The list in brief ↴
1. Best Value: Polar Pacer Pro
2. Best Fitness Tracker: Polar Ignite 3
3. Best Sports Watch: Polar Vantage V3
4. Best Adventure Watch: Polar Grit X Pro
5. Best Budget Watch: Polar Unite
Polar makes some of the best sports watches, with a range of devices to suit many budgets and users. Whether you want a stylish fitness tracker to record workouts and activity or a multisport watch to track outdoor adventures, Polar has a watch for you.
In recent years, Garmin has had the edge over Polar in producing better sports watches across the price range, while Coros is also worth exploring for cheaper devices. However, there’s no doubt Polar still makes great watches and you can often scoop them up for a good price in sales.
How I Test Polar Watches
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I wear each Polar watch I review for Coach for several weeks and use it to track all my everyday activity, workouts and sleep. For sports watches, I check the GPS and heart rate accuracy during runs and cycles in particular. I’ve tested most of Polar’s current line-up, along with older watches going back to the Polar M430, which I loved. I’ve tested a wide range of sports watches from other brands like Garmin, Suunto and Coros.
The quick list
There are full reviews of all the watches below. However, this section is a one-stop shop for those who need a headline recommendation.
The Pacer Pro offers all of Polar’s essential sports tracking features in a lightweight watch that’s cheaper than the top-of-the-range Grit X Pro and Vantage V2. For most people, it’s the outstanding pick in Polar’s range.
The Ignite 3 is the best-looking Polar watch available thanks to its bright AMOLED display, and it’s a great activity and sleep tracker, too. I found its sports tracking fell short of what you get from other Polar watches, however.
The Vantage V3 is the best watch Polar has ever made, but the price puts it up against stiff competition from Garmin and Suunto
The Grit X Pro is the rugged sibling of the Vantage V2, offering the same features in a hardier, more outdoors-focused design. If you love long wilderness trips, it’s a better option than the Vantage V2.
The Unite lacks GPS tracking but does have Polar’s insightful sleep tracking, and it will give you training recommendations each day. It’s Polar’s most affordable watch and a good fitness tracker, though if you want better sports tracking on a budget upgrade to the Polar Pacer.
The Best Polar Watches 2024
Best Value
The Pacer Pro undercuts the price of the top-end Vantage V2 and Grit X Pro watches while offering all the key sports tracking features, as well as breadcrumb navigation. The Pacer Pro is a less attractive watch than the Vantage V2 and Grit X Pro, which use more metal in their designs, though it’s slimmer and lighter.
There is also the Polar Pacer to consider if you’re hunting for a watch based on value, since it is cheaper than the Pacer Pro. The latter includes useful extras like navigation, a barometric altimeter and running power measurements, so for my money, the Pacer Pro is the better-value option.
Read more in my Polar Pacer Pro review
Best Fitness Tracker
The Polar Ignite 3 is a gorgeous watch that does a great job of tracking your sleep and everyday activity, even if its sports tracking proved inaccurate during testing. The AMOLED touchscreen is colorful and while it hits the battery life quite hard—I had to charge the watch every day or two when the screen was set to always-on—it’s by far the best display within Polar’s range.
Although the Ignite 3 offers multi-band GPS tracking and has all of Polar’s usual sports modes, if you are looking for a running or triathlon watch it falls short of the standards set by the Pacer Pro, Vantage and Grit watches. The Ignite 3 works best as a general fitness tracker that can record workouts. There’s also a titanium version that looks even more stylish and is more rugged thanks to the titanium bezel, but it costs a bit more.
Read more in my Polar Ignite 3 review
Best Sports Watch
The Polar Vantage V3 is a notable upgrade on the Vantage V2 and Grit X Pro with regards to features and design. The lightweight aluminum watch has a bright AMOLED display that reduces battery life, yet makes it far more enjoyable to use the watch day in, day out. It also has multi-band GPS and, unlike on the Ignite 3, I found this to be accurate with the Vantage V3 and an improvement on Polar’s other watches.
Polar has added color maps to the V3, which make it easier to follow routes on the watch. These new features add to the already-impressive sports tracking and training analysis you get on all Polar watches. The Vantage V3 is one of the best sports watches available from any brand, though the Garmin Forerunner 965 retains the edge as an AMOLED sports watch.
Read more in my Polar Vantage V3 review
Best Adventure Watch
The Polar Grit X Pro has the same features as the Vantage V2, but in a more rugged, outdoorsy design. It has a sapphire glass display, and the Titan version of the watch has a titanium bezel. The chunky look and feel of the watch will appeal more to those spending hours in the great outdoors for their activities, while the sleeker, lighter Vantage V2 will appeal more to those chasing fast times in runs and triathlons.
Read more in my Polar Grit X Pro review
Best Budget Watch
The Unite is a basic fitness tracker that has a couple of Polar’s best features: detailed sleep tracking, and training suggestions each day based on how well recovered you are. However, it doesn’t have GPS, so it’s more for those who train indoors. Its battery life is also short at just four days, which will come down if you track a couple of workouts in that time.
If you’re looking for a good budget Polar watch for running and cycling then the Polar Pacer is a better option. But if you just want a cheap watch that will track everyday activity and gym workouts, the Unite will do the job.
Read more in my Polar Unite review
