Polar has introduced a brand new €9.99/month subscription that is very totally different from Garmin Join+ however instantly invitations comparisons due to the timing and outrage surrounding that service. The very fact is, the variety of health smartwatches that do not have a subscription is dwindling, and I might be shocked if the remaining manufacturers like COROS and Suunto do not resolve to comply with swimsuit — to not point out Samsung.
Polar’s “Health Program” would not lock key information behind a paywall like Fitbit Premium or Oura Membership. Much more so than Join+, I might name this subscription elective; your Polar Vantage V3 or Vantage M3 will operate the identical means they did yesterday.
As a substitute, it is a coaching program linked on to your Polar Movement information, in case you need a cheaper, native different to TrainingPeaks. It builds a months-long exercise program tailor-made to your “health degree, effort, and restoration,” adapting routinely based mostly in your progress and every day vitality degree.
I intend to check Polar Health for myself, however early indicators level to it being very helpful to athletes! Nonetheless, Polar (like Garmin) has at all times appealed to athletes who like the concept of a subscription-free watch, and the Health Program is fairly just like the Garmin Coach coaching program that Garmin watch homeowners get without cost.
How Polar Health Program compares to Garmin Join+
Garmin Join+ is an eclectic bundle of premium options like customizable information charts, higher live-tracking security instruments, new social badges, coaching movies for Garmin Coach, and dwell actions within the Join app — all topped by semi-useful AI insights.
Against this, the Polar Health Program is a simple, centered coaching information that extra intently aligns with Garmin Run Coach. They each have exercise video steerage, however the similarities finish there.
Polar collects information like your coaching frequency, length, depth, and most popular coaching days, then combines it together with your VO2 Max to create a coaching calendar of cardio and energy coaching exercises.
Every accomplished exercise will internet you stars, relying on how lengthy you efficiently keep in your goal coronary heart charge zones. And each 4 weeks, you may get a badge based mostly on what number of stars you earned.
Except for the official video guides to point out correct type for energy and mobility workout routines, most of this program comes all the way down to coaching load, guiding athletes to hit a pyramid of HR zones with a basis of low-HR cardio paired with some excessive cardio and a peak of arduous anaerobic.
Polar already has a free Working Program with an adaptive exercise plan to coach for a selected race distance. This Health Program is extra generalized for any sort of athlete and focuses on enhancing your “cardiovascular well being and endurance” whether or not or not you could have a race forward. That offers it extra common enchantment, but it surely’s nonetheless truthful to level out that some Polar followers will want this program was free, too — identical to Garmin Coach.
Then again, it is for the perfect that Polar made its subscription so specialised, as a result of that makes it much less possible that it will lump different premium options in with it — whereas Garmin may simply throw any cool new characteristic into Join+.
That stated, if Polar needs extra folks to subscribe, it may comply with Garmin’s lead and make the Health Program extra generalized, including AI, premium information graphs, and extra.
A subscription for each smartwatch
Some health smartwatches have at all times had subscriptions, however that was the trade-off for purchasing a less expensive Fitbit or Amazfit; should you needed to pay later for Fitbit Premium or Zepp Health, not less than the upfront price wasn’t unhealthy.
With manufacturers like Garmin, Polar, Suunto, and COROS, athletes appreciated the subscription-free expertise a lot that they’d pay greater than the market charge for one, understanding it’s going to final years with none hidden charges.
Then Garmin broke rank and made its subscription the brand new regular. I doubt Polar timed its subscription after Garmin’s on function, but it surely does really feel like each different Garmin-like model goes to see subscriptions as an thrilling new alternative, irrespective of how a lot their customers grumble. In any case, if everybody is doing a subscription, folks cannot take their enterprise elsewhere.
I additionally assume extra mainstream smartwatches will comply with Garmin’s lead. Samsung has been build up its AI insights with Vitality Rating final 12 months and Samsung Well being Coach and vascular load later in 2025. All the things is free for now, however I absolutely anticipate all these insights behind a $10/month paywall by subsequent 12 months.
