After spending at least seven of my running career and trying five more for Mashable, it takes a lot for a smartwatch to impress me on those days.
The Polar Pacer Pro, recently unveiled alongside the sleek Pacer, controlled to do just that. A next-generation GPS watch with an integrated barometer, a high-performance central processor and a bright display, it’s oddly lightweight and compact. at $299. 95, it’s also more affordable than many of its less impressive competitors. And just two weeks after wearing it, the Pacer Pro is officially in the race for my favorite watch of all time. Here’s why.
Let’s start with the superficial: the Pacer Pro is a horny watch. Neither discreet nor flashy, it’s soft (41 grams) and thin (11. 5 millimeters) and has a screen that jumps safely (more on this soon). both in jeans and a T-shirt and with spandex shorts and a more comfortable short, and it’s one of the few GPS watches I’ve looked for to wear all day, to put it on and take it off for a run. The Pacer Pro is available in black, military blue, brown and white, and the package can be replaced seamlessly via one of Polar’s other 20-millimeter groups.
One of my biggest court cases about smartwatches is how robust many of them are. Clearly designed with the male population in mind, as I run and seem absolutely out of position on my narrow wrists. The Pacer Pro, I’m pleased to point out, is the best match for me and my older husband. The strap is also comfortable, wrapping comfortably around my wrist without squeezing, itching or otherwise distracting me from my career.
The most beautiful feature of the Pacer Pro, in my opinion, is its display. This is a notable advance over older Polar watches, which were not bad at all, due to a number of improvements, including: a thinner glass screen (1. 1 millimeters). ) that it is as durable as before; A reflective color demonstration reminiscent of pixels that makes it incredibly readable in all conditions, even the brightest; and took a step forward in the soft control, which allows you to set the brightness of the screen to high, medium, low or just with the soft button. This description may not mean much until you get your hands on a watch and see how colorful and sharp it is. .
I would never have the Vantage M2, my favorite educational watch before I received the slow Pacer Pro. Now, it would be hard not to. The Pacer Pro has a new CPU (central processing unit) that makes it twice as fast and increases its internal RAM (random access memory) by seven. Basically, this means that the clock “reflects” faster and retail outlets more. information, which reduces the total waiting time and makes the fun smoother.
While strength has long been a key metric for cyclists, cyclists have been slower to see the price of measuring their force production. (Polar has a definition of running force that includes many technical-sounding words, but in terms, if the central rate measures its internal effort, the force measures its external effort. )
For the first time on a Polar racing watch, the Pacer Pro includes an integrated barometer that features real-time mechanical force output in watts. I’m still learning to interpret my running strength, but I like to watch it vary along with the settings. in intensity, either caused by an incline or by an increase in pace.
The Pacer Pro has achieved an improvement in GPS accuracy compared to older Polar watches, which is music to the ears of any runner. In addition to a new antenna design that improves the accuracy of the internal GPS, the watch is compatible with the GLONASS and Galileo global navigation satellite systems. , as well as the QZSS regional satellite navigation systems for East Asia and Oceania. Essentially, you can be virtually anywhere in the world and accept that your watch not only knows where it is, but can also track your speed, distance, and direction with a high degree of accuracy.
While wrist-based center frequency trackers are inherently less accurate than chest- or finger-based trackers, Polar is consistently the way it measures center frequency (and provides much appreciated transparency about its methods). The Pacer Pro’s optimized center frequency tracking can be attributed to an advanced algorithm, a smaller sensor, and the inclusion of 10 LED light control devices covering a variety of wavelengths, as well as 4 light detectors. The result is a larger (though not perfect) reading of what your center is doing while you’re hitting the sidewalk.
If you really care about accuracy, you can buy the H10 center frequency sensor, Polar’s chest belt that costs $89. 95 and is available in two sizes and four colors.
The Pacer Pro is a wonderful watch for a road runner and marathon runner like myself, but it also works for more adventurous and off-road types. It has a handful of features that inspire you to get out and explore, including:
Route and altitude profiles, which you can locate after the race in the Polar Flow app
Step-by-step guide, available when you draw routes in advance and synchronize them with your watch
A return-to-departure function, so you can return to your starting point as temporarily as possible
Automatic slope detection, who knows when to go up or down and takes those altitude settings into account in its functionality information
As any athlete knows, recovery is an integral component of the functionality puzzle. When you keep the watch on at night, it unlocks two of the Pacer Pro’s rest-related features: Sleep Plus Stages automatically tracks the quantity and quality of your sleep; It indicates how much time spent in light, dark, and REM sleep. and marks their night as a whole. And Nightly Recharge takes into account your overall sleep, as well as the habit of your autonomous nervous formula to know how well you have recovered from the previous day.
In my opinion, sleep data is much more valuable than recovery data. This is because the science of sleep is relatively advanced, while recovery, at this point, is an arbitrary measure that can seem very different from one user to another. For this reason, I am susceptible to monitoring my sleep score, but I take recovery with tweezers.
Finally, in the loading section, Serene is a guided breathing training aimed at relieving stress. Depending on the duration and inhale/exhale rate you choose, your watch stops the consultation and guides your breathing with sophisticated vibrations and photographs on the screen. this is a great feature, I don’t expect Serene to update my meditation apps anytime soon.
Data enthusiasts and self-directed runners will appreciate all the educational equipment your Pacer Pro puts at their disposal. Admittedly, I don’t take credit for those characteristics because I’m pretty hooked on my training program with my long-time trainer, and also very skeptical of any device that assigns a number to my fitness. But that’s not to say that many other runners don’t like them. In the Pacer Pro educational toolbox you will find:
Execution of functionality test, which allows you to identify your non-public educational spaces and compare your physical condition at other times.
Running programs, suitable for 5 km, 10 km, part marathon and marathon, and with a duration of nine weeks to 20 months
Season planner, where you can plan and customize seasons (such as basic or quick race preparation)
Training Load Pro, which evaluates how you are striving your cardiovascular and muscular systems
VO2max, a rough measure of your fitness and an even rougher estimate of your aerobic endurance potential
Race index, a calculation made after each race that attempts to approach your maximum aerobic functionality (in other words, your fitness and the speed at which you can travel a variety of distances)
The drum scenery is another strong point of the Pacer Pro. In addition to coming with a small, well-designed magnetic evaluator (much less difficult to connect to the watch than the previous evaluator), the watch has impressive battery life. Used as a watch, it lasts up to 1,032 hours (43 days!), and when using education, it will give you up to a hundred hours in current saving mode and up to 35 hours in education mode (with GPS and central frequency tracking enabled). No matter how you use it, a single rate is meant to last you around a full week. For me, who trains regularly twice a day, it’s more like five or six days.
On top of everything discussed above, the Pacer Pro does everything you’d expect from a working smartwatch and more:
Basic running purposes of pace, time, distance, stopwatch, stopwatch and period stopwatch
Activity tracking for more than 130 other sports and workouts
Push notifications for incoming calls and messages (if desired)
Control music when you sign in to your phone’s apps
Compatibility with a large number of applications.
The only reason I don’t call the Polar Pacer Pro my favorite watch is that the few weeks I wear it seem too short for such an ambitious statement. That’s all I need in a racing smartwatch: lightweight, comfortable, warm, and most importantly. , maximum performance. Compared to previous Polar models, it has a faster processor, GPS and more accurate central frequency tracking, and an exceptionally readable display. It also has an integrated barometer and provides a wealth of educational equipment and recovery information. Wherever you are on your race track, the Polar Pacer Pro is worth its price tag of $299. 95.