Polar Pacer - Best Watch? or a Budget Watch?

[@DudeWithADayJob]

I’ve been waiting a long time to get a proper running watch. I’ve watched many reviews BUT I always end up watching this one again. I’m doing it everyone! I’m ordering my first running watch!!

[@soomad]

Pacer neither has HillSplitter die to the lack of a barometric altimeter. The band is also so stickier on the inside so that it sticks higher up better in my experience. I also place it higher up on the arm if I'm too lazy to put the belt on.

[@kofuzi]

There’s certainly a lot more differences than I mention, but I’m the interests of brevity, I focused on thing I personally use most often

[@DevRunner]

I've seen a couple of reviews on this one that were over the top positive. Glad to see this one with a more well balanced look at the features. Keep pushing Mike!

[@JoshButton]

Great video. The Pacer might be perfect for my partner who is just getting into jogging and cycling.

[@rundreamachieve]

Congratulations @Kofuzi at Grandmas dropping that 2:58.36. VERY well done brother. Continued success to you

[@tsubakichan]

I feel like for a running-focused watch, even the bottom tier should have barometric altimeter. That was the main reason I bought the Coros Pace 2. I feel like Garmin and Polar penalize you for being a trail runner vs a road runner, and that rubs me the wrong way as a sometimes trail runner.

[@kofuzi]

I had a long tangent about how valuable the altimeter is on a wrist based device (especially for someone who lives in a high rise building and runs in the winter with a sleeve covering with watch). But it didn’t make the final edit

[@grimkur]

it also doesn't have a rep and set counter, witch could be a drawback for those who like to gym train as well

[@kofuzi]

perhaps a drawback. I think it depends. Garmin has all of rep and set counter, plus you can enter in how much weight for each exercise. But whenever I'm in the gym, I press the button once to start the activity and then don't touch it again until I end the activity. (I do look at the watch and its activity duration timer to manage recovery periods) otherwise, it's just so many button presses and beeps

[@grimkur]

@@kofuzi yes but it's a feature that is present on other brands (such as garmin like you metioned it above) that just overall add depth to the watch and the features packed in, I brought a pacer pro thinking that it would have a rep counter like every other sport watches of the price range, but it doesn't and when I looked a the updates releases, I saw that the last one for the pacer pro was 2 years ago now. So I don't think polar will release a feature like this any time soon. Or any other features. Polar has a lot of potential, but lacks a lot of key features and more frequent updates in my oppinion..

[@kylethomas85]

Hey Kofuzi, have you ever done a Power comparison between watches like the Pacer Pro and Stryd foot pod? Is there a difference in features and/or accuracy between the two in terms of marathon training? I don’t need mapping, so I’m thinking about whether buying just the Pacer Pro or getting Pacer plus foot pod?

[@misty671]

Thanks. Long time Polar user ready to upgrade. Your vide was helpful. Will probably go with the Pacer Pro.

[@scott_strool]

The name says it all, its their Budget Watch as long as they continue to Offer the Pacer Pro, Vantage V2 and Grit X Pro.

[@kofuzi]

what's in a name? (that could have been an alternative title for the video)

[@RunThePlanet]

Great video Kofuzi. Can I suggest a video about comparing power accuracy from the pacer pro watch vs the another one that uses the footpod ? I'd be interested in that please.

[@tictac9074]

I would be interested too. I do not find the wrist based power readings to be as stable as stryd. But less accurate?? Not sure

[@RunThePlanet]

@@tictac9074 good to hear what your experience is, hope Kofuzi chooses to do a comparison review

[@sx99cornell]

6:31 how to access those "structured workouts?" I can only see workouts like Running, Walking, Swimming, Lifting, Triathlon etc.

[@sandrofloga3413]

how does polar pacer compare to polar vantage M2 ?

[@neletg]

I just bought one yesterday for 119€, I'm overall swimmer, oper water swimmer and bikepacker, so I presume it's OK for me.

[@nurbek86]

Great video. Did you test out Coros Pce 2. Same $200 price tag - sleep tracking and everything else. But it has coros evo lab built in it.

