Polar Grit X2 Pro Review: A Strong Adventure Watch That Struggles to Justify Its Price

Introduction

The Polar Grit X2 Pro is Polar’s answer to the Garmin Fenix 7, Epix 2 Pro and Coros Vertix 2S, and it packs in most of the upgrades that landed first on the Vantage V3: a large, bright AMOLED display, dual-frequency GPS, and an upgraded sensor suite. There is also a faster processor, offline mapping, and a 43-hour GPS battery life that stretches to 140 hours in lower-power modes.

In practice, it is essentially the same watch as the Vantage V3 in a rugged, robust design, but with a bigger price tag. The question is whether that design premium is worth it.

Design and Display

Polar released two versions: a 79g stainless steel model and a lighter 64g titanium-chassis edition. Both feature a responsive 1.39-inch 326 PPI AMOLED touchscreen that is 15% larger than the previous Grit X Pro’s display, with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal over the top. Maximum brightness is an impressive 1,050 nits, a notable step up from the original MIP display.

I found the design to be Polar’s best-looking watch yet. It is slender and lightweight for this category, and although sapphire crystal often dulls AMOLED screens on rivals like the Epix or Suunto Race, that is not the case here. It may be the brightest and clearest display of its kind I have used. Two frustrations, though: raise-to-wake is laggy and unreliable, and the screen timeout is quite short with limited control over it.

Hardware extras include a flashlight, though unlike Garmin’s front-facing torch, Polar simply turns the screen into a light source, which can be harder to aim. The watch is tested to military standards and waterproof to 100 metres, and Polar claims a 129% processor speed increase over the Grit X Pro.

Training and Sports Tracking

The Grit X2 Pro offers Polar’s most comprehensive suite of training, racing, recovery, activity and sleep tracking, with over 150 sport modes including triathlon. Familiar tools like Training Load Pro, Recovery Pro, Nightly Recharge, Sleep Plus Stages and SleepWise are all on board, along with FitSpark daily workout recommendations and FuelWise fueling guidance for long endurance efforts.

The range of fitness and performance benchmarking tests is arguably the best on any sport watch, including a new Walking Test so beginners can assess fitness without running. New measurements include VAM and vertical speed for climbs, and a 3D speed readout that factors in both horizontal and vertical movement.

Non-medical ECG tests, SpO2 readings, nighttime skin temperature, and a Work Rest Guide that advises when to start a new strength set round out the health features.

Setting up structured workouts, however, can be frustrating. Interval sessions require either two standalone timers or a phase workout created in the Polar Flow app, where each phase must be assigned a target. Garmin and Coros both offer far simpler quick interval setup on the watch itself. Syncing to the Polar Flow app was also unreliable during testing, sometimes requiring a watch reset to reconnect.

Navigation and GPS Accuracy

Navigation has improved significantly. The watch comes preloaded with offline topo maps for North America and Europe, other regions can be downloaded free with up to 32GB of storage, and there is breadcrumb navigation plus support for Komoot and Strava route syncing. On a first trip to the Lake District, a popular 11-mile route found on Strava synced over and was easy to follow. There is no turn-by-turn navigation for Strava routes, though Komoot routes get it.

Maps look bright and clear on the AMOLED screen, and the faster processor makes panning around snappy. Still, they are not as capable as Garmin’s fully routable, more detailed maps, and zooming with the physical buttons feels fiddly.

On GPS, the Grit X2 Pro uses dual-frequency L1 and L5 with a signal-boosting antenna. Accuracy was largely within an acceptable 10% margin on known routes, and at the Manchester Marathon it matched the Vantage V3 and Garmin Forerunner 965 dual-frequency modes within 0.1 miles. Against the Garmin Epix Pro and Coros Vertix 2S, though, it was the least accurate of the three, occasionally cutting corners or crossing roads incorrectly, and it locks on more slowly at the start of runs. Reliability dropped significantly in the every-2-minutes power-saving mode, which may be too unreliable for ultra distances.

Heart rate accuracy was up and down. Some runs matched a chest strap closely, including identical max and average heart rates at the Manchester Marathon, but occasional runs produced readings that were far too high throughout, especially in colder conditions. As with most optical sensors, pairing a chest strap or armband is the safer choice if you train by heart rate.

Battery Life

Polar now describes battery life across three labelled groups: Performance Training mode, Eco Training mode, and Smartwatch mode. You get up to 43 hours in the highest-accuracy dual-frequency Performance mode, up from 35 hours on the Grit X Pro, and 140 hours in Eco mode. In Smartwatch mode it should last up to 10 days.

Testing came close to the claims: around 40 hours in Performance Training mode, with a one-hour run burning 4% and a 3.5-hour marathon burning 9%. Overnight battery burn averaged 3% per night, a big improvement over previous Polar watches. With daily short runs and GPS in the most accurate mode, the watch lasted roughly four to five days per charge, comparable to a standard-size Epix but shorter than the Suunto Race, Forerunner 965, or the 51mm Epix Pro.

Charging also felt noticeably slower than other AMOLED watches, which is worth factoring in if you train frequently.

Buying Advice

The Grit X2 Pro is not cheap. The stainless steel model launches at around $749 or £649, while the titanium version lands at roughly $870 or £750. That is nearly a $200 leap over the original Grit X Pro and around $130 more than the Vantage V3, which offers essentially the same tools and performance in a lighter, cheaper package if you do not need the rugged design.

If you are open to other brands, Garmin offers simply superior watches for less: the Fenix 7X Solar is a close match on price and size, and the Epix, Forerunner 965 and 955 deliver more features, better navigation, better structured workouts and slightly better GPS. The Suunto Race is cheaper again, with a sapphire AMOLED screen, metal body, longer battery life and slightly better GPS, though its interface is occasionally laggy.

Conclusion

The Polar Grit X2 Pro is a solid all-rounder that genuinely closes the gap on Garmin’s leading adventure watches, with a punchy display, slick looks, snappy performance, good accuracy and much-improved navigation. But it is not quite as accomplished or fully featured as the similarly priced Garmin Fenix 7X Solar, and the significant price hike is hard to square when the Vantage V3 delivers the same core experience for considerably less. Unless the rugged design is essential for you, the alternatives are simply better value.