When you woke up this morning, I’m pretty sure the title of the post was the last bit of news you expected today in the sports technology realm. And if you weren’t at the ANT+ Symposium last fall, that surprise would have been justified. But more on that in a second.
Today’s news is that Polar is rolling out ANT+ broadcasting/transmission support to their most recent sensor products, enabling them to broadcast ANT+ alongside Bluetooth Smart. This opens up the doors on these products to more than just Garmin users, but also plenty of folks that may be using apps on desktops with an ANT+ USB stick (such as Zwift on a Windows PC). Or gym scenarios using ANT+. But of course, with Garmin dominating the market share, this is also about courting Garmin users into Polar’s platform.
A bit of backstory:
But this change has been one I’ve been quietly waiting for now for 5 months. And one that many others in the industry had been curious about as well. See, last fall at the ANT+ Symposium there had been a bit of a surprise badge holder floating around the conference: An engineer from Polar. One has to remember that the conference is more or less the who’s who of the sports tech scene from a company engineering and leadership standpoint. As such, it’s not super big – about 120-150 people. Many people have been there 5-8 years in a row – so everyone kinda knows everyone.
Thus when someone new walks into the room, it doesn’t take long for people to start asking questions. It’s sorta like that scene in Eyes Wide Shut. No, not that scene. You know…oh, wait, never mind.
Sure enough, Polar had become an ANT+ member prior to the Symposium (but that’s not actually required). They did manage to avoid getting listed on the official attendee list that’s distributed (other people sometimes also avoid putting their names on that list for a variety of privacy reasons – so that’s not a big surprise).
I eventually chatted with the Polar individual (an engineer) later in the conference and got to talking that a move to enable their H10 & OH-1 sensors with ANT+ was likely in the cards for sometime in the first half of 2019. From a chipset standpoint, the sensors were leveraging Nordic’s dual-capable series, which is found in the vast majority of sports tech products these days. So ultimately, it was as simple as a license upgrade and they could start leveraging that capability.
Of course, Polar would still have to do all the coding work on their product – but that meant it could be rolled out to existing shipped units, and not be limited to just new units.
While I’ll tackle the devices and exact firmware update plans in a moment, I was curious why exactly Polar decided to offer ANT+. After all, Polar has been aggressively anti-ANT+ for the better part of a decade now. A stance which undoubtedly hurt its market share, especially in the earlier part of the decade when Bluetooth Smart wasn’t available or then as common yet (let alone fitness aspects).
Of course, that’s exactly why Polar wanted to focus on Bluetooth Smart – they wanted those standards to succeed. Polar in fact played a huge role in steering those Bluetooth sport focused committees. A message that ultimately carried through Marco Suvilaakso’s [Polar’s Chief Strategy Officer, having been with the company 17 years] answer of my question on why now:
“One of the key elements there is that we know there’s a strong base of ANT+ customers out there who are using ANT+ devices that would love to have Polar sensor technology, or Polar standards of HR in use with their ANT devices. Now that it’s technically possible to pull this off without changing the complexity or degrading any other element, then why not, let’s do it.”
Which is fair enough. With Garmin having close to 95-97% of the cycling GPS unit market share (and even higher for the triathlon segment), it makes sense to try and appeal to that. The same goes for wearable consumers that match Polar’s target audience (meaning, endurance sport people not using an Apple/Samsung/Fitbit Watch). Sorta of a ‘if you can’t beat em, join em’ approach. And it’s a smart one.
Polar H10 sensor is unquestionably more full-featured than Garmin’s equal – the brand new HRM-DUAL strap. The Polar strap has offline activity modes/recording capabilities, which Garmin’s lack. And many people prefer the battery pod on the Polar strap over the Garmin one.
Which devices:
So, which devices are getting ANT+? Simple, here’s the list:
A) Polar OH-1 Plus optical sensor: This starts shipping immediately, and has it built-in (see my just published review here).