Great review! Just one question - is there any chance how to make the structured workouts’ phases divided as they would have been divided by the lap button click. I mean I need to verify my measurements in those phases based on actual pace/hr/power in the lap and zones seems too coarse for me. I guess not od maybe I have not found the functionality in the Polar Flow.

[@Matt-iy2cf]

Does it display real time pace or only average 1k pace? I could not find info anywhere…

[@jrigg04]

Watched this and the coros pace 2 review. Which do you prefer? The polar seems to have a nice system for tracking runs. I mainly do road runs and don’t need anything super fancy - just something better than my iPhone/Apple Watch.

[@kofuzi]

I haven’t tested the Pace 2 personally (only the Apex). But I think these two watches are in the same category. A lot of features in a small albeit toylike package. These and probably the garmin fr 255 are the watches you should consider

[@redpill2634]

Will you ever do review on xaomi smart bands? are they just a gimmick or budget kings?

[@TheRealJohnMadden]

I purchased the Forerunner 45 kind of as an entry-way into fitness watches and I'm kind of upset I didn't know about Polar. I feel as though I really missed out on a fantastic watch with a bigger face and more features. Oh well, I get paid 3 times in June so no big deal.

[@i_jaysmith]

I don't necessaitly want a running watch, more an activity tracker so records steps, sleep and my daily workouts. At the moment I use a polar chaest strap- I have done for years and i like it- but feel like I want to have a watch to track additional info rather than have a separate smartwatch. What would be the best polar watch in my case?

[@joaom8]

Polar unite or ignite

[@PhiyackYuh]

Good budget watch for triathlon?

[@InteligentCentre]

i work at polar electro malaysia bukit minyak Penang

[@jimbeam4736]

Those HR-zones don´t work for me in training because 1 zone is such a narrow band of HR that I´ll constantly fall out of it and all the beeping stresses me out. Can I set 2 zones at once? Like I would like to stay in zone 2-3 for the training? That would be doable for a recovery run. So, did you compare Polar watches with Garmin watches? My Polar Vantage died and I´m not sure if Garmin would provide me with the same level of data analytics like Polar.

[@kofuzi]

you can set custom zones, but I would double check with someone to ensure that you're not vanity sizing your HR zones, so to speak

[@VinceHill]

Are you coming to Canada this summer?

[@kofuzi]

unfortunately, it's not currently in the plans

[@RunTommy123]

Ha you have to pick the ONE day that @PolarGobal has a scheduled outage . . .

[@kofuzi]

We don’t coordinate

[@LuisBecerra79]

Yo, what’s going on!!!

[@thisguy2973]

I’m new to run-specific tech. I have an Apple Watch that I started out with, but I noticed when running races, it actually has undercounted each time, sometimes as much as half a mile. What running watch do you normally use and which heart rate strap?

[@kofuzi]

I wear a variety of watches for testing purposes, but I tend to gravitate towards Polar watches. I like the Vantage V2, but the Pacer Pro that I reviewed last month will probably replace that. Currently, I'm wearing the Garmin 255 for testing

[@GotDamBoi]

I have a Garmin Forerunner 45s and have the same problem. If I run on a trail i'm consistently getting undercut .5 - 1 mile for every 4-5 miles I actually run. But I can go for a 30 mile bike ride and it's only off .2 miles over that entire 30 mile stretch. Weird.

[@generalhorst8831]

@@kofuzi What about the FR55? Wouldnt that be the more accurate comparison price wise, do you think its more about deciding which Ecosystem you want to be a part of software wise at that point?

[@TranceMusic20]

I'm interested in treadmill accuracy of polar pacer. I need to know how many meters it's adding extra or short.

[@kofuzi]

Extra or short compared to your treadmill? That depends on how accurate your treadmill is

[@TheZlantan1926]

you should do a review for the polar watches after one year of usage,now it is pointless

[@Chris-vt4gc]

That doesn't make sense. I don't want to wait a year to consider buying a just released new watch.

[@TheZlantan1926]

@@Chris-vt4gc i have vantage v the first year was working perfect and now is a disaster

[@Chris-vt4gc]

@@TheZlantan1926 Sorry to hear that. Good luck with your next watch.