Review: Polar M400

Hey guys!

I'm here to review the Polar M400 today. Ever since the introduction of Instagram and social media, people have been jumping on the bandwagon to get into the habit of keeping healthy and fit. I've had my polar ft70 for the past 5 years, and I figured it was time for a change. I've been eyeing on watches that don't just count calories burned but calculates the distance ran, monitoring different workouts and how hard you've pushed yourself. Enter the Polar M400.

I've been a huge fan of Polar ever since I've gotten into the habit of running. I know there are several other brands like Garmin that also specialise in sports watches, but Polar's price range is much more reasonable and in addition I enjoy switching my exercises up. I do enjoy running but I was looking for a watch that could determine how hard I worked out during any type of exercise.

I think the beauty of the M400 is that it does almost anything you could ask for. Although it's not a touch screen watch, it is waterproof, has a running programme, recovery status AND gets alerts for your incoming calls, received messages and push notifications! The watch has an internal GPS which monitors how far you've ran, and although it does take a little while for the GPS sensor to pick up, everything else works perfect. 

It creates automatic laps for you so you're aware of how long you take for each km/mile and at the end of each session, tells you how far you've ran, the calories burned and the duration taken. If you hit the down button, it'll tell you your fat percentage burned (something I don't really take into account but it's good for those that do), your cadence and your running index (which helps you to monitor the quality of your runs).

If you're like me and you enjoy HIIT sessions or anything other than outdoor running, polar allows you to create your own unique sports profiles to ensure optimum tracking. This way you're able to really know how hard you've worked, and you can review your intensity levels online after you've synced your device or on the watch, which tells you how long you've been in each zone. It's also great when you're midway working and you find yourself not pushing as hard as you'd like. There are profiles like outdoor sports, bootcamp and circuit training.

The M400 keeps track of your daily activity. The little boxes beside the dates are workouts that you've done each day, and this serves as a small motivation to get your butt out of the house to earn those squares! It's really satisfying to see majority of your days with little boxes beside them, and I'm sure you'd feel the same way too :)

You'll also be able to track your 'active time' and total calories burnt for the entire day (that is if you wear the watch even after your workout), in addition to the number of steps taken. It's amazing how I have to actually exercise to hit a miserable 8000 steps... Do I spend most of my time sitting down!? (The average person is suppose to take 10,000 steps a day) And although almost every other fitness watch does track this, the M400 just has added bonuses which makes this an overall great watch to own.

One of the few things I really love about the M400 and Polar is how you're able to see if you're improving and to keep up with goals you've set for yourself. The running index gives you valuable information about your maximal aerobic running performance and the calculation is based on heart rate and speed data measured during a run.

So whether you’re training for a specific goal or just running to keep fit and healthy, seeing progress is usually what keeps us motivated. With the Running Index report online you can easily monitor your progress and see how your running performance develops over time. You can also link it up to MyFitnessPal (iOS only) to keep track of your nutrition.

Charging is simple. Like a smartphone, plug the wire from the back of the watch into a port and charge for about 3-4 hours. The battery lasts for about a week which is pretty amazing in my opinion.

The only con I can think of (apart from the slightly longer time it takes to pick up GPS) is the one/two times I've encountered an issue when doing burpees. My wrist presses the top left hand button causing the backlight to light up. But it's not that big of a deal, and only happens from time to time.

The Polar M400 comes in black, blue, pink and white. I initially ordered a white one off amazon but for some reason got the black one instead. After much contemplation I realised the black would be better cos the white may turn yellow after a while. It's a tad bit too masculine for me (I'm not really able to use it as a day to day watch) but if it means it'll last longer, I'm all for having chunky wrists. 

The Polar M400 does require you to have the polar heart rate monitor (HRM) and strap (not pictured), which can be bought together or separately. I got mine separately so I'm not too sure if you'd require the bluetooth HRM or the normal one for the M400. Do check before purchasing!

The Polar M400 retails from £119 with the HRM on Amazon and £92.80 without. If you can find 2nd hand watches at almost brand new condition, go for those! Save your money.

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I hope this review helps anyone thinking of getting a fitness watch. It's not the prettiest out there, but it certainly does the job if you're looking for an all rounder watch that tracks almost any workout you do, and the zones you're in during your exercise.

Love

thehungryunicorn