Polar Grit X Professional assessment: a health watch that matches your match

Whereas trendy smartwatches have made well being monitoring a precedence, there’s nonetheless a subsection of watches which might be all about health. You’ve seen them. They’re the hulking monstrosities worn by your actually outdoorsy buddy who’s at all times posting pics of their newest hike, ski journey, or working route. These fitness-first smartwatches typically have battery life measured in days as a substitute of hours, superior navigational options, and in-depth metrics on the expense of options like contactless funds or mobile connectivity. This describes the $499.95 Polar Grit X Professional to a T — and hey, it’s not an eyesore!

Normally, it’s all in regards to the metrics and GPS accuracy with this sort of smartwatch. I’ll dive into that in a bit, but it surely’s an enormous deal that the Grit X Professional appears to be like as good because it does. Quite a lot of that comes from the colorways and smaller design thrives. Whereas the Grit X got here in black and silver and inexperienced, the Professional is available in black, “Nordic” copper, and “Arctic” gold. There’s additionally a premium model, the Grit X Professional Titan. For $599.95, that will get you a lighter titanium casing and a perforated leather-based band. You may peep your complete lineup right here, however every choice appears to be like extra refined than its Grit X counterparts. My assessment unit is the gold model, and once I look down at my wrist, it doesn’t look as obnoxious as different rugged watches I’ve examined through the years. The bezel has compass-inspired etchings, which provides it a a lot sleeker vibe. One other good contact is the textured fluoroelastomer strap. You get the look of a woven cloth strap, but it surely’s nonetheless sweat and waterproof.

The stylishness of the Grit X Professional — in addition to its more moderen watches — is a step ahead for Polar. I keep in mind the times of the M600, which, uh, undoubtedly put fashion second. For a very long time, Polar’s wearables had been both blocky and aggressively neon or so boring it wasn’t value commenting. It’s encouraging to see the model put effort into flipping the script.

Type doesn’t come on the expense of sturdiness both. The Grit X Professional has sapphire glass over the transflective show and is water resistant to 328 ft. It could actually additionally function between -4 and 122 levels Fahrenheit. That’s overkill for my day by day life. In my three weeks of testing, I didn’t courageous the Antarctic tundra, traverse the Saharan desert, or plunge deep into the Atlantic. However I did fall and stumble upon a number of objects, put on the Grit X Professional within the bathe, and ran in freezing temperatures. The Grit X Professional did effective and has nary a scratch on it.

However whereas the Grit X Professional is a good-looking and durable watch, it’s not probably the most comfy choice for smaller folks. On the wrist, it appears to be like a bit smaller than you’d anticipate from a 47mm chrome steel watch that measures 13mm thick. Don’t be fooled. It nonetheless snagged on too many sleeves and jacket cuffs. Rugged watches just like the Professional are additionally a lot heavier than one thing just like the Apple Watch Sequence 7. The Professional is hefty and dwarfs my wrist at 79 grams in comparison with my 40mm Sequence 7’s 38.8g. It’s extra on par with different health watches. The 47mm Garmin Fenix 7, for example, is identical dimension and weighs between 73-79g, relying on the mannequin. Although I anticipated the massive dimension, as a petite individual, it presents challenges. I’ve to strap huge watches like this tighter to get correct sensor readings throughout exercises. That meant the Grit X Professional leaves marks on my pores and skin, particularly if I wore it for sleep monitoring. If I wished this to be my day by day driver, I’d need to make an effort to periodically take it off to let my wrists breathe.

My six-foot colleague Thomas Ricker was in a position to check the copper-colored model for just a few weeks again when it was introduced. As a self-described fan of classic dive watches, he appreciated the colour and weight and is extra prepared to miss the big bezel, which is usually seen as a standing image in his circle of multisport fanatics. Like me, he nonetheless has to put on the Grit X Professional tighter than fashion-focused watches to make sure correct coronary heart charge and blood oxygen measurements, the identical as he does for the Garmin Fenix 6 he recurrently wears.

Though we each loved the design, our differing experiences with consolation present why Polar — and different health watchmakers — actually must make their merchandise obtainable in a number of sizes.

Moreover consolation, I’ve just a few gripes with the show. The transflective display is manner too dim for indoor use. I’ve horrible eyesight. It was effective outdoor on a sunny day, however whereas working on a shady day, I needed to squint to see my stats. Aspect-by-side, the Garmin Fenix 7S’s transflective display was a lot simpler for me to learn. The Grit X Professional’s backlight helps, however not as a lot as I’d like. The touchscreen was so laggy, you’d assume it was an Android Put on watch circa 2015. Fortunately, you’ll be able to bypass it by way of the Grit X Professional’s 5 bodily buttons.

Battery life is lengthy in comparison with an Apple Watch, however on the decrease aspect for a watch with no OLED display or always-on show. I acquired a few week on a single cost, with roughly 30-60 minutes of exercise per day and backlight on low always. It can save you some battery life by switching backlight brightness to “with mild button solely,” however for me, it wasn’t well worth the decreased visibility. In my testing, 30-60 minutes of GPS exercise drained the battery by about 3-5 p.c.

I’ve complained a good quantity, however the Grit X Professional remains to be a very good sports activities watch. It’s simply not the perfect smartwatch. You gained’t get NFC funds or mobile connectivity, and there’s no voice assistant to set your timers, both. You do get media controls however no onboard music storage or headphone pairing — so you could carry your cellphone alongside. Push notifications are primary, although you’ll be able to decline calls. If you need one thing that’s acquired extra smarts, Garmin has higher choices in watches just like the Venu 2 Plus. In lieu of sensible options, the Professional opts for issues like the flexibility to change between GPS sorts like GLONASS and Galileo. You may clearly see the place its priorities are.

