The following post is sponsored by FitFluential, LLC on behalf of Polar. As always, all opinions are my own. Stay tuned for a giveaway at the bottom of this post where you have a chance to win a Polar Loop of your own!
Polar Loop Review
Having a goal motivates me. It doesn’t have to be a big, lofty goal. Small goals add up to some pretty amazing accomplishments, right?
When I received the opportunity to try out the Polar Loop, an activity tracker that notices every jump, step and run, I was very intrigued and immediately agreed! I had a feeling it would motivate me to move more throughout the day and I was absolutely right. That is my favorite thing about the Polar Loop: It’s motivating!
I see so many people at my gym wearing fitness trackers and I’ve heard more than a few of my clients rave about them, so I couldn’t wait to set up my Loop and get moving when it arrived in the mail.
Set Up + Battery Life
A little tip: When fitting the Polar Loop to your wrist, check out the instructional How To video online.
Though directions are included, I found it much easier to watch someone go through the steps of fitting the Polar Loop to their wrist than figuring it out with the illustrations.
Once I had the Polar Loop fit to my wrist, I charged it using the USB cord that came with the Loop and set up an account on Polar.com. An important side note: The Polar Loop has great battery life and charges quickly! I figured I would need to charge it at the end of each day, but it lasts several day without needing a charge.
When I created an account on the Polar Loop site, I loved checking out the map of the world to see what people around me were doing! I zoomed in on Florida and enjoyed looking at the activities my fellow Floridians were completing.
You can also set your profile to private (which is what I did) if you’d like so no one can see what you’re doing and you can be oh-so-sneaky. Or, you can allow only certain people to see your profile by adding them as “followers” which I think is a great way to sync up with friends and family members to motivate each other to move more throughout the day.
Once the Polar Loop is set up, you can press the button on the front of the tracker to view the LED display that flips between showing you the time of day, calories burned, total steps and your daily activity goal.
Polar Flow App + Inactivity Alerts
The Polar Loop can also connect to the Polar Flow (free) app and give you real-time updates about your movement and activity levels for the day.
Here’s an example of the breakdown:
One thing I really liked about the Loop was the inactivity alerts! If you’ve been sitting for too long, an alert will let you know and that was a big motivator for me to get off my butt and walk around or move even if it was for only five minutes or so.
Adding Your Heart Rate Into The Equation
The Polar Loop does not come with a heart rate monitor so this is an added cost if you want it, but it’s a great way to get accurate data about your overall calories burned and how hard you are working at certain times during the day. The Polar Loop retails for $109.95 and the heart rate monitor is an additional fee, but even without the heart rate monitor the Loop can tell the difference between activities like sleeping, walking, running and more. It’s also safe to use in the pool!
What Trends Did I Notice?
Some days it was really easy for me to hit my activity goals. On Saturdays, Ryan and I often work out and then take Sadie for a long hike after breakfast, so meeting my activity goals on Saturdays is rather easy. (And if I incorporate running into my workouts, it’s much easier to hit my goals!) On other days when I am working from home or even days when I am personal training, it’s a little harder because I am often sitting or standing around and only walking from one place in the gym to the next.
Since my hometown is not very walkable, the best way I found for me to hit my activity goals was to increase the distance of Sadie’s walks!
So, I think it’s safe to say Sadie is the Polar Loop’s number one fan.
On days when I might be more inclined to play fetch with Sadie in the backyard, if I was under my goals on the Loop, I’d leash her up for a walk instead so she wasn’t the only one getting exercise.
Polar Loop Giveaway
Now here is your chance to win a Polar Loop of your own!
To enter this giveaway, please comment on this post and tell me what feature of the Polar Loop intrigues you most. Are you most excited to see your overall activity for the day tracked? Are you interested in your sleep data? Do the inactivity alerts intrigue you? Let me know!
I will randomly select a winner on Friday.
Good luck!
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I would love the inactivity tracker and seeing my daily activity levels! As a college student I often find myself sitting and studying for long periods of time, lacking the motivation to go to the gym. I know if I had this on my wrist it would be a constant motivator to get up and get going! Being able to see other’s activities in my area would be an awesome motivator as well. I’m big on group-motivation and I feel like seeing all these other individuals reaching their goals would help me attain mine as well!!
I would love the inactivity and daily step totals! As a young college student, I often find myself sitting and studying for long periods of time, lacking the motivation to get to the gym. Having this on my wrist would be an awesome motivator and extra incentive to get there! I’m also huge on group-motivation and seeing other’s getting their daily activities in would be awesome to see and motivate me to get active as well.
The inactivity alert would be great! I have a desk job so I sit for 8 hrs/day and forget to get up and move around regularly. This would be a great reminder to get up and do something throughout the day.
I have a FitBit One but have been in the market for a new fitness tracker. I think the inactivity alerts are brilliant! I work at home and tend to sit longer than I need to so that would be a great motivator to get up and do a chore or something to get moving for a bit!
I also like that the band looks smaller than many others I have seen. I have small wrists so I’ve been worried about getting a band like this but it doesn’t look too big. Thanks for the review, I hadn’t seen these around but now I will be sure to check it out!
I would love to be able to accurately track the amount of steps I take each day. I think that would be a great motivator for me to keep moving and attain my goals!
The sleep reports and inactivity alerts – I’m totally that person who sits at their desk without moving, sometimes my office’s motion sensor lights turn off on me and i’m just like whaaaa
I’d love to know my sleep cycle and if I’m sleeping well, plus how active I am with walking around campus
I’d love to have the sleep tracker and the inactivity reminder. I work a desk job so it’s hard to remember to get up and move around — this would definitely keep me moving!
