Ignite 2 Series Water Resistant Smartwatch with GPS, Heart Rate Monitoring, Sleep Analysis and Personalized Fitness Tracking, S-L, for Men or Women, Black

I’m loving the new Ignite 3! Polar has really innovated and improved the Ignite watch series with the 3 by adding an AMOLED screen, more intuitive UI and even lightened up the watch making it barely noticeable on my wrist. The screen is brilliant and I’ve been using the always-on display and have seen battery life which lasts for at least 1.5 days. The interface is intuitive and though there is some lag (less-so with recent update) I find it doesn’t ruin my experience. I’ve attached a video demonstrating the responsive of the touchscreen. The improved screen also makes interacting with the watch more pleasant. Notifications, music controls, and setting are all easier to interact with on such a high resolution display. Ignite 3 is perfect for the gym and great for everyday training guidance via FitSpark. The new sleeping analysis with sleep boost has helped me to dial in the best time for me to workout for the day and sleep gate has been useful for knowing when to get to bed! TraingLoad Pro is a tool I have used for years to determine my workout intensity and it’s an amazing tool on the Ignite 3, especially now that I’m moving from heavy road cycling to indoor training and CrossFit. Ignite 3 is a complete package with modern aesthetics combined with hardcore training tools. If you’re just getting into a fitness routine or looking to improve your workout regime, you cannot go wrong with this watch!

First thing I love is the screens with real time weather forecasts. Then the charging mechanism is much improved from the Unite series. I also love that you can buy market standard sized watchbands if you don’t prefer silicone or leather. Very stylish and it immediately looks for your phone app so setup was easy and it connected with all my stored information.

The watch has a a better crystal, bezel and display than the older models. The pulse monitor is a tad better too. There are also a few added features. Oveall this watch is nicer to use and wear than the older models. Early reviewers knocked the speed of the display and GPS accuracy. The display works perfectly now, presumably this was fixed with a software update. The GPS accuracy is said to be a problem tied to the watch's small size. I get good performance in the street, and wonky performance entering or exiting buildings, tunnels and other covered areas. So perhaps this is not the watch for those who need accurate performance everywhere.

I'm updating my review because after all the time I had it, it managed to almost work for most of that time. What is almost impossible is updating it either by computer or by phone. By computer it will take you days to get the update to work (maybe). By phone it will never work (bluetooth lost). Normal syncs work maybe 50% of the time, but sync well enough to get your workouts to the cloud. I don't think it is reporting my heart rate very well (at least compared to my old Polar device), it tends to report it as lower than it is. Also the user interface pretty much will drive you insane and also it tends to lock up so it no longer works (sometimes during a workout). If you reset it often it tends to behave itself. It does not speak to iPhones to report notifications, despite implying that it does. This is the worst technology experience I've ever had, and I was a software engineer for 35 years and had a lot of computers and devices. This is just such a poor device in terms of software and/or hardware (software I suspect) that I can't recommend ANYONE buy this. And any other polar device will, I suspect, suffer from the performance of the polar app on computers. Note I have a iMac and an iPhone. It's just possible they do better on PCs. I will leave my former reviews below in case they should be helpful, but you don't really need it. First, it seems to underestimate heart rate relative to my previous Polar chest strap and watch. Judging from how my heart feels, I suspect the heart strap is more accurate. Second, syncing takes a lot of time and it seems to want to do the next sync immediately after completing the last. I have to bring down the IOS app or the FlowSync program on my iMac to prevent this. It does charge quite fast though, and the graphics are good. It's fairly intuitive, which is fortunate since the manual is virtually non-existant. I couldn't update the software at first until I put in a problem report and ended up uninstalling, rebooting, re-downloading FlowSync using Safari, and syncing/updating again. The update took quite a while but did complete this time. I feel like it's adequate to replace my previous Polar watch with it's sealed chest strap (that had to be repurchased periodically) and I guess I'm willing to live with the under reporting of my heart rate (and thus lower calorie burn). The customer service was quite good. EDIT: After about a month of use, the update seems to have changed the way updates are made. It no longer fully updates on demand. Instead, with the app running, it seems to update periodically behind the scenes. While it is sometimes required to wait a while for the update to happen, it seems to be reliable. I have also had the touchscreen stop working and there is no manual but I kept the button pushed and eventually it did a reboot and after the reboot the touchscreen works again. It does record steps, but it doesn't translate a lot of steps automatically into a workout (as fitbits do). Thus if you want to walk for a workout, you have to start a workout on the watch. The online site is good, though various types of workouts have very different information available (and I can't quite predict what I'm going to get). However remember I bought this because my previous polar watch has been obsoleted by Polar. It still works, but I can no longer upload the workouts. So there is no guarantee of how long this watch will be supported. EDIT: After about 3 months, it has a new issue. Every once in a while, say every month, it just stops updating to online no matter how many times you try to sync to your phone. The only thing I've found to fix that is to attack the cable to my Mac and sync directly to the computer. I guess we have to say that this watch has a lot of capability, but it is a BUNDLE of problems you're going to have to address constantly. EDIT: New bug after more time on the wrist. The most consistent way to sync is to kill the app on the phone and then restart it. Then to connect it to power and then press the button to take it off the charge screen. Then go to the Activity screen and then press the button until it says it's syncing. However, sometimes after successfully syncing, it syncs again and errors out, leaving you with the error screen. The new bug is that sometimes if you do not reboot for a while, it stops charging even when connected. Also over time it seems to underestimate the heart rate to an increasing degree. I probably will end up trying to replace this thing this summer.

