Chris Townsend has been testing the Polar Grit X2 Pro smartwatch for six months. Here’s why he highly recommends this device.
The Grit X2 Pro is a tough outdoor watch with a number of useful features for walkers. It has a stainless steel case and sapphire glass screen so it doesn’t need special care, important for an outdoor watch. It is waterproof to 100 metres, so fine in the heaviest downpour as I discovered on a very wet day in the Monadh Liath. Polar says its operating temperature range is -20° to 50°C. I haven’t tested it in anything like these temperatures!
Chris Townsend highly recommends
This is a fully-featured and tough outdoor smartwatch which is simple to use and boasts a good battery life.- bright screen
- easy-to-use buttons
- battery life
- durability
- mapping
| Quick specs |
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| Price: $799.99 | £649 (available from Polar) Weight: 79g (with strap) Case size: 49mm Battery life (with GPS on): 140 hours single-frequency GPS, 43 hours dual-frequency OS grid ref: no Mapping: Yes Operation: 5 buttons www.polar.com |
The display is another good point. It’s bright and clear and easy to see in any light from thick mist to blazing sunshine and has a touchscreen that works fine when it’s raining. There are five buttons on the sides. These are raised with rough surfaces and although small are easy to use with cold fingers and thin gloves. Cycling through the various options and screens is straightforward and there’s no need to memorise sequences of button presses.
The Grit X2 Pro has single and dual-frequency GPS. The last should really be called five frequency as that’s how many satellite systems it can use. I found the single-frequency GPS works fine out in the open and uses much less battery power than dual-frequency. The latter works faster in dense forests however. Basic maps (of open source/street view type) of Europe and North America come installed, more detailed ones can be downloaded from the Polar Flow website. The watch can also be linked to Komoot and Strava. You can record your route and use a breadcrumb trail to get back to your starting point.
As usual with sports watches the Grit X2 Pro comes with a huge range of features including over 150 sports profiles of which I’ve used just one, hiking, though I do plan on using the XC ski one when there’s enough snow. I have the watch set to show the distance I’ve walked and the time taken, as I find these the most useful features. There’s also a compass that’s easier to calibrate than on some watches plus an altimeter. The temperature is provided, along with weather information and forecast.
There’s also a mass of performance and health options such as heart rate, nightly recharge showing how well you’ve recovered from the day, nightly skin temperature, training suggestions and much, much more. All the info recorded can be synced with the Polar Flow if you download this to your phone. Setting up the necessary Bluetooth connection was relatively easy, certainly compared to some devices.
The battery life is pretty good, especially in the single-frequency GPS mode. I used the watch on a four day trip during which I never took it off and there was still some life in the battery at the end. I did have the display set so it was off unless I touched the watch or moved my sleeve. ‘Always on’ seemed a waste of the battery when I was only looking at the watch occasionally.
The Polar Grit X2 Pro is quite big and chunky, like similar watches, but I found it comfortable to wear. The only minor hassle was it sometimes caught on the shoulder strap when taking my rucksack off. The silicone strap feels comfortable but after the four days it was beginning to irritate my skin. You can buy alternatives in different materials. There’s also a version with a titanium case, the Polar Grit X2 Titan, that comes with a leather strap as well as the silicone one but it costs £100 more.
Testing conditions
Chris tested the watch in the Cairngorms and Monadh Liath in the Scottish Highlands in the summer and autumn of 2025 on day walks, overnights, and multi-day trips. Temperatures ranged from 15 to -2C and the weather from warm and sunny to cold and wet.
This review was first published in the February 2026 issue of The Great Outdoors. Head to our GPS watches guide to compare this with other rugged, outdoor smartwatches on the market.
