Polar Pacer review

If you need a operating watch that lasts a number of days on a cost, tracks your exercises effortlessly, spits out insightful knowledge, and received’t bug you with notifications, the Polar Pacer is it.

That occurs to be the purpose of the Pacer, which is cheaper and fewer superior than the Pacer Professional launched on the identical time. That’s OK in my guide although – most runners aren’t execs, together with me. The common Pacer is greater than sufficient operating look ahead to most individuals.

Design and construct

• Light-weight
• Waterproof
• 5 buttons

Polar’s watches all look fairly related. The Pacer is extra light-weight than previous fashions which is welcome, with the upside that a lot of the tech from older, costlier watches has trickled all the way down to this one at a less expensive worth.

It’s a fairly plain design that I believe seems to be properly understated within the teal color I’ve been utilizing, and it’s additionally accessible in commonplace black, in addition to white and a pastel purple. The casing and strap are these colors, whereas the bezel across the round watch face and display stay black whichever you choose.

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The watch has a really mild plastic development, a lot daintier than older Polar units. It means it’s nice to put on all day lengthy and really unobtrusive, not sitting too far off the wrist however nonetheless packing in full GPS connectivity and a coronary heart price sensor.

With full IP68 water and dirt resistance it’s also possible to not fear about taking the Pacer off when it’s pouring with rain or for those who hop within the bathe.

The Polar Pacer doesn’t really feel prime tier premium, however I additionally don’t suppose Polar is worried about that for the asking worth of £169.50 (maybe the £259 Pacer Professional, which I haven’t examined, fills that position).

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Show and audio

• Nice show visibility
• No touchscreen
• No speaker

The very best factor in regards to the Pacer’s show is how readable it’s in direct daylight. The draw back to most digital shows on smartwatches and telephones is they are often very reflective and turn into washed out when the solar is shining on them.

Not so with the Pacer, whose 1.2in 240 x 240 display laughs within the face of the solar’s rays. It’s really clearer when in direct mild – a giant win. That is due to the memory-in-pixel (MIP) tech Polar makes use of, which is extra energy environment friendly than an LCD or OLED in addition to being much more readable in daylight. This implies it’s much less readable in low mild, however the backlight right here makes up for that.

The display on the Pacer will not be touchscreen however easy button controls on a health watch that doesn’t run third celebration apps is ok in my guide. You don’t must poke about on a show this small, and the entire level of the Pacer is it stays out your approach till you want it.

There’s no speaker or mic on the watch so you may’t speak into it Star Trek-style for calls.

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Software program and options

• Polar Stream is an efficient companion app
• Handbook syncing a drag
• Buggy on-watch music controls

The software program on the Polar Pacer is kind of easy, principally to its benefit however sometimes to its detriment.

I like how the time is all the time on the house display and the way the up and down buttons on the appropriate aspect cycle via varied knowledge units: date, each day exercise objective proportion, how energetic you’ve been lately, coronary heart price, how way back your final coaching session was, ‘nightly recharge’ sleep monitoring data, exercise suggestions, climate, how lengthy you labored out final week, and music controls (if switched on in settings).

That is all helpful however biking via isn’t essentially one of the simplest ways to view all the info and I typically forgot it was there. It’s all a lot simpler to view on the Polar Stream app for iOS or Android, which syncs comprehensively with the watch, however solely when the app is open, and while you press and maintain the decrease left button. Many smartwatches can replace their companion apps mechanically and this actually ought to be the case for Polar.

Probably the most annoying factor I got here throughout was when paired to an Android cellphone. When you’ve got enabled notifications however haven’t individually enabled music controls, the watch vibrates and prompts you with a notification each time you play or pause audio similar to a music monitor on Spotify or Tidal. It’s infuriating and pointless as a result of you may’t even work together with the notification to manage the audio.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

I found if turned on music controls through the app I used to be then was in a position to play, pause, skip monitor, and regulate quantity so long as I used to be on one of many rotating dwelling display faces. I get that Polar is permitting individuals to show notifications and music controls off to maintain the Pacer much less distracting, however the software program doesn’t clarify this in any respect, and I solely bought the watch arrange how I needed via tough trial and error.

It’s also possible to select whether or not notifications, if on, ping you throughout a exercise. Nevertheless it’s troublesome to pick which apps you’d prefer to notify you – you may block them, however they solely present up as choices if and after the app has despatched a notification to the watch out of your cellphone. That is a lot much less superior than different watches the place you may already choose which apps ought to ping you, somewhat than having to manually choose out after they’ve already carried out so.

Health and monitoring

• Excellent GPS monitoring
• Many sports activities supported
• Inbuilt health assessments

The Polar Pacer is totally filled with health options. It’s so good at what it units out to try this I discovered it fairly simple to forgive its plainness and among the annoying quirks I’ve described.

Working monitoring is lifeless easy with the inbuilt GPS, Glonass, Galieo, and QZSS satellite tv for pc assist. Merely choose ‘run’ from the exercise listing and the sign connects rapidly, and then you definately’re a button push away from beginning the recording. You’ll be able to cycle via key metrics, which I discover nicely laid out over a couple of screens. The primary one, with coronary heart price, tempo, length, and distance is superb.

