Polar Pacer and Pacer Pro, lightweight and durable GPS watches specializing in running

Released in the last century, Polar’s Pacer was one of the Finnish manufacturer’s first wrist-based heart rate tracking offerings. Here it is reborn in April 2022 in the form of two sports watches dedicated to running: the Polar Pacer and Polar Pacer Pro.

Based on the same hardware platform, the Pacer and Pacer Pro are discreet and light, weighing only 40 g and 41 g respectively, for dimensions of 45 x 45 x 11.5 mm. They are made of a polymer case reinforced with fiberglass, an aluminum bezel and have a 5 ATM certification (water resistance up to 50 m), which makes them compatible with swimming.

Polar highlights their new processor clocked at 192 MHz and associated with 5 MB of RAM, which would ensure a smoother experience without compromising autonomy. The 265 mAh battery would indeed guarantee up to seven days of operation in watch mode with continuous heart rate monitoring and up to 35 hours of use in training mode with active GPS.

On the display side, the Pacer and Pacer Pro have a MIP (Memory In Pixel) LCD screen with a diagonal of 1.2 inches and a definition of 240 x 240 px, protected by Corning Gorilla glass Glass 3, in the same vein as what’s found in Polar Vantages like the Vantage V2 we recently tested.

Dedicated to running, these watches offer training tools to analyze performance and suggest a program to increase the performance of their wearer based on the calculated training load. Of course, we have essential readings for each outing, such as the pace, duration and distance of the course. Information that can be found in the Polar Flow application with which the watches synchronize.

Although they are based on the same technical basis, the two watches differ on several points. The Pacer Pro has step-by-step guidance with Komoot to follow routes directly from the watch, turn by turn. It is also capable of measuring running power and has a Hill Splitter function which automatically analyzes the terrain based on the integrated barometer, which the classic Pacer lacks.

Apart from these differences, the two watches offer the same functions. The Polar Pacer Pro is launched today at a price of €299.90 in black, blue, green, white/red and purple colors. For its part, the Polar Pacer will see the light of day next month and will benefit from a price of 199.90 €. It will be available in black, white, cyan and pink.