse oximeter and the readings all matched, so that part is great. I'll review further as it gets more use. So far, so good. 5 stars with one deducted for poor instructions and lack of a visible pairing indicator. Edit: June 2018 - I've been using this at least 5 hours a week for about 18 months now. I have changed the battery just once in that time; I imagine I'll probably replace it again in another month or two. The strap is washed every time I wear it (I just take it into the shower with me after I run) and it's starting to fray a bit, but will likely last quite a while longer before I may need to replace it. I am upgrading my review from 4 stars to 5 because, despite the trouble I had setting it up and getting a bad unit, it has worked very well and very consistently. I also deducted 1 star due to the lack of a pairing indicator. While this is true (it would be nice to have a light on the sensor) you can tell if it's paired by checking the app on your phone. As regards the instructions, this has been out long enough now that all you need to do is look online and find reviews such as this one and you'll find help if you're having issues setting it up.

This review is more about Polar customer service than the product. The V800, the Polar Loop, the H7, and the H7 strap are great, really great in fact, but customer service is horrible - here is the exact feedback (below) that I sent to Polar. Please note, this is the 4th H7 unit I have used or purchased and I have a Polar Loop which is great also. I have recorded hundreds of workouts with the H7 and it works really well - but after about 10 months my went a little wanky. It was covered under warranty which was good, but I felt that I need to post my feedback to Polar to let everyone know about my customer service experience with them. So here are all my customer service issues below. To Polar: BTW - this exact feedback is going on heartratemonitorsusa.com, amazon.com, AND dcrainmaker.com and any where else I can find to put it. Poorly and improperly staffed - no information about doing inventory so I would wait on the phone for 20 minutes to have your voice service tell me that someone would call me back which they never did - waste of 20 minutes - this happened 4 separate times. End of year update broke automatic GPS start location which I have reported 2 times - the first time the CSR did not record the error message - found this out when I called back in about a separate issue and decided to do a follow-up. The error message is as follows - "A. lap location not saved. No GPS data available." I assume that A. means "automatic ". So when Automatic Lap is chosen in a sport profile and set to Location - this error message pops up. Never happened before the update. Server maintenance was not re-announced after an announcement saying it would be delayed, so I spent an hour and did a botched factory reset on the day the servers went down because the error message in Polar FlowSync said that it COULDN'T sync with the V800 - nothing about the servers being down - I thought I had an issue with the watch. You have our emails - send out a notification for gosh sakes. How hard is that to do? It is the little things that make the difference. You "lost" my warranty repair replacement watch band (sitting on a shelf per the CSR) - so I had to zip tie my watch onto my wrist for almost a month. I would not have know about this unless I would not have called in to follow-up because I was waiting for so long for it to arrive in the mail. I was told 3-5 business days and I waited an extra week because of the holidays. I you would have sent it out the first day I called (which you could have) it would have been here before the new year. You "repaired" my HR7 improperly - in fact you didn't repair it - you sent back a new strap instead of replacing transmitter - when I received the unit back, it still did not work (after almost 4 weeks) which is totally unacceptable. Poor technical support delayed my return of the unit for a week - the CSR REFUSED to listen to me about my understanding that it was the transmitter and NOT THE STRAP. Luckily I had decided to buy a new Polar HR7 from a store - I did this before I sent the unit in to be repaired. And guess what - the new unit worked instantly. In fact, I had access to another Polar HR7 and it worked perfectly also. I was so irritated when I tried out the unit you sent back. I couldn't believe you guys just didn't send out a new unit. And your repair notes STILL say it was the strap which is a lie. At this point, I don't think you even tested the unit. Your alert messages in the IVR are complete lies. You did not have high call volume, you were understaffed doing inventory. I know this because I was in call center work for almost 15 years. Quit lying to your customers - it reduces your integrity. You have wasted my time, stretched my patience, and lied too many times for me to trust you. Sad thing is that your products are awesome and have helped me lose 45 lbs after being sick for several years. The more I deal with you, the more I am reminded of all the sorry customer service that ICON FITNESS provides for all their treadmills and such - just horror stories that never end. That is why we have not purchased a home treadmill - TRUST. As you try to gain ground in the activity fitness tracker world you better learn this - trust, integrity, and customer service generates and RETAINS customers. You have too many competitors to screw up for even a short period.

