At a Glance: Quick Ratings
Fitness / Sport Features
Ease of Use
Battery Life
Where To Get It
A Deep Dive Into BlueLeza Heart Rate Sensor
Earlier in the year we were kindly sent a BlueLeza Heart Rate sensor & chest strap to test / review. We published our initial reaction to this great fitness accessory back in April. We loved it then and we still love it now. So it’s about time we gave you some more information on the BlueLeza Heart Rate belt.
If you want to skip the review and jump straight to a summary then here it is > if you’re after a reliable, comfortable and accurate heart rate sensor to connect to any ANT+ or Bluetooth 4.0 device then look no further than this innovative product.
Video Review
If you have lost your Garmin chest strap or maybe you own an Android / iOs / Blackberry phone and want to add heart rate functionality to your preferred fitness APP, eg. Strava, Endomondo, MeeRun, MapMyRide etc then the BlueLeza HR belt can do BOTH. We have tested the BlueLeza to the following hardware without any problems.
- iPhone 5S
- iPhone 6
- Motorola Android Phone
- Sony Xperia
- Samsung Galaxy
- Garmin Edge 810
- Garmin Edge 520
- Polar V800
- Polar M600
This is only a FRACTION .. if it’s Bluetooth 4.0 (SMART), it should be OK. (iOS, Android 4.3 upwards, Blackberry 10)and tested it on the following APPS
- Cyclemeter
- EZ-Bike
- HRV Elite– HIGLHY RECOMMENDED for serious athletes
- MapMyRide
- MeeRun
- Runkeeper
- Runtastic
- Starva Cycling
- Starva Run
- More can be found here
An example of the perfect BlueLeza customer would be someone who owns a Garmin Edge / Forerunner and an iOs device / Android phone.
You could use the ANT+ connection to the Garmin while exercising and Bluetooth connection to an APP like Elite HRV for heart rate variability testing (RR interval recording).
There are literally dozens of HRV/RR interval based training applications out there, my favourite is Elite HRV as it clearly highlights periods over training / under training….
Bluetooth Smart & ANT+
That’s what the BlueLeza is all about. It’s can transmit heart rate data in BOTH Bluetooth Smart (4.0) and also the poplular ANT+ protocol as used by Garmin in their Edge and Forerunner units. It actually transmits the data simultaneously.
I could ride with the BlueLeza connected to my Garmin Edge (ANT+) and my Android phone running the STRAVA application at the same time…. not too sure why I’d want to do that, but I can, as shown above…
Alternative Smartphone Heart Rate sensors
Several other companies sell high quality Bluetooth heart rate monitors. The two other brands that I can recommend are the Polar H7 and the Wahoo Tickr.
The Polar H7 transmits in both Bluetooth 4.0 and also Polar 5.1Khz analogue coded signal (Polar Wearlink) compatible with popular Gym equipment and older heart rate monitors from Polar like the RC3, FT2, FT4 etc. The Wahoo Tickr is available in 3 versions.
All Tickr heart rate models transmit in BOTH Bluetooth and ANT+, like the BlueLeza, plus the Tickr RUN adds running metric data and the Wahoo TickrX has a built-in memory freeing you from your phone.
>>Trying to find out your minimum and maximum heart rate? Learn how to calculate your heart rate, check it here!<<
The BlueLeza Fitness APP
BlueLeza also have their own very competent application available for iOs smartphones. As with all the other Bluetooth HR sensors, you can use one of DOZENS of fitness apps available on in Google Play and the iOs APPstore.
Accuracy and Comfort
We tested the BlueLeza HR sensor extensively over a period of 3 – 4 weeks across a combination of platforms, watches and various phones. It was EXEMPLARY in it’s behaviour throughout.
The heart rate NEVER dropped a beat, so much so that it’s joined the Polar H7 as the GOLD STANDARD heart rate sensor we use when testing / reviewing new products.
As well as being exceptionally reliable / accurate it’s also very comfortable. I wore it on a 55 mile bike ride (3.5 hours) without any issues, no chaffing or soreness.
