Polar’s announces the A360 – its first fitness band with a heart rate monitor
Polar has been an industry leader when it comes to making wearables to monitor your health for a few decades now. While the company is known for its GPS smart watches, bike mounts, and chest straps, it is increasingly making its presence felt in the health and fitness band category.
Polar has recently announced that it is planning to release a new fitness band – the Polar A360. This beautiful water-resistant fitness tracker is Polar’s first device to have both a wrist-based heart rate monitor and Polar personalized training guidance, as well 24/7 activity tracking. The A360 also has smartwatch features like smart notifications and a color touchscreen.
The fitness band has an elegant, minimalist design. The soft silicone wrist-band comes in three sizes, and features a secure, easy to use buckle for a comfortable fit.
The fitness tracker will measure your activity, training, steps, calories and your sleep patterns. It also includes the Polar specific Activity Guide, which supports you with motivational feedback to help you reach your daily goals. The device, however, does not include a GPS.
In training mode, you can now monitor your heart rate. The A360 will guide you and keep you in the right heart rate zone. You can follow details of your training session in real time on your wrist. The screen shows you the duration of the session and your real-time heart rate, along with a zone bar that tells you which heart rate zone you’re in.
 | Polar A360 |  |
In order to keep up with your entire lifestyle and encourage activity, Polar goes outside of the realm of health and fitness, and vibrates when users receive calls, messages, calendar alerts and social media notifications. It also gives you a nudge when you have been sedentary for too long.
The bands are replaceable so users can choose from a range of silicone wristbands that come in Power White, Charcoal Black, Neon Green, Sorbet Pink and Navy Blue. Additional color sets and changeable wristbands are coming out in 01/2016.
The Polar A360 will track activity for up to two weeks on a single charge, with one hour of training per day. Less if smart notifications are in use. You can also pair the device to the Polar H7 chest strap if you prefer to monitor your heart rate the traditional way. This is a convenient feature not usually found in devices with wrist-bound heart rate monitors.
The Polar A360 will be out in November, and will retail for $199. You can find more information on Polar’s website.
Technical specifications
Display: Full color TFT display with capacitive touchscreen | Weight: 32g | Colour: White (more colours coming in 2016) | Sensors: 3-axis accelorometor, proprietary optical heart rate sensor | Metrics: steps, calories, distance, speed, sleep, heart-rate | Water resistant: 3 ATM (30 metres) | Compatibility: Android, iOS 8.2 | Battery: up to 2 weeks with 24/7 activity tracking, including 1 hour of training per day (without smart notifications in use) | Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0
I bought the A360 unit directly from Polar when it was launched and I was impressed with how it made me aware of my inactivity when not exercising as well as my sleep patterns. While exercising the use of Polar Flow meant that it was a step up from H7 & Polar Beat since I was able to select from a wider range of CV equipment.
HOWEVER, what a waste of money it turned out to be: within weeks the strap split. It was replaced with a ‘newly designed strap’ that only addressed the faulty material. Polar failed to address the fact that the wristband has a tendency to come undone if your wrist is close to the moving arm of an Elliptical machine – something that you can only prevent by ONLY using the static handlebars.
So, if you want an activity tracker that is likely to fly across the gym, then this is the one for you. And, once you pause your exercise and retrieve it, make sure the A360 unit has not been dislodge for if it has and you don’t realise it, it alone with be launched through the air when you resume your exercise leaving the wristband firmly attached to your wrist.
If that isn’t enough, consider the fact that this is an ACTIVITY TRACKER and is meant to be worn all day – just don’t wear it on a vessel with metal hand rails, for when it pitches and yaws; and, you try to stay upright, your A360 like mine will end up at the bottom of the ocean.