B) Polar OH-1 optical sensor: This existing device will get a firmware update “this spring” that enables it
C) Polar H10 chest strap: This existing device will also get a firmware update “this spring” that enables it
I’ve tested all three with the new ANT+ firmware on them, and all of them frankly work exactly like you’d expect. For example, here’s the Polar H10 paired to a Garmin Edge 520 Plus (which only does ANT+ sensor connections), working just fine:
Now remember the H10 actually has four concurrent broadcast connections:
A) ANT+ transmission
B) Bluetooth Smart channel #1
C) Bluetooth Smart channel #2
D) 5 kHz analog transmission (for underwater and gym equipment)
There’s no other strap on the market that has that, period. Not to mention onboard recording capabilities too.
Meanwhile, the OH-1 now has the following:
A) ANT+ transmission
B) Bluetooth Smart channel #1
It does not at this time have dual Bluetooth Smart connections, though from talking to Polar, it sounds like there may be a slight door open to that down the road. That’d be awesome if they can make that happen.
Here’s the Polar OH-1 on Zwift showing the two connections:
And here it is on my Edge 520 Plus. In fact, I’ve been using it quite a bit with the Edge 520 Plus and Garmin Fenix 5:
Pairing up with any ANT+ capable device works just as expected, simply search for the ANT+ heart rate strap and it’ll find it. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.
One More Thing – Polar SDK:
As if adding ANT+ wasn’t enough, as of today Polar now has an SDK that you can download on GitHub, enabling you to develop solutions atop their sensors. In particular the OH1 and H10 HR sensors. Within that, you get slightly different capabilities.
Starting with the H10 chest strap, the verbatim list from Polar is as follows:
- Heart rate as beats per minute. RR Interval in ms and 1/1024 format.
- Electrocardiography (ECG) data in µV.
- Accelerometer data with sample rates of 25Hz, 50Hz, 100Hz and 200Hz and range of 2G, 4G and 8G. Axis specific acceleration data in mG.
- Start and stop of internal recording and request for internal recording status. Recording supports RR, HR with one second sample time or HR with five second sample time.
- List, read and remove for stored internal recording (sensor supports only one recording at the time).
And then here’s the list for the OH1 (again, verbatim from Polar):
- Heart rate as beats per minute.
- Photoplethysmograpy (PPG) values.
- PP interval (milliseconds) representing cardiac pulse-to-pulse interval extracted from PPG signal.
- Accelerometer data with sample rate of 50Hz and range of 8G. Axis specific acceleration data in mG.
- List, read and remove stored exercise. Recording of exercise requires that sensor is registered to Polar Flow account.
So what’s this all mean? Well, it allows both hobbyists and startups to leverage Polar’s hardware for any projects they seem fit, all at far higher data rates and depth than anything Garmin is doing over Connect IQ for external sensors (Garmin does appear to enable deeper watch-accelerometer access however).
Interestingly, it can also read recorded exercise files from the OH1, allowing it to download those files directly. Polar also notes that while the above repository is accessible immediately per the terms/details laid out there, that if companies want to do deeper commercial efforts – they can do that as well.
Finally, when asked if this was perhaps the start of something more SDK-wise for Polar, specifically around watches, they responded with: “It’s definitely something we’re looking at.”
The future:
So, the big question now is: What about the Vantage series?
Polar confirmed that series is using dual capable Nordic chipsets that are able to do dual ANT+/Bluetooth Smart. But of course, we all kinda knew that already. Polar’s been using these dual-capable chipsets for years in their products – that doesn’t mean they’re going to spend the development time to add the Polar-specific software layer above that to connect to ANT+ devices.
Thankfully though, when asked, Polar didn’t close that door. Marco said that “It’s something we’re looking at”, but did confirm that it’s technically possible with the chipsets in the Vantage series, but didn’t specify a date/timeframe for when that “something” might or might not occur.
That sounds like it’s Polar being a bit careful on committing to anything at this point. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’d prefer to wait until whenever they update their Polar Vantage roadmap website, to include ANT+ plans in there (I hope they plan to update said communications…).
