POLAR GRIT X SPORTSWATCH REVIEW

Polar recently released this exciting new outdoor sports watch, and we’ve picked one up to test out. Join us in our Polar Grit X Sportswatch Review, as we unbox and test out this new addition to their range. Let’s see if it’s a buy or a miss.

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Disclaimer – I purchased this product with my own money and have not been paid by anyone to make this review. This is my honest, independent opinion.

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We are runners, we need a sports watch. We want to track our runs with GPS, count our steps, and sync our data to our health apps. These technological marvels can do so much, but there’s so many to choose from, how do we know which one to choose.

That’s where we come in. Polar is a highly regarded brand, they’ve been around for a long time, and have plenty of cred in manufacturing sports watches and heart rate sensors. It’s time, (see what I did there), to test out the new Grit X. Without any fear or favour, we’ll tell you whether this watch is worth your hard-earned or not.

Who Is Polar?

Polar is a Finnish company founded in 1977.

Its founder was looking for an accurate way to record heart rates during training, and came up with the idea of a portable heart rate monitor. After filing a patent, Polar launched the world’s first wireless heart rate monitor in 1982.

Today, Polar manufactures not only heart rate monitors, but numerous sports watches and bike computers.

Servicing the entire world with its popular products, Polar is still based in Finland and has 1200 employees.

What Is The Polar Grit X?

The Polar Grit X is an outdoor multi-sport watch with built-in GPS, altimeter, and compass. This is a fully-featured sport watch that is ideal for runners, hikers, cyclists, mountain bikers, swimmers, skiers and many more.

Designed to be light-weight but highly durable, the Polar Grit X can serve in the toughest conditions outdoors, but still be a very capable and comfortable to wear daily driver.

Doubling as a smartwatch, you can receive notifications from your phone and easily track your daily activity.

Who Is The Polar Grit X For?

In the realm of sports watches these days, there is a massive choice from many companies, and a wide pricing range.

There are also the smartwatch manufacturers to consider, such as Apple, Samsung and Fitbit, whose products also track a large range of sports metrics.

It’s quite difficult to choose, from such an extensive range.

Polar has positioned the Grit X as an option for the serious sportsperson who wants a fully featured sports watch, which offers a more advanced range of tracking features than a Fitbit or Apple Watch.

For example, the Polar Grit X can tell you when to fuel up, give you automatic data on your hill splits, has onboard turn by turn mapping via Komoot, includes onboard 2-day weather forecasting, plus a host of other tracking features.

As you can see, this is definitely a watch aimed at the serious outdoor athlete. Trail runners, sky runners, ultra-marathoners, are all going to appreciate the advanced metrics offered by the Grit X. However, even if all you want is step-counting, or GPS tracking, the Grit X will easily provide this as well.

Sports watch or Smartwatch?

These days, the Apple Watch and the Fitbit Versa and Sense models are pivoting towards being health watches. Meaning, they are including sensors that can detect stress levels, heart rate fluctuations, blood oxygen levels, skin temperatures and so on. Indeed, Fitbit has even dropped its original sports watch, the Ionic, and have not replaced it, which is unfortunate as this was a solid performer.

As such, there is a divergence into health smartwatches, or fully featured sports watches. The Polar Grit X is a great example of the latter.

Unboxing The Polar Grit X.

I ordered the Grit X directly through the Polar Australia website. There was a Limited Edition Green and Black version available at the time, which I ordered. Ordering was easy and the product was shipped the next day from the Polar facility in Hong Kong, arriving a couple of days later.

Polar have used cardboard packaging, no unnecessary plastic use here. The package includes the Grit X and a proprietary magnetic snap-on USB charger. There is also a paper quick-start guide.

All basic stuff, but very nicely packaged, and looks impressive.

Design And First Impressions.

Out of the box, you get the impression this watch was built for a purpose. This is no toy, it’s a deadly serious outdoor sports tool with a design focus on durability and usability.

It’s a handsomely rugged design, it’s somewhat big on the wrist and a little thick at 47 × 47 × 13 mm. However, because of its lightweight, just 64g, it’s by no means unwieldy or uncomfortable to wear.

The silicone band is soft and pliable, making it a very comfortable all-day wear proposition.

