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Polar's new fitness watch is a step up from a regular activity tracker
Can it really be a year since Polar rocked up at CES promising to change the world with its all-powerful V800? Yes, yes it can. This time around, however, the company is aiming its sights not at hardcore runners, but at people looking for a cheaper, yet more sophisticated activity tracker. Similar to the company's other budget fitness watches like the FT60, Polar's A300 ditches the GPS in favor of Loop-style 24/7 activity and sleep tracking.
As you can see in our hands-on gallery, the A300 isn't attached to the strap, and has to be removed to expose the USB prongs necessary for charging. The strap itself is a soft, chunky rubber and the rest of the device looks like Polar's other new-style watches (V800 and M400) in its birthday suit.
Polar's A300 can do the normal raft of fitness tracking tricks, like calculate calories burned, provide inactivity alerts and track your sleep. But, in addition, the watch is also able to provide smart coaching features thanks to the company's training programs, and if you splash out an extra $40 for a chest-worn heart-rate sensor, it'll do that, too. The device is waterproof and comes in three colors: black, white and pink, and if you fancy a change, you can pick up a replacement band for $25. Polar's A300 will launch at some point in February of this year, priced at $140 for the base unit and $180 with the chest strap included.
