Polar Grit X Pro

I have always been a Polar user but did look around this time because there are plenty of good quality Sports watches out there for this price. I had the M430 previously and looked at many comparison sites regarding the Grit X. It's still pretty new and there's not a lot of reviews out there but based on what I read and saw I took the leap. Love this watch. It by far the best Polar watch I have had. The Heart Rate tracks in line with my M430 and the additional features all add to my current weekly activity really well (160k bike rides (Road and Mountain), walks and a weekly run - which I hope to build on). In particular the watch weight really makes a difference - I have never been able to keep a watch on through the night and therefore not ever tracked sleep. I hardly know I have the Grit on it is that light and comfortable. The charge is good - so far I have had three days of around 12 GPS tracking activities (around 10 hrs) and it is at 50%. I would highly recommend and really pleased I kept the faith and carried on using what is such a responsive, easy to use, robust and stylish brand. I would also like to say that I had an issue setting up the weather tracker and through using the website via messenger the tech support took 10 minutes to guide me through the process. Very impressive.

Brilliant watch. Been in use for 2 busy active months and will go happily for 3/4 days with about 2 hours of walking/running daily between charges. GPS super accurate, works great with komoot. HR sensor is accurate every time I've manually checked too. You can change the metrics easily and customise through the app. Which does take a little practice but neat feature. I've found it easy to read and easily bright enough. Basically not taking it off except to charge. My OH has an iwatch and is very jealous! I've knocked it against some fairly solid items whilst doing DIY too and not a scratch on the face. 2 minor criticisms: A couple of exercises have not been tallied correctly on daily tracker, although it does register them in the activity section on the polar app. I suspect the app is buggy. Amazon messed up the original shipping. Not an issue of the watch of course!

5 years Polar user with a V800. Bought the grit X with a little apprehension due to bad reviews on Vantage watches. I don’t use it for navigation so can’t comment. I use a chest strap for HR as I would never trust any optical sensor. Had the watch 3 days and I love it and the extra options that have opened up in Flow. Love the suggested workouts on the watch which are easy to follow. Love the HR gauge when training. The cardio loading analysis seems really great as well and in general it’s a massive motivator. There was nothing wrong with my V800 and I was going to wait until it started to fail but couldn’t resist in the end and I’m very glad I bought this. Will update this as I go. I don’t have any problem with the screen brightness. I have no real experience of other brands so maybe it is duller than it’s competitors but it’s no more or less easy to read than my V800. Update 16/03/21 My opinion on this watch as I experience it more has got even better. I started to use the navigation features about 6 months ago by downloading routes from Komoot and using the watch like a sat-nav in the Peak District UK and I have had some of the best mountain bike rides ever, on my own, in the middle of nowhere without getting lost once. It really does open up a lot of opportunities when you use the product in this way. I do strength training 3 times per week and I do use a chest strap even though it not very cardio-heavy work, the difference between cardio load calculations with and without the chest strap sensor are massive (confirming that LED heart rate sensors are not reliably accurate and that if you want accuracy then a chest strap is essential). The sleep measurement and metrics are cool, I don't go into detail that much but it's cool to see how 'recharged' you are and this does concur with how you're feeling. Interesting to see how much even a small amount of alcohol impacts your autonomous nervous system. Has helped me to appreciate how much a couple of good (and teetotal) nights sleep impacts on my keenness to train and train hard. A few things have happened in the last 18 months, my dog died, I got an incredible enduro mountain bike, I got a Grit X to replace my V800 and of course COVID so all 4 things have impacted on my schedule in a big way but when I look at my training diary since 2016 I have done more training sessions in the last year than I have in the previous 5 years and I do put some of that down to the greatness of the Grit X.

