The Polar Grit X2 Professional is rugged however costly

Polar’s newest health watch, because the identify alludes to, is a rugged, adventure-focused system. This second interplay is 15% bigger than the primary Grit X Professional and sees fairly a number of enhancements associated to efficiency and sturdiness. That features Polar’s first-ever MIL-STD-810H certification, a quicker processor, up to date dual-frequency GNSS/GPS with redesigned antenna, and Strava Route syncing. There are additionally some sensor upgrades, akin to a lift to Polar’s 4th-gen optical coronary heart fee sensor, added nightly pores and skin temperature readings, and a coronary heart fee error correction function.

The Grit X2 Professional is located to rival Garmin’s Fenix 7 and Epix Pro 2 watches, each of which I’ve used and cherished. However does it meet that prime bar?

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Polar Grit X2 Professional

A rugged health watch constructed for journey

The Polar Grit X2 is an adventure-ready health watch constructed with a sapphire crystal lens and titanium case and examined to navy requirements for very good sturdiness. It affords useful well being monitoring and exercise strategies, however lacks some key options we might count on at such a premium worth. 

Professionals

• Rugged construct
• Constructed-in maps are useful for navigating within the backcountry
• Good battery life
• A number of exercise sorts for monitoring
• Shiny show
• Useful exercise strategies

Cons

• Gesture recognition is not nice
• Relatively fundamental options for a premium worth
• Just one case dimension accessible

Worth, availability, and specs

The Polar Grit X2 is obtainable for $750 in both Night time Black or Stone Grey colours.

What I favored concerning the Polar Grit X2 Professional

Loads of adventure-focused options

As somebody who spends a number of time within the outdoor, I am a fan of rugged watches — which is simply what the Grit X2 Professional is. It contains a sapphire crystal glass and stainless-steel bezel and is examined to navy requirements. It is also in a position to face up to water stress as much as 333 ft, so it might simply be worn when swimming. I stay in sandy, flat Florida, the place my watches do not get a lot publicity to rocky environments, however even nonetheless, I am not very cautious with what I do whereas sporting a watch. Even after a number of weeks, it appears model new with not a lot as a scratch or ding on it.

Strong battery life is crucial on journey watches, and Polar delivers right here. Polar guarantees 10 days of life in smartwatch mode and 43hrs in GPS coaching mode. I have not accomplished any lengthy actions with the watch but, however sporting it every day (together with at night time) with at the least one exercise recorded every day, I used to be in a position to get roughly 9 days on a single cost. You already know battery life is sweet once you neglect when the final time you charged it was, which might have occurred to me if I hadn’t taken notes.

One other should for me in an journey watch is simple entry to maps for navigation. I hike so much, so accessing a map and compass provides me peace of thoughts. The Grit X2 Professional comes preloaded with fundamental US and European maps. As soon as on the watch, the maps are simple to make use of with snappy efficiency. You should use the maps for common navigation at any level, however you additionally get entry to them for sure actions akin to climbing. I used the map to verify how far I had earlier than getting again to my automobile on one hike and used it to confirm I used to be heading in the right direction on a number of extra. It provides me a greater piece of thoughts that I will not get misplaced.

One frequent thread by means of Polar’s ecosystem is the every day exercise strategies, which can be found on the Grit X2 Professional. What I actually recognize about Polar’s strategies is that they transcend solely working exercises. As an alternative, it suggests both a power exercise, cardio, or what it calls supportive (a stretching routine) based mostly in your present restoration metrics. I had a protracted power coaching exercise one morning, and the watch that afternoon advisable a supportive exercise as an alternative of pushing a run on me. It ends in a extra well-rounded health plan, which I recognize.

On prime of quite a lot of steered exercises, you’ll be able to select to report a variety of exercise sorts. There’s even an choice to report baseball, which I have been utilizing after I play catch with my husband these days. I’ve discovered the built-in coronary heart fee monitor to be correct for the kinds of actions I do (principally strolling, working, climbing, and weight lifting). The GPS can be principally correct, though it appears to have extra wobbles in monitoring than my Garmin and sometimes actually goes off the rails. It was constantly simply barely decrease than my Garmin when reporting distance, however by roughly 0.03 miles, so undoubtedly not sufficient to make a distinction for many.

What I did not like concerning the Polar Grit X2 Professional

Primary options at a premium worth

Whereas I favored so much concerning the Polar Grit X2 Professional, there are additionally fairly a number of irritating issues. Most of these frustrations encompass the truth that it’s a very costly watch, but decidedly lacks options one would count on at this worth vary. By way of smartwatch options, there is no onboard music storage, no NFC funds, and no ambient gentle sensor to regulate show brightness mechanically. There’s additionally no Wi-Fi connectivity, so if you wish to obtain maps, it is advisable to plug the watch into a pc.

The above misses are comparatively minor and simple to miss. From my perspective, the larger challenge is the shortage of athlete-focused options. Most notably, there is no such thing as a on-watch help for coaching packages like TrainingPeaks, which is likely one of the mostly used platforms for athletes. Severe athletes will probably need to skip the Grit X2 Professional because of this.

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Though it is a little bit of a distinct segment annoyance, I spend a number of time within the fitness center engaged on power coaching, and the Grit X2 Professional was fairly disappointing in that setting. The watch would not depend units or reps, which is annoying by itself, however the large challenge is that it then would not present me the time between units. It shows the general size of my exercise, however then I have to pay shut consideration to the time after I finish a set so I do know when to start once more.

There’s a relaxation help mode throughout power exercises, however that’s based mostly on coronary heart fee, which may be problematic relying on the exercise. With out getting too within the weeds, coronary heart fee shouldn’t be the primary consideration for relaxation time when weight lifting, so it is not in any respect useful in that state of affairs. Whereas doing bench press, for instance, it tells me to start out the subsequent set about 30 seconds after ending a set, which is far too quick for many lifting conditions.

Do you have to purchase the Polar Grit X2 Professional?

Whereas total, I favored the Grit X2, at its present worth, I might be hard-pressed to suggest it to anybody. You will get much more options on the identical worth by choosing different manufacturers. You’ll be able to even get all the identical {hardware}, albeit in a much less aggressively designed or sturdy bundle, within the cheaper Polar Vantage V3. In the event you’re already within the Polar ecosystem and need an indestructible watch, then the Grit X2 Professional could also be an important choice. However if you’re weighing your choices throughout any model, I might counsel moving into a special route.

Polar Grit X2 Professional

A rugged health watch constructed for journey