Polar loop - reviews? To buy or not ?

It looks as if it's shipping from polar.com now. I've been looking into it to use with my h7 chest strap with the iPhone. It would eliminate having to navigate the phone on your arm while running. Also, it can be used for swimming laps. It does not come with a strap. It's an additional 60-80 for the h6-h7. You can't place a price on your health! It's like buying a high end motorcycle and then a cheap helmet.

I got the Polar Loop on Friday because of the HRM function and the fact that it is waterproof. I have used a Fitbit Ultra, BodyMedia, and BodyBugg for daily 24/7 tracking and a Polar RCX5 HRM for workouts.

My biggest issue with the Fitbit Ultra is that it recorded a lot of activity while I drove. Although it could be overridden, I found doing this to be a burden. It also, didn't work well with spinning/cyling, kayaking...for these activities, my calorie burn was about what it is if I were sitting doing nothing. And it can't be worn swimming.

The BodyMedia and BodyBugg are similar. I've worn one or the other for a year and a half and I'm just plan tired of the armband. It isn't attractive and I'm starting to get occasional rashes from it. Although I believe it is superior to the Fitbit for calorie burn and activity tracking, it still doesn't work well with spinning/cycling and can't be worn swimming. I spin regularly and my typical calorie burn on BodyMedia is about 1/2 what my HRM shows.

So the Polar Loop is nice because, when I'm doing activities like spinning that can be an intense workout, but not really a lot of all body motion, I can wear the HR7 strap and my calorie burn will be based on my heart rate, not the motion sensor in the band. Then I have a more accurate daily calorie burn all in one neat place. And the Polar Loop & HR7 are waterproof. I'm loving this.

If you don't care about it being waterproof, I'd suggest you also consider a Basis. Although it is more expensive (around $199), reviews say it is worth it.

There are drawbacks to the Polar Loop and I'm hoping Polar will address them.

It will not sync with MFP
There isn't an Android App
You can't use the wrist band only to track an activity session. It will create a session whenever the HR7 is paired.
Overall, I believe the display of data on the BodyMedia and Fitbit websites is better.

For me, overall, this is still the best device on the market.

Good luck with your decision.

I received mine a couple days ago and so far so good. I was a little nervous with some of the reviews and feedback on their Facebook page. I chose it because I like the idea of adding an HRM since I always wear my Garmin or my Polar F11 during workouts. I have also used the Bodybugg in the past and I really liked everything about it but wearing it on my arm obviously got old. And sometimes I would get a skin irritation from it. I also have an Android and I know the app is not coming to March of 2014 but that doesn't bother me. I have no problem just uploading to my PC. I even called their support this morning with a couple questions and was happy with that service. I've never really been good at tracking my food except when I used the Bodybugg but I've always loved fitness gadgets and I like the feedback they give me during working out. Do I wish my old band worked with the Loop, of course but it wasn't a deal breaker.

I really like the idea of the loop, but after chatting with polar tech support about the loop I can't see buying one. It doesn't link to any outside websites or apps and they do not plan on doing so anytime in the future. It can be used while swimming but the HRM wont work while swimming. I have the fitbit flex which I love and just bought the force which is what the flex should have been from day one, but it has its flaws also. The biggest being it is not waterproof. Why they would make a upgrade to the flex and not include waterproof is beyond me. It has one button. Not sure why they weren't able to make it waterproof. I find myself all the time going to wash my hands or take a shower and almost getting it wet because of being used to wearing the flex all the time. There are actually a bunch of new activity monitors coming out soon that will be nicer than all of the previous ones available now. One in the works has a built in HRM right in the bracelet. I am really interested in that one. It is called the Amiigo. http://www.self.com/blogs/flash/2013/03/fitness-amiigo-tracker-records-activity-your-heart-rate.html

I have the FT4 with the new style chest band - would that link in with the loop?

It has to be blue tooth like the h6 or h7 I believe so if your chest strap is blue tooth should work.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/09/polar-loop-firstlook.html

I'm disappointed with the Loop.

I've had it for a week. The minute I took it out of the box, I had reservations. The band has to be custom fit by cutting off incremental sections. Let me tell you, I was never so nervous to use scissors in my life! For anyone reading this before snipping, my advice is to be very careful that you don't accidentally cut through the "tunnel" or it will be ruined. Luckily, when I did this, the band was still too big so I was able to trim off some more and recover from my mistake.

Another down side of the custom size - if I ever want to sell this, my audience will be limited to someone with a wrist my size or smaller :-(

Box instructions are poor. Online instructions aren't much better without downloading the manual.

