Compare Polar smartwatches

Polar smartwatches are, first and foremost, sports watches: the Finnish brand focuses on heart rate monitoring and training data, rather than apps and notifications. This page brings together the entire Polar range, from a lightweight activity tracker without a screen to an outdoor watch with on-wrist map navigation, independently compared and featuring the current prices from partner shops. If you’re torn between a watch and a wristband, do also take a look at the fitness trackers, with or without a screen. If you already know which model you want, you can see on the model page itself which versions are available and what the affiliated shops are charging for them.

Which Polar is right for your sport?

Polar categorises its watches not by price but by sport. That makes choosing easier than it seems: you’re not looking for the best model, you’re looking for the range that suits your training. If you’re a runner, you’ll end up with a different series than if you’re hiking in the mountains or mainly want to track your sleep and recovery.

How do Polar smartwatches really differ?

Vantage: the multisport range for serious trainers, with the most tracking features and offline maps on your wrist
Grit X: the Vantage’s sports features in a case that’s resistant to cold, knocks and water, designed for the outdoors and multi-day trips
Pacer: the running range, lightweight and featuring a MIP display that’s easy to read in bright sunlight
Ignite: the fitness and lifestyle range, focused on daily activity, sleep and recovery rather than competition preparation
Street X: an urban model for those who switch between the gym, running and commuting, featuring a built-in LED light
Loop: not a watch but a strap with no screen or buttons, which simply tracks your activity and displays everything in the app

Heart rate monitoring from the wrist, sleep tracking and a recovery score are standard features with Polar and are also included on the entry-level models. Polar has its own names for these: Nightly Recharge for your recovery and Sleep Plus Stages for your sleep stages. The same app is also included: Polar Flow works on Android and iOS, is free and doesn’t require a subscription to view your data. What a more expensive model adds is therefore not so much greater insight as greater range: longer battery life, better resistance to the weather and knocks, and navigation without a phone.

What a Polar is and isn’t

A Polar is a sports watch, not an all-rounder. You cannot install additional apps on the watch itself; its capabilities are fixed at the time of purchase and are only expanded via firmware updates. Nor can you use it for contactless payments. For this, Polar sells a separate payment strap with a chip in the strap, which works independently of the watch and has no software connection to it.

There are also some caveats regarding the measurements. In the test by Android Central, the optical heart rate monitoring was in good agreement with a chest strap during gentle endurance training, but at one point during a track session it was 20 beats per minute out of sync with the Vantage M3. If you train using heart rate zones, pair a chest strap via Bluetooth; this is possible with all Polar watches in this overview.

This is offset by a strong training focus. Polar converts your training sessions into load and recovery metrics, analyses your sleep and, based on this, provides advice on what you can manage that day. What’s more, your data isn’t locked into Polar: Polar Flow integrates with dozens of other apps and services, including Strava, TrainingPeaks and komoot.

At Polar, four factors determine which price range a model falls into. The first is the screen type. Most models have an AMOLED screen: bright and colourful. The Pacer range uses an MIP (memory-in-pixel) display, which is actually easier to read in bright sunlight and uses much less power, but looks duller.

That energy-efficient screen helps the battery life, but it isn’t the only factor. In smartwatch mode, the watches in this overview range from around 5 to around 10 days, and the longest battery life isn’t found with the most energy-efficient screen, nor with the most expensive model. If you’re training with GPS, Polar measures battery life in hours: around 18 hours for an Ignite, approximately 30 hours for a Pacer, and 30 to 43 hours for a Street X, Vantage or Grit X. These figures apply to the default settings; if you keep the screen on permanently, the battery life will be shorter.

The third point is navigation. Only the Vantage and Grit X models have offline maps on board, so you can follow a route without a phone. The others can at best follow a pre-loaded route or guide you back along your own track; the Street X does provide turn-by-turn directions, but without a map view.

The fourth point is often overlooked: size and weight. An outdoor watch with a steel bezel and sapphire crystal is larger and heavier than an Ignite or a Pacer, and you’ll notice this at night if you sleep wearing the watch: an Ignite 3 weighs around 35 grams, a Grit X2 around 62 grams. Within the Vantage and Grit X ranges, there is therefore, alongside the top-of-the-range model, a more compact and lighter version with the same software, the same maps and virtually the same sensors: the Vantage M3 alongside the Vantage V3, and the Grit X2 alongside the Grit X2 Pro. For the extra cost of the top-of-the-range model, you mainly get a sturdier case, a larger screen and extra GPS battery life. Unless you’ll be without access to a power socket for days on end, the more compact model is usually the wiser choice. Incidentally, robustness is independent of size: both the Grit X and Street X models have been tested to the military standard MIL-STD-810H, including tests for shocks, vibrations and temperature fluctuations.

Which model is right for whom?

Choose a Vantage if you combine several sports, take your training programme seriously and want all the metrics Polar has to offer.

Choose a Grit X if you spend most of your time outdoors and need a watch that can withstand the cold, water and knocks.

Choose a Pacer or Ignite if you do just one sport or mainly want to track your daily activity and sleep, without paying for maps you won’t use.

Choose a Street X if you exercise in the city and in the dark, and want a robust watch with long battery life without the maps of an outdoor model.

Choose a Loop if you want the data but don’t want a screen on your wrist, for example to wear at night.

The ranges side by side

Line	For whom	Key features	Battery life according to Polar	Price range*
Loop	Track without a watch	No screen, no buttons, everything in the app	Up to 8 days	€
Pacer	Runners	Lightweight, energy-efficient MIP display	Approx. 6.5 days, approx. 30 hours with GPS	€ to €€
Ignite	Fitness and everyday use	AMOLED, focus on sleep and recovery	Up to 5 days, approx. 18 hours with GPS	€ to €€
Street X	Urban athletes	MIL-STD-810H tested, built-in LED torch	Approx. 10 days, 43 hours with GPS	€€
Vantage	Multisport and competitions	Most sensors, offline maps	7 to 10 days, 30 to 43 hours with GPS	€€€ to €€€€
Grit X	Outdoor and adventure	Sapphire crystal, offline maps, water-resistant to 50 or 100 metres	7 to 10 days, 30 to 43 hours with GPS	€€€ to €€€€

*Relative price guide within this overview: more € symbols indicate a higher price. See the overview above for current prices.