When Polar reached out to Allday asking if I wanted to share my opinion about their latest watch, the new Street X, I was definitely interested. I spend a lot of time cycling, but my outdoor activities don’t stop once I get off the bike. Walking, running and hiking are also part of my everyday life, so instead of testing the Street X around one specific sport, I wanted to see how it would perform through all of them. After all, if I am going to wear a watch every day, it needs to do more than just record my workouts.
About Polar
Polar is a Finnish company that has been involved in sports and heart rate technology for decades. The brand introduced its first wireless heart rate monitor back in the early 1980s and has since become a well-known name among runners, cyclists and endurance athletes.
Today, Polar offers much more than heart rate monitors. Their watches combine activity tracking, training data, GPS, sleep and recovery information, with everything coming together through the Polar Flow ecosystem.
What I have always appreciated about brands like Polar is the focus on useful information. There is obviously a lot of data available if you want to dig into it, but you don’t necessarily need to be obsessed with numbers to enjoy the product.
The Street X
The Street X is what Polar calls an Urban Sports Watch, and after using it for a while, the description actually makes a lot of sense.
This isn’t a massive adventure watch that looks like you should be climbing a mountain every time you wear it. It’s a relatively compact 45 mm watch weighing only 48 grams with the wristband, which makes it easy to wear all day and, more importantly, easy to forget about.
The 1.28-inch AMOLED touchscreen is bright and sharp, with a 416 x 416 resolution and Gorilla Glass protecting the display. The watch is also WR50 water resistant and tested to MIL-STD-810H standards, so despite its more everyday appearance, it is definitely built to be used outside.
Inside, you get pretty much everything I would expect from a modern sports watch. GPS, barometer, compass, optical heart rate monitoring, route guidance, activity tracking and access to more than 170 sports and activities are all there.
Battery life is also impressive. Polar claims up to 10 days in smartwatch mode and up to 43 hours in performance training mode. There is also an Eco training mode for those situations where extending battery life becomes more important.
For me, however, specifications are only part of the equation. A watch can have every feature imaginable, but if navigating through menus becomes a project every time I want to start an activity, chances are I eventually stop using half of them.
Thankfully, that hasn’t been my experience with the Street X.
Cycling, Walking, Running and Hiking
I tested the Street X doing exactly what I normally do: cycling, walking, running and hiking.
Cycling obviously represents a big part of my testing. I still prefer having a dedicated cycling computer in front of me when riding, especially for navigation and seeing multiple data fields at once, but the Street X works extremely well alongside it.
The advantage of the watch is that it doesn’t stop being useful when the ride ends. It follows me throughout the rest of my day and continues collecting activity, heart rate, sleep and recovery information. It gives me a much bigger picture than simply looking at what happened during a ride.
Walking might not sound like the most demanding test for a sports watch, but it is probably one of the activities many people will use most often. Starting an activity is quick, the information is easy to access and I don’t have to spend time figuring out where everything is.
The same simplicity carries over to running. Pace, heart rate and other important information are right there on my wrist, and the AMOLED display makes everything easy to read at a glance. If I want more information afterward, Polar Flow gives me plenty to look through, including training and recovery data.
Hiking is probably where I started appreciating just how versatile the Street X can be.
GPS, elevation information, compass functions and route guidance all become much more useful when I’m away from the road. Back to Start is another feature I like having available. Hopefully I won’t need it, but knowing the watch can guide me back toward my starting point is definitely reassuring when exploring somewhere new.
And because the Street X is relatively light, wearing it for several hours never really became something I thought about.
That might actually be one of the best compliments I can give a watch.
The Flashlight I Didn’t Know I Wanted
There is one feature I didn’t expect to appreciate as much as I did: the integrated LED flashlight. It sounds like a small thing. Then you start using it.
My cellphone isn’t always beside me. Maybe I’m getting cycling gear ready early in the morning, looking for something in the truck, walking around a campsite, getting up during the night or simply need a little bit of light without searching for my phone.
Polar also included a red-light mode, which is great when I need some visibility without lighting up everything around me. Is an integrated flashlight the reason I would buy a sports watch? Probably not.
Is it one of those features I start wondering how I lived without once I have it? Absolutely.
Easy to Live With
After using the Polar Street X for cycling, walking, running, hiking and everyday life, the biggest takeaway for me is simply how easy it is to live with.
There is plenty of technology inside the watch, but it never feels like I need to be a tech expert to use it. Starting an activity is easy, navigating through the watch quickly becomes natural and the information I need is easy to find.
At the same time, someone who really enjoys looking at training, recovery, sleep and performance data can go much deeper through Polar Flow.
I also like that Polar didn’t try to make the Street X look overly rugged just because it has outdoor capabilities. I can wear it during a hike on Saturday and keep it on my wrist the rest of the week without feeling like I’m walking around with a massive outdoor computer strapped to my arm.
Final Thoughts
The Polar Street X turned out to be exactly the type of watch I enjoy testing at Allday.
I ride bikes, but I’m not only a cyclist. I walk. I run. I hike. I travel. Sometimes I’m outside for an entire day, and sometimes I simply need a flashlight without having my cellphone nearby.
The Street X fits into all of those situations.
It has the GPS and training features I expect from Polar, a beautiful AMOLED display, very good battery life and enough outdoor features to make it genuinely useful when leaving the pavement behind. At the same time, it remains simple enough that I don’t feel like I’m carrying an overly complicated piece of technology on my wrist.
And strangely enough, that little flashlight might be one of my favourite features.
The Street X doesn’t try to be a watch for only one type of athlete.
For me, that’s exactly what makes it interesting.
You can have more information about Polar here:
