Polar Ignite – Fitness Watch with Advanced Wrist-Based
Polar Ignite – Fitness Watch with Advanced Wrist-Based Optical Heart Rate Monitor, Training Guide, GPS, Waterproof
From the brand
Polar Flow
Polar’s free app and webservice platform, providing personalised online training and guidance .
See your progress, set your goals, plan your sessions, and analyse your performance with all of your exercise and sleep data synced automatically.
Polar Flow syncs to a wide range of popular apps (Strava, Nike Training Club, Peloton, and more).
| Weight: | 35 Grams |
| Size: | S |
| Dimensions: | 0.43 x 0.43 x 0.09 cm; 35 Grams |
| Brand: | Polar |
| Model: | 90071065 |
| Colour: | Black |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Polymer batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | Polar |
| Age: | Adult |
| Department: | Unisex |
| Dimensions: | 0.43 x 0.43 x 0.09 cm; 35 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | S |
Colour tones that suit my wife. Battery life good as is the range of data availble including exercise, heart rate and sleep.
I bought the Polar Ignite primarily to track my swimming laps and it does this brilliantly. It is very precise, down to even telling you what stroke you were doing and this makes me very happy.
The only drawback I could mention with it is the sleep program. I can’t seem to get to grips with it, it either records too much sleep or not enough. This is mostly my own fault as i havent read the manual on how this aspect of the watch works.
For everything else though I give it a 10/10. Well worth the money.
Also having bought several other smart watches that proclaimed to be the same thing, this one IS actually waterproof!!
I have had it ten days and the sleep tracker has failed twice, but that’s not a big deal for me as I bought it for heart monitoring and exercise tracking on the advice of my cardiology doctor.
This was bought mainly as a training aid for a Kayaker. Works well in this capacity, links well with polar chest strap and watch can be programmed to stay lit to see heart rate while training. The sleep information was unexpected good too and is proving useful. Easy to use, fairly bulky watch but looks nice. Very happy with this.
I have had this for a few years, originally purchased because a heart condition forced me to slow down on my bike and this handy device tells me all I need to know about my pulse and whether I need to ease up.
It records all the information I need, avg speed, distance, heart rate broken down into zones, altitude and calory burn. It works perfectly and if you don;t need to control music (bad idea when cycling) you can save money on the newer version.
It was easy to set up and being a pensioner it was nice to feel that i understood what I was doing
It does what it says on the tin. It is perfect for what I need in terms of variety of training tracking indoor and outdoor.
To be accurate you have to wear it tight but will get used to it. The screen is not too sensitive touch.
This maybe just a basic polar tracker, and i am tempted maybe too upgrade too more expensive polar tracker when needed, also seems too be very detailed on my sleep pattern, and let’s me know if i have achieved a good rate of sleep too go for my goals next day, my only complaint so far is battery life seems too be short lived compared too the other tracker i used, 4/5 days max is all I’ve been able too go without recharging it, hopefully an upgrade might bring a bit more battery life between recharge.
A really good looking smart watch. Only had it just over a month so still reviewing. I do question the amount of steps it registers, but I’m really pleased it syncs to Les Mills workouts. As for the sleep tracking, again I’m undecided. But for how much it cost I’m pleased with my purchase
Overall I like it for tracking sleep and activity. Looks great battery lasts well and charges quickly. Only disappointment is with the GPS accuracy it’s pretty useless for recording my 5k runs always over half a km out.
Bought this as a present for my partner and she absolutely loves it. She was using a Fitbit Alta, but it has started to become really unreliable. After reading reviews of different devices, and not wanting to spend the sort of money an Apple Watch, for example, would cost, I decided to get this. Interestingly, one of the features reviews graded this watch down for was that you have to manually set the exercise you’re doing. This, however, was one of the selling points for me! The automatic euro selection on the Fitbit was really unreliable and it had no option to set it yourself! The variety of workouts you can select is wide, and there are many other features which three months in she is still finding out about. Highly recommend.
I have used this constantly since buying it. Good battery life and functionality. Sleep detection is not as accurate as it could be – it often detects me as sleep when I am reading or watching TV.
I had read lots of good reviews about the Polar Ignite and as I do lots of Les Mills workouts this seemed like the best option as it links directly with them via the app. The watch is great and battery life is excellent as well as only taking about 20 mins to fully charge so easily done whilst in the shower after a workout! The training features and app are really easy to navigate and provide a comprehensive training record as well as linking with Strava etc. The GPS feature is great as it records all walks, runs and bike rides with a full map afterwards although I did have one walk where it recorded some bizarre route I hadn’t actually done – has not happened since that one episode.
