The Polar Grit X2 Professional is a smartwatch that feels adrift

Polar makes good multisport watches. They’re simply not notably sensible. That wasn’t all the time an issue as a result of there was a transparent line. Athletes went for Garmins and Polars. Informal customers went for an Apple Watch, Fitbit, or Samsung smartwatch. Issues are much less clear now. There are extra informal, fashionable Garmins, whereas Apple and Samsung have their very own sensible multisport watches — and that leaves the $749.95 Polar Grit X2 Professional caught between a rock and a tough place.

The Grit X2 Professional is supposed to be a premium open air watch. It improves on the earlier Grit X Pro with upgraded sensors (e.g., coronary heart charge, pores and skin temperature, and many others), a much bigger show, dual-frequency GPS, EKGs (no atrial fibrillation detection, simply more accurate heart rate data), offline maps, and USB-C. These sorts of updates are typically good. The issue is everybody else has made a lot larger strides previously two to a few years. The Grit X2 Professional feels a bit frozen in time.

So far as health monitoring, this can be a succesful watch with oodles of battery life. (I received about eight to 10 days on a single cost.) However for $750, there’s quite a bit you can’t do on this watch. As an example, you get notifications and alarms, however that’s about it. If I need to depart my telephone and play my music by way of the watch, I can’t. Offline playlists aren’t a factor; probably the most you are able to do is use your Grit X2 Professional as a media controller. Say I need to pay for a Gatorade after a long term at my native 7-Eleven. Nope, no contactless funds. If I need to make a telephone name, use a voice assistant, or really feel assured that somebody will probably be notified if I take a tough fall, that’s not occurring.

5 years in the past, this wouldn’t have been a difficulty. However in 2024, I will pay $800 for a Garmin Fenix 7S Professional Photo voltaic — a fancier-than-standard mannequin — to get just about every little thing the Grit X2 Professional has plus photo voltaic charging, offline playlists from Spotify and YouTube Music, Garmin Pay, security options (although these require your telephone), and EKG monitoring that does have AFib detection.

An $800 Apple Watch Extremely 2 will get me a a lot better third-party app ecosystem, LTE connectivity, automotive crash and fall detection, music streaming, EKGs, and a lot better integration with my smartphone. When it arrives this fall, watchOS 11 will convey a coaching load function, which, whereas not as strong as what Polar or Garmin provide, will get the job performed in a digestible manner. Samsung is rumored to be launching a Galaxy Watch Extremely this month — and I’d guess good cash it’ll provide an analogous expertise for Android customers. The purpose is, in case you’re going to spend on a premium health smartwatch, you might have many alternate options that ship extra bang in your buck.

You would argue that Polar isn’t attempting to repair what ain’t broke. It made its title with in-depth health metrics, nice GPS, and lengthy battery life — very like Garmin. As long as it does these issues effectively, who cares? It’s a good level. If these are the one standards that matter to you, I’ve few complaints in regards to the Grit X2 Professional apart from it’s costly and a bit chonky for my liking. In testing, GPS and coronary heart charge accuracy have been on par with my Apple Watch Extremely 2, just a few Garmins, and a bunch of different Android smartwatches. Sleep monitoring and restoration metrics have been roughly on par with my Oura Ring. Probably the most novel metric was Sleep Enhance, which predicts the occasions of day you’ll be most alert. (In observe, I discover it laborious to belief because it’s very hit and miss.)

No matter assertion Polar’s attempting to make with the Grit X2 Professional, it’s window dressing. You’ll be able to slap on a extra premium design and improve just a few sensors, however Grit X2 Professional doesn’t meaningfully enhance the issues that’ve all the time been annoying about Polar watches. The Polar Circulate app nonetheless feels horribly cluttered and caught in 2016. Simply digestible it’s not. On the wrist, Polar’s interface continues to be clunky with finicky swipes and one-too-many button presses to get what you need. This can be a matter of style, however the Grit X2 Professional’s watchfaces are mid at finest, don’t make the most effective use of the OLED show, and don’t convey the class warranted from this price ticket.

Given what else is on the market, I really feel solely Polar diehards would severely think about a Grit X2 Professional. And even then, I’d go for the $599.95 Vantage V3. It will get you about 95 % of what the Grit X2 Professional provides, however trades the heavier-duty supplies and luxe search for a lighter, extra wearable design. Frankly, I believe that’s one thing most athletes — Polar’s target market right here — would favor.

Sadly, the Grit X2 Professional’s disparate components don’t add as much as the premium watch that I believe Polar hoped for. For that, it needed to be smarter or add one thing Polar was beforehand missing. As it’s, this can be a competent watch. However for $750, competent simply isn’t adequate.