Polar Ignite 3 Titanium review: A great all-rounder
A TEST REPORT from Christian Matenar 
on March 15, 2024, 10:00 pm | Write a comment
The Polar Ignite 3 Titanium is a great all-rounder that offers fitness enthusiasts everything they need. As is typical for Polar, the range of functions is limited to the most important things, so that the smartwatch is not overloaded. There were a few things about the predecessor that the media criticized. At the time, both the GPS and the operation were criticized. Has Polar corrected its mistakes with the new edition of the Ignite 3? Read more about the smartwatch in this report.
tl; dr: If you want a precise smartwatch without a lot of bells and whistles and don't want to spend 500 euros, then you'll hit the mark with the Ignite 3 Titanium from Polar. It has a good battery life of up to 12 days. The GPS measurements were precise and the sports measurements were extensive. Messages can only be read and not replied to, but personally that's enough for me. The watch is not overloaded and does what it does damn well. It's even more precise if you get the H10 chest strap from Polar. Which I can also highly recommend.
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Design and workmanship
On the smartwatch, Polar no longer made the bezel out of stainless steel, but out of titanium. Visually it makes such an elegant impression. The weight of the smartwatch has not changed compared to its predecessor, so you hardly notice it while running.
The watch is delivered with a leather and a silicone strap with a width of 20 mm. In contrast to the bezel, I don't find the leather strap to be of high quality. Unfortunately, it felt stiff, so I used the silicone bracelet during the test phase. The smartwatch has a 43 mm case and an AMOLED display, which has a resolution of 416 × 416 pixels and is 1,28 inches. The Ignite 3 series is the only one with an AMOLED display at Polar (as of now). With the smartwatch you can dive up to 30 meters deep, so nothing should stand in the way of the swimmers among us. Better yet, the watch recognizes swimming movements and processes quite accurately.
Unlike other models from the manufacturer, the smartwatch only has one button on the left side. You can use everything with this because it has a touch display. Other models from the manufacturer have five buttons, which is more convenient for me personally. A touch display is all well and good, but when I'm sweaty from running, it becomes tricky to use because the display doesn't respond properly. I would have liked a solution like Garmin. I have the Fenix 7 Standard with the options to use swipe gestures or buttons for operation. But you can also set it so that it supports swiping gestures during the day, but only responds via buttons when doing sports. That would have been the better option. But regardless of the operation, the very high-contrast display was easy to read at all times.
Picture: TechnikNews
Functional scope of the Polar Ignite 3 Titanium
As mentioned above, Polar has been in the sports watch business for a long time and is also a leader when it comes to heart rate measurement. If you expect this watch to be purely a smartwatch, you will be pleasantly surprised. The main focus, as usual with Polar, is on the sports functions and everything related to them. The other models from Polar, such as the slightly more expensive Pacer, offer you a wider range of functions Pro, Vantage V2 or Grit X Pro – and recently on the market: the Vantage V3. They are priced around 500 euros.
SleepWise
Polar introduced this function with the Ignite 3. What's it all about? It provides a detailed overview of sleep and provides metrics about sleep quality, while also providing an overview of when you are best able to exercise. The information is provided in a clear dashboard in the Flow app.
Skin temperature
A skin temperature measurement is also included, but the temperature is only measured while you sleep. To do this, you have to have the watch on your wrist for at least three days or nights while you sleep. Personally, I wear it all the time, it's light, comfortable and doesn't bother me. The advantage of this measurement - if you wear the watch for a longer period of time, here we are talking about 28 days plus - the watch can also show temperature deviations, which can indicate a possible illness or infection. Thank God everything was fine for me.
Picture: TechnikNews/CodeX
Recovery optimization
If you are a person who does high-intensity training, Polar can use the function to analyze the recovery and exercise phase based on the heart rate. This way you can see when you are rested enough for a hard training session or when you should wait a little longer. Which functions are unfortunately not included? It disappointingly offers no navigation or map support. These are only available for the expensive watches from the Polar series.
Polar Flow app
Polar's Flow app obviously has its advantages and disadvantages. It is very clear and if you want to see more data, you have to log in on the PC, because there you have a more comprehensive overview.
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- Polar Flow app – Running (Image: TechnikNews/CodeX)
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- Polar Flow app – Sleep (Image: TechnikNews/CodeX)
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- Polar Flow app – sleep index (Image: TechnikNews/CodeX)
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- Polar Flow app – sleep stability (Image: TechnikNews/CodeX)
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- Polar Flow app – energy boost through sleep (Image: TechnikNews/CodeX)
In the app you have an overview of:
- Diary,
- Activities,
- Start (training),
- Calendar,
- Sleep,
- Nightly Recharge,
- energy boost through sleep,
- skin temperature and
- a blog with helpful tips about sports.
Thanks to POLAR for providing the Ignite 3 Titanium!
