Move over Apple Ultra 2 and Garmin Epix Pro, there's a new rugged smartwatch to hit the trails, mountains, rivers, and oceans. The new Polar Grit X2 Pro is the brand's flagship adventure-ready smartwatch with comprehensive activity tracking and navigation features and manufactured to military 810H standards.

It also boasts Polar's premium health monitoring technology borrowed from the similarly top-ranked Vantage V3, a bright AMOLED touchscreen, dual-frequency GPS, stainless steel case and bezel, and impressive battery life.

The Polar Grit X2 Pro will be available for pre-order starting March 20 for $749 and in stores April 3, 2024. It will be available in two color options, Night Black and Stone Gray

In addition, the Polar Grit X2 Pro Titan edition will be available for $799. This model is lighter (2.26 oz.) than the standard edition because it uses titanium instead of stainless steel for the case and bezel. It also comes with two straps: a standard black silicone strap and an elegant brown leather strap with antibacterial properties.

The Grit X2 Pro features a 1.39-inch AMOLED touchscreen with scratch-resistant sapphire glass. This screen is 15% larger than the original Grit X for those considering an upgrade.

The bezel and case are made of stainless steel, except for the Titan Edition, which is water resistant to 100 meters. The watch has a flashlight feature that uses the screen rather than a separate LED flashlight like some other rugged smartwatches.

Battery life is 10 days in standard smartwatch mode, up to 140 hours in eco-training mode (with slightly reduced tracking capabilities), and 43 hours in performance training mode.

The Polar Grit X2 Pro is packed with features for navigation, including a dual-band GPS antenna with a new signal booster under the bezel. It also offers 32 GB of storage for offline maps, training data, and routes.

Speaking of routes, detailed maps, including topographic maps, come preloaded on the device for both North American and European regions. In addition, additional regions can be downloaded and stored.

The device also supports turn-by-turn directions via Komoot. In addition, according to Polar, support for Strava Routes is currently in preparation and will be released soon. Finally, a new breadcrumb feature, similar to Apple's Backtrack, allows users to retrace their steps during an adventure and save favorite routes for future enjoyment.

As one would expect from Polar's flagship device, the Grit X2 Pro is packed with health technology, including an optical heart rate sensor, SpO2 sensor, ECG sensor, and skin temperature sensor. It also supports more than 150 sports and activity profiles, similar to the Vantage V3.

For vertical training and activities with large elevation gain, such as hiking, climbing, and cycling, the Grit X2 Pro offers several new and useful metrics, including Vertical Speed, Ascent Speed or VAM (Velocity Ascended in Meters), and 3D Speed new and useful metrics. The latter calculates the true speed up and down an incline.

The Polar Grit X2 Pro faces stiff competition, including many of the best smartwatches available today; the Garmin Epix Pro and Fenix 7 Pro are a step behind it, even though the former is a direct competitor to the Grit series. The Garmin Epix Pro and Fenix 7 Pro are not to be outdone.

The Epix Pro is unique in that it comes in three sizes, while the Grit X2 Pro comes in one size. The smallest Epix Pro's battery life is comparable to Polar's, but the larger sizes far exceed it. The Grit X2 Pro, on the other hand, offers technology not found in the Garmin, such as skin temperature sensors and more advanced vertical training metrics.

Priced at $799 and built for extremes, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 is also a smartwatch rather than a fitness device, but the comparison is a natural one. Polar is more advanced in battery life, training, and recovery metrics. The activity and health tracking technologies are nearly identical as well. The Apple Watch has the advantage of optional cellular connectivity. However, it only works well with iOS.

Ultimately, I look forward to wearing the Polar Grit X2 Pro on my wrist on the mountain trails. I will post a full review soon.