The Polar Grit X2 Pro is a smartwatch that feels adrift

Polar makes bully multisport watches. They’re conscionable not peculiarly smart. That wasn’t ever a occupation due to the fact that determination utilized to beryllium a wide line. Athletes went for Garmins and Polars. Casual users went for an Apple Watch, Fitbit, oregon Samsung smartwatch. Things are little wide now. There are much casual, stylish Garmins, portion Apple and Samsung person their ain smart multisport watches — and that leaves the $749.95 Polar Grit X2 Pro stuck betwixt a stone and a hard place.

The Grit X2 Pro is meant to beryllium a premium outdoors watch. It improves connected the erstwhile Grit X Pro with upgraded sensors (e.g., bosom rate, tegument temperature, etc), a bigger display, dual-frequency GPS, EKGs (no atrial fibrillation detection, conscionable more close bosom complaint data), offline maps, and USB-C. These kinds of updates are mostly good. The occupation is everyone other has made overmuch bigger strides successful the past 2 to 3 years. The Grit X2 Pro feels a spot frozen successful time.

As acold arsenic fittingness tracking, this is simply a susceptible ticker with oodles of artillery life. (I got astir 8 to 10 days connected a azygous charge.) But for $750, there’s a batch you can’t do connected this watch. For instance, you get notifications and alarms, but that’s astir it. If I privation to permission my telephone and play my euphony via the watch, I can’t. Offline playlists aren’t a thing; the astir you tin bash is usage your Grit X2 Pro arsenic a media controller. Say I privation to wage for a Gatorade aft a agelong tally astatine my section 7-Eleven. Nope, nary contactless payments. If I privation to marque a telephone call, usage a dependable assistant, oregon consciousness assured that idiosyncratic volition beryllium notified if I instrumentality a hard fall, that’s not happening.

Five years ago, this wouldn’t person been an issue. But successful 2024, I tin wage $800 for a Garmin Fenix 7S Pro Solar — a fancier-than-standard exemplary — to get beauteous overmuch everything the Grit X2 Pro has positive star charging, offline playlists from Spotify and YouTube Music, Garmin Pay, information features (though these necessitate your phone), and EKG tracking that does person AFib detection.

An $800 Apple Watch Ultra 2 gets maine a overmuch amended third-party app ecosystem, LTE connectivity, car clang and autumn detection, euphony streaming, EKGs, and overmuch amended integration with my smartphone. When it arrives this fall, watchOS 11 volition bring a grooming load feature, which, portion not arsenic robust arsenic what Polar oregon Garmin offer, gets the occupation done successful a digestible way. Samsung is rumored to beryllium launching a Galaxy Watch Ultra this period — and I’d stake bully wealth it’ll connection a akin acquisition for Android users. The constituent is, if you’re going to walk connected a premium fittingness smartwatch, you person galore alternatives that present much bang for your buck.

You could reason that Polar isn’t trying to hole what ain’t broke. It made its sanction with in-depth fittingness metrics, large GPS, and agelong artillery beingness — overmuch similar Garmin. So agelong arsenic it does those things well, who cares? It’s a just point. If those are the lone criteria that substance to you, I person fewer complaints astir the Grit X2 Pro different than it’s costly and a spot chonky for my liking. In testing, GPS and bosom complaint accuracy were connected par with my Apple Watch Ultra 2, a fewer Garmins, and a clump of different Android smartwatches. Sleep tracking and betterment metrics were astir connected par with my Oura Ring. The astir caller metric was Sleep Boost, which predicts the times of time you’ll beryllium astir alert. (In practice, I find it hard to spot arsenic it’s precise deed oregon miss.)

Whatever connection Polar’s trying to marque with the Grit X2 Pro, it’s model dressing. You tin slap connected a much premium plan and upgrade a fewer sensors, but Grit X2 Pro doesn’t meaningfully amended the things that’ve ever been annoying astir Polar watches. The Polar Flow app inactive feels horribly cluttered and stuck successful 2016. Easily digestible it is not. On the wrist, Polar’s interface is inactive clunky with finicky swipes and one-too-many fastener presses to get what you want. This is simply a substance of taste, but the Grit X2 Pro’s watchfaces are mid astatine best, don’t marque the champion usage of the OLED display, and don’t convey the elegance warranted from this terms tag.

Given what other is retired there, I consciousness lone Polar diehards would earnestly see a Grit X2 Pro. And adjacent then, I’d opt for the $599.95 Vantage V3. It gets you astir 95 percent of what the Grit X2 Pro offers, but trades the heavier-duty materials and luxe look for a lighter, much wearable design. Frankly, I deliberation that’s thing astir athletes — Polar’s people assemblage present — would prefer.

Unfortunately, the Grit X2 Pro’s disparate parts don’t adhd up to the premium ticker that I deliberation Polar was hoping for. For that, it had to beryllium smarter oregon adhd thing Polar was antecedently lacking. As it is, this is simply a competent watch. But for $750, competent conscionable isn’t bully enough.