Knowing Polar and how they word things when dancing around a topic, I’d say there’s a super-strong chance we’ll see ANT+ in the Vantage series. But keep in mind even if Polar decides to do that tomorrow, there’s a slew of ANT+ device types. I’d bet that’d just start off with HR sensors first, and then expand into the most common cycling power/speed/cadence ones, plus perhaps running footpods. I’d love to see them support other device profiles like cycling lights or radar, but that’s probably a big lift.
Still – all of this is promising. While much of the tech world has added Bluetooth Smart sensor compatibility, the reality is that ANT+ sensors are still heavily used in sport, especially in cycling and multi-user gym scenarios. Plus, with more and more users connecting to multiple apps/devices concurrently (primarily indoors), the ability to do that across protocols has become surprisingly important.
Ultimately, it’s great to see Polar doing this, and I’m looking forward to what comes down the road.
Found this post helpful? Support the site!
Hopefully you found this review useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.
I have partnered with the retailers on the left, and any shopping you do through those links or the ones below, helps support this website. Thanks!
Polar H10 Chest Strap – Amazon
Polar OH1 Plus – Amazon
Polar H10 Chest Strap – REI
For European/Australian/New Zealand readers, you can also pickup the unit via Wiggle at the links below, which helps support the site too! With Wiggle new customers get 10GBP (or equivalent in other currencies) off their first order for anything over 50GBP by using code NEWGB at check-out after clicking the links below.
Polar H10 Chest Strap (EU/UK/AU/NZ – Wiggle)
Polar OH1 Plus – (EU/UK/AU/NZ – Wiggle)
Additionally, you can also use Amazon to purchase anything else on your wish list. Any shopping done through these links also really helps support the site (socks, laundry detergent, cowbells). If you’re outside the US, I’ve got links to all of the major individual country Amazon stores on the sidebar towards the top.
With that – thanks for reading!
(And yes, I managed to finally have a use for that pile of ANT+ Symposium lanyards I kept around for years. Photographically, if only I had a red one…)
I was forced to check my calendar, it was not 1.4. :)
I was assuming that this will never happen.
Now they only need to update their bike computers and then they’re serious alternatives to Garmin. Definitely a move in the right direction. Well done Polar :-)
And now we are looking when Garmin start selling Speed and Cadence Sensors with ANT+ and BLE .
Or something like the Viiiiva or Cable in a HR Sensor.
Great news and great detailed reporting!
Polar, I know you´re reading this ^^. PLEASE, add ANT+ support for Vantage V this year.
I agree with DCRainmaker, would be great to see the roadmap of coming updates to the Vantage series to be a bit more specified. Currently, the Polar UPDATES page states (without dates attached to them):
“Enhancements to existing features”
and
“Other features to be confirmed. Stay tuned.”.
+1 on the support of Ant+ for Vantage V.
Plus one for Ant+ on Vantage V
I agree and hope that Polar can move quickly on enabling ANT+ in the Vanatge series. If they were to support ANT+ for Power Meters, this would solve my problems registering my Zwift workouts concurrently on the IPad and on the Vantage.
Is this a path that Suunto could also go down with recent devices, assuming they make the presumably political decision to get over themselves?
I’m pretty sure they use the same specific Nordic chipsets as well.
It’s probably be easier for Suunto, since somewhere floating around a dark room is all the ANT+ code they implemented on the Suunto Ambit series that did ANT+.
Suunto has to focus in SA platform, and give users something useful, otherwise will disappear
I’d argue that their transition to SA platform and killing the much more mature Movescount web platform instead of a more incremental improvement is what will make them disappear.
If they fix the backlight and add ANT to Vantage–I’m in. Really like Polar Flow and their HRM’s–great news. Would also be great if they accepted workout files from Zwift and Sufferfest but first things mentioned are key ones for me.
There’s nothing wrong with the backlight. There’s quite a bit wrong with the font and colour scheme, but the backlight is better than most. Unfortunately Polar seem determined to copy all of Garmin’s historical mistakes rather than just learning from them. The Fenix 2 had this issue with white on black – they fixed it in the SE. The Fenix 3 used a thin and arty font. They fixed it in the Fenix 5. At least Polar have made both mistakes in one go I guess…
Both of these are thankfully software fixes for the Vantage, if they ever acknowledge the issue.
