ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Polar Loop is available in three colors for $199.99.
- The band is very comfortable, the heart rate readings are accurate, and the sleep tracking is useful
- The app doesn’t align well with this type of wearable, there is no alarm, and automatic tracking may be a bit delayed.
more buying choices
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
It seems that in the world of 24/7 activity tracking, what’s old is new again, as we see a resurgence of fitness bands with no display, offering a distraction-free approach to measuring key health and wellness metrics.
Polar has long set the standard for optical heart rate monitoring, and it brings its latest heart rate technology to a simple tracker with the latest Polar Loop.
Also: I swapped my Apple Watch Ultra for this big-screen Garmin that’s easier to read
Smart rings have dominated the distraction-free fitness sector for the past couple of years, and now major fitness brands are offering alternatives to the Whoop band without subscription fees. Amazfit’s recent Helio Strap is very popular, and Garmin has a new band focused on measuring your sleep in a more comfortable form factor than a smartwatch.
Compatibility and how it works
Like the Amazfit Helio Strap, the Polar Loop works in conjunction with your Polar smartwatch, so if you have focused activities where you want to capture your location via GPS, measure details such as laps, or connect to other sensors such as bike cadence sensors, you can use your Polar watch for advanced activity tracking.
I’ve been running, walking, working in the yard, sleeping, working, and more with the Polar Loop for a couple of weeks. September was a hectic month for me, with numerous family matters to attend to, so it was a breath of fresh air to wear the Polar Loop and focus on life instead of my wrist.
Also: Watch out, Whoop: Polar joins the fitness band race with a premium option
A small module, measuring 27mm by 42mm by 9mm thick, connects to a very comfortable fabric band, weighing a total of just 29 grams. Polar includes both a small and a medium/large band in the box with the Loop charger. The Polar Loop features a Bluetooth radio for connection to your smartphone and has lasted me a week between charges.
Matches other watches closely
The Polar Loop relies on the Generation 3.5 optical heart rate sensor and accelerometer to collect key metrics while you wear it. Unfortunately, that’s one generation older than the sensor we see on the latest Polar watches. The metrics captured by the Polar Loop include your heart rate, step count, sleep details, Training Load Pro, and inactivity.
There is no GPS in the Polar Loop, but if you start a training session on your phone and carry it while completing an outside activity, the GPS location tracking will sync with the data collected by the Polar Loop after you complete your activity.
Also: Finally, I found an OLED sports watch that looks good and won’t break the bank
Given that I wanted to let the Polar Loop track my life with minimal interference from me, I let the Loop automatically detect my activities and track metrics without ever manually starting or stopping the session on the Loop or my phone.
Most of the time, the Polar Loop displayed my activity as ‘Other Indoor’ or ‘Other Outdoor’. I was able to easily switch these to running, indoor rowing, walking, and other more accurate activity descriptions.
The Polar Loop results closely matched those of other smartwatches for heart rate and calories burned. The times were a bit off from actuals, with activities like indoor rowing appearing shorter than actual since the Loop didn’t pick up when I started rowing slowly during the warm-up phase, and the time spent running appearing longer because I typically walk for a bit after a run to cool down and get back home.
Also: I tested the 4 most popular health trackers for a year – and they’re on sale for Prime Day
I also spent several days working hard at my mother-in-law’s house doing yard work, moving furniture, and staying active, so many of these periods with my heart rate over 100 bpm were automatically captured by the Polar Loop as Other Indoor activities.
I had to turn off my automatic Strava sync because it was blowing up my account, but it was good to capture activities like this that weren’t specific fitness workouts but still contributed to my health and wellness.
How this differs from most watches and rings
Polar has an excellent series of articles in the Polar Journal focused on the new Polar Loop, and I highly recommend reading them. I was particularly drawn to the Running by Feel article that brought me back to my teenage years of running, when I would just go out and run without any kind of watch or device to track my performance. This was also back in the early 80s, when there were not many options, and it was still thrilling to get out and run.
When I wasn’t testing the Loop against other devices, it was refreshing to just go for a run with the Loop and my running shoes. I didn’t wear headphones or listen to music, which I find motivating, and instead enjoyed the beauty of the world around me and listened to my body to guide my running pace.
Also: The best sports watches of 2026: Expert tested and reviewed
Smart rings function similarly to the Polar Loop, and one feature I find useful is the ability to assess key health metrics that indicate when I’m starting to get sick. The Polar Loop provides good indications regarding sleep status and training load, but I don’t see much guidance on overall wellness, so I don’t think it’s quite ready to fully replace a smart ring.
The Polar Flow application and website are heavily focused on training guidance, while the Loop is more about health and wellness. However, I understand that major updates to the app are in the works, which should be welcome news for Loop owners.
The Polar Loop does not have an alarm feature, so while you can accurately track your sleep with it, you will need another device to serve as your alarm. Additionally, there is no skin temperature sensor, so some health metrics available on the Amazfit Helio Strap and smartwatches are inaccessible.
ZDNET’s buying advice
The Polar Loop is a wearable device that provides optimal sleep tracking with a subtle, comfortable wristband and automatically captures key metrics when you work out. The heart rate sensor performance is accurate, and the band lasts a week between charges. It is fairly affordable at $200, and no subscription is required to use all the Polar Loop’s tracking features.
