Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2022
***UPDATE3 10/2023: I received the warranty-covered repair from Polar today. Polar was kind enough to include in the package a copy of the invoice showing the amount I WOULD have had to pay had the PPP not been under warranty. $246.75 including shipping. That’s right…almost the cost of a new PPP. So, either buy the extended replacement coverage, or, better yet, buy a Garmin Forerunner 265, which I did, and absolutely love. You’ve been warned.
***UPDATE2 10/23: I have plodded along w this device bc frankly I don’t want to spend the money to replace it. In the month since my last update it has (mostly) worked. BUT this morning I woke, and is my habit hit the appropriate button to look at my sleep quality. But the screen display didn’t change. It was stuck on 12:00 midnight. The device simply stopped working froze completely, and all I was doing was sleeping. Connecting it to power did nothing, nor did connecting it to the Polar Flow app on my computer. Nothing worked. Fortunately it is still within the 2-year warranty window so after navigating the ridiculously difficult Polar website, I found out how to send it in. As I am training for a specific race, being without this device is, to put it mildly, inconvenient. Polar (and their basically non-existent customer support) is, NOT to put it mildly, crap. Like it or not, it looks like I’m going to have to spring for a Garmin 265. Lesson learned: never again, Polar.
***UPDATE 9/23: Well, I've had enough of this device. The intermittent operational deficiencies were annoying enough, but the loss of data is simply unforgivable. Now it randomly loses Bluetooth connection to phone, has stopped providing sleep heart rate data, and regularly simply stops working altogether. Forget Polar support; you'll get a nice "we're snowed under with all the report requests right now" and you'll never hear from them again. After only a year or so of functional use, this one gets retired in favor of a new Garmin Forerunner when I have saved up enough pennies. Sorely disappointed in Polar, but this experience has made me a non-customer for life.
***UPDATE 8/23: After having used this device for a full year, I feel pretty confident in reducing my overall rating by one star, basically due to the complete unreliability of this device. Rest assured that when you need it the most -- for a key workout, race, or whatever -- it WILL crap out on you. The Polar FlowSync technology, whereby you connect your PacerPro to your computer to do syncing, updates, etc., is just as unreliable, if not more so. Randomly losing saved custom workouts, reordering custom workouts, you name it. Annoying AF. As a point of reference, I began my adventure into HR monitoring with a Garmin device 10 years ago. THAT device is still working, providing reliable numbers even with outdated tech. So no, this is not a device I would recommend. I notice that Polar is out with an updated version, and for two seconds I was tempted to look into it. Then I looked over at my existing PacerPro tethered to my laptop, well into its third attempt to sync w Polar Flow after two previous failures. I think it's time to go back to Garmin.****
I’m no pro runner, but I did want a running watch that had some very specific features. Pacer Pro ticked off my entire list and then some. I’ve been running with this device for about a month now. Paired w a Polar chest strap monitor (not necessary, but I already had an H10 so I just use them together), PP delivers enough feedback and after-workout metrics to really satisfy most every runner. Polar Flow, both in app form and on the web, is a worthy complement to the device.
That’s the good. There’s one really big not-so-good. The device just randomly stops working. Sometimes when I’m wired recharging/syncing (and don’t get me started w Bluetooth syncing on iOS, which is a nightmare), the device screen just goes…dead. On awaking this morning, the device screen was…dead. I had to wire it to my laptop, wherein I was instructed to set it up again as if it was a brand new device (fortunately, the Flow web app retained all my previous workout data), and start my sleep tacking all over again. It is a frustrating and not entirely unnerving habit, not knowing whether it will just stop during a critical workout. So, I can’t give this 5 stars for this reason alone. Don’t know if Polar needs to do a firmware update or if I got a bad model, but whatever the reason, it isn’t something I’d HIGHLY recommend. When it works, it’s a great tool. When it doesn’t, it’s a source is genuine frustration.
UPDATE: Forget what I wrote about the chest strap being unnecessary. My personal experiments w using the PPP w and w/out the strap indicate that if you want accurate HR numbers, you’ll pair it w the strap. For example, last night it failed to record my night’s sleep completely despite the fact that I wore it (tightly, as Polar advises), and then on a completely casual walk on my rest day, it recorded HR zones from the low 60s (which I would expect), to 145 and above, which is my red zone which I can only reach w a full-on sprint. So now, this device by itself is not reliable AFAIC, at least when it comes to accurate HRs. Pair it w a strap, and it makes a fine running buddy. Alone, not so much.
