Starting 2014 with the Coospo Fitness app before moving into hardware, the Coospo H808S HR monitor is the brand’s latest chest strap heart rate monitor. As with other chest straps, it uses an electrocardiogram (ECG) to measure the electrical signals from each heartbeat.
Able to transmit data via ANT+ or BLE, it also features IP67 waterproofing and a highly adjustable chest strap. Claimed battery life using a CR2032 battery is 300 hours, with all these specs putting it in line with competition from established brands. Functionality-wise it works as well as those, although it misses out on HRV data, but it does so at a significantly lower price, making it exceptionally good value.
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Coospo H808S Heart Rate Monitor: Design and specs
The Coospo H808S heart rate monitor is a chest based unit that uses electrocardiogram (ECG) to take heart rate measurements. This involves actually detecting each individual heartbeat from the electrical signals. It does this via a connection panel across the inside of the chest strap which connects to the module itself. HR data is then transmitted via ANT+ or BLE. No number of concurrent connections is given as a limit.
The device itself comes in at 59.5 × 34.25 × 12.10mm while the strap is adjustable from 25-36 inches, although the test unit went out to 41 inches. Claimed weight for the unit and strap is 46g, which is what it came in at on our scales as well. The strap itself closes via a plastic hook and fabric loop.
For sweat and water resistance, the Coopso gets an IP67 rating, which means in water between 15cm to 1m it can withstand 30 minutes of exposure, so for most cycling conditions it should be absolutely fine.
Battery life is a claimed 300 hours using the CR2032 battery supplied with the unit. A slightly unique feature when it comes to heart rate straps, is the inclusion of not just a visual connection light, but an audio indicator. A green light shows the device is active but not connected, while a blue light shows it is connected. This is accompanied by an audible beep to inform the user.
Coospo H808S Heart Rate Monitor: Performance
The Coospo H808S is very easy to set up. Simply clip the unit onto the strap, adjust to fit, hook on, and it’s good to go. An audible beep informs you that it’s on and ready to connect to devices, which again was very easy on different computer or indoor training software. A second beep and a blue light show the device is connected and it’s all ready to read heart rate.
It’s no easier or harder to set up than any other chest strap monitors I’ve used in my experience, but the audible and visual indicators are a nice added feature so you know that the device is awake and ready to connect.
Through testing alongside other well established and accurate heart rate monitors, I was impressed with the performance of the Coospo. Testing alongside a Polar H10 and Wahoo Trackr, the Coospo was always well in line with them with minimal variance. Chest straps are often very accurate, as once there is some moisture on the strap sensors they can detect HR easily. Even on a hairy chest, I didn’t need to wet the sensors beforehand and it tracked accurately from the get go.
It doesn’t feature any additional bells and whistles such as activity data storage or heart rate variability reading (HRV), but at this price it doesn’t need to. It monitors heart rate as well as any sensor twice the price. Plus the 300 hour battery life is pretty much on par with more expensive competitors. With the current usage and percentage of battery that’s dropped, I’d be inclined to believe the claimed battery life.
I can also confirm that the water resistance was well up to scratch too. Testing this with long rides in pouring rain or long indoor turbo sessions with a lot of sweat loss, neither fazed the Coospo in any way. The device does sit a little prouder than the likes of the Polar H10 or Wahoo Trackr, but it’s negligible and had no impact on comfort or performance.
One thing that does strike me as odd though is the availability of the Coospo H6, which is sold alongside the H806S. The H6 features all the same performance as the H808S when looking at the website offerings, but it supports resting HRV and comes in ever so slightly cheaper.
As with most chest strap heart rate monitor units, there are some longevity concerns. As the unit clips onto the strap with metal connectors – and this is an area where sweat is highly present – corrosion is a regular occurrence with chest strap units of this design. You can somewhat mitigate this or extend the lifespan by hand cleaning the strap and careful cleaning the connectors, but it’s still worth bearing in mind. I’m woefully bad at doing this, and have had several chest straps die on me over the years with corrosion to the metal connectors.
Coospo H808S Heart Rate Monitor review verdict
With great heart rate tracking performance in line with established and more expensive competitors, the Coospo H808S heart rate monitor is an impressively good value option. The battery life is long, while adjustability and features like audible connection alert make it easy to live with. There are no extra frills, but at this price there don’t need to be. The only downside is that the Coospo H6 is cheaper and measures resting HRV on top of everything else, making it a smarter buy.
- Buy it now from Coospo (£39)
