Polar Street X are affordable sports watches with a flashlight and a durable body. Who are they targeting?

The Finnish brand Polar traditionally focuses on equipment for endurance athletes and professionals. With the new Street X model, however, it’s aiming elsewhere – at the type of athletes who combine various types of training and at the same time want to wear a watch all day without it looking purely like a tool for tracking physical activity. It’s an interesting move, as this segment is primarily occupied by Garmin and Amazfit. Polar is entering it with a price of 6,290 CZK.

Durability first and an LED flashlight for the first time

Street X is built on a construction designed to handle the common demands of urban life. The case is made of bio-based reinforced polymer and the bezel is held by eight screws, which is intended to protect the sensors from impacts. The display is covered by Gorilla Glass 3 and the entire watch meets the military standard MIL-STD-810H for resistance to extreme temperatures, shocks, and drops. WR50 water resistance allows for swimming, but not diving.

For the Street X model, Polar has integrated an LED flashlight directly into the watch body for the first time. It offers two modes – classic white light for general visibility and red light, which doesn’t dazzle and doesn’t disrupt night vision. Practical uses? Morning or evening runs, finding keys in a bag, or navigating a dark room without waking your partner. The flashlight can also be found on several Garmin models and is also favored by the manufacturer Amazfit.

Display and controls

The front is occupied by a 1.28″ AMOLED panel with a resolution of 416 × 416 pixels and always-on mode support. Brightness adjusts automatically to ambient light. Control combines a touchscreen with physical buttons, which have a raised profile and textured surface – Polar designed them with wet conditions or gloves in mind. Watch faces and widgets can be customized, which wasn’t always a given with Polar. The watch supports Czech in the user interface.

Sports and health features

Under the hood, the third-generation Precision Prime optical sensor works to measure heart rate. The watch supports over 170 sports profiles including running, cycling, strength training, HIIT, and swimming. It also offers running power measurement directly from the wrist without the need for an external sensor.

Among the more advanced features, Polar offers Training Load Pro for tracking training load, Nightly Recharge for analyzing nocturnal recovery, and Sleep Plus Stages for a detailed breakdown of sleep phases. The watch also measures skin temperature during the night and heart rate variability (HRV).

What’s missing in this price category? An SpO2 sensor for measuring blood oxygen saturation and ECG. This can be limiting for some users, especially if they use these functions to monitor their health.

The Street X then features four satellite systems – GPS, Galileo, BeiDou, and QZSS. It includes a barometer for altitude measurement and a magnetic compass. The watch offers a route guidance function, allowing you to upload a GPX file and be navigated along a pre-planned route.

Battery life

The 385 mAh battery, according to Polar, lasts up to 10 days in smartwatch mode with continuous activity tracking. In performance training mode with active GPS and optical heart rate sensor, it’s 43 hours. In power-saving mode, up to 170 hours. Charging occurs via a proprietary cable with a USB-C connector on the other end.

Price and availability

Polar Street X are already on sale on the official polar.com e-shop and at selected retailers for 6,290 CZK. The colors Night Black and Snow White are available, with a third variant, Forest Green, arriving during the second quarter. The straps have a standard width of 22 mm with a quick-release mechanism, so they can be easily replaced with any compatible ones.

Who Street X is (not) for

Polar Street X targets people who want reliable sports watches without compromising on durability, but at the same time don’t need flagship features like maps, a music player, or payments.

The absence of SpO2 measurement can be an obstacle for some users, especially if they plan to use the watch for health monitoring during sleep. On the other hand – an integrated flashlight and military-grade durability are not a given in this price range.

Are you interested in the new watches from Polar?

Sources: Polar (1, 2)