Dave–I had read there are no options to change and it can come on at night–so not an issue?
They fixed the coming on at night issue in a previous firmware so currently no issues with backlight I know of.
That’s not to say there are no issues. There are oodles, just not with the backlight. It’s a nice watch though, and if you can cope with a few bugs here and there then go for it. Otherwise, Garmin would be my choice. They are stable and have all of the features, it’s just not as nice as the Polar platform. Looks like with the Marq though Garmin may be addressing some of the information accessibility issues. They have the resources to catch up with Polar there, but fundamentally Garmin don’t seem to understand the problem – they think data is just as good as information and it’s not.
I agree with Dave here, I think the backlight is fine and fonts need to be adjusted. Personally, I would like the option to invert the display black font on white background (especially for swimming) which is what Garmin does. My biggest gripe with VV is the ability to glance at the watchface and get a quick read. Larger/thinker fonts with more contrast will really help out in this regard.
Sorry if I just missed it – does the chest-strap version have the store-and-forward ANT+ stuff needed to swim with it and a Garmin watch now? Sounded like the OHR sensor did but not the chest-strap?
Thanks for the coverage – this is big.
No, unfortunately not with Garmin.
That would require Polar implement some ANT+ cache/store/forward stuff that isn’t in there today. Right now they’re only doing BLE offload to their own app.
:(
Idk how hard/inaccessible Garmin made that (certainly seems like Scosche is struggling a lot), but I REALLY can’t wait for an alternative to the HRM swim. It’s uncomfortable to me (restricts breathing a lot for me too from how unflexible it is), and is also less flexible in terms of switching the strap out as it gets older, or if a different solution makes more sense comfort/use wise, or if you just want to give the strap a real good cleaning, and so-forth.
Still – this is really cool. I had gotten a 3rd party HR sensor from a small company which did 5khz for my home treadmill, BT for Zwift, and Ant+ for my FR 935, and it was great although I recently lost it and it never was waterproofed enough for swimming. Might jump on the polar as a replacement.
I take it there’s still no clean/easy solution for taking the data from Polar Flow or Scosche’s thing and putting it together with the stuff from Garmin?
Or like a 5khz to BLE/ANT+ re-transmitter that I could put right next to the watch?
Thanks for your help and coverage – Hell froze over indeed!
Hey Michael I’ve use scosche rhythm+ for years with ambit2 and ambit 3 for swimming and surfing. Just put them right next to each other on your wrist or if wearing a wetsuit put the sensor under the wetsuit and the watch over it.
I’m sure the polar oh1 would work too. I’m sure I can dig out files from open water, pools or surfing
Good point…
I guess I just be concerned about accuracy since half the point of the external OHR’s is to be able to place them in a more optimal location I thought…
Also have often seen Ray talk about not wearing multiple devices on on arm to not impact accuracy…
That’s unfortunate. I don’t have a swim strap for the moment and this looked an attractive solution to get the swim heart rate into Garmin Connect.
These devices interact with each other, rather than try and get the same data eg 2 gps watches), pretty sure that’s Ray’s warning about devices close to each other.
Hi Ray,
I have some questions.
1- Would this SDK enable use the HR-RD profile on H10?
2 – Would be possible to see running power on H10?
I think if we have yes for both questions Polar H10 will be a better option than Garmin HRM-RUM for those, like me, who prefer chest Heart rate monitor.
Looking at the available functions I’d say the SDK is for external apps over Bluetooth so you’d need an app on something else (like a phone) to create that data.
Dave is correct.
1) The SDK wouldn’t unfortunately, since it doesn’t change what’s broadcast from the strap.
