I love my Polar Loop!
It’s 2015 and what am I up to? Hopefully getting back into the blogging groove for one, but I’m also thinking about being healthier. That’s a common resolution, and I can see evidence of this at my gym, and also at work around people’s wrists. Yes I’m talking about the new activity tracker fad. They’ve been around for a while, but this year it seems to have become more popular with Fitbit taking the lead. So did I get one too? Actually no. I’m not the kind of person who joins the pack without question. I’m more like this Far Side cartoon. Something is wrong, and everyone is jumping off the cliff, but I have an intertube on because this just doesn’t compute. Why are we swimming to a piece of land that no longer exists, and drown as a result? Hmmm…No thank you.
So what did I choose? After tons of research, I came up with the Polar Loop. If you look at the picture of the popular activity trackers below, you don’t see the Polar Loop in there. Why? Because it’s in a totally different class. It can track your heart rate with the use of a bluetooth monitor.
The big thing I learned during my research is one doesn’t fit all. You have to ask yourself things like, “Why do I want this? What features are important to me?” Well for me, I wanted something that was a visual reminder of my goals, a tracker to show me how useful my workouts are, and something to give me some tips and tricks, and oh yeah, tracking my sleep habits would be cool as a side note. If I didn’t have to take it off when I got into the shower that would be cool too.
As you can see, this thing lights up, showing me things like it’s time to move when I’ve been sitting too long. I don’t have to remember to look at my phone to notice I’m being lazy. It tells me in real time. I’ve actually replaced my watch with this because it also shows me the time. I love to ride in bicycle rides, and used to wear a polar watch and heart rate monitor. The cool thing about this thing is, I don’t’ have to swap out watches. I just put on my polar heart rate sensor like I always have, and just like that, it knows its there and displays my heart rate. I also don’t have to tap it to tell it I’m about to go to sleep. It knows that too. Another bonus is this thing is fully waterproof, not just water resistant. I can go swimming with it. YAY!
So I’ve told you about the pros, but certainly there are some cons right? Yes.If you want to get involved with a community online, this is not the one for you. You will want a Fitbit. Polar has an online presence, but it’s not as good. I don’t care about that really. I’m busy enough with twitter, blogging and Facebook so this goes back to what’s important to you. The other thing is even though it syncs with your phone, I had to turn that off. It was draining my battery every day. I looked for a way to limit how often it syncs, but haven’t found one yet. I can still sync it with my computer and review my stats so this works fine. I can see what I want right there on my wrist in real time.
When you get it, you have to take scissors to it in order to fit the band to your wrist. It’s not as scary as it sounds. They give you tools to make sure you do it right. The result is a more comfortable band with a durable clasp. Also, the button you tap to display the other screens is a bit finicky. I had a hard time trying to figure out how to consistently wake it up, but after some practice I don’t even think about it anymore.
So what are my final thoughts? I love my Polar Loop, and I don’t get nearly enough sleep. If you are interested in this little gem, here’s the link it on Amazon. Polar Loop