I swapped my Apple Watch for the Polar Loop for 3 weeks: Here is why the “Boost Score” changed my routine

There are sensors on the rear and you see LEDs blinking at the back. This is also where you attach the magnetic charger once a week to juice up the band’s 170 mAh battery. In the three weeks I used the band, I charged it twice. I even went on an international trip without a charger because I was confident the battery would last over seven days.

There are sensors on the rear and you see LEDs blinking at the back. This is also where you attach the magnetic charger once a week to juice up the band’s 170 mAh battery.(Image: The Indian Express/ Nandagopal Rajan)

The band is easy to set up using the Polar app. Once linked, you can see all the data here, along with battery status. The app lets you track your training and sleep status with deep dives and trend lines. The best part is how it offers insights into how much you push your body with your workout and how much your sleep helps you recover.

I forgot to take the Polar Loop off for my shower at least twice and only realised it got a bit wet once. Thankfully, this has a WR30 water resistance rating which means you can even take it for a light swim without any impact.

I wore the band non-stop for a couple of weeks trying to get the best data about myself. My biggest learning was how much I could exert my body versus how much I was actually pushing it. I realised that most of my workouts were only reaching about 80% of my tolerance level and this made a lot of sense to me.

As a result I changed the pace of my evening walks and short jogs to see if I could push more. Soon, I was getting closer to my tolerance levels and this reflected in the Apple Watch too, which started showing an improvement in my cardiac fitness. One simple data point had helped me correct my routine. It also showed a trendline as soon as I started slipping back to my earlier pace.

The fact that the steps and calorie data were almost similar to the Apple Watch gave me a lot of confidence. There is also a cardiac load data point; however, this needs a month of data, which I could not manage before the review.

The sleep data comes with a Boost Score that tells you how much your time in bed will help you recover. Today, with just four hours of sleep, it gave me a 4/10 score as well as a forecast of how my day will be from a boost perspective and what my ideal window to fall asleep again would be. This is quite unique and really useful. The sleep data shows the various stages of sleep as well as your heart rate variations. You also get a trendline for your sleep pattern.

The sleep data comes with a Boost Score that tells you how much your time in bed will help you recover.(Image: The Indian Express/ Nandagopal Rajan)

While the band automatically detects your workouts and walks, there is a Training tab where you can manually activate a run or a trek, giving you more precise data. In training mode, you also get the average speed of your run and a map view. With auto detection, it tags all times you are exerting yourself and can be a bit off at times.

While using the app, the only frustrating thing is that you have to wait a couple of minutes for it to sync the data from the Loop, which it does not do in the background on iOS devices. Also, you have to ensure the app is set to sync with Apple Health. The app, however, does not result in double counting of steps on Apple Health like I have seen with some other devices.

At Rs 19,999, the Polar Loop is one of the best health bands I have used, primarily because it shows actionable insights and not just raw data. It is better than some competition because you don’t have to pay for a monthly subscription. In comparison to the Amazfit Helio, this is more expensive but gives better data insights. This band is ideal for improving both your cardiac fitness and your sleep health, but it is a bit pricey.