My setup is the Polar H7 synched with the Polar Beat app on my Samsung S5 phone (running Android version 4.4.2). I have been using this device regularly for about two months. After the initial pairing, the device worked perfectly. It seemed to track my heart rate while during my workout routine (indoor cardio and strength training). Then a few weeks in I started to notice that the software wouldn't detect the H7. I would reboot the phone. On occasion I would resynch but the bluetooth wouldn't detect. After several tries it just wouldn't work. Eventually sometime during the middle of my workout it would finally work again. This would happen about half the time. My guess (and this is only a guess) is that the Polar H7 goes to "sleep" when it can't detect the bluetooth connection on my phone. When near, it takes a long time to "wake up". The reason I conclude this is whenever I leave the Polar H7 in the car just before I go to workout, it wouldn't work initially work with my phone. But when I keep the Polar H7 near me throughout the day in my backpack at work, it seems to immediately work when I go workout. So that's my two cents. Its inconsistency is why I only give it two stars. Also I purchased the Fitness test upgrade for the Polar beat app. Except for the few initial times I used it, the upgrade failed to detect the Polar H7 since. [update 02/04/2015] Well I would like to update this review to a three star. After my last review, it started working almost flawlessly. It connected right away almost every time. The only hiccup is the occasional misreadings. Re-adjusting the strap, re-moistening the contacts, and/or rebooting the phone fixes that. Barring those small issues, I would have upped the rating to a 4 or 5 but the Polar beat software brings it down. The polar beat software's battery sensor is off. It doesn't accurately gauge the charge level on the installed battery. Right before the CR2025 battery gave up the ghost, it read as half charged. I purchased extra features for the software. The purchased Fitness Test add-on does not work with this sensor even though it says it is the recommended sensor to use. For those that are interested, in my experience the battery life is about five months. I never removed the sensor from the strap.

I originally thought I'd get the wristwatch version of the heart rate monitors (HRM). I'd had a Polar HRM about 10 years ago and it worked pretty good, but occasionally ran into radio interference transmitting to the wrist device - for example near power transmission lines. I could not find very specific information on the details of the wristwatch types in the descriptions on Amazon, and since I am a big guy with a big wrist, I went to Polar's website to find out how large a wrist the devices would fit. I could not find the info there either, but used Polar's Chat feature to ask a question and the customer service tech found me the answer. She gave me the sizes of the chest straps and the wrist straps. The customer service tech measured the FT4 wrist monitor to fit a wrist up to about 8-3/4" maximum. My wrist is about 9". She offered that the more expensive FT40 and RCX5 will fit up to 9-1/2" wrists. Regarding the chest strap sizing, from my Chat Transcript: Nastacia: Our soft strap dimensions are as follows: Nastacia: XS-S: 21-38" Nastacia: M-XXL: 27-60" Nastacia: XXXL: 29-70" (The H7 came with the M-XXL strap, which I found to be smaller than stated above. My chest measures 51" and the M-XXL only fit tightly. I can't imagine it would fit up to 60 inches. So it you are over 48" or so chest, plan on using the XXXL size.) Based on the info above, I went with the H7 Bluetooth model of Polar's HRM's and paired it with my iPhone 5. I'm so glad I did. It works great. I had no problem pairing it and getting going. My partner tried it too, and we found that we first have to unpair the HRM with my phone so she could then pair it to her phone. She liked the H7 so well, she ordered one too. The free Polar Beat app worked well and I like that it maps your route using the phone's GPS. The map feature measures the distance and time and I found it to be very accurate. All of the heart rate data along the route is saved in each session on your phone. You can see how your heart rate changes going up and down hills. Very cool! Once you input your physical details (gender, age, height, weight), the app calculates your max heart rate and records your time in each heart rate zone (e.g., 50-60% of max, 60-70% of max, etc.). It also captures your average heart rate over the session and your max heart rate. I use the H7 for cycling, and the Polar Beat app let's you select from running, cycling, walking, jogging, skiing, rowing, etc., etc. I only wish the app had a feature to display your route vs. the vertical profile (elevation as available from Google Earth). You could then see your heart rate relative to the hills you climb. Overall, I highly recommend the H7.