Polar Unveils Screenless Loop Band for 24/7 Fitness Tracking

Polar on Wednesday unveiled the Polar Loop, a screenless fitness band designed for continuous wear that tracks heart rate, activity, sleep and recovery and is meant to compete directly with subscription-based rivals such as Whoop. Polar said preorders open on September 3 and shipments will begin September 10, with the band priced at about 199 in the United States and lower headline figures in other regions that vary by currency and market.

Polar described the Loop as a minimalist, 24/7 tracker that forgoes a display in favor of seamless integration with its Polar Flow smartphone app. The company said the device uses its Precision Prime optical sensor technology, the same system used in Polar's higher-end sports watches, to record heart rate, steps, automatic workout detection, sleep quality and recovery metrics. Data syncs to Polar Flow, which Polar says will be free to use and will not require any subscription to access advanced features.

The Loop stores up to four weeks of data on board and offers up to eight days of battery life on a single charge, Polar said. That runtime is shorter than the 14 days claimed by one leading competitor, Whoop, a difference industry observers...