The Polar Grit X2 Pro is rugged but expensive

Polar’s latest fitness watch, as the name alludes to, is a rugged, adventure-focused device. This second interaction is 15% larger than the first Grit X Pro and sees quite a few improvements related to performance and durability. That includes Polar’s first-ever MIL-STD-810H certification, a faster processor, updated dual-frequency GNSS/GPS with redesigned antenna, and Strava Route syncing. There are also some sensor upgrades, such as a boost to Polar’s 4th-gen optical heart rate sensor, added nightly skin temperature readings, and a heart rate error correction feature.

The Grit X2 Pro is situated to rival Garmin’s Fenix 7 and Epix Pro 2 watches, both of which I’ve used and loved. But does it meet that high bar?

Polar Grit X2 Pro

A rugged fitness watch built for adventure

The Polar Grit X2 is an adventure-ready fitness watch built with a sapphire crystal lens and titanium case and tested to military standards for superb durability. It offers helpful health tracking and workout suggestions, but lacks some key features we’d expect at such a premium price. 

Pros

• Rugged build
• Built-in maps are helpful for navigating in the backcountry
• Good battery life
• Lots of activity types for tracking
• Bright display
• Helpful workout suggestions

Cons

• Gesture recognition isn’t great
• Rather basic features for a premium price
• Only one case size available

Price, availability, and specs

The Polar Grit X2 is available for $750 in either Night Black or Stone Gray colors.

What I liked about the Polar Grit X2 Pro

Plenty of adventure-focused features

As someone who spends a lot of time in the outdoors, I’m a fan of rugged watches — which is just what the Grit X2 Pro is. It features a sapphire crystal glass and stainless-steel bezel and is tested to military standards. It’s also able to withstand water pressure up to 333 feet, so it can easily be worn when swimming. I live in sandy, flat Florida, where my watches don’t get much exposure to rocky environments, but even still, I’m not very careful with what I do while wearing a watch. Even after a few weeks, it looks brand new with not so much as a scratch or ding on it.

Robust battery life is essential on adventure watches, and Polar delivers here. Polar promises 10 days of life in smartwatch mode and 43hrs in GPS training mode. I haven’t completed any long activities with the watch yet, but wearing it daily (including at night) with at least one activity recorded each day, I was able to get roughly 9 days on a single charge. You know battery life is good when you forget when the last time you charged it was, which would have happened to me if I hadn’t taken notes.

Another must for me in an adventure watch is easy access to maps for navigation. I hike a lot, so having access to a map and compass gives me peace of mind. The Grit X2 Pro comes preloaded with basic US and European maps. Once on the watch, the maps are easy to use with snappy performance. You can use the maps for general navigation at any point, but you also get access to them for certain activities such as hiking. I used the map to check how far I had before getting back to my car on one hike and used it to verify I was on the right track on several more. It gives me a better piece of mind that I won’t get lost.

One common thread through Polar’s ecosystem is the daily workout suggestions, which are available on the Grit X2 Pro. What I really appreciate about Polar’s suggestions is that they go beyond only running workouts. Instead, it suggests either a strength workout, cardio, or what it calls supportive (a stretching routine) based on your current recovery metrics. I had a long strength training workout one morning, and the watch that afternoon recommended a supportive workout instead of pushing a run on me. It results in a more well-rounded fitness plan, which I appreciate.

On top of a variety of suggested workouts, you can choose to record a wide range of activity types. There’s even an option to record baseball, which I’ve been using when I play catch with my husband lately. I’ve found the built-in heart rate monitor to be accurate for the types of activities I do (mostly walking, running, hiking, and weight lifting). The GPS is also mostly accurate, although it seems to have more wobbles in tracking than my Garmin and occasionally really goes off the rails. It was consistently just slightly lower than my Garmin when reporting distance, but by roughly 0.03 miles, so definitely not enough to make a difference for most.

What I didn’t like about the Polar Grit X2 Pro

Basic features at a premium price

While I liked a lot about the Polar Grit X2 Pro, there are also quite a few frustrating things. Most of those frustrations surround the fact that it is a very expensive watch, yet decidedly lacks features one would expect at this price range. In terms of smartwatch features, there’s no onboard music storage, no NFC payments, and no ambient light sensor to adjust display brightness automatically. There’s also no Wi-Fi connectivity, so if you want to download maps, you need to plug the watch into a computer.

The above misses are relatively minor and easy to overlook. From my perspective, the bigger issue is the lack of athlete-focused features. Most notably, there is no on-watch support for training programs like TrainingPeaks, which is one of the most commonly used platforms for athletes. Serious athletes will likely want to skip the Grit X2 Pro as a result.

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Although this is a bit of a niche annoyance, I spend a lot of time in the gym working on strength training, and the Grit X2 Pro was quite disappointing in that setting. The watch doesn’t count sets or reps, which is annoying on its own, but the big issue is that it then doesn’t show me the time between sets. It displays the overall length of my workout, but then I need to pay close attention to the time when I end a set so I know when to begin again.

There is a rest assist mode during strength workouts, but that is based on heart rate, which can be problematic depending on the workout. Without getting too in the weeds, heart rate is not the main consideration for rest time when weight lifting, so it isn’t at all helpful in that situation. While doing bench press, for example, it tells me to start the next set about 30 seconds after ending a set, which is much too fast for most lifting situations.

Should you buy the Polar Grit X2 Pro?

While overall, I liked the Grit X2, at its current price, I’d be hard-pressed to recommend it to anyone. You can get a lot more features at the same price by opting for other brands. You can even get all the same hardware, albeit in a less aggressively designed or durable package, in the cheaper Polar Vantage V3. If you’re already in the Polar ecosystem and want an indestructible watch, then the Grit X2 Pro may be a great option. But if you are weighing your options across any brand, I’d suggest going in a different direction.

Polar Grit X2 Pro

A rugged fitness watch built for adventure