2) This is an interesting one. In theory, I suspect they could do this, since I suspect it’s also easier than doing it from the wrist on the Vantage V. Whether they would or not…that’s a different question.
hello Ray,
any chance Polar will implement HR-RD on their H10 and H9 straps? :-) what did the little birdie say? :-)
Technically they could implement it. But given they don’t support it on their own watches, I think it’d unlikely they’d implement that on their straps, since it’d basically be saying “Go get a Garmin watch instead of a Polar watch”
Nice! My 2008 Zwift iMac does not support BT4.0. I register my Tacx trainer data (power, speed, cadence) with an ANT+ dongle and my HR via a H10 on my Polar V650. Afterwards I merge Polar’s TCX with Zwift’s FIT file.
I won’t have to do that if the H10’s ANT+ signal is picked up by the dongle, I’ll have everything in the FIT file straightaway.
Can you please tell Polar / Scosche / heck even Garmin, that an optical HRM that can send data files to the watch post swim would win every time in this market? It seems the idea is so close but no one is connecting the dots. Scosche Rhythm 24 was supposed to do this but then it didn’t….maybe they are close now.
Either way, a dual ANT+ and BLE with the ability to send swim data to the watch at $100 price point would win.
Any word on a Scosche Rhythm 24 review?
Read about the goggle clip and OH1 on polar home page!
Yeah, Scosche review definitely needs to happen now. Plus, I’ve been using it a bunch for comparison stuff. So just a matter of writing some text really.
See my reply to Michael. I use ambit3 and rhythm+ to capture swim and surfing data
Will both theOH1 and OH1+ work with gym equipment and treadmills as the H10 does? I’m curious as this is what I mainly use Polar HRM’s for and they states it on their site. I hope I’m not interpreting it incorrectly.
The OH1+ will connect to compatible Bluetooth or ANT+ exercise equipment. It does not transmit via the 5 kHz coded frequency (which is found on the H10 and a proportionally higher number of exercise machines). – Mike@PolarUSA
Is there a technical reason that the OH1 does not transmit the 5 kHz signal? Battery life, antenna size?
For me the addition of 5 kHz would have been much more useful than ANT+ because most cardio machines in the gym only understand the analog signal.
Hardware. They’d used a chip that supported ANT+ anyway. It doesn’t support the 5 kHz protocol, that would have to have been a design decision from the start.
I use a wahoo trainer for cycling and I hate that I can’t make them work together properly, does enyone know if there’s a way to make the vantage read my cadence and HR sensor and then re transmit them to the Swift platform?
This would be great, but cannot be done unfortunately at present.
I use a computer with a ANT+ dongle for TrainerRoad/Zwift and collect Speed and Power Data via Bluetooth using the Vantage V. The H10 can transmit HR to both platform (but TrainerRoad requires a specific Bluetooth dongle).
If ANT+ ever gets enabled on the Vantage than is will be much easier and none of these workarounds will be required anymore.
How about the H7 strap …will that be supported??
I had a OH 1 and lost it in a week- was really annoyed.. only disadvantage of small tech!!
Vague question. The H7 model is not updateable unlike the H10, so it won’t get ANT+, if that is what you mean? (Not sure it’s chipset could support it even if it was updateable). H7 is strictly 5khz (Polar Gymlink), and BTLE only.
Does ANT+ on the Vantage watch open up the possibility of rebroadcasting HR (and other data) to other devices? When Polar includes that functionality I would really be interested in buying a Vantage watch.
I’m also interested in the rebroadcasting function for the Vantage, I think that the V800 had this but I’m not sure.
Yes and no, the v800 has rebroadcasting bluetooth to the Polar v650 bike computer, but not generically to other non-Polar devices. It was rumored for years that it would, but never has gained that ability, which I wanted for syncing to both watch and phone.
H10 heart strap though has 2 BTLE channels supposedly so you can use multiple devices, 5khz Gymlink, and soon ant+ per this article, so rebroadcasting should not be needed now if using the h10
I just got a Vantage M and are a bit disappointed that it does not broadcast HR even by BT (to Zwift for example). It is really a pity as the watch is great in other aspects…
What do you think about wearing an optical heart rate sensor at the ankle? Anyone tested that? Ray, did you tested that? Also to the given fact that there is the important ankle artery at the inner side.
