COROS Heart Rate Monitor Review

COROS has made its name with GPS watches, but the Heart Rate Monitor might be one of its most useful accessories yet. It promises better heart-rate accuracy than a watch, without the faff or discomfort of a chest strap. In 2026, it’s still one of the best options out there. Here is my review.

Simple yet effective

The COROS Heart Rate Monitor is an optical heart-rate sensor that sits on the upper arm or forearm, rather than the wrist. It uses five LEDs and four photodetectors, with the idea being that this position gives it a cleaner and more stable reading than a watch can usually manage.

Put it on and it wakes up. Take it off and it powers down. Simple. It can also broadcast over Bluetooth to up to three devices at once, so it works with sports watches, bike computers, indoor trainers, Zwift and phones. However, it’s worth noting that ANT+ is not supported.

Big battery life

Battery life is another strong point, with up to 38 hours of recording and 80 days on standby. I tend to charge it once a week, ahead of my long run, but users could go weeks and weeks, depending on mileage. 

The strap itself is soft, stretchy and low-profile enough that, once it is on, I tend to forget about it. It can take a couple of runs to really lock in a good fit, but after that, it’s comfortable and blends in.

Better accuracy

Accuracy is the reason to buy this. In my testing, the COROS Heart Rate Monitor has been excellent, and it has never completely lost my heart rate in the way my Garmin Forerunner 955 sometimes does. That makes a big difference when I am trying to train properly, rather than looking at a messy graph afterwards and guessing what happened.

It has been especially useful during winter training. My watch tends to become increasingly unreliable in the cold, particularly early in a run or when effort changes, but the COROS has stayed much more consistent. For me, that is where it really earns its place.

It also fits neatly with more structured training methods, such as Norwegian Single Threshold, where accurate heart-rate data can massively inform the session. I recently ran a marathon to heart rate, trying to lock into 165bpm for the first 20 miles, and it turned into my most successful marathon to date. Having data I trusted made that plan much easier to stick to.

The one downside

The biggest downside of this product is the proprietary charger. It works, sure, but it’s another cable to keep track of. Eventually, I imagine a second version will release with USB-C. Until then, know that you’ll need to keep track of that one specific charging cable.

Disclosure: Review unit purchased by reviewer.