Their software is OK. I wouldn’t call it top tier. What I would call top-tier is their device APIs - I have a polar h10 for example, which I made my own HR monitoring app for in a matter of hours.
The big difference, IMO, is polar is very friendly to 3rd party apps and devices first and foremost, while Garmin I personally feel is Garmin first, then 3rd party friendly. Just my opinion.
So with that, since its so easy to use other tools with them, you dont need to import to polar software. That said, polar works with tcx and gpx which can be converted to .fit easily, couldn’t tell you on the other way around.
It would be awesome if Polar was supported by GadgetBridge, because then you could have fully offline and private control of the device.
GB recently got Garmin support and it’s pretty solid. I switched from the Garmin app to GB exclusively and haven’t lost really any features. Besides the social networking, but that omission is a feature, not a bug.
If it’s really 3rd party friendly, I wonder how easy it would be to get support.
Thanks for the info. I won’t be jumping ship anytime soon as long as my current Garmin works fine but it is good to know for when this watch eventually bites the dust. I’ve always seen Polar but never really looked into them at all.
Not op, but as a long term polar user…
Their software is OK. I wouldn’t call it top tier. What I would call top-tier is their device APIs - I have a polar h10 for example, which I made my own HR monitoring app for in a matter of hours.
The big difference, IMO, is polar is very friendly to 3rd party apps and devices first and foremost, while Garmin I personally feel is Garmin first, then 3rd party friendly. Just my opinion.
So with that, since its so easy to use other tools with them, you dont need to import to polar software. That said, polar works with tcx and gpx which can be converted to .fit easily, couldn’t tell you on the other way around.
Hope this helps answer
It would be awesome if Polar was supported by GadgetBridge, because then you could have fully offline and private control of the device.
GB recently got Garmin support and it’s pretty solid. I switched from the Garmin app to GB exclusively and haven’t lost really any features. Besides the social networking, but that omission is a feature, not a bug.
If it’s really 3rd party friendly, I wonder how easy it would be to get support.
Thanks for the info. I won’t be jumping ship anytime soon as long as my current Garmin works fine but it is good to know for when this watch eventually bites the dust. I’ve always seen Polar but never really looked into them at all.