Decades of keyboard time has me at the edge of carpel tunnel syndrome, so I avoid anything on either wrist as much as practical. Vivosmart 3 does just fine on either ankle for overnight HR and HR + step tracking for casual walking. The sensor does have to be pointed at exactly one magic spot and the band does need to be fairly tight to keep it there though.
I imagine a product would need to be designed for use around the ankle to be reliable for training sessions just to keep the sensor aimed correctly.
Really good for Polar.
Their BT Classic strap is great (sadly just Endomondo on Android supported it).
I am hoping now they got ANT+ on speed and cadense sensors, power meters, et all
Polar UK say the goggle clip will cost £5 + P&P but not available yet….
Cool, thanks for circling back around!
Hmmm no update for my H10 yet…? What firmware version included ANT+…?
It’s not slated to release out as an update for existing folks till ‘Spring’.
Copy that, thanks Ray :-)
Polar adopted ANT+. When will Garmin add BLE support to its Edge cycling GPS?
It’s already there. ;)
The Edge 1030 is already compatible with Bluetooth Smart sensors, as are most of Garmin’s wearable units released after January 2017. The Edge 520/520 Plus/820 are all odd ducks though, mostly due to timing/platforms.
Well. I just got the Edge 520 Plus. Realized it doesn’t have IntensityMinutes calculation either, but my ForeRunner 645M has it. Garmin needs to do more hardware and software platform standardization
I know the Edge 520 Plus won’t show Intensity Minutes, but does it feed through and show up as Intensity minutes on your FR645M after you sync everything (and ensure that the ‘Physio TrueUp’ option is enabled on both?
(I used my Edge 520 Plus today, but also used my Edge 1030 too – so that sorta dorks with my attempt to just look myself today).
Based on my conversation with Garmin, only the workouts recorded on the ForeRunner will calculate Intensity Minutes even if Physio TrueUp is enabled on both ForeRunner and the Edge 520 Plus. The Intensity Minutes won’t show up on my 645M after a workout where I only use the Edge 520 Plus (and I refuse to have both running simultaneously while I use TrainerRoad on my iPhone. I shouldn’t have to).
Using Extended Display mode on the 645M too doesn’t help (in fact, the 645M won’t record cycling power as it’s not a triathlon watch)
So if I buy a h10 now will it just get updated to include the ant+ sometime in the spring or do I have to wait to purchase a specific product release like a h10 2.0 or something?
“C) Polar H10 chest strap: This existing device will also get a firmware update “this spring” that enables it”
Does this mean they’re are going to start supporting the .fit file standard now?
Both Suunto and Garmin allow you to export your workouts in a fit file to for instance Trainingpeaks. Polar is the only one still using the tcx file format.
That means you lose a lot of pretty interesting data and flexibility if you decide not to use PolarFlow. So far they don’t even export pace or speed in those files.
I doubt it, though I agree – I’d love to see Polar allow a .FIT file export. So much more data potential there.
Though, to their credit, they do get .TCX correct. Whereas Suunto still has scenarios where they implemented .FIT wrong. So it’s kinda a case of a less capable but correct file, or a more capable but incorrect file I guess.
As a h10 owner it is a big and a good gift. It would be good to get use of those accelorometers finally. Either in case of running or in the case of swimming. As I understood SDK will be useful for 3rd party application outside of polar watch and mobile software framework. It is good for developers but i do not get how it can be utilized for average users. So my big question, will there be sth as in case of Garmin to download 3rd party app and use it happily on the watch itself? Let say navigation was not as expected, a polar supporter comes and develops a different solution and it can be used onwards? Or in case of h10 soneone creates a tool for running metrics and it can be synced immediately on the watch? Or for swimming someone still wishes to use h10 instead of the wrist measurement, then with extension capability the memory can be downloaded and synced to the watch?
Yeah, for average users the Polar SDK isn’t going to do much. At least until some app develops a solution that becomes available for average users.
I don’t know if Polar plans to go a step forward and do an SDK on the watch itself. That’s a pretty big lift, and I’m not sure it would really pan out for them given their size.
Oh my word. Hell has frozen over! I never thought to see this in my lifetime. Forget waiting for 6 months, I’ve been waiting for this for about 10 years!
