Polar Grit X Pro Review and Walkthrough

This Polar Grit X Pro review and walkthrough may help you make your decision when choosing between that and the Garmin or Apple Watch! Below are two videos and a write up to help you make your decision!

Buy a Polar Grit X Pro

DESIGN

Hands down one of, if not the best looking, smart watches. The design is stunning and equally functional at a club as it is on the hiking trails. Polar paid close attention to the details on the Grit X Pro’s aesthetics and it shows. From the textured buttons, to the red polar logo on the buckle, to the red button and compass headings on the bezel – every little mm of the watch is outright handsome.

DURABILITY

The glass is sapphire crystal and the case is either stainless steel or titanium depending on the model you get. The case scratches easily, which you’ll be heart broken about because of just how good this thing looks. The glass face is flat (which we love). Durability overall should be good though and with the scratch resistant glass you’ll be able to beat on this thing during workouts or outdoor activities.

ACCURACY

While we chose not to run official benchmarks with a heart rate monitor, we feel the accuracy is overall decent with the Polar with a few exceptions. Things like compass, altimeter, are on par with Garmin and Apple. The weather’s temperature is aggregated from your phone so it’s as accurate as it gets. The heart rate monitor, which Polar claims is best in class, is a little iffy. According to Desfit and DC Rainmaker the heart rate monitors are largely accurate through the curve of a workout with the exception of the beginning when things are starting to “warm up”. We experienced this same thing. In affect, when you first starting to work out, and your heart rate is beginning to climb, this is when the Polar seems to have trouble tracking. That said the watch will offer a fine overview of your workout and offers fantastic metrics and data post workout.

USING IT

Here’s where it gets dicey. The interface on the Polar is simple and intuitive. It takes very little time to become acquainted with the watch and its app because it IS so simple. A page I wish Garmin would take from their book. The problem is the watch is slow. Slow. SLOW. Interacting such as button pushes, engaging activities or workouts come with the responsiveness of the original Apple Watch. There is annoying delay and lag that make using it frustrating. To boot, the animations are clunky, laggy, and give the whole usability a damn near 3 out of 10. If you are someone who is impatient, or needs quick access to functions and features, this watch is not an option. Period. In fact, it’s this lag in using this watch that makes us feel like this watch is a pass for pretty much anybody. If you’re in the Polar eco system, or you simply won’t buy a Garmin or Apple, then this is about your best next option. But that said you’re better off looking at those watches than you are the Garmin. We feel this watch is someone misguided. The addition of the color touchscreen was supposed to give it a modern feel, but as a result it has an insufferable user experience and comparatively lackluster battery life. Looking at the watches screen is not only difficult at certain angles, but is outright outdated looking and detracts from what is otherwise a masterpiece in design. Polar should have either A: put in a faster processor and a better screen which makes the color more necessary or B: went black and white like the instinct. There is NOTHING on this watch that NEEDS a color screen.

SHOULD I BUY ONE?

As much as it pains me to say, no. I really love the way this watch looks and I love the design THEORY that Polar is going far, but using the watch is far too clunky. It’s laggy at the best of times and unresponsive at the worst of times. They did it a huge injustice with adding a near useless touch screen and we feel that in a 2.0 version of this watch that Polar needs to ditch the touch screen and add a faster processor to smooth out animations and usability. If you need the ultimate fitness tracker but don’t mind charing every night, buy the Apple Watch Series 7. If you need the ultimate travel, camping, hiking, beat it up fitness tracker – the Instinct Solar is hard to beat. If you need something in between, go with Garmin Fenix 6.