Polar Loop Activity Tracker
So, this is the Polar Loop Activity Tracker review. This is the very first tracker made by Polar to get a started in the market. Well, since this is a first gadget of its kind by Polar, it looks like an entry-level device. You may have ready many Polar Loop Activity Tracker reviews to help you make the right decision, so give this review a go as well.
Basically, this is a wrist-worn tracker with a bit more stress on workouts than the majority of fitness trackers out there, and it is geared towards routine activities of an average user. Let us take a look at the design, usability, performance and value of the product.
Design:
In design, the product looks quite like the Nike Fuel Band. Basically, it is a rubber wristband carrying a lot of red LEDs, and these LEDs create a display screen on a side, and then there is a button that allows you to turn on the display and choose the screen you want to use. On the back of the tracker, you have a metal buckle that you can fold in and out to enlarge or close the band.
There is only one size of the product: gigantic. It’s so big that you can put it on your ankle maybe. But there is a solution: you can put it on and tighten it to fit your wrist, and then you can cut off the extra part of the rubber. But you need to be careful when cutting the band.
The LED lights are very bright; you can read the screen even in full sunlight. The only button on the gadget is too small to find and touch, which is a bit troublesome. On the website, both ‘water-resistant and ‘water-proof’ terms are used, so you can swim while the gadget is on your wrist.
Usability: 6/10
In one word, the product is not as easy to use as it should be. If you have not tried a similar product before, you will find that the only button on the gadget is not responsive enough. At times, it needs to be pressed several times before it works.
You can choose from different screens, such as time of day, time spent, calories burnt and the steps taken. Since the altimeter is absent, there is no way to tell the number of floor climbed, and the sleep tracking features will tell you just how long you slept through the website or the app.
As far as apps are concerned, the gadget comes with only one iOS app. While we discovered that an Android app is on the way, but we didn’t get a timeline on the arrival of the app. And this is a big disappointment for the starters. For syncing the band, you can use the iOS or connect the gadget to your computer with a cord, which is not very convenient. Besides, once charged, the device won’t last more than 5 days. On the other hand, you get twice as much battery power with the Withings Pulse and Fitbit Force.
Occasionally, the gadget will let you know how much effort you need to make to reach your goal, such as jogging for half an extra half an hour. The catch is you don’t have any idea when the gadget will show this information and when the information shows up, you don’t get any notification through an alarm or something. So, you don’t know when the info became available. The mobile app is not very useful either.
Performance:
Like other activity tracking gadgets, the Loop makes use of an accelerometer for tracking movement, logging each step taken, and estimating the number of calories burnt on the basis of your movements. The absence of the altimeter means there is not elevation tracking, but it does figure out the intensity of your movement at a certain time.
The rubber wristband is sealed protecting it from water damage when you are swimming or showering. To the band, there is no difference between swimming and walking, so it will show swim statistics as steps walked.
Polar Loop sets itself apart from other gadgets, such as Fitbit Flex with its LED display, which has 4 modes: Activity, Calories burned, Time and Steps. The Steps, Time and Calories burned modes show the stats for the current day and the other mode shows a bar indicating your progress, which is figured based on the data you entered when getting your Loop registered.
To track your data, you have to create an account of Polar Flow. The sign up process won’t cost you anything. You need to provide information about your age, weight and height, and this information will help the gadget figure out your BMI. Disappointingly, you cannot put in your stride length. As a result, the Loop won’t be able to tell whether you have a small or large build.
After registration, you need to install the Flow Sync app for Mac or Windows. Afterwards, you can connect the Loop to your PC for synchronization.
At the time of writing this Polar Loop activity tracker review, the web Polar Flow portal is in beta mode, and you cannot get into the training sessions. As a result, you are left with the Polar Beat application to monitor your runs, or you are stuck with the Diary view, where you start off your routine activity with a visual diary showing the amount of time you spent sitting, lying down, standing, running and walking. Actually, it figures the number of hours you spent sleeping each night. It doesn’t give any advice on how you can improve your sleep patterns. Apart from this, it will show inactivity alerts as well.
The wristband won’t vibrate to give you a reminder about taking a break, which would have been a lot more beneficial than a notification given at the end of the day. There is no way to set specific goals, such as running a specific number of steps.
Unluckily, you cannot add new gym sessions to the Loop’s diary unless you get the optional heart rate monitor, which makes use of the lED display in order to display you real heart rate in addition to let you know the time you are in the set heart rate zone so you can burn fat to stay in shape. But this adds an additional $50 to the price of the gadget, plus you have to bear the weight of another gadget while exercising.
Value:
To cut a long story short, the proprietary charging connector and the absence of an altimeter makes the gadget somewhat unsuitable for new users. But the in-built display is a very big plus point the price point is very reasonable and if you are looking to try a an Activity tracker without splashing too much cash this is the one for you.
Verdict
“The Polar Loop is a cool-looking activity tracker that’s lightweight and comfortable and gives you up-to-date stats right there on your wrist – something the comparably priced Fitbit Flex can’t do to the same degree. We didn’t like the fact that you have to cut the wristband to size and we found set up to be overly fiddly. Polar also needs to update the app as ours crashed frequently while syncing. It’s a shame as with a more intuitive strap setup we would recommend the Polar Loop as its display is better than that on the Fitbit Flex. If you want to go the extra fitness-tracking mile then the Polar Loop has the unique feature of working with the company’s £50 heart-rate sensors, which will excite the more serious sportsperson. With the heart-rate sensor option and the fact that it’s waterproof for swimming the Polar Loop should really appeal to the multi-sports crowd.”