2 minor irritations are that the wrist twist to get it to light up is very hit and miss which is annoying when you just want to check the time: there is no problem when working out as you have a feature to allow it to stay lit up during the workout. Also, when you are recording a long walk or bike ride you cannot actually see what the time is whilst it is recording. Can be a bit of a nuisance if out for a prolonged period as you cannot check your watch just for the time!
Overall it is an excellent fitness watch for the money and well worth while.
I bought a ‘used – acceptable’ Polar Ignite and it was just that in terms of condition. Couple of very small dents in rim of watch which were perfectly fine and expected, but there was a lot more wear on the buckle of the watch strap so it had obviously been heavily used previously. So I was initially a bit disappointed.
In many ways the watch is disappointing and many of the reviews are right – it’s extremely slow to light up when you move your wrist and then for a frustratingly short amount of time. And it’s totally hit and miss moving your wrist to light it up – just when you think you’ve got the knack it won’t light up. And I just can’t get it to light up with movement when lying down – yet it comes on randomly when in bed.
The touch screen responsiveness is also slow and clunky. Compared with any modern mobile phone it feels ten years out of date.
However… however. I’ve kind of fallen in love with it. It’s light and sits nicely on my wrist – I barely notice it, and love how it looks. The design of the display when it does light up is also lovely… it has personality and the features like nightly recharge and fitspark advising what exercise to do are addictive and I find myself looking forward to them and taking their advice.
I bought the OH1 arm strap heart rate monitor to use for kettlebell training so I don’t destroy the watch and they pair effortlessly and everything tracks well in the polar flow app. I use for kettlebells, rowing and walks and has all the data I need and I’m finding it really interesting.
So all in all – it’s clunky and feels slow and old fashioned, but I love it!
I bought this having tried two Garmin Forerunner 45 and having problems with cadence lock and intermittent heart rate logging. Polar use electrical contacts and multiple LEDs to assure greater accuracy and it certainly works for me. Delighted with this and found sleep tracking to be more reflective of reality too. Use mainly for running and love the big clear display with all stats clearly visible on one screen. Basically, exactly what I’m looking for in a tracker. Battery lasts about 3 days and quick to charge, usually just top up charge when in shower (it is waterproof for swimming though if you want to). It’s Finnish.
This was to replace a fitbit. I was unsure if I’d cope with the large screen on my small wrist but it’s fine. Does make it clearer to read. More accurate heart rate than fitbit. I also wanted to link up to polar h10 HR strap for more accuracy which is easy to do. Can also have screen permanently on when cycling to put on handlebars when using HR strap. Good training options and reminders. Polar flow easy to access. Will upload straight into Strava.
Very happy with purchase.
This watch is a great gateway into insights of your fitness level and activities. Few things to note. The step counting is way to generous, battery life is not as good as advertised and there is no way to turn it off when not in use which seems odd.
I found Garmin to be clunky, rubbish software and very inaccurate GPS on bike rides, the only positive was the wrist based HR.
Now that Polar are offering a wrist based HR at a reasonable price I bought the Ignite. Its much smarter and more compact than the Garmin equivalent and looks more like a smartwatch.
The battery life is very impressive for a device that constantly measures HR – and up to 17 hours training time.
Accurate GPS.
The only downsde was that the orange variant was much more expensive.
So far so good
I Just received my Ignite, after setting it up I must say I really like it.
I am not a runner so I don’t find the screen to be fiddly. It could be a bit more responsive, but when I compare it to my FitBit Inspire HR, I find the screen as more or less the same responsiveness.
The way the navigation is organised might need some getting used to, but it’s quite simple once you get the hang of it.
Also not being a runner I don’t care for the lack of music service. For what I want it this has all the features I need.
I do mainly strength training with added cardio to complement the training. The cardio rarely ever takes the shape of a walk or a cycle. What I need is the sleep track feature, the HRV/recovery feature, the ability to track heart rate and the integration with Polar Flow which then tells me whether I am overtraining or detraining.
This watch has exactly these features and a few more (for example it shows you what you have planned) and for me it is a perfect fit.
Although I prefer the looks of the FitBit I do like this and I do appreciate that it uses standard straps so you can easily replace them rather than breaking the bank with proprietary ones.