Extreme high strength stainless steel is used to craft the case with a glass fibre reinforced polymer back cover.

A laminated Gorilla glass screen adds extra protection.

The buttons are metal and have a satisfying click, and tactile feel.

Polar have designed and tested the Grit X against military standard MIL-STD-810G, this is used to certify military equipment. It is also waterproof WR100, which means it is water-resistant to 10atm or 100 m, thus suitable for water-sports but not for diving.

As you can see, the Grit X is designed for serious outdoor use and should be able to withstand severe operating conditions.

Looks are always subjective, but if you like a purposeful, rugged, chunky look, this will suit your purpose. It looks great in the flesh and comes in enough colour combinations to appeal to most tastes. The case can be ordered in black, silver, or white, and there are quite a few different coloured bands available as well.

What Can You Do With The Polar Grit X?

As previously mentioned, this is a dedicated outdoor sports watch with a considerable list of sport tracking features. Let’s take a look.

The Grit X as a Sports watch-

• GPS tracking. Tracks distance, pace, altitude changes, time, steps etc.
• Heart rate tracking. Comprehensive details on heart rate during your workout.
• Turn by turn route guidance with Komoot.
• Hill Splitter. Automatically tracks your performance on the uphill and downhill sections of your workout.
• Smart fuelling advice. Get advice on the watch when it’s time to refuel during longer workouts.
• FitSpark training guides. Daily workout advice.
• Sport profiles. Not just running, the Grit X supports over 130 sports, including biking, swimming, skiing, and hiking.
• Swim tracking. Pool or open water. Tracks metrics such as distance, heart rate, pace, and swimming styles.
• Energy use tracking. Energy usage is divided into fat, carbs, and protein, so you can quickly see how your body used the various energy sources during your workout.
• VO2max metrics.
• Strava Live Segments.
• Nightly recharge. See how well you recovered during your sleep.
• Running power. Guidance on the intensity of your workouts.
• Interval, lap timers, and stopwatch.
• Barometer and compass.
• Indoor sports tracking, including treadmill, weight training, and others.
• Many more sport-related features

The Grit X as a Smartwatch-

• Smartphone notifications to your watch. See messages, emails and social notifications from your phone.
• Weather. Get two-day forecast and up-to-the-minute current weather details.
• Activity tracking. Steps taken and distance, activity goals, activity time, inactivity alerts, min/max and current heart rate levels.
• Sleep tracking. Sleep stages, sleep duration, sleep quality, sleep score.

Have a look at the latest list of features for the Grit X on the Polar website

Is The Polar Grit X Easy To Use?

I’ve been using the watch now for about two weeks and have been able to access most features without having to consult the online user manual.

Set up is easy. This can be done from the Polar-Flow smartphone app, the website, or on the watch itself. The app is very comprehensive, and this is where you sync all your daily and workout data from the watch.

There’s been a couple of things I haven’t yet worked out, such as how to use timers during a workout. Maybe it’s just me, but this doesn’t seem obvious, I’ll need to consult the manual.

Previously I was using a Fitbit Ionic, see our long-term review here, which has nothing like the number of sports features that the Grit X has. From my experience, I would say that the Grit X is just as user-friendly as the Fitbit, even though it has a far more extensive feature set.

Is The Polar Grit X Good Quality?

The materials used in this watch seem very high quality. After a couple of weeks of use, and more than a few bumps and knocks, I can report no incidences of damage or scratching.

As previously mentioned, the case is made from high-grade metal, as are the buttons. The screen is Gorilla glass and the bands are a strong but soft and comfortable silicon.

The watch sits a little high on the wrist, so it will often be susceptible to knocks and bumps. But since the design focus was always on rugged or even extreme outdoor use, it should fare well in extended use.

Battery life is another critical consideration when choosing a quality smart or sports watch. Here, the Grit X excels with a host of battery management settings to help you manage battery life.

GPS is the biggest battery drain on a sports watch. Polar states that the Grit X can achieve up to 40 hours of full GPS tracking, which can be extended out to 100 hours by enabling some power saving settings.

My experience thus far demonstrates that I need only charge the watch once or twice a week, including at least three GPS runs. A good result given that an Apple Watch can barely last a full day, especially when using GPS mode.

