Garmin recently announced its Forerunner 735XT GPS running watch. But competitor Polar has not been idle. Recently announced are a number of updates across all of their models and software platforms. Probably the most significant updates have been Strava integration and the third party route imports to Polar Flow for V800 and V650 users.

Importing a route to a V800 watch or V650 cycling computer requires users to export their preferred route (GPX or TCX Format) from a service such as Strava to Polar Flow web and then sync a user's V800 or V650 to Polar Flow, a process similar to that used for Garmin's models. Along with importing routes to Polar Flow, Polar has smoothed out the bugs with their auto export to Strava, a welcomed feature to Polar users.

Polar Flow is Polar's platform for community and social feedback.

Polar has also implemented running plans within Polar Flow which includes running programs optimized for 5k up to the marathon distance. The plans are tagged to a specified race date, but take into account your current level of fitness based on data uploaded to Polar Flow.

Owners of the V800 and M400 will have the ability to upload their recommended workout to their watches after syncing to Polar Flow and will receive guidance on the workout via their watch during their workout.

Finally, Polar has also released a number of smaller updates including smart notifications to the A300, support for the Polar Balance Scale across nearly all of their products, and most interestingly is the upcoming support for GoPro cameras which will include the transmission of metrics such as heart rate and speed to be seen on the GoPRO video. This planned feature could be interpreted as validation to Polar's increasing popularity.