Polar’s Ignite 3 Watch Blends Fitness With Your Circadian Rhythm

Polar’s latest sports watch wants to show a better picture of your activity and sleep metrics. The Ignite 3 has new sleep analysis tools designed to help balance your training with your unique circadian rhythm, claiming to pinpoint the specific time of day you’ll be most alert. It follows in the footsteps of other smartwatches released in 2022 that focus more on a holistic view of your overall fitness levels, both physical and mental.

The Ignite 3 is available now for $330 or €330, which converts to roughly £290 or AU$510. It has a 1.28-inch circular AMOLED display that can always stay on, surrounded by a stainless steel bezel. The watch comes in four colors with a matching strap, with options including black, gray, purple, and brown. Polar says the battery will last five days on a single charge, or 30 hours with GPS in training mode, which is more than similarly priced round watches like the google pixel clock Y Samsung Galaxy 5 Watch.

But the Ignite 3 wants to further distinguish itself through in-depth sleep analysis features. SleepWise provides a forecast of when you should be most alert during the day based on your sleep cycles. The idea is to help you find the best time to train or be productive in other ways, like focusing on work-related tasks that require your full attention. It also gives you an estimate of when you’re ready to go to sleep that night. Another feature called Nightly Recharge tracks overnight recovery and how well your body is dealing with stressors that come up during the day. You will see all this data when you wake up every morning. These features are exclusive to Polar and set the Ignite 3 apart from many other watches that often only display sleep stages or a sleep score.

The Ignite 3 also has many of the fitness tracking features found in previous Polar watches, such as the Pacemaker Pro, including a walk and run test that can help you measure your VO2 max. The Instinct 3 tracks over 150 different workout types and includes dual-band GPS for improved accuracy, just like the more expensive apple watch ultra Y Garmin Epix Gen2. There’s continuous heart rate tracking just as you’d expect from a sports watch at this price point. It also offers voice guidance during training sessions, although it’s only available through Bluetooth headsets or your phone rather than the watch itself.

Polar is one of many smartwatch makers trying to cross the line between fitness tracking and recovery. Fitbit’s Sense 2 has sensors to identify when your body is stressed, as well as a daily readiness score to indicate whether your body is ready to exercise. Garmin watches have a similar feature called Body Battery that provides a score based on activity levels and sleep. Smartwatch companies have focused on adding these types of wellness tools to help their products stand out from the crowd, especially with more options available than ever.