The 6 Best Heart Rate Monitors of 2026: Tested

There is so much to love about the Polar Verity Sense Optical Heart Rate Sensor. It can be worn on your bicep, forearm or—for swimming—at your temple. It offers three different modes:

• Transmit: displays heart rate in real time on your paired device
• Record: captures heart rate data without an actively paired device
• Swim: records heart rate data underwater (with the sensor clipped onto your swim goggles strap)—as well as recording swim distance and pace in a lap pool

The Verity Sense earned high marks  for accuracy, comfort, multisport versatility, rechargeable battery, internal memory (a feature only three of the six monitors reviewed here have) with up to 600 hours of training data storage—as well as the ability to handle two simultaneous Bluetooth connections.

Depending on the width of your arms and whatever you find most comfortable, you can wear the armband either around your bicep or your forearm. In my testing, placement on my arm did not impact accuracy at all, as long as I ensured the band was comfortably snug on my skin. This monitor is compact and practically weightless: 5 grams for the sensor itself; 19 grams (less than an ounce) when also accounting for the strap. Even the charger it comes with is tiny, and plugs directly into any USB-A port.

Personally, I find armband monitors more comfortable to wear than chest straps—and the stretchy band the Verity Sense comes with was especially comfortable, even when worn tightly against my skin. As a bonus, the strap is machine-washable, which is somewhat unusual (most heart rate monitor straps are hand-wash only). Just remember to detach the sensor from the armband before tossing the strap in with the rest of your laundry.

The swimming goggle clip adds additional versatility, making the Verity Sense the only optical sensor in our test designed to work in water. (Not a swimmer? Neither was I, until earlier this year when a running injury sidelined me for several months and I came to appreciate my local pool.) The Verity Sense also has a gyroscope that helps it track distance and pace in swimming mode—so if you don’t already have a device that can record those metrics in the pool, this heart rate monitor has you covered. I did find the accuracy slightly less reliable in water than during my running sessions on land, particularly in registering rapid increases in heart rate. Otherwise, the device is a simple-to-use tracker for lap swimming. And its accuracy on land, when worn in its armband configuration, is impeccable. Buy here.

The COROS heart rate monitor doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of many of the other heart rate monitors featured here, but it makes up for all that in comfort, accuracy and, like other COROS products, an excellent battery life at a lower price than its competitors.

Designed to be worn on the upper arm, this heart rate monitor is simple, easy to use and elegant. It sports a slim profile and no flashy logos (there’s just a subtly embossed mantra: “Explore Perfection”). You don’t even need to worry about remembering to press an on/off button; the device recognizes when it’s on your arm and connects effortlessly to your paired devices, then turns itself off when your workout’s over. As someone who loves to just get out the door and go, I really appreciate the simplicity of the COROS monitor. Especially if you already own a COROS watch, adding this armband is a great way to ensure far more accurate heart rate data.

That said: A functional downside worth calling out is that, unlike other monitors reviewed in this article, the COROS monitor does not support ANT+ connections—so it may not pair with “non-smart” gym equipment like treadmills, stationary bikes or indoor rowing machines that aren’t Bluetooth-enabled. And while it does have a Bluetooth chip that can support up to three simultaneous connections, there are a number of Bluetooth-capable devices that it’s not compatible with (including some heavy hitters like Fitbit, Peloton treadmills and some older Garmin devices). The COROS website maintains a non-comprehensive list of compatible devices (such as any COROS brand watch, Apple watches, many newer Garmin watches and cycling computers) as well as known non-compatible ones.

Because this COROS monitor was my personal introduction to armbands as an alternative to chest straps, I admit I might be partial to it. It’s been my dutiful training companion on numerous workouts and trail races, so I can personally vouch for its durability over several years of heavy use.  The strap comes in several color options, which show dirt and dust a little more readily than other heart rate monitors reviewed here (which all feature black straps), but the COROS strap can be washed by hand or machine. Just be sure to remove the sensor first—and if machine-washing, consider using a mesh laundry bag.

The lack of ANT+ support is part of the COROS secret sauce for above-average battery life on their suite of devices—and likely also part of what keeps their prices more competitive in the landscape of wearable tech. Buy here.

Right out of the box, the Wahoo Fitness TICKR FIT Optical Heart Rate Monitor has a nice, premium feel to it. The strap doesn’t have quite the same stretch as the COROS or Polar armbands, but its material feels supersmooth on the skin. Small perforations in the fabric help it breathe nicely (i.e., no sweat pooling under the band) and I found it so comfortable that most of the time, I forgot I was even wearing it.

For accuracy, Wahoo recommends placing the TICKR FIT on the upper forearm, just below the elbow and with the sensor placed on either the inside or outside of the arm. However, I found that the sensor provided equally accurate readings when worn around my bicep. I tested this by wearing one TICKR FIT on my left bicep and one TICKR FIT on my right forearm during the same workout, then comparing the data sets in an overlay graph afterward.

Unlike the COROS, this monitor features an on/off button, as well as an LED light with a variety of colors to indicate pairing mode, connection status, battery and charging status, etc. Although the battery life of most sensors can be checked on a paired smart device, I do appreciate the extra visual cue on the sensor itself when the battery is running low.

Otherwise, this one isn’t quite as feature-packed as some of the others in this review. There’s no internal memory, it doesn’t support simultaneous Bluetooth connections, and while it is IPX7-rated for water resistance (i.e., it’ll survive rain and sweat), the TICKR FIT is not designed for wear while swimming. Nevertheless, bells and whistles aside, the TICKR FIT earned high marks for accuracy, comfort/fit, ease of use and dual-band (ANT+ and Bluetooth) connectivity. Another standout feature of the TICKR FIT is that it comes with two different armbands, both adjustable—a shorter one (10 inches long) and a longer one (15 inches long)—so you can use the one that fits most comfortably around your arm. Including multiple strap sizes with purchase is a nice boost for versatility, body inclusivity and—if both straps fit you comfortably, as they do for me—having backup options in case you misplace or wear one out. Buy here.

The Wahoo Fitness TRACKR Heart Rate Monitor earned high marks for its stellar battery life—the highest, by a long shot, of all the rechargeable heart rate monitors I tested. (Pro tip: If you also have Shokz headphones, the charging cable is the same. As someone who’s perpetually misplacing my charging cables, I appreciate having a backup.)  The strap is made with a nice, soft material that I found very comfortable on the skin.

In addition to transmitting real-time heart rate data, the TRACKR also captures several additional metrics, which can be viewed in a compatible paired app after your workout. These include average heart rate, max heart rate and total calories. HRV (heart rate variability) can also be captured and transmitted with a compatible app, though oddly, the Wahoo app and Wahoo Fitness GPS bike computers don’t currently support HRV display and recording.

Personally, I love that the TRACKR has no on/off button, and the completely sealed casing of the sensor (due to no removable battery panel and no on/off button) gives me confidence in its durability and sweatproof design.

While the TRACKR is not designed to support swimming use, it is IPX7 rated so the unit won’t be harmed by wearing it during the swimming leg of a triathlon; it just won’t transmit or store data underwater.

Like its TICKR FIT brethren, this Wahoo Fitness monitor also has an LED with a variety of colors to indicate pairing mode, connection status, battery and charging status, etc. And although the battery life of any of the monitors reviewed here can be checked at any time on a paired smart device, I appreciate how the TICKR devices offer an extra visual cue on the sensor itself when the battery is running low. Buy here.

If you ever had to wear a heart rate monitor chest strap during gym class in school, chances are it was made by Polar. The Finnish brand was at the forefront of wearable tech in the late 1970s, and for years, they were the primary player in the heart-rate monitor space. The H10 Heart Rate Sensor is the latest and greatest version of the classic Polar chest strap, so putting it on might just give you middle school gym nostalgia.

It's long been the gold standard for accuracy, and my own experience with this strap—which goes all the way back to 2021—backs that up. It’s incredibly accurate and durable, to boot. The recording mode is a nice option if you want to forgo a watch altogether: Just download the Polar Beat app, pair the H10 sensor and select “Save HR with sensor” before starting your activity. (Polar has a second app—Polar Flow—which is the recommended app for use with the Polar Verity Sense armband monitor. But for initiating recording mode on the H10 chest strap monitor, Polar recommends using their Polar Beat app. Your data will still sync automatically to Polar Flow if you use that app as well.)

Of all the monitors reviewed here, the H10 is the only one that isn’t rechargeable. While personally I’d prefer a rechargeable strap, it’s hard to complain when the active battery life on the H10 is a whopping 400 hours; I’ve only had to replace the battery on mine twice in a few years of regular use. Is it annoying to try to find a spare coin-cell battery lying around my house? Yes. But for every time I’ve had to run out to the store to buy a battery, I can also think of a dozen times I couldn’t find the right charging cord for one of my rechargeable devices. So as far as convenience goes, it might be a tossup.

Polar makes the strap in three different sizes—though as of this writing, REI only carries the middle size, M-XXL, which adjusts to fit torso sizes 26.4-37.4 inches. The little silicone dots on the inside of the strap—a feature unique to the Polar chest-strap monitor—do a nice job holding it in place. Even when sweating heavily, I experienced no strap slippage and overall found the strap very comfortable to wear, even for longer workouts. I also appreciate that I can wear the Polar H10 in the pool and have access to my heart-rate data post-swim (in the Polar app). In water, the ECG sensor on this chest strap is simply more reliable than the optical sensor on my smartwatch. The Polar H10 has a water resistance rating of 3 ATM (30 meters) compared to the Polar Verity Sense and Garmin HRM 600 at 5 ATM (50 meters).

The H10 will also support GymLink (5 kHz) wireless connections—and unlike Bluetooth and ANT+, GymLink can transmit data underwater. It's an older data-exchange protocol so you won’t see it on modern watches, but if you happen to have an older Polar watch and you want to see your heart-rate transmitted in real time on your watch while you’re underwater, you may just be in luck. (To test this, I tracked down an old Polar FT7 watch on eBay to test out the GymLink connection underwater with my Polar H10 strap. It worked!) Buy here.

Of all the monitors I tested, the Garmin HRM 600 Heart Rate Monitor is the newest, having debuted in May 2025. As such, it boasts a premium and cutting-edge feature set. It has everything we’d expect from a higher-end heart rate monitor—it's rechargeable, has an excellent battery life, supports dual-band connectivity with both Bluetooth and ANT+ (including simultaneous device connections), and features a recording mode for swimming and on-land workouts alike—as well as more advanced functionality, too.

Runners, in particular, will appreciate the HRM 600’s bevy of run-specific features. When paired with a compatible smartwatch, it has the ability to track advanced running dynamics like vertical oscillation, ground contact time and balance. If you pair it with a Garmin Forerunner 970 GPS watch, the HRM 600 can also measure “step speed loss” to help you determine exactly how much you slow down when your foot hits the ground. For the average runner, advanced metrics like these may not feel necessary—but for those seeking to fine-tune their training, this heart rate monitor can deliver an unmatched wealth of data.

For those who routinely run on treadmills or indoor tracks, the HRM 600 can measure pace and distance in these contexts to a far more accurate degree than a smartwatch can on its own. Garmin maintains lists on their own site of compatible Garmin watches for each of these advanced feature sets.

The HRM 600 is a match made in heaven with the Forerunner 970, as this watch fully unlocks the monitor’s capabilities. I also tested the HRM 600 with a couple of older watches:

• My COROS Apex Pro 2 watch (circa 2022; ) is not ANT+ capable, but I could still pair it with the HRM 600 via Bluetooth for heart rate data—but it couldn’t transmit advanced running dynamics without that ANT+ connection.
• My Garmin Forerunner 245 (circa 2019) paired just fine via ANT+ with the HRM 600, but wouldn’t pair successfully via Bluetooth. Over an ANT+ connection, it was able to track all advanced running dynamics (vertical oscillation, ground contact time and balance) that the HRM 600 can measure, with the exception of step speed loss (currently only available on the Forerunner 970).

For swimmers and triathletes, it’s hard to beat the functionality here, too, as long as you have a compatible Garmin watch to pair it with. While heart rate data won’t be transmitted in real time underwater, HRM 600 can record and seamlessly add it to your Garmin workout for review after the fact—leading to a more holistic portrait of your swim workout than is possible with the swim-friendly Polar monitors.

The HRM 600 is available in two different adjustable strap sizes (XS-S and M-XL) to accommodate a variety of body types. The strap is made with a supersmooth, premium-feeling material that’s very comfortable on the skin. Like the Polar and COROS monitors, the strap is machine washable. Just remember to remove the sensor before tossing the strap in the washing machine. Unfortunately, I did find the HRM 600 lacking in durability, as one of the two sensor connection snaps broke during my testing period. It’s necessary to unsnap the sensor from the strap in order to charge it—and the snaps are quite strong, so force is needed to pull them apart. The monitor still worked fine even with one busted sensor connection point, but it was nevertheless disappointing to experience this issue. When I asked Garmin about it, they replied, “We are aware of the issue in some instances and have implemented a design change. Our warranty would apply to anyone that has this experience.” Buy here.