Polar A360 Review

When I received the Polar A360 around Christmas time, I wasn’t sure whether I would wear it daily because I have a number of fashion watches that I rotate through. It immediately replaced all of them. The function I was thrilled about was the heart rate reading it takes from your wrist. I normally take my resting heart rate as soon as I wake up a couple times a week just to ensure that I am healthy and this was absolutely perfect.

It has a little laser in the back that takes your heart rate and when I compared it to other heart rate measurements, it proved to be very accurate.

Another thing I instantly fell in love with was the design. Sleek enough to wear at the office, light enough to wear anywhere, even while sleeping in the shower and sporty for the gym. I was not expecting it to be something that literally never leaves my wrist. In fact, I time the watch recharges to when I am out training with my V800 so I never am not tracking my movements. Basically, the A360 has turned me into an even bigger data junkie than I already was. It also comes in a range of cool band colours.

What does it track?

• Your steps in a day – It counts your steps throughout the day and gives a percentage of your daily goal reached at the end of the day. You can adjust these limits as you go. With my run training and for an extra challenge, I have mine on the maximum setting. If you haven’t reached your steps, it will tell you the amount of activity you have yet to do in order to reach them such as “jog 30 minutes”.
• Your sleep – It is great to have the numbers out there where you can see them. You can make sure you are getting the solid number of restful hours that you need.
• Your calories – It combines your workouts and steps to alongside your physical profile to give you a daily calorie burn.
• Your inactivity – Recently I was in the middle of talking to my boss and I stood up and started pacing. He asked if I had somewhere to go and I just said “No – I know that my watch is going to give me an inactivity alert and I need to move.” Anyways…..this is how well it programs you to move at least once an hour.

• Your heart rate – While I am working out, it is a great tool to ensure that I am staying within my zones and working within the right intensities.

Some of my favourite features:

• the built in heart rate monitor. No more nasty waist chafing from heart rate monitor belts. It is like a dream come true.
• the simple design
• the extensive feedback
• smart phone notifications – you can turn this feature on and off but it allows you to see incoming messages from your wrist.
• it’s fully waterproof so you can wear it anywhere.
• it has a touchscreen and it celebrates when you reach your daily activity goal
• you can sync it to Polar Flow and have any sport profile that you regularly do, including yoga, strength training, swimming, running, cycling and the list goes on.

Some of the things I would change about the watch:

• The screen is black unless you make a specific wrist movement. Sometimes it needs to be exaggerated it and it is not ideal for discretely checking the time in a meeting. You can also press a little button on the side for it to light up.
• I seem to be able to make the screen light up extensively while sleeping though. The first couple nights took a while to get used to the light that would shine when I moved my wrist. A couple nights of wearing it and I adjusted.
• Users should be aware that this watch does not have GPS tracking.

Bottom line? I love this watch. I didn’t need to read the instruction manual which means it is user friendly and intuitive. It literally never leaves my wrist unless I am charging it and I have converted many to use it ranging from my coworkers to my massage therapist without saying a word.

The Polar A360 retails for $274.99 and is like a coach for your wrist. Available online and at most running stores.