Polar Grit X2 Professional evaluation
One-minute evaluation
The Polar Grit X2 Professional is the model’s try to introduce an out of doors sports activities watch that may compete with each long-term rivals and people manufacturers which might be new to the house.
The Grit X Professional was launched two and half years in the past, and whereas it supplied enhancements on Polar’s first Grit watch, it was nonetheless missing some massive options to compete with the perfect operating watches on the market.
That adjustments with the Grit X2 Professional. By including options equivalent to free topographic maps, dual-frequency GPS, new biometric sensor know-how and an AMOLED coloration display, Polar is hoping to stage the enjoying area considerably and higher compete with top-end rivals.
What we get with the Grit X2 Professional is an out of doors watch that undoubtedly feels extra according to fashions such because the Garmin Epix Professional, the Suunto Vertical and the Apple Watch Extremely 2; however in lots of respects, it is not a greater watch than any of those.
Polar has undoubtedly made strikes in the suitable course when it comes to mapping and navigation to make the machine a fantastic out of doors companion, whereas including a coloration display and improvements equivalent to dual-frequency GPS additionally heighten its enchantment. Crucially, the software program that wraps this all up has additionally improved.
The Grit X2 Professional is completely higher than the Grit X, and in addition steps up on the Grit X Professional; however its value, together with the rival watches and options accessible across the similar value, means it doesn’t fairly stand head and shoulders above different out of doors watches proper now.
Polar Grit X2 Professional: Specs
| Element | Polar Grit X2 Professional |
| Worth | $749.95 / £649.99 / AU$1,099.99 |
| Dimensions | 48.6 x 48.6 x 13.4 mm |
| Weight | 79g |
| Case/bezel | Stainless-steel |
| Show | 454 x 454 AMOLED |
| GPS | Assisted GPS, Beidou, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS |
| Battery life | 10 days (5.8 days coaching mode) |
| Connection | Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Water-resistant? | Sure, WR100 |
Polar Grit X2 Professional: Worth and launch date
The Polar Grit X2 Professional launched in March 2024 and is in the stores immediately from Polar. It’s additionally accessible from watch-specific retailers equivalent to First Class Watches. Priced at $749.95 / £649.99 / AU$1,099.99, it’s considerably dearer than the Grit X Professional at launch.
Examine that to rival out of doors watches – the apparent comparability right here is the Garmin Epix Professional (47mm version), which is available in at $899.99 / £829.99 / AU$$1,529. There’s the Suunto Vertical (from £545), too, though in contrast to the Grit X2 Professional and the Epix Professional, it doesn’t embody an AMOLED show. Additionally on this firm is the Apple Watch Extremely 2.
Worth rating: 4 / 5
Polar Grit X2 Professional: Design and display
- Enticing, rugged design with properly textured buttons
- Vivid and vibrant AMOLED display
- Constructed with military-grade sturdiness
You definitely can’t accuse Polar of making an attempt to mannequin the Grit X2 Professional on different out of doors watches; you received’t mistake it for an Apple Watch Extremely 2, Garmin Epix Professional or a Suunto Vertical, that’s for certain.
Whereas the look is in step with its predecessor, the case measurement has grown from the 47mm of the Grit X Professional to the 48.6mm-sized case right here. It’s barely thicker (13.4mm in comparison with 13mm) and heavier (57g up from 47g), too. The Grist X2 Professional undoubtedly has the stature and really feel of a watch such because the Garmin Epix Professional. It isn’t the smallest watch that you just wouldn’t assume twice about carrying to mattress, however neither is as hulking because the Coros Vertix 2S, for instance.
The rear of the case is constituted of bio-based plastic, whilst you have a selection of both a stainless-steel or titanium entrance case, with the latter pushing up the value. Each embody the 5-button array of properly textured buttons which might be simply positioned and responsive when your palms are sweaty otherwise you’re carrying gloves.
These are joined by a brand new 1.39-inch, 454 x 45 decision AMOLED touchscreen, which delivers a step up on the Grit X Professional show for each display property and display color. The show is protected by Sapphire glass and is one you may carry on always, which you will effectively want to do because the increase to wake help isn’t all the time dependable. There’s a brand new flashlight mode, but it surely’s of the sort that illuminates the display versus a unit that’s constructed into the watch case. A high-quality AMOLED, it shows an honest prime brightness, correct colors and gives wonderful visibility each outside and indoors.