I can finally consider polar again when looking at sports gadgets. Their consumer design was always prettier than Garmins, so I’m kindof excited to go back and look at what this might open up to me when I inevitably make my next sports watch purchases.
MOre of the same please, if we can have GPS maps/nav on bike computers we may finally have a decent alternative to Garmin again.
Keep on going in the openness direction please Polar!
I’ve been looking for years for the mythical device (strap or arm optical) that could connect at 5khz with gym equipment and also with my Garmin 3HR. Am I reading this right – the Polar H10 will finally be that device when it gets ANT+?
Thanks for the great review as always!
Hello Ian,
Please see:
link to energympro.com
link to accurofit.com
I bought the energym transmitter. It does transmit ANT+ to my Garmin 520 Edge+, and 5Khz to my AFG treadmill. Bluetooth too.
The 5Khz doesn’t work with any of the Polar Wearlink Coded (t31 coded) watches like my Polar S725x.
Ian – Yes, that’s correct, the H10 will now fit that bill (but not the OH-1, as it doesn’t do the 5Khz side).
Richard – Good to know about that option as well!
This is good news! I have always liked Polar for their HR accuracy but abandoned them for lack of support of a customer friendly transmission standard and once stuck in the ANT+ universe HR accuracy alone was not enough of a reason to switch back. I would prefer to have as many options as possible though…
As I am thinking of getting a H10 now: does it mean I can pick up a stock H10 from a store and sometime in spring 2019 install the firmware update? And if so, can this be done via some kind of smartphone app? Thanks for any helpful advice on this!
Yup, correct!
Someone on my YouTube video commented that’ll be late April for the update according to customer support, but I haven’t heard that from Polar directly.
Time for a H10 review?
It’s in the cards. Though realistically, those cards need to get that darn Scosche review out the door first.
It looks like a new purchase of H10 is capable now according to this:
link to polar.com
Scratch my comment. They confused me by not calling it the H10+ while still adding ant+
One relevant question (to differentiate H10 from Viiiva V100) is whether H10 can send RR data on BT and ANT+ channels CONCURRENTLY?
There are quite a few (Tickr, Scosche 24 come to mind) that are RR BT capable, but not ANT+.
Cheers
H10 does RR over BTLE and Ant+. I tested this with RR recording on my V800 and Fenix 3 at the same time. Kubios shows nearly identical numbers for all HRV parameters.
The Polar H10 firmware update for ANT+ is now available via the Polar Flow app.
Was about to sell my h10 and buy tickrx. thank god i didn’t.
Has anyone managed to update their H10? I can’t get the update to get past 16% using flow and a OnePlus 6
Update was done quickly with iOS. H10 is working fine.
Did you try restarting your phone? Or do you know someone with an iPhone for the update?
Tom, had the same issue with one plus 6 this morning. Eventually tried downloading the flow app to my wife’s iPhone and it worked. Think it’s an issue with the one plus. If you’re still having issues, best bet is to borrow a different phone from someone
Hello,
How can I check if my OH1 an H10 has been updated?
Thanks for answer
:-)
Download Polar Beat to your phone if not done yet. By pairing, if not done yet, the H10 with app you can see the properties of attached Polar HRM device from setting and even change those like enable second BLE transmission channel and of course E/D ANT+ if update has been successfull.
The version of H10 fw including ANT+ is 3.0.50 BTW, Polar Beat also show BLE/ANT+ IDs of H10 strap.
For some reason known only by folks at Polar the Polar Flow do not show anything about ANT+ support of H10 in the Devices section of settings, only fw version and BLE id is shown there.
Is it likely to see ANT+ coming to the speed and cadence sensors aswell?
Just got an email from Polar. The original OH1 is now Ant+ through the Power Flow app.
Ray, if I buy a Polar H10 or OH1, what Android app I can use to plan exercises at a calendar, just connect with Bluetooth and follow that planning on the screen?
Example: plan a running exercise with a lot of intervals and phases, open that exercise, put the sensor at chest and follow the guidelines on screen? Or download a exercise plan to prepare for a 21k and follow that with just a phone and a HR sensor?
