Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor

The Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor is another entry into an already quite crowded market. While it doesn't have any bold claims about accuracy, battery life or added features, I've found it to work really well. Too many times in the past I've glanced down at my head unit to see my heart rate monitor has disconnected or is reading vastly incorrect figures – no such issues with the Hammerhead. It's not especially interesting but it just works, which is very welcome in a time when so many things seem to be more and more complex.

The Hammerhead looks very similar to a lot of the other chest-mounted monitors, featuring a fabric strap with two rubber pads on the inside connected to a small plastic pod that sits in the middle of your chest. Hammerhead claims its strap is unique as it can detect heart rate in all conditions and also claims to have excellent resistance to ageing, temperature and oxidation, ensuring reliable data for years to come.

The honeycomb texture of the rubber pads is designed to allow it to flex and conform to the contours of your chest and allow enhanced skin contact surface area as well as improving moisture drainage.

I'll admit that it did work well – though it wasn't noticeably better than any of the other straps I've tried over the years. Perhaps in 10 years' time the Hammerhead strap will still be going strong while the competitors' straps will have crumbled into a rubbery, sweaty mess – but that's taking long-term testing to a new extreme. I also found the strap gripped my chest better than a completely smooth electrode pad but this could have been in tandem with having the strap tighter.

It is tricky to test absolute accuracy, however the Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor provided similar data to other chest-mounted straps I have used over the past year, with no erroneous readings or spikes in the data.

Connectivity is where the device really shines. It supports dual Bluetooth channels and ANT+, which means it's compatible with almost anything from your phone to smart trainer and most things in between.

The speed and ease of setup was great too. I strapped the heart rate mount on, waited for the indicator lights to illuminate and then headed to the relevant section on my head unit and it was ready and waiting to be paired. I experienced no issues on a Wahoo, Garmin or iPhone device. Hammerhead claims the CR2032 battery will last for 900 hours when connected via ANT (compared with 'just' 500 hours that Wahoo claimed for its now-discontinued Tickr).

Hammerhead says its strap and pod combination is 'one of the lightest' setups on the market with a claimed weight of 43g. We weighed it at 49g , which is still lighter than the Polar H9 though a touch heavier than the Wahoo Tickr. I can't say I noticed the weight but I did notice the pod size; it is slightly thicker than those two devices and I found it more noticeable when wearing tighter fitting jerseys – though not enough to bother me.

The pod attaches to the strap with a pair of poppers on each side.

I assume there's a lot of tech packed into the tiny pod but I do feel the height of the pod could be reduced by integrating the poppers into the case more – they currently look like they've been just stuck on the back whereas Wahoo sculpted the body of the Tickr pod around the ends of the straps to reduce the height.

Value

The Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor retails for £49, which puts it at the lower end of the mix with other chest-worn devices with similar features. Polar's H9 is around the same price – with an RRP of £56.50 but currently discounted to £45.20 – while 4iiii's Viiiiva is a tenner more than the Hammerhead at £59.99.

If you can still find it, the Wahoo Tickr was £39.99 but it's been discontinued – your Wahoo choice is now the Trackr Heart Rate for £79.99, or the arm/wrist-mounted Tickr Fit, for £69.99.

More premium devices with additional features such as onboard data recording are available but typically cost more; the majority of cyclists using a heart rate monitor will also use a head unit to record data so many riders find the extra features unnecessary.

Our best heart rate monitors buyer's guide lists our top choices from just over 30 quid to nearly ten times that.

Conclusion

If battery life is important to you then the Hammerhead Heart Rate Monitor is a good pick. It's also occasionally discounted when purchased with a Karoo GPS unit, which could make it a viable option if you're looking for a new GPS unit too.

Verdict

Very easy to get set up, great connectivity and battery life