Whereas this isn’t the neatest watch, it’s acquired a pleasant mixture of health exams, restoration and coaching knowledge, and navigation choices. Polar’s added new watch faces, resembling an altimeter, compass, and nightfall / daybreak occasions. These are nice in case you love mountaineering (and so they look good too). There are additionally new choices to view your route, altitude, and add fueling reminders proper from the Route choice menu. For the spontaneous amongst us, Polar’s additionally added mid-workout choices. For example, you’ll be able to view elevation, swap routes mid-way, and entry alternate methods to get again to the place you began an exercise. You may both reverse your route or choose the “by way of beeline” choice, which finds the quickest manner again. There’s additionally the choice to hyperlink up with Komoot to load pre-planned routes and get turn-by-turn navigation on the wrist.

These are interesting in case you, like me, are susceptible to getting misplaced. To check the turn-by-turn instructions, I loaded up a brand new Komoot route. My wrist buzzed with instructions just about in real-time. At one level, I purposefully went the flawed manner and acquired a pleasant buzz telling me I used to be off observe inside just a few ft. Reversing the route additionally labored nicely, although I disagree that beelining it acquired me there sooner than my normal most popular manner. Nonetheless, I used to be impressed and, after making an attempt it, was extra inclined to discover new areas. What I don’t love is it’s a finicky characteristic to arrange. You have to have the Komoot app, and the linking course of between each apps was tedious. (Belief me, the bored man in this tutorial video may’ve been my doppelganger throughout setup.) Syncing was sluggish, and it additionally takes longer to get an exercise began as a result of it’s important to navigate to a particular Routes menu earlier than beginning an exercise. And in sub-freezing climate, I wasn’t a fan of the additional time wanted — or the truth that I would like two apps to profit from this characteristic.

The health exams had been neat, however solely probably the most hardcore nerds will get probably the most out of them. There are 4 exams whole: the orthostatic check, leg restoration check, working efficiency check, and biking efficiency check. The Working efficiency check, for example, is basically a guided VO2 Max check to find out your greatest coaching zones and measure your progress over time. Altogether it takes between 30-40 minutes (about 20 of that are warm-up and funky down), and also you principally run as arduous as you’ll be able to ‘til you’re feeling like keeling over in a breathless heap. The biking check is a practical threshold energy check and measures the max energy you’ll be able to keep for 60 minutes. (I didn’t check this as a result of whereas I benefit from the occasional spin class, you’ll be able to’t make me cycle for an hour.) The leg restoration check has you leap up and down thrice to measure how nicely they’ve recovered from exercise. The orthostatic check is the simplest. You lie down, hyperlink up with a chest strap, and measure your readiness primarily based on coronary heart charge variability. It’s a part of Polar’s Restoration Professional characteristic, which gauges your cardiovascular system’s restoration primarily based on the check, coaching load, and some questions. These are all extremely in-depth in case you’re into data-based coaching — but it surely’s a little bit overkill.

Accuracy-wise, the Grit X Professional held up nicely in opposition to the Apple Watch Sequence 7, Garmin Fenix 7S, and the Runkeeper app on my cellphone. A 5K (3.1 miles) route deliberate on Komoot registered as 3.01 miles on the Grit X Professional, 3.1 miles on the Fenix 7S, 3.03 miles on the Sequence 7, and three.04 miles on Runkeeper. These are all constant outcomes, and the Fenix 7S recorded some additional distance as I initially botched ending the exercise. The GPS maps produced had been additionally almost equivalent, with just one small part that every one 4 struggled with. For coronary heart charge, the Grit X Professional struggled a bit with sharp intervals however not in a serious manner. Assume a 1- to 2-second lag behind the Sequence 7 and Fenix 7S. In any other case, mid-run checks had been all inside 5 beats per minute, and the exercise max and common charges had been all on par.

I additionally dig how granular Polar will get with its knowledge. It’s most just like what Garmin provides, however I’d say with an additional concentrate on constructing baselines, evaluating cumulative coaching hundreds, data-based testing, and fueling. However the one factor I don’t love is the Polar Circulate app. Polar prefers to bombard you with as many knowledge factors as doable however doesn’t at all times take into consideration the presentation. Charts, for instance, take numerous studying to grasp. Truly, all Polar metrics require you to do a good quantity of studying. I’ve examined a number of Polar gadgets through the years, so I’m accustomed to the app’s quirks, but it surely’ll take newbies some time to get used to the mess. The one saving grace is you’ll be able to rearrange which data you see first.

All in all, the Grit X Professional is a combined bag. There’s loads I like about it, however there are additionally the various quibbles I’ve detailed all through this assessment. However the factor that offers me probably the most pause is the value. The Grit X Professional’s steep $499.95 price ticket is sensible within the class till you have a look at the $429.95 Grit X. Because of a really current firmware replace, it has the overwhelming majority of the identical options. It’s complicated sufficient that Polar needed to in regards to the variations between the Grit X, Grit X Professional, and $599.95 Grit X Professional Titan. I’ll prevent time. Most individuals can be completely pleased saving the additional $70 with the Grit X. Anybody searching for a greater smartwatch expertise or preloaded maps will probably be happier with a Garmin. However in case you’re that one that loves health testing and will use a little bit additional navigational assist? The Grit X Professional will at the very least be sure to look good whilst you crush your health objectives.

Images by Victoria Track / The Verge