Track Your Workout Like a Pro Athlete With This Fancy Smartwatch

Polar

It takes different strokes to rule the wrist-mounted computer world. Your basic activity tracker won’t run apps or send your heartbeat to your boo, while a full-featured smartwatch isn’t something you’d wear in the pool or during Tough Mudder training. And if you’re a pro athlete, or just super into tracking your stats while working out, a watch made for that purpose can set you back as much as $500.

The Polar M400 is a more affordable option built for data-crunching strenuous workouts. For around $200, it offers many of the same functions the company’s higher-priced V800 does. This durable watch is waterproof down to 100 feet, and it’s loaded with its own GPS tracker and sensors that measure your distance, altitude, and speed. It also goes a lot further than your average fitness tracker by connecting to Polar’s chest-mounted heart-rate monitors via Bluetooth.

Along with your activity, the M400 also tracks sleep patterns, and delivers all that information to the Polar Flow app for iOS and Android. Once all that data is on your phone, it can also be used by RunKeeper and other popular workout apps.

With the watch’s GPS functions turned on, the M400 is rated for about 13 hours of battery life, according to Polar. It’s not exactly designed to be worn as an everyday watch—at least not with the GPS turned on—so those 13 hours of battery life should stretch over a couple weeks of one-hour daily workouts.

The higher-end, double-priced V800 has a few features that make it a better pick for some athletes. Although both the new M400 and V800 can connect to Polar’s heart-rate monitors, the V800 is the only one of the two that can track your heart-rate while swimming. The V800 also has a tracking mode built for triathlon training, as well as a more durable stainless steel and Gorilla Glass build.

Unless you’re a triathlete or swimmer, the M400 looks like the best fit. Shipping the second week of October, it will cost $180 without the separate heart-rate monitor or $240 as a bundle with Polar’s H7 heart-rate sensor.