wipekitty

I crawled out of the dark ages last year and purchased a (cheap) GPS computer. This year, I think it's finally time to add a heart rate monitor.

My computer is compatible with BLE, but not ANT+, and I'm not interested in upgrading my computer, so I'm looking for something Bluetooth compatible. (I have no idea what Bluetooth Smart is, but I assume that my cheap computer does not have it.) Preferably, this would be a model worn on the chest (vs. wrist) and would have a reasonably long battery life.

Polar H7 and Wahoo Tickr both look like decent options that are compatible. Any thoughts, or other options that are BLE compatible?

TimothyH

Any Polar heart rate sensor will work.

The H10 is very comfortable but expensive. The H1 will function exactly the same.

The H7 is an older model no longer listed on the Polar website but it will work just as well.

I don't have experience with the Wahoo heart rate sensors but lots of guys use them. Their speed and cadence sensors are very popular.

-Tim-

But its me 

I have both the H7 and Tickr. I prefer the latter, since it transmits both BLE and ANT+, which is great if you ever do upgrade to a Garmin or like. Polar rather burned me with the v650 computer, so not fond of Polar products anymore. Up until this, I preferred Polar.

John_V 

If you have a fairly new smart phone and your bike computer connects to it, it has BTLE. That being said, I use Wahoo products because they are all dual band and I can connect all my sensors to my bike computer and my phone simultaneously. They also have outstanding support and warranty.

Fatikngage

hmm

JohnJ80

Pretty much any of the HRMs other than Garmin will support BTLE - Wahoo, Polar, Scosche, etc.. DCRainmakers has lots of reviews on them.

J.

noisebeam

I got the basic Wahoo HRM <$50 and it has been flawless for a couple years.

wipekitty

Thanks for the tips, guys.

I decided to order the Polar H10. The Tickr looks nice, but the reviews complaining about the strap coming loose had me a bit worried. I also appreciate that Polar had different strap sizes (us small people sometimes get stuck with a bunch of extra fabric on bands and such.)

There's a 20% off code on Polar's website at the moment, if anyone else is in the market for a Polar device.

noisebeam

I forgot to mention the Tickr strap. Yes it pops open way to easy. The fix is just as easy, which is to cut or slice off the plastic nub next to the button on the strap side using a knife. This nub fits is a slot next to the button on the sensor side and when the button connection rotates it opens the button. I did this after the first use several year ago and it has never unintentionally opened since. Totally forgot I had done that.