Polar Balance Scale Review

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Most people have a love/hate relationship with the scale, especially if their scale is off by even one pound from the Doctor’s office. It’s easy for a scale to make you feel low. However, you can also use that as motivation to keep seeing better numbers every time you step on. Most scales will only tell you your weight, sometimes they will tell you your fat percentage and water percentage. But when it comes to all the bells and whistles, the Polar Balance Scale has got you covered.

It is a super sleek (one point six inches thick) with an extremely minimalist modern design. This slim scale can assist you with completely changing the way that you keep track of your weight and will help you tremendously to reach your goals. So long as you put the work in, of course. A scale cannot do that for you all on its own, unfortunately.

The scale is up to date with Bluetooth compatibility. Only certain models (Polar bracelets) are compatible with this, so before you purchase and leave a bad review, be sure to check and see if your band is on that list. With the connection to it, you will have access to even more useful information and more details about your nutrition, daily activities, and overall lifestyle. If the bracelet isn’t an option for you, there is also a mobile app available. However, without the bracelet, you won’t be able to track things like your heart rate.

This scale is durable and features a glass top that is splash proof, a vivid display with easy to see digits, and a vast memory with the ability to store information on as many as ten people.

Editor's Pros & Cons
Pros
  • Up to 10 profiles
  • Personalized activity goal
  • Diet advice
  • Weight change notifications
  • BMI tracking
Cons
  • Doesn’t measure fat percentage
  • Challenging setup for some

Brand

Anyone can take the time and pay attention to what their body is telling them. Aches here, pains there, weight gain here, loss there. If you’re interested in truly understanding what your body is trying to tell you is another story altogether. Polar is dedicated to helping you dig beneath the surface to optimize your training.

Polar feels they are equipped for this job because of their expertise in physiology, electronics, and sports, with a deep and true understanding of its consumer base needs. It comes as no surprise that Polar has been one of the leading companies as far as innovative technology and monitors for your heart rate since 1977.


Don’t think that you have to be some elite athlete in order to use Polar products. The company caters to people of all fitness levels. You don’t have to be active at all, honestly. But the products will still try to encourage you to be in order to have a healthier life.

The company has twelve hundred employees around the world, they manufacture all of their products in their own factories, and they manage the network for distribution that supplies over eighty countries and more than thirty-five thousand retail stores.

Heart Rate Tracking

When you use the wristband with the scale and the app on your phone you can track your heart rate. When you do this, you optimize your effort and make each session count more and more towards your goal. If you adopt the habit of tracking your workouts and heart rate during those workouts and use different intensities of activity you can actually begin to increase your fitness level, extend your endurance, and enhance your performance.

Tracking your heart rate during and after workouts will help you to pinpoint your ideal heart rate zone no matter the intensity or duration. It is important to know how to workout in the correct way to keep yourself safe and optimize your results at the same time.

If you utilize this feature, you will soon start to increase your endurance and the feeling of having the ability to go farther and achieve more will be more than enough motivation to keep training. If you’re not sure how to tell if you’re improving as far as your heart rate during sessions, just know that if you’re running at a certain pace for a certain duration every day and your heart rate becomes lower, that means you’re improving.

Running Power

Did you know that it is possible to track how much work your muscles are doing during your workouts? The measurement of your muscles’ work is referred to as “Running Power”. Polar has come up with the very first measurement tool for running power that you can wear right on your wrist. How convenient?

Any person with a fitness goal in mind can benefit from measuring their running power. It will help you to get the best results out of every workout. This revolutionary technology allows you to no longer need a separate power meter or foot pod. Your watch will automatically track your running power for you.

Measuring your running power goes hand in hand with tracking your heart rate. Both are extremely handy. You can use you running power to help guide you during sprinting or running in short intervals. Pay attention to your running power in order to keep a steady level of effort even when on hilly trails and roads.

When you’re focusing on running power during training, it is key to aim for a power zone instead of a specific heart rate or pace. Power can be measured in a pretty wide range. This means that your watch is able to measure your power whether you’re working out low intensities or high intensities.

If you’re trying to keep a steady effort level during runs on hilly terrain, it’s not enough to just use your pace as a guide. You will also want to consider your running power because it considers the changes you make in altitude and pace. This will help you keep that steady effort that you’re looking for.

Fitness Test

A great feature that you can enjoy from the Polar Balance and its amenities is a fitness test. It’s simple to find out your fitness level at any time. It only takes five minutes of your time and it gives you an assessment of your fitness level, as you’re at rest. It will provide you with an estimate as far as your VO2max (maximal oxygen uptake). This is also known as your aerobic fitness.

