Similar to an AMOLED (such as on the Apple Watch) the IPS TFT LCD display uses backlighting to illuminate the screens. The screen is a color touch display (IPS TFT) with ambient light sensor (ALS) with a resolution of 240 x 204. As of yet I see no in workout auto-pause option. Cleverly, while the start of a workout is by touch of the live Sport Profile you have chosen, pause and finish is via the button exactly as on other recent Polar. It is a single button watch using a touch screen for navigating the displays During workouts the swipe to see the next screen worked well during my first fairly sweaty run. The watch and my iPhone 11 Pro have connected flawlessly so far for outdoor activities using GPS but you must be outside for the connection to take place, There is no GPS chip active on the watch itself.įor those who run with their phone, as I do, this should not be a problem but clearly the tiny weight and price comes with some compromises. The watch bands are easily replaceable with other colors as shown above.īut, and this is important, the GPS component of run and other outdoor activity tracking is via your phone with the GPS data transmitted to the watch by Polar Flow app for display. Note how svelte the Unite is and how bright the screen is compared to the Polar Grit X in indoor light, where the Unite screen really “shines” ,with the tables turning outdoors. Yet it has a substantial 43.4mm diameter screen. It is also the thinnest watch we have tested at 10.4mm. I can say after wearing it for 24 hours it is incredibly light on the wrist, not noticed at all.

The lightest wrist sports watch we have tested (tied with the Garmin Forerunner 45S at 32g). Serene breathing exercises can be accessed on the watch to reduce stress So for example I have a 6 x 5 minute interval workout I created always available and ready to use on the Unite. Over in Favorites, accessible from the Training view, you can also load your own workouts to the watch from Polar Flow. I have as of yet no tried Fit Spark exercises.

These include choices of Cardio, Mobility Dynamics, or Core. Configure in the Polar Flow app, synch to the watch to create your data screens Below are the available road run data fields.Īdaptive Fit Spark is workout guidance based on your data and efforts. There are dozens and dozens of available Sports Profiles, although with fewer available data fields and no sensor support beyond pairing to a Polar chest strap. I find the Nightly Recharge information on Polar watches, including the new Unite to be among their most valuable and unique features. You can also go very deep into the data if you choose. You can easily learn what produces or doesn’t produce a good Recharge from this information. In the screens above I got a “Poor” Recharge after a hard run, a beer, two whiskey drinks, and a glass of white wine compared to a mellow workout and single beer the next day. My wife and I are big fans of Nightly Recharge scores. As with everything Polar data is compared to a 28 day average.

Nightly Recharge is about not only sleep quantity and quality but ANS data ( heart rate variability, nightly HR lows and average, breathing rates, beat to beat intervals) all analyzed on the watch when you wake up and presented as simple scores with deeper data below, no app synch required. Priced at $150, and weighing a mere 32g, it incorporates many but not all of the essential features of the Vantage series and Grit X. With the Unite, Polar seeks to deliver all that deep experience in a simple accessible format to help transform data into simple actionable insights to help users progress, achieve balance, and receive guidance. Polar is often used in scientific studies and by elite athletes for its accuracy and deep long term insights into trends in cardiac fitness and training. Since then they have continued to evolve their science based approach with extensive in house research. Polar was the original cardiac fitness monitoring company with experience dating back to the 1980’s. Released June 30, the Polar Unite represents a big move by Polar to capture a more value and fitness oriented segment of the sports and wellbeing smartwatch market with a light, low cost, stylish new option.

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