Holding that display to your wrist is a really comfy silicone strap with a stainless-steel buckle; the strap is designed to assist enhance the reliability of optical coronary heart charge monitoring. You do have the choice of a leather-based band, too, though you’ll should pay further for that luxurious.
By way of sturdiness, the Grit X2 Professional retains the identical MIL-STD-810H army normal of sturdiness because the Grit X Professional, and arrives with the identical waterproofing ranking. This implies it’s going to fortunately deal with being submerged in as much as 100 meters of water, and the watch does provide each pool and open water swimming modes.
Design rating: 4.5 / 5
Polar Grit X2 Professional: Options
- Twin-frequency GPS
- Free offline maps
- Elixir sensor brings ECG measurements
The addition of some vital options see the Grit X2 Professional take a sizeable leap forward of the Grit X Professional. The primary is the addition of the free, topographic maps, with Europe and US maps already preloaded onto the watch. The Grit X Professional solely supplied the flexibility to view less complicated breadcrumb trails through third-party app Komoot, so it is a huge change on the mapping help entrance.
This brings enhancements on the navigation entrance, too, with help added for importing routes from Strava (you probably have a premium subscription) – though this has additionally been rolled out to the Grit X Professional.
On the monitoring entrance, a lot of what we’ve already seen launched on Polar’s Vantage V3 watch has been added on the Grit X2 Professional. There’s new swimming metrics, the flexibility to view your vertical and 3D velocity, and Polar’s new Work-rest-guide for indoor coaching, to immediate you when to relaxation and resume units throughout exercises.
Nevertheless, the massive one right here for out of doors lovers is the dual-frequency GPS mode, which seeks to enhance out of doors monitoring accuracy when in deeply wooded areas, throughout hostile climate circumstances, and when within the neighborhood of tall buildings. Whereas not new to out of doors and sports activities watches typically, it means the Grit X2 Professional joins the Vantage V3 and the Ignite 3 in benefiting from the most recent positioning know-how innovation.
One other promised development considerations the change within the sensor know-how Polar contains within the Grit X2 Professional. Polar’s new Elixir sensor setup is designed to take a seat nearer and extra comfortably in your wrist. It packs in Polar’s newest technology optical coronary heart charge sensor know-how, together with the flexibility to trace SpO2 ranges and pores and skin temperature at evening. It additionally provides ECG measurements – though, in contrast to Apple or Samsung’s inclusion of an ECG sensor on their smartwatches, it isn’t designed for medical use. As an alternative, it’s there to assist benefit from Polar’s health exams, which beforehand required an exterior coronary heart charge monitor.
Polar additionally desires the Grit X2 Professional to be a greater smartwatch, so the notification and music management options included on the Grit X Professional stay, with the added color touchscreen now making what was fairly fundamental smartwatch help extra participating to make use of.
Options rating: 4 / 5
Polar Grit X2 Professional: Efficiency
Getting the watch setup with Polar’s Circulation companion smartphone app can usually be slightly hit or miss when it comes to pairing watch to app, although fortunately it was easy right here. Just like the Vantage V3, the Grit X2 Professional does tend to disconnect itself from the paired smartphone, which may at occasions be irritating in the event you’re counting on the notifications function, for instance.
When it’s time to get monitoring, there are greater than 150 sports activities profiles from which to decide on, and you may management which of them present up on the watch from the Circulation app. Polar has primarily taken what it supplied on the Vantage V3 and introduced them right here in a extra rugged body.
Most notable over the Grit X Professional is the dual-frequency mode supplied right here, which in testing proved a robust instance of how such a function can increase out of doors monitoring accuracy in problematic areas. It was definitely a minimize above the Grit X Professional, holding up effectively in testing towards watches providing comparable help such because the Garmin Epix Professional and the Apple Watch Extremely 2. The Grit X2 Professional isn’t the easiest at school for this sort of help, and does nonetheless have a behavior of smoothing out corners just like the Vantage V3, however general it carried out very effectively in our exams.
The Grit X2 Professional makes enhancements to mapping and navigation help, too, which brings Polar’s out of doors watch a lot nearer to Garmin, and now Suunto, on this regard. Having a splash of color on-screen additionally makes utilizing these options extra pleasing.