I teach elementary physical education and I’m really interested to know how much activity I actually get during the day through standing, demonstrating, and participating with my students and then doing my own workouts on top of that!
Being able to track my calories burned and the steps I have taken throughout the day really interests me!:)
I have a standing desk and found trackers don’t seem to pick up on any standing, side step movement. I’d love to see how the polar works!
I have been thinking about buying a fitness tracker for some time! I would love to see my activity at the end of the day! I love the inactivity alert!
Acticiy level and sleep data both! I think id be most surprised by the sleep data.
I’m interested in seeing how variable my activity is throughout the day.
The inactivity alerts would be great as well as the heart rate monitor you can add. Thanks!
I think the inactivity alerts are pretty cool. That would keep me motivated to finish/keep working towards my goals if I’m in a slump!
I love the ability to sync up with friends and family so that you can motivate each other and add an element of competition!
I’ve been curious about the Polar Loops before. Working at a hospital and also working crazy hours, I’d love to know what my overall activity looks like, as well as my sleep data.
The inactivity alerts really interest me! I am a sales rep and drive a lot for work and I hate that I am sedentary for so long each day so I really try to move/get out of the car as much as possible! I have currently lost 30lbs and have 16 more until my goal weight so I think having alerts to make sure I am on the move will really help me get to my goal and help keep my energy levels up!
I have a NikeFuel band and really like it, but I love how the Polar Loop tracks heart rate as well. I would love to see if that changes my activity numbers at all. My dog is definitely my Fuel Band’s number 1 fan as well. Anytime I haven’t met my goal, Champ gets an extra long walk! 🙂
I’d want the Polar Loop for all of those reasons- inactivity, sleep, and activity! I love that you can even use it in the pool!
What a fantastic way to stay active throughout the day, even after you’ve completed a morning workout! The inactivity alerts would definitely help me get up and moving since I sit at a desk most of the day. I love all the new technology that is coming out to motivate people to stay active and reach a goal.
I would definitely be interested in the sleep tracking and inactivity alert to get me up and moving more since I spend my days at a desk!
I love that it has an inactivity alarm! Sometimes I zone out on what I’m doing and time flies by without me realizing. This would be great for when I’m studying. It’s like a built in study break!
Sleep Activity! To sleep or not to sleep, that is the questions. 🙂 Yay!
I’d love to track my activity throughout the day!
I’m most interested in the inactivity feature. I spend 8 hours at a computer all day and that would give the motivation and reminder to get away from my desk for a little while!
I’m really interested to see how it measures sleep! I’d also be interested in seeing if my perception of how active/lazy I am through the day is true 🙂
I would love to know my daily activity levels, especially the number of steps I am taking on non-gym days!
I would be so interested to see the sleep tracker and the inactivity alerts. Also, I know the samsung phones with android ops system track your steps, but I want to see what type of movement I’m getting.. I use a standing desk but I think it would definitely motivate me more to move around! Thanks!
I would love to use the Polar Loop for the sleep data! I’m not the best sleeper and I’m sure I would find the data interesting!
Oh my! I have been wanting one of these! I am very interested in seeing my activity level on paper …errr computer monitor. I also like the inactivity alert feature. Thanks, Julie! Love your blog!
The inactivity alert sounds awesome! I have a desk job, so having a reminder to get up and going would be fabulous!
I’m most intrigued by the activity tracking. I workout an hour a day about 6 times a week but I spend a lot of time at my desk at work; I think the inactivity alerts would be so great for me!
I would love to try the polar loop. I have been super interested in trying a fitness monitor and have just been unsure which to use, but with your recommendation/review I am really motivated to try the polar loop. The sleep data and the inactivity alerts would be most interesting to me. Like you said it would be super motivating and a great reminder to get moving!
On top of my daily workouts/runs, I’m a bartender and would love to really track my daily activities:)
Knowing my activity level would be really awesome so I can get an accurate measure of my daily activity. I would also love the Smart Calorie function.
I am most excited to see my overall activity for the day! I am expecting a baby in April and then have a wedding to shape up for in October! I will need all the motivation I can get, and I feel the Polar Loop will be the perfect addition!! I plan to swim laps at the gym I am a member of, so the fact that this is compatible in the pool is AWESOME!! I feel that the inactivity alerts will really keep me motivated to stay active although I don’t know if the sleep data interests me at this point, but I’d love to learn more.
The inactivity alert is an awesome plus especially those of us nailed down to a desk job!
The inactivity alerts interest me. I know I sit too much and would love the reminder to get my butt in gear for a few minutes.
Super interested in the sleep data…I know I hit my activity requirements but I am sometimes an insomniac!
I am really interested in seeing my total daily activity, I work as a nurse and am on my feet ALOT so it would be interesting!
I love the inactivity alert feature, that would be motivating to get up and get moving. I have also been interested in tracking my activity through the day and this would be a great tool to do that!
I’m interested in the overall activity tracking. But the sleep data sounds intriguing too!
As a stay at home mom, I’m constantly running around after my toddler in addition to my daily work outs. Sometimes I feel like I must have burned a zillion calories just taking care of him alone. It would be cool to get a grasp on how much exercise I am actually doing on a daily basis!
I really like the alert system it has. A nice reminder to get up and move around while at my desk job would be just what I need.
I would love to track my overall activity. I think I probably don’t have an accurate view of how much activity I do, so it would be nice to see the facts. The sleep data is intriguing as well.
I have been looking at a few of these trackers for a while! I am always curious how active I am chasing my 2 boys around all day long!
Although, I already know when my inactivity can last too long and too often throughout the day…I would love the extra push to actually do something about it…jumping jacks, squats, anything!
The inactivity alert sounds awesome! I need something to make me get up & moving!