What heart rate monitor is good to use and easy to connect with zwift?
There are many good choices. It partly depends on whether you want a chest strap (electrical) or an arm band (optical). The straps do wear out eventually, though they are usually replaceable. The electronics in those chest straps can also fail, typically due to sweat.
I’m currently using a Coospo optical arm band which is an inexpensive choice, and quite popular. It is rechargeable and works well.
Polar and Garmin are also common choices. I have a Garmin HRM-DUAL chest strap which is also quite popular. It is not rechargeable and battery replacement is somewhat annoying. Polar is usually considered the gold standard for HRMs, and they are not super expensive either. Wahoo also makes HRMs, though I hear endless tales of failures and replacements about those. Haven’t used one myself.
I second what @Paul_Southworth said, the wife and I also use the Coospo without issues.
Another thing to consider is if you want any of the fancier features or if you just want to know beats per minute. Things like running cadence and heart rate variability are options with some models. 4iiii also makes one that can bridge ANT+ devices to Bluetooth.
I use a Garmin HR strap - I replace the battery once every couple of years, and it takes maybe 30sec. I’m not sure what’s annoying about it?
The battery will last much longer if you snap the little electronic module off of the strap in between uses.
I’ve personally found the optical HR to clip the peaks of high HR off by a bit.
I use Polar H10 chest strap - 2 BLE channels and ANT+, have no problems, very long battery life (CR 2025). Not the cheapest option, but rock solid - I use one for 6 years now.
Coospo ant+ and ble on Amazon, used for years.
got a coospoo h9z which is rechargeable, been faultless
I must have extra corrosive sweat as after 12-18 months Garmins, Polar, and Tickr go haywire. Constantly rebooting both the Polar and Tickr (thumbs on studs sans battery for 15 seconds). I switched to Coospo as it costs less. I do not like having a charging cradle but so far it is working (9 months).
I’m a huge fan of the Polar Verity Sense arm strap monitor. Rechargeable battery. It just works.
I never got reliable readings from chest straps.
I had to recently replace my old Garmin chest strap - the newer models have gone from those quarter-turn with a large groove to allow anything to twist them open type battery covers, to something that requires me to go an fish a screwdriver out of a tool kit in order to replace. But it’s a 30 second annoyance every few years, so I’m sure I’ll cope!
The yellow Garmin HRM intended for triathlon use. It has both Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity.
I’ve used it for a long time and it is dependable. Only thing to watch is the screws for the battery compartment are easy to damage if you don’t use a good screwdriver to undo them.