Using a H10 ir OH1 I can plan with Polar Flow, and track with Beat, but I will not receive the guidelines on the screen to follow. Flow will send the planning just to a compatible Polar smartwatch. Or use with Runtastic, Endomondo, but where is the planning and following?
And I asking too much? Planning and following just with a smartphone (speed, gps, etc) and HR provided by Bluetooth.
Great. Review. Thank you. I am not quite clear how the H10 allows you to live stream underwater. Does it work with Bluetooth I can sync to any app or does it have to pair with a watch to get the live stream?
That’s great news. Given the negative comments about the Garmin swimming-enabled straps (e.g. not being able to just replace the belt) the ANT+ store/forward would be the next step. @DCR is there any opportunity for you to investigate if this feature might be added?
Is there anything else which I cannot do when pairing the H10 and my Forerunner 945?
Yesterday I didn’t have my watch for a swim so instead used the H10 strap memory via the polar beat app. I got the best HR recording from Swimming ever!
Is there anyway to use the watch for distance stroke rate etc. and then sync the HR data from the H10 after?
Out of engineering curiosity, it would be nice to know if the claimed accuracy of the Polar H10 is due to the new strap, the electronic unit or the combination of both. I have put a a polar strap on a generic (Timex) ANT+ sensor and it worked fine. So the test protocol is H10 with Pro Strap, H10 with Garmin strap, Garmin on Pro Strap.
That would be interesting.
Do you have to turn on ANT+ connection, or it works automatically? Because my wahoo device can not connect to H10. And no help from polar support…
It’ll work automatically, but…you need to ensure that the unit’s firmware is totally updated.
Which Wahoo device? Note that any Wahoo device can also connect over Bluetooth Smart – so one way or another it should definitely work. Does it show up on your phone?
You may need to activate ANT+ in the Polar BEAT app if you have an older H10 unit that you’ve upgraded via new firmware.
There will be an option to tick a box in the app when you have the chest strap on and connected to the app.
No ANT sign at all. Tried with garmin watch and wahoo E. bolt. Only bluetooth sign.
In the Beat app I see the sensor, and I know there is an update, but no option to update it. And also no option to turn on ANT+. The update should come up automatically in the BEAT app, but nothing.
You’ve become my go to Ray. Thanks for all your work.
Hey DC,
Yesterday was released the last Vantage update. Still no sign of Ant+…. one year after your post, any news from Polar on that front?
No, I haven’t heard anything. Sorry!
One question, is there any possibility using Vantage V for Zwift running?
Someone needs to release one HRM strap to rule them all…I’m not sure, but the H10 may be it?
All I want is:
1. BT and ANT+ (I’ve been using an original 4iiii for that for 6 years)
2. 5khz for gym equipment (never bothered me that much until I started doing PT sessions that take advantage of it – but still needs the ANT+ so that I can also connect to my Fenix 5x)
3. Record swim data and, ideally, running metrics like my HRM-TRI
I’m not sure about the running metrics, but seems like the rest are covered by the H10, no?
Knowing of Polar Vantage series issues with Garmin bike sensors, it would be super cool of Polar to finaly enable ANT+.
I got my H10 yesterday… not Ant+, neither on Fenix 5 or Zwift (candence and speed sensors read fine) On Ploar Beat not avaible update. Any thoughts?
Hmm, I’ve always been offered firmware updates via the Polar Flow all. I don’t often use Polar Beat, so not sure if that can do it too.
I also have polar flow, but how
To pair it with?
I open the app today and the update just pop on… Now it works fine…Thanks
Here is a screen shot of the app
Hello Ray, any chances the H10 might get running dynamics? :-) Any thoughts about this?
hi
how can i connect the fenix3 to the polar h7?
Unfortunately, you can’t.
The Fenix 3 doesn’t support Bluetooth HR sensors (the Fenix 5 started supporting them)
And the Polar H7 doesn’t support ANT+ (the Polar H9 and H10 do however)
Sorry!