Maps are simple to learn, properly detailed, and you should utilize each the touchscreen and bodily buttons to work together with them. There’s help for turn-by-turn steering – though, just like the Vantage V3, it’s accessible solely by means of third-party app Komoot; this isn’t the case for utilizing Garmin and Suunto’s out of doors watches. Is it the perfect mapping and navigation help accessible on an out of doors watch? No. Is it an enormous step in the suitable course for Polar? Completely.
By way of the opposite parts that make up Polar’s sports activities monitoring, equivalent to its FitSpark instructed exercises, and its Coaching Load and Restoration Professional insights, options are definitely simpler to have interaction with and metrics to soak up than elsewhere. The presentation of some coaching insights might maybe profit from being extra simplified, as a result of there are completely some helpful insights right here.
Sleep monitoring is a standout function for Polar’s watches, and that doesn’t change with the Grit X2 Professional. Nightly recharge measurements and having the ability to view your common power increase from sleep are helpful added sleep insights, that’s crucially underpinned by sleep monitoring that beats what you’ll get from Garmin and Polar for accuracy.
Polar’s heritage is constructed on coronary heart charge, but the center charge monitoring efficiency on the Grit X2 Professional seems to fall according to our expertise of the Vantage V3. That new Elixir sensor array didn’t present any notable indicators of enchancment from Polar’s earlier Precision Prime sensor sensor know-how. It’s typically advantageous for steady-paced exercises, however even on simpler runs, the utmost and common coronary heart charge readings appeared slightly off at occasions towards each Polar and Garmin coronary heart charge monitor chest straps at occasions.
Fortunately, Polar has addressed some points relating to how clean its software program runs on its watches. It has boosted CPU speeds (from 120MHz to 275MHz) and ramped up the reminiscence, all whereas retaining storage on the 32GB of the Grit X Professional. In consequence, swiping by means of screens is a smoother expertise, and efficiency doesn’t labor in the identical manner it did on earlier Grit watches.
By way of battery life, the Grit X2 Professional will get you thru per week with options equivalent to dual-frequency GPS mode and sleep monitoring engaged. Polar quotes as much as 10 days in smartwatch mode and 43 hours of GPS battery life. These are the identical numbers connected to the Vantage V3. In the event you determine to make use of these options often and switch the display to always-on, battery life will drop to a most of 5 days. As such, in the event you can stay with out a 24/7 display, the Grit X2 Professional will final noticeably longer between expenses.
There’s a slight change with the charging setup right here, too: the proprietary cable remaining the identical as Polar switches from a USB-A to a USB-C connection once you need to energy up that watch once more.
Efficiency rating: 4 / 5
Polar Grit X 2 Professional: Scorecard
| Attribute | Rating | Remark |
|---|---|---|
| Worth | 3.5 / 5 | Doesn’t essentially higher the competitors on options |
| Design and display | 5 / 5 | Nice AMOLED and engaging case design |
| Options | 4 / 5 | One of the best Polar has to supply in options proper now |
| Efficiency | 4 / 5 | Some new options impress, others not so |
Ought to I purchase the Polar Grit X2 Professional?
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
Additionally think about
| Element | Polar Grit X2 Professional | Garmin Epix Professional (47mm) | Apple Watch Extremely |
| Worth | $749.95 / £649.99 / AU$1,099.99 | $899.99 / £829.99 / AU$$1,529 | $799 / £849 / AU$1,229 |
| Dimensions | 48.6 x 48.6 x 13.4 mm | 47 x 47 x 14.5 mm | 49 x 44 x 14.4mm |
| Weight | 79g | 78g | 63g |
| Case/bezel | Stainless-steel | Fiber-reinforced polymer, metal rear cowl, metal beze | Titanium, ceramic, sapphire crystal |
| Show | 454 x 454 AMOLED | 416 x 416 px, AMOLED | 1.93-inch 410 x 502 px OLED show |
| GPS | Assisted GPS, Beidou, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, Beidou, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou |
| Battery life | 10 days (5.8 days coaching mode) | 16 days (42 hours GPS) | As much as 36 hours |
| Connection | Bluetooth 5.1 | Bluetooth 5.2, ANT, Wi-Fi | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi |
| Water-resistant? | Sure, WR100 | Sure, 10ATM | WR100 |
First reviewed: June 2024
