The new fitness tracker from Polar aims to provide a more accurate view of your activity and sleep indicators. The Ignite 3 boasts brand-new sleep analysis technologies that are said to be able to determine the precise time of day you’ll be the most alert, helping you balance your exercise with your individual circadian rhythm. It continues the tradition of previous smartwatches introduced in 2022 that place a greater emphasis on an overall assessment of your level of fitness, both physically and mentally.
The Ignite 3 is now offered for $330 or 330 euros, which roughly translates to £290 or 510 Australian dollars. It sports a stainless steel bezel surrounding a 1.28-inch circular AMOLED display that can be set to always be on. The watch comes with a matching band and is available in four colours: black, grey, purple, and brown. In comparison to other round watches of similar price points, including the Google Pixel Watch and Samsung Galaxy Watch 5, Polar claims that the battery will last five days on a single charge, or 30 hours with GPS in training mode.
But the Ignite 3 aims to stand out even more by offering sophisticated sleep analysis tools. Based on your sleep cycles, SleepWise forecasts when you should be the most alert during the day. The goal is to assist you in determining when to exercise or be productive in other ways, such as concentrating on work-related things that require your undivided attention. It also tells you roughly when you’re prepared to turn in for the night. Another function called Nightly Recharge monitors your body’s response to daytime stimuli and nightly recovery. Each morning when you wake up, you’ll see all this information. The Ignite 3 stands out from many other watches that frequently just display sleep stages or a sleep score thanks to these Polar-exclusive capabilities.
Many of the fitness-tracking capabilities available on Polar’s older watches, such as the Pacer Pro, are also present on the Ignite 3, including a walking and running test that can be used to determine VO2 max. Similar to the more expensive Apple Watch Ultra and Garmin Epix Gen 2, the Instinct 3 monitors over 150 different types of workouts and has dual-band GPS for increased accuracy. Just what you would anticipate from a fitness watch at this price, there is continuous heart rate monitoring. During training sessions, it also provides audio assistance, although you can only access that through Bluetooth headphones or your phone, not the watch itself
One of several manufacturers of smartwatches attempting to walk the line between fitness tracking and recovery is Polar. The Fitbit Sense 2 contains sensors to detect physical stress and a Daily Readiness Score to determine whether your body is ready for exercise. Similar functionality is available on Garmin watches under the name Body Battery, which calculates a score depending on exercise and sleep. Since there are now more possibilities than ever before, smartwatch makers have concentrated on including these types of wellness tools to make their devices stand out from the competition.
