Polar - Grit X2 Pro

Or the Grit X2 (not Pro) as they have all same stuff just in a different case. I like the look of the X2 more than the M3 but it’s a personal preference. If it wasn’t for the GPS the new Loop would work.

Grit X2 owner here. GPS has been rock-solid for me, and wrist HR is accurate for how I train. One caution with reviews: reviewers try nearly every watch and their use case may not match yours. Treat reviews as data points, not directives. I followed the hype and bought a “market leader” Garmin; after \~18 months I went back to Polar. Why? I want enough metrics to make good decisions without the clutter. Keeping it simple is key for me, and the Grit X2 nails that.

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

This is in line with my observations. Polar Precision Prime is better than Elixir (Pacer Pro better than M3, in my case). I'm glad they went for Precision Prime on the new loop band. Garmin (various watches) was almost always worse than Polar Precision Prime for me.

From a quality perspective, the polar gritx2 pro is superior. I would go for Polar that has more health features and a solid science background. Good recovery tools is probably more important than too much data you won’t use anyway

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.

I have expirience with garmin fenix 6, with apple ultra 2. And now I’m tested fenix 7 pro and 8, polar grit x2 and apple ultra 3. I would say Apple is god tier (espesially if you have apple ecosystem). All works good, all on top level. But not fit me good in a matter that I do a lot of hiking and battery life crucial for me. Other way garmin give a lot of metrics, application also good I would say. But I don’t like design, I don’t like in same way metrics, because tbf they focused more on really pro guys in sport, not needed functionality for me. Other than that - great device, but in my point of view it’s can bit Apple only in battery life, other aspects Apple win win. And polar grit x2, design is ok, not best, not worst, better for me then garmin have. But what I love here Polar flow, it’s looks little bit outdated BUT it’s simple as f. It’s give all things what regular person need plus more, I love how with 1 week of tests it’s start give me advice what really works and not hack me so much, compare with garmin where all advice it’s just burst all trainings and die. And after I check what Polar have else, so I go for myself with Polar Grit x2 Pro 😬 Design is top!

I have expirience with garmin fenix 6, with apple ultra 2. And now I’m tested fenix 7 pro and 8, polar grit x2 and apple ultra 3. I would say Apple is god tier (espesially if you have apple ecosystem). All works good, all on top level. But not fit me good in a matter that I do a lot of hiking and battery life crucial for me. Other way garmin give a lot of metrics, application also good I would say. But I don’t like design, I don’t like in same way metrics, because tbf they focused more on really pro guys in sport, not needed functionality for me. Other than that - great device, but in my point of view it’s can bit Apple only in battery life, other aspects Apple win win. And polar grit x2, design is ok, not best, not worst, better for me then garmin have. But what I love here Polar flow, it’s looks little bit outdated BUT it’s simple as f. It’s give all things what regular person need plus more, I love how with 1 week of tests it’s start give me advice what really works and not hack me so much, compare with garmin where all advice it’s just burst all trainings and die. And after I check what Polar have else, so I go for myself with Polar Grit x2 Pro 😬 Design is top!

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.

Its about as good as you are going to get. Apple does lock certain features to apple watch only - so an apple watch ultra 2 is an alternative option you can look at - as does include recreational diving features - but not as much as the fenix 8, and you can cover the gaps the F8 misses via 3rd party apps - but does leave out the cohesive eco system garmin provides - and considering that you barely mention any smart features would then say you are looking at the right watch (definitely from fitness tracking and progress tracking point of view). Fishing - actually it does - you can log your catch and log the spots where you catch..... [https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-EECCAC99-90D6-4AB1-9A3A-EC433D3365E2/EN-US/GUID-A6881EE1-DB08-4922-925F-C7526EFAE8A2.html](https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/GUID-EECCAC99-90D6-4AB1-9A3A-EC433D3365E2/EN-US/GUID-A6881EE1-DB08-4922-925F-C7526EFAE8A2.html) and then you can used those saved location spots to navigate back to them at any point (can be very useful for fishing holes whether out on the water or fishing from bank/beach). All garmin have a built in coach for running - think C25K but does up to half marathon distance, then F8 incldues a Daily suggested workout option which you can then add a race event to it, to get the DSW to try and get you to peak for your event - so if you want a hassel free experience and a watch to build your training programme - hard to beat what garmin offers. Hiking- get offline maps and offline navigation (think satnav from car on watch) - so can create routes and get tbt directions on watch and via audio. Plus love the climbpro feature. Maps will work with all outdoor activity so can use for paddling as well as running / hiking etc (have a couple of paddle routes for when on canals / rivers especially canals in towns - great way of seeing parts of a town via water). So yes there isn't really anything else that comes close to matching it. Nearest alternative options would be apple watch ultra 2 (and losts of 3rd party apps); polar grit/vantage and coros pace pro /apex pro / vertix all include built in training systems and with training metrics and analytics like garmin to track progress; suunto at this stage is training metrics and analytics - though their suunto ocean is a full dive watch (garmin equivalent is the descent mk3 which is basically a fenix with full dive capability);