Polar Grit X2 Pro Titan

Polar Grit X2 Pro Titan is a rough and rugged outdoor sports watch crafted for adventure with sapphire glass AMOLED display in titanium casing, and a hi-tech toolkit of navigation and performance features for exploring the wonders of the world, and the body.

Polar Grit X2 Pro

Polar Grit X2 Pro is a rough and rugged outdoor sports watch crafted for adventure with sapphire crystal glass AMOLED display, and a hi-tech toolkit of navigation and performance features for exploring the wonders of the world, and the body.

Polar Vantage V3

An ensemble of biosensing instruments, AMOLED display, dual-frequency GPS, maps, and the most comprehensive suite of training and recovery tools on the market. The stage is set, and the Polar Vantage V3 smart sports watch is ready to put in the performance of a lifetime.

Polar Ignite 3

Polar Ignite 3 is a stylish fitness & wellness watch that helps you live a more energized life. It tracks your sleep, activity, and heart rate to provide guidance that’s tailored to your body and lifestyle.

Polar Pacer Pro

Polar Pacer Pro is an ultra-light, new-generation sports watch with integrated barometer that equips athletes with advanced tools to improve running economy, training sessions, and sports performance.

Polar Pacer

Sport is play – why complicate it? Polar Pacer is a no-nonsense sports watch that gives new athletes all the essentials, plus the specialized training tools they need to train better.

Polar Vantage V2

A powerful convergence of minimalist design, innovative technology, and intelligent training and recovery tools make Polar Vantage V2 our most formidable sportswatch to date.

Polar Grit X Pro

Built for military-level durability with sapphire glass and ultra-long battery, equipping you with new navigation tools, always-on outdoor features and Polar's ultimate training solutions.

Polar Vantage M2

Designed for function, the Polar Vantage M2 works as hard as you do. Our industry-leading technology is here to help you reach your goals and come back stronger. For that athlete attitude.

Polar Ignite 2

A fitness watch that’s sleek, simple and smart? Polar Ignite 2 is a true triple threat. Versatile and full of great features, it’s the perfect companion for any sport and any lifestyle.

Polar Ignite

A waterproof fitness watch with advanced wrist-based heart rate and integrated GPS, Polar Ignite offers you a full view of your day and guides you towards a more balanced life.

Polar Unite

A beautifully simple watch with personalized daily workout guidance, 24/7 heart rate and activity tracking, plus automatic sleep and recovery applications.

Polar Vantage M

An all-round multisport & running GPS watch for anyone who loves setting new records. Polar Vantage M is a slim, lightweight training companion that gives you all the data you need to improve your performance.

Polar Grit X

An outdoor multisport watch with rugged yet lightweight design, ultra-long battery life and military-standard durability for anyone who prefers the trails over the roads.

Polar M430

A GPS running watch with wrist-based heart rate, advanced running features and Polar Running Program, Polar M430 is a top-level watch for runners who want more.

Polar Verity Sense

When freedom of movement is important to you, Polar Verity Sense is your go-to choice for any sport.

Polar H10

Widely regarded as the gold standard in wireless heart rate monitoring, this is the most accurate sensor in Polar’s history.

Polar H9

A reliable, high-quality heart rate chest strap for all your everyday sports with Bluetooth® and ANT+ connectivity. Get connected and get going.

Polar OH1

Polar OH1 is an optical heart rate monitor that combines versatility, comfort and simplicity. You can use it both as a standalone device and pair it with various fitness apps, sports watches and smart watches, thanks to Bluetooth® and ANT+ connectivity.

Wristbands

Personalize any watch for any style and any need.

Straps

Replace or upgrade your Polar Sensor chest straps or arm bands.

Power & Cables

For charging your products and data transfer.

Mounts & Adapters

Adapt your product for any situation.

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Polar Grit X Outdoor Series

Made for outdoor sports and built to handle any environment nature can throw at you, Grit X watches are designed to help you explore the world and gear up for adventure.

Polar Vantage Performance Series

Our flagship series is tailored for high-performance and endurance sports and training. Every aspect of our Vantage watches are designed with one particular person in mind – the athlete.

Polar Pacer Multisport Series

The Pacer Series gives athletes all the essentials such as accurate GPS and precise heart rate tracking, plus the specialized training, sleep, and recovery tools they need to train better.

Polar Ignite Fitness & Wellness Series

Sleek, simple, and smart – Ignite watches are the perfect partner for any fitness goals and any lifestyle.

The what and how of Polar's wrist-based heart rate measurement

Wearing a device with the wrist-based heart rate measurement feature is the most convenient and easy way to measure your heart rate while you’re working out. You don’t have to wear a separate chest strap to track your heart rate because the wrist device reads your heart rate optically through the skin on your wrist. When you want to start tracking your heart rate, the only thing you need to do is tighten the wristband.