Good little fitness tracker. More comprehensive than a Fitbit.
Only downside is that the sleep tracking is not very accurate and doesn’t always recognise when you nod off.
I don’t think the HR sensor in the actual watch is accurate Sinai purchased the Polar H10 chest strap to go with it and it works a treat.
Battery holds well, stats are somewhat interesting.
A few shortcomings:
– can’t easily skip a break during interval runs (useful if you are running in a group)
– the gps is not super accurate at times; it is fine as a general estimate though (I guess it depends on satellite signal/weather)
I was going to hold off until I could get a Samsung Active 2 with my phone upgrade, but read enough about how inaccurate its HRT monitoring was (as well as its GPS) that I decided I wanted more of a fitness watch than something on my wrist that’d literally double up as a phone (because I’ve already got my phone for that, right ?).
I also didn’t want to pay too much for my first fitness watch as I believe this is still quite a moving technology and new/better ones will be coming out all the time.
Finally, I was more steered towards Polar because I have had Garmin products before and didn’t like their software. Polar have been in the HRT monitor space the longest (as far as I know) and felt if anyone could produce a great fitness watch, they’d be the favourite.
So far, I’ve had it a week and absolutely no complaints !
Well, okay, a few improvements I’d personally like 🙂
1) The strap is a) too rubbery/grippy, and b) the strap loop keeps sliding down each time you try to put the watch on. a) + b) = A very frustrating experience every time you try to put the watch on, since to slide that loop up once the watch is on your wrist is very difficult to do since the rubber material is too grippy, preventing you doing so without a few blue words during it……
(I’ve since superglued the strap loop permanently in place and so have eliminated the above mentioned frustration).
2) The watch face is switched off until you bring the watch up to your face to look at it. That is fine except that this only works when you’re in the upright position (either sitting or standing is fine). Try bringing the watch up to your face when you’re lying down or in bed and you’ll find the watch face will not wake up…. it’s as though the orientation of the watch is what is important to it, not that you’re making a sudden movement with your arm to wake it up.
3) You have a choice of analogue or digital watch faces, one of each. That’s fine, but when you choose the analogue face, the face I prefer, then the watch hands obscure the health data and information. If you choose the digital face, no obscuring takes place. It’s a shame that Polar didn’t design TWO positions for that data, one for the digital version of the watch, and another for the analogue version.
Other than that, I’m completely satisfied with my Ignite watch, I’ve had NONE of the issues I’ve read in online reviews elsewhere, no issues with it measuring my sleep within the first three nights, no issues with the software, the GPS is accurate (I tried it on a local walk I do every other day) and the data itself is very useful.
If you’re a fitness fanatic, take your marathons and training very seriously, then you probably want a more sophisticated and accurate device – and for that you’ll need to pay two or three times the price of a Polar Ignite. But for those of us who want a watch mainly for fitness, aren’t fanatical about that, and don’t want smartphone features, this watch is not only perfect in my view, it is also VERY attractive on the wrist.
A great purchase decision !
Good watch with some drawbacks.
Touchscreen isn’t sensitive enough.
The black strap that comes with it is not silicone and instead is some cheap plastic I’d love to see swapped.
Sleep tracking is dicey. If you have problems with sleeping it doesn’t allow you to manually input sleep that it didn’t detect.
It should advise you on how much sleep you should get based on your levels it’s recorded up until now and allow you to set sleep objectives like Whoop does.
Good fitness tracker otherwise. Good stretching and breathing programs.
Sleep & recovering tracking is really what sets this watch apart – and at a very appealing price point.
I was apprehensive about how accurate HRV monitoring actually is but 9 times out of 10, it got it absolutely bang on!
Only good things to say about the Polar Ignite but my only area for improvement would be the build quality. It’s robust but does feel cheap which is shame.
I mainly wanted it to track the quality of my sleep and it’s giving me great information back. It is also easy to switch to a training session so it collects heart rate data accurately and you can make a selection of activities from a wide range of options. It is also an eye opener with regards to how much (or little) activity I do at work and you can easily set your activity goals and track how you are doing against them.
It has also been great for giving information on possible workouts that best suit your level of recovery. Not something I need to use but I think it’s fantastic for someone who doesn’t know what training to do or who aren’t on a written programme. It will give you the time and heart rate zones to hit, and for circuits set exercises, reps and sets. Brilliant.