Watch is great for exercise as well tracking sleep. This watch will track HR of sleep, HR beat variation, REM cycles and time of each cycle in your night of sleep, interruptions in your night of sleep, etc etc and also tracks quality of sleep based on HR. The watch keeps track of average sleep statistics as well to track improvement of sleep. I like the alarm function as well since I usually can’t wake up from my phone alarm clock. The battery life is sufficient enough that it lasts over 4 days most of the time depending on how many workouts you do or other functions that you use and recharging is quick. Touch controls are a little slow to respond, and sometimes difficult to use when sweating a lot or if the watch/your hand is wet. I’ve used this watch in a steam room and pool many times in the past 6 months without any water damage issues at all. The watch continues to function and track HR and workout data even after over an hour inside a steam room (115 degree F is the typical temperature in the steam room I use). The button allows you to pause or save a workout without using the touch functions which comes in handy when using the watch for swimming or other sports involving water. The watch also has weather data as well if paired with your phone. In regards to Hr accuracy, the watch does need to be secured and not loose to properly track HR especially for sleep data to be accurate. I have experienced inaccurate readings when I did not have the watch right enough on my wrist, but it doesn’t need to be painfully tight. Overall a great watch for those who don’t care for smart watch capabilities but want a solid watch for exercise and sleep tracking.

What I like about this watch: 1) An accurate HRM works very well with the exception of when I'm in the gym. 2) It looks good. 3) It very light and comfortable to wear. The strap is also very comfortable. 4) It paired easily with my HRM. 5) It runs for several days on a single charge. It also charges quickly. However, there are some big drawbacks. 1) You have to sign away way too many privacy rights to use this device. 2) I logged a service call with Polar. I got an email saying they will get back to me in a day or two. I never heard from them again. I dread what will happen if I need waranty support. 3) The watch does not have the ability to alert you if your heart rate exceeds a limit. This is a major issue for me. 4) The main display can only show the heart rate from the watche's built in HRM. If you wear another HRM you can only view its output in the training displays. 5) There's no way to keep display on all the time when you're in training mode. This is another major issue for me. I should not have to push a button when I'm working out or running to see how things are going. Update: I found that issue #5 is not correct. There is a setting to keep the watch display on when in training mode.

I returned a Galaxy Watch6 Bespoke (bells and whistles) and a Polar Pacer (old-school) before getting the Polar Ignite 3 (goldilocks!). The Ignite was well organized and easy to use, had everything I needed and then some, and I could see the display even in daylight. The single button and touchscreen are easy to manipulate even with arthritis. The customized screens allow me to quickly see the information important to me. The copper and brown are very attractive. Compliments by people assume it's a very high-end watch. The band fits comfortably even on my very large wrist. It goes days between charges on a less active person. The Nightly Recharge feature is extremely important for me, and is very accurate in predicting my energy for the day.

Beautiful looking watch with the titanium ring. The black on black is slick. The watch face is a good reflection of quality with some curvature but ever so slight. The software has very little to be improved but I think the worst part is the customization of the watch faces and function. But this is why I bought this watch because the software is already quick top notch and they nailed it. I think I want a little bit of customization moreso however, but for the money it’s good. The accuracy of the metrics it measures is impressively better than other watches for the money, and the sounds, touch, button, and feel are on point. The do not disturb time window is a great feature, and maybe the only disappointment in software is the lack of alarms options. Alarm same time everyday, and that’s it. If you need multiple alarms this isn’t going to work for you, but it’s a small thing to adjust to. Very nicely waterproof. Happy with the polar software and syncing as well, integration with Apple.