Polar Unite – Fitness watch with colorful, interchangeable bands
Polar Unite is the latest product from the finnish specialist for sport watches. The new sports watch / fitness tracker hybrid won’t offer GPS but will focus on heart rate based workouts.
The Grit X has been Polar’s latest sports watch, being among Polar’s high-end wearables Vantage M and Vantage V. Although Polar already tried to close the gap between the fitness tracker A370 and its sport watches, there is still plenty of space – place that the Polar Unite should fill.
Polar Unite – Specifications
| Polar Unite | Polar Ignite | |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 43.4 x 43.4 x 10.4 mm | 43.0 x 43.0 x 8.5 mm |
| Weight | 32 grams | 35 grams |
| Display | TFT touch display with ambient light sensor | TFT touch display with ambient light sensor |
| Resolution | 240 x 204 pixels | 240 x 204 pixels |
| Battery Life | 174 mAh up to 50 hours in training mode (heart rate / connected GPS) up to 4 day in watch mode | 165 mAh up to 17 hours in training mode (heart rate / GPS) up to 5 days in watch mode |
| Water Resistance | up to 30 meters | up to 30 meters |
| GPS | - | + |
| Connected GPS | + | - |
Fitness watch for heart rate bases workouts
Most people that know Polar, do so because of their sports watches that focus on outdoor sports, especially running. The Polar Unite is different. Though it resembles the look of the Polar Ignite, it has no build-in GPS chip and therefore is missing a feature that many people consider essential for outdoor sports. For those who still like recording route and pace, the Unite offers Connected GPS which will use the GPS signal received by a paired smartphone.
However, Polar presents the Unite as a fitness watch, which focuses on heart rate based fitness workouts. The Unite will use Polar’s Precision Prime technology that allows for tracking your heart rate by using green, red and yellow light. The back of the watch is full of leds and sensors.
Based on your fitness level, FitSpark will recommend personalized fitness workouts. Concerning your wellbeing Polar’s technology Sleep Plus Stages is of great help as it determines how long and how well you sleep.
In addition Nightly Recharge determines how your body recovers at night.
After a workout, you’ll get positive feedback that should keep you motivated, while the calories burned are logged.
Battery life up to 50 hours
The Polar Unite’s battery lasts up to 50 hours in training mode before it has to be plugged to the charging cradle again. This is way longer than the Ignite which will last up to 14 hours. But don’t be mistaken, the Ignite’s training mode comprises the use of GPS and heart rate tracking, while the Unite’s training mode is Connected GPS and heart rate tracking only.
When using the Unite’s watch mode, which includes the usual activity tracking (steps, calories, distance) the battery will power the Unite up to 4 days. Most of the energy will be consumed by the LCD touch display, that isn’t as energy efficient as the transflective displays of Vantage M, V and Grit X.
Colorful and customizable
As a fitness tracker / sports watch hybrid the Polar Unite likely will be used throughout the day. To match your outfit or mood, the wristband is interchangeable and with a standard width of 20mm there are plenty different bands available.
Polar Unite – Colors (Image Credit: www.keskisenkello.fi)
The Unite will be available in black, white, blue and pink.
Availability and Price
You can order the fitness watch starting today via Polar’s website. It will be available in online retail shortly after.
Having less features than the Polar Ignite, the $149,95 retail price is considerably lower than the Ignite’s $229,95. This will allow for competition with Fitbit’s Charge 3 and to a certain degree the Charge 4.
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