Polar debuts Grit X Pro sports watch alongside big updates to the Vantage V2 and Unite lineup

Polar has announced a number of hardware and software changes to its lineup of sports watches, headlined by the arrival of the new top-end Grit X Pro.

The Finnish company unveiled the follow-up to the standard Grit X alongside two new versions of the Vantage V2 - the Shift Edition and Vantage M2 Red - as well as new colourways for the Polar Unite.

The Grit X Pro picks up from where the regular Grit X left off, giving outdoorsy types a new premium option to consider against the offerings from Garmin, Suunto and the likes.

This latest model, which comes in at £439 / $499, features 40-hour battery life during GPS and HR tracking, 100 hours using power-saving options and up to seven days in watch mode with 24/7 tracking. 

Polar says that the design has been tested against military standards, and it can withstand water pressure up to 100m and temperatures that range from -20 to 50 degrees Celcius. As is typical in the space with premium watches, the display is also protected by scratch-resistant sapphire glass.

As you'd expect, this new sports watch - as well as the lighter, more premium build Grit X Pro Titan edition (£519 / $599) - are the showcases for all of Polar's software smarts, and there's a couple of new additions here.

There's now the option for an always-on outdoor dashboard, showing barometric-based altimeter, location coordinates, sunrise/sunset times and compass information. Route and elevation profiles are also new, with turn-by-turn guidance from Komoot providing the ups and downs of a journey and the TrackBack feature reversing your route automatically.

These come alongside the comprehensive Polar package, which includes features and tracking metrics like Running Power, Training Load Pro, Recovery Pro, Sleep Plus Stages and Nightly Recharge.

Updates to Vantage V2 and Unite

The Grit X Pro also isn't the only new arrival, either as we mentioned up top. The popular Vantage V2 model is getting a couple of new editions - Shift and Red - while also receiving all the new features landing with Grit X Pro via a software update.

Vantage V2 Shift comes in both silver and black colourways, featuring quick-release bars for the bands that allow the user to switch between a leather wrist strap and a functional FKM one. The Red edition, meanwhile, is just a new option for those who want to add a splash of colour to their wrist.

The Polar Unite is also receiving a lick of paint, with the company unveiling both red and teal case options for the entry-level sports watch. Like the other two watches, it'll also carry over some of the new features coming in the software update, such as Weekly Summary and Energy Sources (which offers insights into what kind of calories you're burning).

All in all, this represents a considerable tweak to the key players in Polar's watch ecosystem, and one that helps it keep pace with rivals. There's nothing especially groundbreaking here in terms of hardware, but the iterative updates and software drop does keep the already-strong lineup feeling fresh.

We'll be testing out the Grit X Pro in due course, so stay tuned for our full verdict.

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