Polar Loop 2 Review

There are many fitness-tracking wearables that are available in the market and all of them promise to give reports of your daily activities so you know how active (or inactive) you are during the day. One such device is Polar‘s Loop 2 and in this review we’ll find out if there’s more it could offer its users.

Design and Construction

Polar showcases the Loop 2 in three colour variants, namely: Smokey Black, Sorbet Pink and Polar White. The Loop 2’s wristband also comes in two variants: Thermoplastic Urethane (available for the black variant only) and soft silicone. They are fastened by a stainless steel buckle with an engraved Polar logo. We found that it was easy to clean and not easily stained, but the silver buckle was prone to scratches.

The Loop 2 boasts of a clean, minimalist, “24/7 design”; with 85 individual LED lights (white lights for the white variant, red lights in the black and pink variant) hidden underneath the silicone band and is activated with the use of a capacitive touch button. This button is the only source of physical interaction with the device. Two plastic silver side accents break the silicone design and are placed to frame the hidden LED screen.

The band measures a width of 20mm with a weight of 0.38g, making it comfortable and barely noticeable when wearing it throughout the day and even during sleep. The device is also sealed and waterproofed until up to 20 meters, which means you wouldn’t have to take it off during water sports such as swimming, or even during showering. This helps ensure consistent usage.

One of the downsides of the Loop 2 is that it does not come in sizes. To make the band fit, you would have to literally cut it down, which can be daunting for most people. Luckily, a sizing band is provided in the box and should help you determine how much to cut off. But, from experience, it is better to do it little at a time as there’s no turning back if you cut off too much.

The device charges and connects to the computer via a special USB cable that plugs to the underbelly of the Loop 2. Having this kind of connectivity also means that you can’t just use any common charging cables like a microUSB when you’re out and about.

Setting it up

The first step in using the Polar Loop 2 is to create your account and sync it with the device. You connect the device to the computer using the aforementioned USB connector included in the package and the FlowSync program available on the website. It will ask for various personal information such as height, weight and gender and activity goals in order to properly calculate results.

Once set-up, you can then sync it to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth using the PolarFlow companion app. Using an iPhone 5, we had encountered some problems as the initial sync kept failing. Once everything was in order, though, everything went smoothly.

As long as your device’s Bluetooth is turned on, the Loop 2 will periodically sync with it. It’s also possible to sync by opening the companion app or by pressing the capacitive touch button once.

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