HRM and wearable pioneer Polar is continuing to grow its running portfolio with the introduction of the Polar M200. The Polar M200 is a waterproof GPS running watch equipped with Polar’s proprietary wrist-based heart rate technology, 24/7 activity and sleep tracking and interchangeable colour wristbands. Available now for US$149/€149, the Polar M200 is positioned as an affordable and easy-to-use running watch that provides reliable training metrics as well as live, personalized training guidance.
Designed for ‘runners at any level’, the Polar M200 provides key metrics such as pace and distance via its integrated GPS, and boasts Polar’s optical heart rate measurement, a unique algorithm developed and optimized by Polar to meet its ‘industry-leading heart rate standards’. Fully charged, Polar M200 offers six hours of training time with GPS and optical heart rate, and also tracks daily activity such as steps, burned calories, sleep time and sleep quality.
Polar adds that its new M200 keeps users connected by vibrating to inform them of incoming calls, messages, calendar alerts and social media notifications and reminds them to stay active with inactivity alerts. ‘Comfortable and stylish, Polar M200 offers small/medium and medium/large changeable wristbands for the perfect fit, available now in red and black. Additional changeable wristband colours are sold separately.’
“Polar has a rich history of heart rate monitoring,” said Marco Suvilaakso, Chief Strategy Officer at Polar. “We are continuously building on that heritage by developing new technology, such as our wrist-based heart rate measurement, which ultimately leads to new products like the M200.
“Runners will appreciate the simple transition to training that wrist-based heart rate offers, and when paired with Running Program, the M200 becomes a personal trainer, coaching you during runs, adapting to your performance and bringing you closer to your goals.”
The latest wearable from Polar goes beyond providing training data and daily tracking to allow users to view their training, activity and sleep details in Polar Flow, the free online service available as an app (iOS and Android) and as a web service. On Flow for web, users can join events and groups, watch their own or others’ training sessions via the Relive feature and search for and comment on others’ training sessions. Flow for mobile offers a glimpse into daily activity and provides suggestions to encourage users to meet their fitness goals.
The Polar M200 also offers the company’s unique Smart Coaching features such as the new Running Program, a personalized and adaptive training plan available for free in Polar Flow. Runners simply choose a running event (5K, 10K, half-marathon or marathon), and the Running Program creates a customized training plan tailored to their current fitness level.
As runners train, the plan offers instructions to help them focus on what’s important for improvement. Users can upload training plans to the Polar M200 in order to follow targets and receive guidance before and during their runs. Other Smart Coaching features include Training Benefit and Running Index, both available in Polar Flow. These aim to offer motivating feedback and ways to monitor running performance and progress.
The Polar M200 is US$149/€149 and is available now at polar.com in Charcoal Black and Bright Red. Changeable wristbands will be sold separately for US$19.90 and available in White, Fresh Blue and Mellow Yellow.
Polar is a pioneer in heart rate monitoring, activity trackers and training computers. With nearly 40 years of experience, Polar training computers are billed as the number one choice among consumers worldwide, being sold through over 35,000 retailers globally. Headquartered near Oulu in Finland, Polar is a privately held company that operates in more than 80 countries including US headquarters in Lake Success, NY.