Is The Polar Grit X Good Value?

Starting at $599 in Australia, the Grit X is by no means a cheap watch. But is it worth it?

There are many cheaper options out there, some very compelling, including tracking features which will be more than enough for many runners.

However, Polar have provided a significant value case with the Grit X given its feature set and high quality. The Grit X is by no means as expensive as some other high-end models from other manufacturers.

At a price point comparable to an Apple Watch, the Grit X is a viable alternative which doubles as a competent daily driver and a fully-featured sports watch, all in one package.

What Alternatives Are There To The Grit X?

Garmin Fenix series watches would seem to be the natural competitor to the Grit X. The Garmin has even more features, and multi-sport metrics than the Grit X, including on-wrist music playback which the Polar lacks.

Garmin have an extensive range of sports watches available, including the perpetually well regarded Forerunner series, which have similar tracking features as the Grit X. For more information on what the excellent Garmin brand has to offer go here.

The Apple Watch is an exceptional smartwatch, but has a woeful battery life, just six hours in GPS mode. However, it’s a great alternative if your focus is more on smartwatch features.

Polar’s own Vantage series must also be considered as an alternative to the Grit X. Costing about $100 more than the Grit X it tracks a few extra metrics. Features such as Leg Recovery Test, Running Performance Test, Cycling Performance test, Orthostatic Test, and music controls, are features of the Vantage.

Other reputable brands include Suunto, Fitbit, Samsung, and Coros, these should also be considered when shopping for a new sports watch.

Pro’s and Con’s

Pro’s

• Comes to you from a very well established and respected company in the sports watch space.
• Durable design manufactured with quality materials.
• Easy to use and set up.
• Has a great companion app to sync with and view all your workout metrics.
• Has all the essential metrics covered plus many more, possibly more than you will ever need.
• Excellent battery life.
• Comfortable to wear.
• Always-on display with a dedicated button to further light up the screen.
• Comprehensive sleep tracking.

Con’s

• Sits a little high on the wrist, may be vulnerable to knocks and bumps.
• The screen real estate is small given the dimensions of the watch, the bevels are huge.
• Smartwatch functionality limited to basic notifications, due to no ability to install a sim, you’ll need an Apple Watch or similar for that.
• No music playback.
• Probably should be using the harder Sapphire glass in the screen instead of Gorilla glass.
• I have found the watch too big and chunky to wear to bed, which may discourage people from accessing the sleep tracking metrics available on this watch.

 

Our Final Verdict Of The Polar Grit X.

So, what do we want in a sports watch, and what makes it a worthwhile buy? Does the Polar Grit X measure up?

For runners, you want to know if the included sport tracking features give you the metrics you require, and if it does so reliably every time. Access to good information like this not only helps you assess your performance, but it can give you guidance on subsequent workouts, and help with recovery. Testing out this watch in this first-look review, the Grit X ticks these boxes.

A premium sports watch, such as the Grit X, should be robust, durable, and made from quality materials. It should wear well in terms of fending off damage from minor incidents such as knocking or dropping. It should also have a high degree of water resistance. The Grit X also ticks those boxes.

You need to be able to access your training, and every-day information, quickly and in easy-to-read formats. Whilst there is a bit of a learning curve with this watch, and it’s not always particularly intuitive when navigating the menus, you can usually find most functions and information you require fairly easily. The companion smartphone app also presents the data in a usable and comprehensive manner. You can also gain access to this information by logging into your account on your desktop computer.

Having lived with the Grit X for a couple of weeks now, and tested it out in a variety of running situations, I’ve been quite impressed with its performance. Additionally, living with it as my daily watch has also been successful, I have appreciated the always-on display and the variety of watch screens I can choose from. However, this watch is big and chunky on the wrist and can catch on things fairly easily.

I believe the Polar Grit X is definitely worthy of including on your sports watch shopping list. In terms of durability, robustness, features, and value for money, this watch is certainly a worthy option.

Have you purchased a Grit X or any other Polar watch? Please let me know in the comments below what sports watch you use and what you think of it.

Our star rating for the Polar Grit X–

Happy running

Steve

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