Polar Verity Sense Heart Monitor Strap Can Be Worn Anywhere

Smartwatches and smart fitness trackers are a dime a dozen these days, almost all of them equipped with one form of heart rate monitor or another. These might be fine for some consumers that don't mind the designs these smartwatches come in or don't require more accurate or dedicated readings. There will, however, always be people who shirk from these smart wearables, especially when they're actually training or exercising. For these, Polar is launching its new Verity Sense, a dedicated heart rate monitor that can be worn on almost any part of your body.

Polar has been making heart rate monitors long before there were smartwatches. The utility of the latter, however, may have forced it to consider new ways to gain attention. The Polar Verity Sense is a product of that reflection and it is designed for those who don't like wearing anything on their wrists or even their arms during intense training or exercise.

The Verity Sense is actually a thick but small disc-shaped device that just happens to come with a removable strap that can be worn on the arm. However, the optical heart rate monitor itself can be placed anywhere, even clipped to swimming goggles. The only requirement is that the sensor touches your skin so it can take readings.

The Polar Verity Sense can even be used without a phone nearby, though you'll need that to use the device's Heart Rate Mode. Independently, it can record training or swimming sessions on the 16MB internal memory, advertised to be enough for 600 hours of training time. The battery, however, is only advertised to last 20 hours of training on a single charge.

The Polar Verity Sense is definitely an intriguing heart rate monitor that does offer what no smartwatch or fitness tracker could, at least not at the moment. It does, however, cost quite a bit for a single-purpose device, $89.95 for a complete set, but it might be something that more seasoned athletes and sports enthusiasts will be willing to pay for in exchange for freedom of movement.