Battery life is supposed to be 5 days. So far, mine is half that. I'm hoping that improves.

The biggest complaints from me are:

(1) It isn't recording activity correctly. For example, yesterday's summary implies that I removed it in my sleep for an hour or so on two different occasions and put it back on. It also says that I burned 1711 calories. That wouldn't be suspect if it wasn't for the fact that I injured my leg and am in a walking cast, so I'm barely mobile. On the few occasions that I tried to check step-count accuracy, it has been way off, usually under-counting by 30-50%.

(2) It is supposed to send an inactivity alert if I am not mobile for more than an hour. The inactivity is supposed to mean I'm sitting for more than an hour. According to the website, this occurred only once ( more like 5-8x) and I have yet to receive an alert, ever.

There are complaints from other users at the App Store and other places on the web about bugginess, so I am crossing my fingers that this is going to all be worked out in time. I purchased mine as a preorder from HRM USA. I spoke to them today and they said they will refund or replace within 30 days, regardless of the fact that the strap is customized, so at least that's reassuring. I'm opting to talk to Polar tech support first and I'll give it another couple weeks before I decide whether to keep it or return it. If it will do everything that it is supposed to, I think I'll be very happy with it but, for now, I can't recommend it.

I'm with you. The first couple days were fine. But then I had the date problem. And now it won't recognize my internet connection. My BF pre ordered mine from the same website and I was going to give it another week for them to get the glitches fix and probably return. For as many Polar products as I've had I'm surprised they would release a product that wasn't ready. They are being responsive to complaints on their Facebook but unless I see some action soon it's going back!

I had no problem cutting it cause I'm so paranoid so I watched the video first! Lol. It said do not cut through tunnel but I do find it odd that none of the other activity trackers need to be cut. I had looked into the Amiigo too but what sold me on the the Loop was the chest strap capability.

As far as battery life I notice it drops about 10% each day.

I'm disappointed with the Loop.

I've had it for a week. The minute I took it out of the box, I had reservations. The band has to be custom fit by cutting off incremental sections. Let me tell you, I was never so nervous to use scissors in my life! For anyone reading this before snipping, my advice is to be very careful that you don't accidentally cut through the "tunnel" or it will be ruined. Luckily, when I did this, the band was still too big so I was able to trim off some more and recover from my mistake.

Another down side of the custom size - if I ever want to sell this, my audience will be limited to someone with a wrist my size or smaller :-(

Box instructions are poor. Online instructions aren't much better without downloading the manual.

Battery life is supposed to be 5 days. So far, mine is half that. I'm hoping that improves.

The biggest complaints from me are:

(1) It isn't recording activity correctly. For example, yesterday's summary implies that I removed it in my sleep for an hour or so on two different occasions and put it back on. It also says that I burned 1711 calories. That wouldn't be suspect if it wasn't for the fact that I injured my leg and am in a walking cast, so I'm barely mobile. On the few occasions that I tried to check step-count accuracy, it has been way off, usually under-counting by 30-50%.

(2) It is supposed to send an inactivity alert if I am not mobile for more than an hour. The inactivity is supposed to mean I'm sitting for more than an hour. According to the website, this occurred only once ( more like 5-8x) and I have yet to receive an alert, ever.

There are complaints from other users at the App Store and other places on the web about bugginess, so I am crossing my fingers that this is going to all be worked out in time. I purchased mine as a preorder from HRM USA. I spoke to them today and they said they will refund or replace within 30 days, regardless of the fact that the strap is customized, so at least that's reassuring. I'm opting to talk to Polar tech support first and I'll give it another couple weeks before I decide whether to keep it or return it. If it will do everything that it is supposed to, I think I'll be very happy with it but, for now, I can't recommend it.

I have the Polar FT4, and I LOVE IT. I've had it for 15 months now, and it's performed flawlessly for me. I just had to replace the batteries after 15 months of usage. I don't need a lot of fancy capabilities, just need to be able to track calories accurately based on my height/weight/sex. I've had friends that have used FitBit and ended up switching to the Polar because it seems much more accurate.

**I realize my response is not in regards to the "Polar Loop" itself, but my opinion on the Polar brand in general, particularly the FT4 watch, I love mine!! I have no issues logging my calories in manually after I get the readings off my watch since I am already logged foot into MFP daily too**

I don't buy Polar products anymore after sending my HRM in for a new battery. They kept it for a month, charged me $20 for a $3 battery, didn't change the strap battery despite it being almost dead and then shipped the HRM back to me in an envelope despite that I shipped it to them in a box.