The purpose of the fitness test is to hopefully motivate the consumers to either begin, keep, or increase the amount of physical exercise they are participating in. There are benefits to occasionally doing a fitness test on yourself. It is very safe and easy to evaluate your fitness (cardiovascular AKA aerobic) while you are at rest. You also have the benefit of being able to compare your fitness level with those of the average results of people who are from the same gender and age group.

The most efficient training comes from understanding your VO2max or aerobic (cardiovascular) fitness level. Aerobic fitness goes hand in hand with how well your cardiovascular system is working in order to transport oxygen throughout your body. In other words, the more efficient and stronger your heart gets, your aerobic fitness will directly correspond. You can best improve your aerobic fitness through activities such as cycling, swimming, and running because they work the larger muscle groups.

Polar Sleep Plus

Yet another great additional benefit from the Polar Balance scale is the Polar Sleep Plus that tracks your sleep. It is beneficial to track your sleep in order to see your sleeping habits, sleep quality, and sleep duration. You can evaluate your results and focus on whatever areas may need attention in order to optimize your sleep.

Keep in mind that sleep is not something that you can control as easily as a performance. Yes, you can make it easier for yourself when it comes to falling asleep, staying asleep, and getting quality sleep. However, if you’re stressed out about it, you’re only going to hinder that. Sleep and stress are not friends, to say the least.

The gold standard for methods that assess sleep is Polysomnography. Polysomnography is defined as a recording of the biophysiological changes that your body experiences during sleep. Polar Sleep Plus was compared to this method and has been validated. Areas that were considered for this evaluation were the measuring of brain activity, eye movements, and muscle activity. There is also a scoring of sleep-to-wake states.

All you have to do is wear your watch, select your desired sleep time (ideally seven to nine hours for a healthy adult), and evaluate your results every morning. Track your feedback daily and weekly as well as your sleep patterns. You can view the results on your Flow app or on the website.

Polar Flow

You can download the Polar Flow app from the app store, whether you have Android or iPhone. The app is only available for Androids with 4.3 or later update. It is a free download. You can also access the Polar Flow online. With this app, you can track your progress daily and weekly, and receive guidance that will help you to meet any goals you may have for yourself. This app will teach you how you can improve your health just by adjusting your routine.

The app will be able to track your nutrition, BMI, heart rate, sleep, etc. The app is compatible with these watches: Polar Loop 2, Polar Loop, Polar Loop Crystal, Polar M400, Polar A360, and the Polar V800. All watches are sold separately from the scale itself. The scale can most certainly be used all by itself, but these are all of the added benefits you could be enjoying.

Environment

Strict control is had by Polar Electro as far as Polar’s operations. Close attention is given to the environmental impacts and aspects of all its products. They consider this throughout the entire life cycle of each product, from design and manufacture to shipping and consumer care.

When the company is designing new products and choosing their material suppliers, environmental issues are considered closely. Most of Polar’s products are created in their own factories. The main suppliers of the parts are as local as possible in order to cut down on transportation. The supplies that come from material suppliers and retailers alike are thoroughly considered so that all environmental aspects are addressed.

Polar Electro is constantly evaluating the way they develop their materials and the process of production so that they can limit the amount of waste and scrap as much as possible. This will also ensure that all of the products are made with materials that are safe both for the environment and for people. Approved recycling companies handle the recycling of materials that are extra. If you’d like to have a hand in the recycling effort, you are more than welcome to send your used Polar products into the Polar Electro repair center.

Warranty

When considering purchasing any product, most consumers want to know if it comes with a warranty. If a warranty isn’t offered then it’s hard to trust the product or the company because you could very easily waste your money and not be able to do anything about it.

The good news is that Polar Electro does issues a limited guarantee on all of their products. The company guarantees that the original purchaser of the product that said product will not have any defects in workmanship or material for two years after the date that the item was purchased. The exceptions to that are wristbands that are made from plastic or silicone, which come with a guarantee for one year after the date of the purchase.

Typical wear and tear on the battery or elsewhere, damage due to abuse, misuse, accidents, or ignoring the precautions will not be covered. Nor will damage caused by improper maintenance. Damages, costs, expenses, and losses whether direct or indirect, special or consequential, will not be covered. Products that have been purchased second-hand are not covered. Make sure you keep your receipt for proof of purchase should you ever need to use your warranty. Full terms can be accessed in the manual or on the website.

Bottom Line

If you’re in the market for a new scale, why not go the extra mile and opt for the scale with many added benefits and measurements? Enjoy a scale that measures your weight, BMI, and can track patterns in fluctuations. A scale that connects to a smart-watch and relays information to an app on your phone. You can track your sleep, your heart rate, your fitness level, and much more! All of this comes at a reasonable cost considering the cutting edge technology.

Maximum weight capacity is three hundred and eighty-seven pounds. Watches sold separately. The app is free and available for Android and iPhone users.