Polar devices that include the wrist-based heart rate measurement feature (M200, M430, Grit X, Grit X Pro, Grit X2 Pro, Ignite, Ignite 2, Ignite 3, Vantage M, Vantage M2, Vantage M3, Vantage V, Vantage V2 and Vantage V3) also monitor everything that you do throughout the day and help you become aware of the level of your activity. They keep track of your activity, workouts, sleep, calories burned, and many other areas of your daily life, sync the data to your mobile phone, and give you personalized training guidance. Information about steps taken and calories burned can help you plan your routines and workouts better and motivate you to adjust your lifestyle to fit your goals.

The main difference is in how you wear the measuring devices. Traditional chest strap heart rate monitors are worn around the chest because they measure electric signals that the heart generates as it beats and pushes blood to circulation. With a chest strap heart rate monitor you usually need a separate wrist device or mobile to pick up the heart rate signals from the chest strap and to interpret the received data. Polar devices with wrist-based heart rate measurement can be worn alone without a chest strap. They are always ready when you are to track your heart rate from your wrist.

Certain factors, like sports with extreme arm motions (racket sports), wet conditions (swimming) and training in cold conditions (skiing), may affect the wrist based heart rate measurement. In these cases, the Polar H10 / H9 heart rate sensor is the optimal training companion. Polar H10 heart rate sensor is more responsive to rapidly increasing or decreasing heart rate, so it’s the ideal option also for interval type of training with quick sprints.

With the Polar H10 / H9 heart rate sensor, you can get detailed HRV (heart rate variability) based information about your body and fitness in case you’re looking for more personalized guidance for your training habits.

Polar devices that have the wrist-based heart rate measurement feature (M200, M430, Grit X, Grit X Pro, Grit X2 Pro, Ignite, Ignite 2, Ignite 3, Pacer, Pacer Pro, Vantage M, Vantage M2, Vantage M3, Vantage V, Vantage V2 and Vantage V3) use a technology called optical heart rate monitoring (OHR). It's a technology that's been used in hospitals for some time already and is based on detecting your blood flow optically through the skin on your wrist.

On the back of your Polar device there are LEDs that shine a bright light through the skin on your wrist, and a photodiode that detects the intensity of the light reflecting back from the skin. Now, when your heart beats, it pumps blood to your arteries. When the blood flow is stronger in the arteries on your wrist, less light is reflected back to the photodiode. Between the heart beats, the blood flow is weaker in your wrist, and more light is reflected back to the photodiode. From these variations in the intensity of the light reflecting back from your skin, the Polar devices with wrist-based hear rate measurement can determine your heart rate.

Optical heart rate monitoring is very sensitive to motion. Movement can interfere with the LED light's route to the detector and with measuring the heart rate. To filter out distortions caused by movement, the Polar devices with wrist-based heart rate monitoring use two sensors: one to sense the heart rate, and one to sense the movement of the hand. The movement data is then run through an algorithm that combines information from both sensors to give you an accurate heart rate reading.

To be able to get reliable heart rate measurements from your wrist, make sure that you wear the Polar device correctly:

  • Wear the Polar device on top of your wrist, at least a finger’s width up from the wrist bone (see the picture below).
  • Tighten the wristband firmly around your wrist. The sensor on the back must be in constant touch with your skin and the Polar device should not be able to move on your arm. Movement between the wrist unit and your skin can interfere with the readings.
  • A good way to check that the wristband is not too loose is if you push the wristband lightly up from both sides of your arm and make sure the sensor doesn’t lift from your skin. When pushing the wristband up you shouldn't see the LED light shining from the sensor.

During training you should slide the Polar device further up from the wrist bone and wear the wristband a bit more tightly to try to minimize any extra moving of the device. Give your skin a few minutes to adapt to the Polar device before starting a training session. After the training session, loosen the wristband a bit.

Activities that involve irregular hand movements, such as racket sports, make it harder to get an accurate heart rate reading from the wrist. When playing these sports, you can switch the handedness of the tracker and change it to the non-hitting hand. If you perform activities that cause extreme pressure on your wrists, such as weightlifting or pull-ups, your heart rate may be more difficult to detect from the wrist. However, regardless of the sport, you can always use the tracker to monitor your average heart rate and heart rate trends during the workouts, get accurate calorie burn readings, and use other Polar Smart Coaching features.

In cold conditions, blood circulation on the skin may become too weak for the sensor to get a proper reading. You can solve this by warming the skin on your wrist or by doing some exercise to increase skin temperature.

To maintain the best possible performance of the wrist-based heart rate measurement, keep your Polar device clean and prevent scratches. The measurement is based on tiny changes in light intensity, and even a small amount of dirt on the sensor at the back of the device can reduce its performance. Similarly, scratches on the sensor can scatter the light from the LEDs into unwanted directions and weaken the device’s performance.

For more information, see Optical heart rate tracking.

Further reading

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