The Wahoo Tickr X is the premium external heart rate monitor for exercise enthusiasts

The Wahoo Tickr X is the more premium of Wahoo’s pair of heart rate monitor chest straps, giving you the best it has to offer when it’s time to track your effort. The ECG-based Tickr X has slimmed down from the older Tickr X and still offers two options to wirelessly pair your devices too. Unlike other monitors, Wahoo includes built-in LED lights so you know it’s tracking and successfully paired up to your Apple Watch.

Wahoo Tickr X: Price and availability

The Wahoo Tickr X launched back in 2020 and while it’s no longer available directly from Wahoo’s own website, you can pick it up from other retailers including Amazon. It’s available for $80/£80 so that’s pricier than the Wahoo Tickr ($50/£39.99) and puts it closer in pricing realms to the Polar H10.

Wahoo Tickr X: Specs and features

The Tickr X uses an ECG sensor like other chest strap monitors to give you the most reliable heart rate data, whether you’re doing a HIIT class or jumping on a treadmill. It offers both Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity options, with the former the route to quickly connect it to your Apple Watch. 

Unlike most chest strap monitors, LED lights built into the sensor give you a visual indicator of when the monitor is successfully tracking your heart and is paired to your Watch. If you need to connect to multiple Bluetooth-friendly devices at the same time, the Tickr X unlocks the possibility to do that, while it offers up to 500 hours of battery life from a pretty standard coin cell battery.

Wahoo Tickr X: Build and Performance

Wahoo’s monitor is one of the slimmest chest strap monitors, which certainly improves things on the comfort front, while the integrated design with sensor and strap ensures it stays put even during more frenetic workouts. Unlike other monitors, it secures from the front, which makes it less fiddly to get on as well. It’s built to offer strong compatibility with the Apple Watch and we had no issues pairing it to the original Apple Watch Ultra, Ultra 2, and a Watch Series 8. The accuracy of the data has been very reliable on the whole, while the battery life and the ease of pairing it up with Apple’s smartwatch is a major plus to strapping it on.

Wahoo Tickr X: Competition

The Tickr X is one of the most expensive chest strap-style monitors and goes up against the likes of the Polar H10, which is a little easier to get hold of and is regarded as one of the best heart rate monitors available. There’s also the Wahoo Tickr, which sits below the $50/£50 mark and offers a similar design and accuracy to the Tickr X. It mainly misses out on the added internal memory and extra running and cycling metrics you can access when using the Tickr X with Wahoo’s own app as opposed to Apple Fitness Plus. 

Wahoo Tickr X: Should you buy it?

Wahoo Tickr X: Verdict

The Wahoo Tickr X isn’t cheap and isn’t the easiest to get hold right now, but if you can pick it up in return you’ll get a heart rate monitor chest strap with a thoughtful design that is built to be compatible with the Apple Watch, making it an easy one to add into your Fitness Plus setup. You don’t need to charge it or think about replacing the battery for a good while and additional metrics for cyclists and runners means it can be useful to strap even when you’re not jumping into one of those Apple Fitness Plus classes.