Note that this review refers only to the physical design and not the software. I already have an M2 and know and understand the software, and so I know that is excellent. I ordered a Grit X intending it to be an upgrade on my M2 because I wanted a barometric altimeter, however I'd scheduled its return with 30 minutes of it arriving at my door. Well, this is one of the purchases where I'm left wondering if other reviewers were judging the same product. To summerise, I think that this watch is completely unsuited to people with average or small wrists, and frankly I think that it's likely to be a poor choice for any runner. The trouble stems from its shape and weight. It's very much heavier than my M2 which means that's it's far more likely to bounce and wobble. This issue with the weight is exacerbated by the its bowl-like design. The body of watch has a sculpted, rounded bowl shape with the LED panel being the small and flat base to it. This heavy bowl design is intrinsically unstable and prone to slipping because on the minimal skin contact and therefore friction with the skin. I tried running around the house with the watch and couldn't prevent the watch from bouncing and slipping like mad. I'd imagine that MTB riders would have the same issue as a result of vibration. The movement issues are worsened by the very poor strap. The strap on my M2 is a wonderfully soft silicone affair, but the strap Grit X is thick, stiff and plasticy. I suppose that's intended to add to its rugged looks, however it's really really uncomfortable. The stiff strap is incapable of stabilising the watch and preventing it from wobbling uncontrollably. I'm an average height, lightweight male runner. Not skinny, but pretty light. I'd say that I'm a fairly averagely built runner, and so if I can't make this watch comfortable to wear then there's been a major disconnection between the design team and the real world. Maybe this watch is more stable on fat wrists, or maybe the beta models were not reviewed harshly enough.

The Polar Grit X Pro is a solid 4* product to me, unfortunately for the price it should be 5*. Despite being marketed as being for “outdoors” enthusiasts, the Grit X Pro’s feature set is still a little lacking compared to the competition in this respect. The watch is self is a good solid, high quality piece. Solid also means it’s a tad on the heavy side. I like the FKM strap but it seems to be a bit of a sweat trap. The screen is a decent enough size but the display itself is mediocre. It’s transflective, supposedly best in bright sunlight. Not exactly a big feature of the British climate. The display has poor contrast and colours are dull, far from vibrant but that’s the norm for displays of this type. It’s also a touch screen, which is the biggest waste of time going and generally a poor performer. Polar needn’t have bothered. Some of the on screen numerals and characters could do with being bigger too. I find battery life is ok but that's all. Heart rate monitoring is the best I've ever expereinced in a watch, closely rivaling Polar's chest strap monitors. I tend to only wear watches of this type when I’m doing an activity I want to measure and track. So the bucket full of 24/7 health, performance and sleep monitoring it does is superfluous to me. A lot of it is gym rat orientated rather than for “outdoorsy” people anyway. As far as outdoorsy goes. I don’t like that Polar do not have an integrated way within the Flow app for creating and uploading routes into the watch. You have to use third party products like komoot. A clunky approach! There is no barometer trend graph, like my Garmin Instinct has, just internet sourced weather forecasts. That’s crap! Hills and mountains have their own weather, the forecast for the nearest town can be of no relevance. A barometric trend can warn you of changing weather. Also in the hills and mountains you can be out of internet connection for days if you are doing an extended trip. To much internet dependence is not good. The GPS sampling rate doesn’t really fit with hiking and walking either, you’ve either got 1 second or the next option 1 minute. It needs some options like 5 or 10 seconds. The power off function needs adding to quick links rather than being massively buried in the device menus. A decent firmware update could bump the Grit X Pro up to 5* quite easily.

Great watch , loads of features for outdoor exercising , compass weather etc

Wasn't sure of buying this one but it has changed my running routine. Very accurate and super tough. This has accompanied me through many miles and many countries. Good simple functionality, not as flashy as some of the others. The touch screen is overly sensitive when you don't want it to be so using the lock button has become a must for me. Battery life is really good and the compass to find your way back home came in handy when lost in Central park 😀

I found this watch very good for running, specially out in the countryside. From my point of view, it is not a watch for mountaineers but for trail runners. The heart rate sensor is very accurate, and the gps perfect. Design looks gorgeous and it is very light.