Polar just got its hydration vest on, laced up its trail shoes and took its first serious step into the world of ultra trail running with a brand new outdoor multisport watch – the Polar Grit X – that packs a max 100-hour GPS battery life, intensity-based fuelling advice, segmented ascent and descent splits, turn-by-turn route mapping on the wrist, built-in GPS, heart rate, compass and altimeter.
Built with ultra trails and ultra runners in mind, the Grit X is Polar’s first foray into the more rugged outdoors space. Of course, you can use the Vantage V to run trails but the Grit X is geared up specifically for the job or going long and getting high.
And it’ll go up against some very capable existing devices like the Garmin Fenix, Suunto 9 and Coros Vertix.
Built to US military-grade standard (MIL-STD-810G), the battery life, fuelling recommendations, hill split and mapping features will take the headlines here but the Grit X also carries the best of the intelligent training and recovery features from the Vantage V and the Polar Ignite.
That includes running power from the wrist, Training Load Pro and Nightly Recharge advanced sleep and recovery insights, as well as FitSpark workout recommendations and guided sessions based on your readiness to train.
The big Polar Grit X features that make the watch stand out
FuelWise: Smart recommendation for bonk-avoidance
Chat to any endurance runner and they’ll definitely have a story when they got their fuelling wrong with race-wrecking consequences. And getting it right is 50 per cent art, 50 per cent science. The Polar Grit X wants to help with the science bit with a carbs reminder and drinks reminder feature that’ll help you know when to top up those dwindling glycogen stores.
On a marathon with water stations, this is easier to manage but once you go ultra, you’re on your own. Your brain can go and it’s all too easy to forget to fuel. And there’s never been a decent aid to help you with this.
FuelWise wants to solve that. The automated fuel estimate feature lets you enter the duration and intensity of the sessions in advance and the Grit X will recommend the amount of carbs you need to fuel your session and then remind you during the run.
We haven’t got the exact method used to estimate your needs, other than your physical information and your training is taken into account in the calculations, as is the carbs content and portion size of your prefered fuel source.
You can also set a manual reminder if you know your fuelling well enough. That’s a step on from using watch alarms.
Perhaps even more interestingly you also get a detailed report post event, breaking down your energy usage into fat, carbs and protein. This is presumably based on where you’re working in the heart rate zones.
Hill splitter: Getting into the ups and the downs
The Grit X offers automatic elevation tracking. That’s not a new thing in running watch world – you can get that on the Garmin Fenix 6 – but the Polar Grit X goes one step further.
It offers the ability to segment your ascent and descent splits, so you can get your speeds for the climb and windmilling down sections separately and see how effective your running is on the ups and the downs.
The benefit? You get more granular details that helps you spot your strengths and weaknesses.
KOMOOT mapping: Route guidance on the wrist
You can now plan routes using the web and app route creator KOMOOT, send them to your watch and follow turn-by-turn guidance on the wrist.
Battery Life: Built for big miles
It claims a 40-hour GPS battery life in regular tracking mode. Only the Garmin Fenix 6 X Pro (60 hours), the Coros Vertix (60 hours) and the Polar Vantage V (40 hours) go as long or longer on paper.
In ultra-trac, lower-power GPS mode, the Grit X claims 100 hours. Again only the Garmin Fenix 6 X Pro (120 hours), the Coros Vertic (150 hours) plus the Suunto Baro 9 (120 hours) and the Coros Apex Pro (100 hours), go as long or longer.
Polar Grit X price and availability
The Polar Grit X is available to buy now, priced at £379. That puts it somewhere between the mid-range and the top range for a GPS running watch. And if this watch does what it says it does reliably, then that will make it one of the biggest bargains you can buy.
A full £240 cheaper than the Garmin Fenix 6 X Pro.
£120 cheaper than the Suunto 9 Baro.
£90 cheaper than the Garmin Forerunner 945
It’s cheaper even than the Polar Vantage V by close to £60.
Polar Grit X specs
- Price: £379.00, polar.com
- Weight: 68g
- Sizes: Small/medium and medium/large.
- GPS battery life: 40 hours
- GPS battery life (low power mode): 100 hours
- Optical heart rate: Precision Prime
- GPS, altimeter, compass
Polar Grit X: Initial reaction
On paper the Grit X has some really exciting new features for ultra runners. And it’s great to see Polar trying to do something different with its FuelWise and Hill Splitter features.
That big battery life makes it nicely competitive with the longest-lasting devices out there and you’ve got all of the best bits from Polar’s previous watches that give it a really broad reach in terms of tracking and insights.
The big caveat, as always, is does it all work? Is it accurate, well implemented and easy to use?
I’ll be putting all this new tech to the test with my fellow Run Testers in a full multi-tester Polar Grit X review once my sample arrives in the coming days.
But if it works, this watch could be one of the most serious ultra running tools we’ve seen in a long while.
