Des, you may be psychic. Literally the watch I've been looking at and the first thing that come to mind was "I wonder is @DesFit has done a review on this", and you upload this. Firstly, keep out of my mind, secondly, thank you! Amazing in depth review and just what I was looking for!
Thank you for sharing kind sir. I am moving from an Ignite to an Ignite 3 and I am excited. My ignite went weird supersized blue text on all screens after 4 years…hoping that does not happen again.
That display surely is gorgeous, and the bezel seems to have improved quite a lot. Now I'm wondering should we expect the Grit X 2 and the Vantage V3 coming anytime soon, I was actually saving to upgrade to the Polar Grit X Pro, and now I'm uncertain about it 😅
Grit x pro user, I went from vantage v1 and its gorgeous. Great looking, works without reset for a year. A little dimmer screen and less responsive screen but overall great watch
@@redos111 yeah, I've heard a lot about dim display but I think that's normal for a sapphire display, it's worth the tradeoff if you're planning to really use it outdoors. I'm currently using a Polar Vantage M2, not the brightest display either and I'm happy with it as my everyday space has plenty of natural light, but I'd like the extra features when I go off-road every weekend, plus the more rigged build being piece of mind, as I have broken a few screen protectors already 😅 I guess I'll save wait until March to April and then make a purchase on what's available, to be honest the Grit X Pro is gorgeous already, battery seems to be good enough and I don't really need full topo maps on a whatch.
Polar has released several bugfixes claiming to improve GPS and UI performance. Any chance you coupd check how much the watch performs today compared to its release?
I was using a FitBit Sense for a while and then heard that Google was going to ship the Google Pixel watch and was wondering whether I wanted to switch. I owned the first iteration of the Ignite some time ago but wound up switching away after trying an Apple Watch SE. But as I swapped back to Android eventually I landed on the FitBit Sense. After watching your reviews on the Pixel and the Ignite, I wound up mulling it over and grabbed the Ignite 3. The Pixel, while it had more smartwatch features, meant short battery life and I remember how it was with the Apple Watch so I wasn't looking forward to going back to that. I know well all the paid features from FitBit and their recovery recommendations are often confusing and difficult to decipher and just mostly feel arbitrary. If you exercised the watch will tell you you need to recover, and maybe you don't, but because you exercised it decided that you needed to do it. Anyway, they improved some of the smart features of the Ignite 3, for example you can block which apps send you notifications, you can now decide whether or not you see those notifications while training. If your Android watch notification has extra actions (for example you have a reminder you want to mark as done) you can execute them from the Ignite. It's also a lot lighter than the FitBit Sense, has better battery, and the way they do sleep tracking and HRV with the Nightly Recharge I find is better than the FitBit. The FitBit only really flagged me as "out of range" with my HRV values once when I had COVID, and yes it was helpful as it showed my fever carried on through the night. But otherwise their "normal range" values for HRV and heart rate are quite wide and they don't really help for recovery. It is nice that you can see 3 months worth of data however as even though I was always in range I could still see from the charts I have certain patterns, which are harder to see with the Ignite. I wish the Ignite 3 had resting heart rate, but Google Fit will extrapolate it for you, so that's not too bad I guess. Funny enough both the FitBit Sense and Ignite 3 gave me similar VO2 Max results. The Sense does it by checking your average heart rate, the Ignite 3 does it by one of 3 tests, I used the one you do laying down. Overall, I find more useful information with the Polar, I find the cardio load more useful and the Sleep Wise feature, while not 100% accurate does mirror my energy levels to a degree. Also this information does not sit behind a paywall. Combine it with the watch being prettier and lighter than the Sense, I am happier with the Ignite 3.
Finally! Polar has done something different. I was really starting to worry about them. Do you think if I do a strength workout without the watch with a polar strap, I will get the same metrics as long as I use the watch day by day? I still want to use my garmin for strength training.
So if you have a polar h10, you can record the workout on it with the polar beat app & and that syncs to your watch/polar flow automatically Other than i guess you need to find out if you can import a .fit file into polar flow.
100% satisfied with the Ignite 3 until I became incapacitated and needed to cycle indoors. Unfortunately disappointed to find out the unit does not pair with any speed or cadence sensors since it relies on GPS for speed and distance so cannot be used indoors on a trainer or if cadence is needed outdoors.
Hmmm....might this be a Polar watch, I could entertain wearing all day. It has been their Achilles heel for me, as they always looked like a sports watch you had forgotten to take off. In saying that, they really need some onboard music and a payment option, to lure me away from my Garmins.
I think it's very much the same as the difference between a Forerunner and a Venu where they reserve some of the more sports focused features like cycling tests and such for the Pacer Pro and the AMOLED display for the Ignite 3. Thanks!
Hi.Very helpful review. Thank you. Could you please compare polar ignite 2 and 3 on the calorie counter. Did they improve the work of the algorithm? Has the polar ignite 3 made progress here and is it more accurate. Please check it out.
Your reviews are awesome! I am so glad I came across your page. I am trying to decide between the Polar Ignite 3 and the Garmin Venu 2+. My focus area is movement for fat loss. I am currently running and doing HIIT but would eventually like to add swimming. Do you have a suggestion of which watch would do better for those activities? I do Les Mills workouts and I know the Polar app has those specifically so that is why a Polar watch is in the running. Current watch is a Samsung Galaxy Gen 2 but I don't think it's accurate as it tells me I have taken steps when I have in fact not.
So funny. My wife and I both agreed that this watch strap is a bust. I guess it's easy to change out for something different but it's just odd that Polar didn't put something nicer on here. 🤷♂
Thanks for the review. I have two questions. 1.) How is the battery life compared to tje Ignite 2 2.) Can you use a screen protector or would it make the touchscreen insensitive. Thanks
have you noticed that higher brightness in always-on screen mode when you look at the screen the brightness is on super high level and then it goes back to the normal level - do you think it is fixable by them in the upgrade? it annoys me so much btw great review!!
For a runner, does it port many of the same features that you'd see in the Pacer, or has it slimmed down the running features to avoid canibalizing sales from the Pacer?
Unsure exactly. He had taller buildings to deal with but his wide open sections posed more issues than me for some reason. Conclusion is about the same though where although it does have a dual-band chipset, its not necessarily on par with other watches with the same technology.
Still use basic polar ignite until the option to turn off auto screen light with every wrist tilt! Can it be turned off yet?? Nothing like saying here I am with a glowing wrist on evening walks alone or suddenly being blinded checking the mail at night, etc. 😖
@@Criticalmaze I've Misplaced it, oy! Needs a locator app lol but it's always seemed right at least. Shows low resting heart rates like I know I have and no highs . I'll do a manual pulse and comparison when it turns up.
@@Criticalmaze Well I just replied and it's deleted or somewhere else but yeah I misplaced it recently but will do a manual pulse - comparison when it turns up. Thing needs a locator app lol. HR accuracy has seemed okay, shows pretty low resting heart rates that I know I have and no highs with low intensity etc.
You can see it in the ANS charge details on the watch itself but to be perfectly honest I can’t seem to track it down in the app or website. So if you’re looking for historical information in regards to HRV it may not be readily available. However the combination of Nightly Recharge, ANS charge, and the new SleepWise, it should provide similar feedback.
@@DesFit The ANS details can be accessed if you drill into Nightly Recharge / ANS Charge in the Polar Flow app (with detailed graphs). Nightly Recharge still hasn't made it to Polar Flow web, though. Which is a shame, because Polar Flow web is where you go for trends.