There’s a brand new strolling check characteristic for the Pacer sequence that makes you get your coronary heart price up then measures your cardio health by ordering you on a brisk stroll to take care of a excessive price. The watch provides on display directions all through and vibrates to let you recognize when your price drops under the edge. You even have assist for biking, indoor biking, swimming, triathlon, HIIT classes, treadmill operating power coaching, mountain climbing, and mountain biking.

Polar’s monitoring has all the time been good so it’s nice to see it including new options. The ‘operating index’ the app creates for you after every run collates your coronary heart price and pace to measure efficiency and development. At a road celebration, it was telling me to ‘get a greater posture’, which I discovered sassy. It labored although – I considered this much more on my subsequent run.

Foundry / Henry Burrell

Correct route monitoring utilizing the inbuilt GPS permits you to depart your cellphone at dwelling, however there’s no choice to load music straight onto the watch and hear with headphones so if you would like music you’ll nonetheless must carry your blower. I additionally missed the automated exercise detection discovered on different watches, however given the Pacer is an intentional runner’s watch I didn’t ever neglect to document a run.

It’s also possible to set ‘fueling’ reminders straight on the watch to remind you to carb load and the ‘serene’ perform mimics Apple Watch’s breathe app to get you to take a second to chill out and focus on respiratory.

Sleep monitoring measures your slumber and lobs the info into your restoration stats too – put on the Pacer all day day by day whereas often exercising and also you’ll quickly construct up an intricate image of your well being.

So intricate in truth, that the well-featured Polar Stream app is definitely fairly overwhelming. There’s a lot knowledge to have a look at and it’s all hidden in unintuitive menus. When you get used to it you have to be high-quality however it took me a couple of days to get my head round it, and it’s not the primary time I’ve reviewed a Polar gadget.

Exercises are best discovered within the calendar tab, the place a full run down of stats reveals simply how a lot you pushed your self. Coronary heart price, energy burned, tempo, ascent and descent, altitude, cadence, tempo per kilometre and a map of your route are commonplace fare on operating watches, however Polar has the fundamentals nailed and presents them nicely.

Swimming monitoring is not any drawback due to 50 metre water resistance, and the watch additionally permits you to hyperlink your Polar account as much as third celebration social health providers similar to Strava, Adidas Working, and Nike Run Membership to tug knowledge throughout to whichever you employ.

Specs and efficiency

• Snappy
• Dependable GPS
• Notifications annoying to make use of

Polar says it has put an improved CPU within the Pacer and it reveals, though my final dalliance with a Polar watch was in 2019. The processor doesn’t habve to drive a mini-computer just like the Apple Watch although, and is simply 200MHz. The watch has solely 5MB RAM and 32MB storage, however that’s no trouble for its performance.

Menus are snappy to reply through the bodily buttons, and GPS locks on extremely rapidly outside.

If on, notifications come via immediately, and syncing works nicely although it’s nonetheless irritating that you could do that manually by opening the Stream app after which urgent holding the decrease left button. Maybe it’s a battery-saving factor, solely drawing the facility wanted to sync through Bluetooth while you really need to replace your stats in your cellphone.

The Pacer doesn’t have Wi-Fi (it doesn’t want it) however nor does it have NFC for cellular funds, which is a bit more disappointing.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Battery and charging

• Excellent longevity
• Proprietary charger

Battery life is superb, with a promised 35 hours with full GPS and coronary heart price monitoring on bearing true from the 256mAh cell. I might go for about 5 days with out charging but when exercising day by day the battery will clearly take successful. Energy save mode provides 100 hours, however with a really stripped again expertise.

The charger is a proprietary USB-A cable with two magnetic numbs on the opposite finish that clip to the again of the watch. Don’t lose it!

Worth and availability

For £169.50/€199.90/$199.95 within the UK, Europe, and the US, the Polar Pacer is a well-priced, nicely featured operating watch.

You should purchase it globally direct from Polar.

Garmin’s comparable Forerunner 55 undercuts it within the UK at £149.99 however it’s a related beast to the Pacer. If you need extra smartwatch performance than the pure health of Polar, then the Apple Watch Collection 7 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 can be extra your factor however they begin at a lofty £369/€429/$399 and £249/€269/$249 respectively.

Verdict

There may be a few week-long studying curve to get used to the cellular app and button enter however the Polar Pacer rewards with centered and correct health monitoring.

In case you are attempting to get into operating and even in case you are already hitting the paths the Pacer will show a wonderful addition to your package with robust battery life, a perfectly readable show, light-weight development, and the smarts to point out you ways you might be performing and that will help you enhance – all for below £200/€200/$200.

Specs

• 1.2in 240×240 memory-in-pixel round show
• Gorilla Glass 3
• 200MHz CPU
• 5MB RAM
• 32MB ROM
• Polar’s OS
• GPS
• Glonass
• Galieo
• QZSS
• Bluetooth 5.1