Polar - Grit X Pro

Polar Flow is fine, imo. They have more important priorities than making slick software to appeal to casuals when their watches themselves have many more significant problems. If you want a flashy interface pair with a "fitness band" for tech enthusiasts, go buy a Whoop or whatever and be done with it. It's not happening with Polar anytime soon, in all likelihood. There's been rumors of their poor financial situation for years now. Their hardware and functionality on the existing hardware is a serious issue. Their watches have gotten a ton of heat from reviewers for being far behind competitors in terms of feature set. Even their HRM and GPS accuracy, which was once Polar's advantage, has been matched by competitors. They need to make high quality hardware with features that match the competition and with the appropriate build quality. I've been using Polar devices for over a decade and their build quality on $700 watches like the Grit X Pro is atrocious, with failures in barely over 2 years. Those should all be much higher priorities than trying to cash in on the "fitness band" trend. Besides, if they make it half-assed and with horrid build quality, there's no way they will be able to steal away any share in this crowded market.

I ended up getting a Grit X2 pro but I hope it lasts longer. My Grit X Pro failed in barely over 2 years and the Vantage and M430s I had earlier also had stupid issues like buttons getting stuck. Not to mention the horrible charging port corrosion issues in the M400 days. Polar needs to get their shit together. I honestly don't mind that they have less features (which has cost them a lot of buyers in the market) but loved the tracking ecosystem and was willing to overlook the less "smart" features for the quality. If Polar doesn't get their act together, this will be my last Polar watch. Although I have my doubts the company will even exist if they continue to fall further behind and continue focusing on chasing stupid fads like their fitness band.

I use the Polar Grit X Pro Titan, the Polar H10 chest strap, and the Polar Vantage V3. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend the Polar Vantage V3. I experience inaccurate heart rate readings far too often, even during slow walks, not to mention during workouts. Sleep tracking is straightforward and easy to follow, but the Polar algorithm often struggles when it comes to calculating sleep stages and awakenings. I’m personally considering switching to the Garmin Forerunner 970, as I’ve heard a lot of positive feedback from friends.

If your goal is training, I don't think I'd get the Samsung. Seems to me like you'd be paying for "smart watch" features (which I personally don't want) when you want "training / health monitoring" as the primary function. Polar Pacer is $300 USD. The Pro is $350. Polar Unite is $200 USD. Probably also worth looking at Sunto (Run) and Coros (Pace 3) too. Both under $250 USD. No mater what you're thinking about getting, if you live in the US you should absolutely wait a month and buy on Black Friday. But if you're looking for the best value, Polar probably won't be the right brand (especially if you live in the US). I like their watches (currently have a GritX Pro1). But their pricing strategy seems is pretty odd. They aren't on par with a company like Apple, but they seem to have adopted an Apple-light pricing strategy.

I think this was true when I got my GritX Pro \~ 2 years ago. It might even still be true with some watch series. Your Vantage V3 is $700 USD. For price, Garmin's Forerunner 970 is comprable at $750. The 970 has maps and has a sapphire lens for $750. If I'm spending $700 on a watch, personally I'd spend the extra $50 for the sapphire...but I'm rough on my watches. Which is why I like the GritX line. But the value here is pretty terrible now IMO. X2 Pro is $1000. Same price as the Fenix 8, which I think is probably a better watch. Basically every review I saw for the X2pro when it came out was "really nice watch...but the pricing strategy here is very aggressive making it a poor value". X2 is $800 in the US. Same price as the Fenix E (not sapphire though). And more expensive than any of the Forerunners (970 is $750). I think I'd take the 970 over the X2 if I was going to spend that much (and I don't want to spend that much). If the X2 was at price parity in the US vs. rest of the world, it would be a reasonable value IMO (and would make the X2 Pro kind of irrelevant IMO). It's not clear that the Polar watches are better than similarly priced Garmin watches IMO. Looking for price parity on similar (maybe worse?) watches vs. the brand with the highest name recognition / snob appeal in the market doesn't seem like a good strategy for the much less well known small brand to me. Brand wise, Polar is probably more on par with Suunto, but the value is so much less with Polar. Vertial 2 is $600, and probably comparable to the X2 (pro?). Race 2 is $500. I would strongly prefer to buy another Grit series watch when my current watch dies. And I would also prefer to stay in the Polar eco system (unlike many I like the app vs. hate it...and I also think that staying with Polar will mean fewer connectivity issues with my H10s). But I can't justify spending an extra $300 - $500 for a comparable watch when compared to Suunto. And if I was going to spend that much, I'd probably just get the Forerunner 970 and save the $50 over the X2.

I would go for the Grit X2 (latest, just a bit more expensive than the M3). Polar watches have the same OS, so the only difference will be design, materials (for sturdiness go for the Grit X2), weight and battery life. For premium feel and long battery life go for the V3 or Grit X Pro. Pacer is old, it has MIPS display, the above mentioned have nice AMOLED. Ignite does not have maps and navigation. You cannot import workouts to polar flow platform, but if you wear your watch during workouts it will sync them to Strava. You can even pair your compatible sensors too (H10, speed/cadence), so you won’t miss any data.

No Polar at all?? (I use a Polar Grit X)

You can get the Polar Grit X second hand for around 100-150 EUR/USD these days. Never had any issues with HR or GPS accuracy. I also use it almost exclusively for running.

The day you really need a watch in the middle of the woods, in the forest, and reliable, routable maps, etc., then you'll realize that Garmin is  years ahead of the crap mentioned in the thread. I've had over 15 Garmins, all Fenix, and I've had Polar Grit X, Suunto, Coros, and those Samsung toys, Pixel, etc. The day you're actually in a real forest and need routable maps and a battery life of two days or more using GPS, you'll never again mention those plastic toys you're mentioning. Until then, keep using those toy watches and considering these idiotic trade-ins.

Depending on the type of running and cycling you do I would not pick the V3. The screen portrudes over the bezel, besides being a curved display, which means in case of impact the screen is not protected and it is harder to find screen protectors that would correctly fit. I think the Grit X is a good balance between style and protection, considering it is a flat display, a sapphire crystal one, and the bezel protects the display in case of an accident. Again that depends on how risky it is for you to smash the watch against something, the Suunto is also a good choice. I wouldn't go Garmin, too many metrics to focus on to get the same result in the end unless you do value some specifics. The VS is very comfortable for martial arts, and in my personal experience, it is very good at detecting spikes, it is only slightly slower than the H10 if you wear it on the biceps, but the trend is the same.

To me it never made sense. They're too inaccurate, not to mention uncomfortable for things like overhead presses or anything involving a DB. I bought a Polar H10 HRM and wore it for crossfit. It was comfortable and far more accurate than any watch would be. I have a Polar Grit and it's incredible for cardio, but trash for strength training.

I use a Polar Grit X. Reliable and robust and easy to sync with a phone. Already survived multiple crashes. Compared with other Polar models the Grit-models are more robust. It’s not a smartwatch but a regular sportswatch the can receive notifications from a connected phone. Imho a real smartwatch is too fragile and/or too expensive for offroad usage (with chance of crashing). The Grit X works fine on most routes/trails. Only when S-curves are very tight it gets confused and cuts off the route and in the end the total distance shown is not correct.