There are some additional comments. The touch screen isn’t as sensitive as expected but certainly works and might be to stop you inadvertently making selections when it rubs on clothes etc. If linked to phone it will send EVERY notification though you can turn it off during training sessions. You don’t get the range of watch interfaces that you can with Garmin but you can scroll through a number of watch faces with different information on them.
Links really well with Polar Flow. I have used this for years and it’s a great platform and whenever in range of my phone it uploads my activity and training data to keep track of. Battery lasts for about 5 days and that includes recording my training data (not with GPS so far) which is around an hour each day. It also recharges in full really, really quickly.
Best advice would be to read up on them all and have a look at them in real life to choose which one you want.
It is roughly the same size as the vantage series, but just looks and fits so much nicer on my wrist. Actually doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb.
So far it is a great watch, the way you interact with it is great and user friendly. The only gripe I have with the watch is that sometimes if you sync via bluetooth to your app on the phone (I have iOS), it fails about 3 times before a successful sync. And the app isn’t great, but it’s not this watch’s fault.
All in all, great value for money for a proper piece of kit.
But I think the coolest things are the new features. The sleep is broken down into REM, deep, light sleep and interruptions and scored in the Nightly Recharge feature, so you can see if you are getting enough good quality sleep and recovering from your day properly. It delves really deep so you can see beat to beat intervals which show how well recovered you are and it also shows your breathing rate. Then Ignite gives you a training programme the next morning based on how well you have recovered from the previous day and how you slept. This is called Fit Spark and it suggests either strength, cardio of supportive training. Each programme guides you, so if its cardio you have a heart rate based workout, with strength there are animated figures showing you what to do (i.e. squats) with info on how many. It takes the pain away from knowing if you are training too little or too much. There are also more than one training session to choose from, in case you don’t want to do what is suggested. The last feature is a deep breathing exercise called Serene, which encourages you to breathe better to relax and unwind. I did this before bed and it helped me de-stress and get off to sleep quicker!
The Smart Notifications are good to have and battery life so far has been fine. The Flow app is easy to find your way round and the detail on sleep is amazing. Nice one Polar.
The thing that has been the biggest shock to me has been to see how little sleep I actually get. The watch breaks my sleep down into the different stages of deep and light sleep and interruptions during the night as well as looking at how my body recharges over-night. I always knew I didn’t get enough sleep, but this has really confirmed it for me. It is actually making me want to go to bed earlier as the light is waking me up early at the moment. I have started using the serene breathing exercise each night and love that the watch tells me to calm down before I start. I’m going to try and use it in the day time too.
I use the alarm clock on it every morning, but haven’t used the Fitness test yet.
I would recommend this watch. It has a mix of everything and is a great combination of sports feedback, lifestyle features and looks good on the wrist too. It even tells me when I have been sitting for too long.
I’ve spent this week getting used to the Ignite, it’s a touch screen like the Vantage V, but with fewer buttons, one to be precise. The watch was easy to set up and synced with my Flow account seamlessly. There were a few updates to do, but that didn’t take very long.
The touch screen performs really well and I love the screen colours and brightness with the watch coming to life when I turn my wrist to look at the screen or touch the watch face or button.
The Ignite Optical heart rate sensors look the same as on my Vantage V and it picks up my heart rate just as quickly. The sleep stages are a lot more detailed on the Ignite compared to what I’m used to on the Vantage V though, but having read some on-line reviews, it looks like these sleep stages will also be added to my Vantage V in a future software update. After a few days I started to get more scores associated with how well I’d been sleeping and how recharged my body was, I love this feedback – well done Polar!! Of course I also know my body well and if I’m feeling refreshed from sleep or not, but it has been really good to see the Ignite offering the details relating to how much time I’ve spent in each of the sleep stages and how ‘re-charged’ I am the next morning. I’m looking forward to using the Fitspark functions at the weekend with a cardio workout and then seeing my sleep and re-charge scores the following day. Fitspark isn’t available on my other Polar devices so I’m intrigued to see how this will work, it definitely looks like some of the available exercises in the planned routines are going to give me a real challenging workout, which I will love.
There’s also something called serene breathing, I’ve followed the onscreen instructions in bed at night before settling down to sleep and I have to say I do feel more relaxed and ready for sleep after doing the breathing exercises.
Lastly I’ve reviewed some of the regular routes I’ve ran in my Polar flow account, the GPS on the Ignite so far has been good, with great connectivity even under the dense canopy of trees on one of my favourite routes.
All in all, this is a fabulous device, with many new features that I’m really enjoying using and the price is great too.