Polar AW200 Activity Watch Passes Test

A study of hikers finds that the Polar AW200 Activity Technology Watch accurately tracks how many calories you burn.

"The AW200 appears to be a very useful and accurate device for measuring EE (energy expenditure) during exercise in recreational hikers and provides a useful tool for keeping track of personal energy expenditure," concludes the research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The Polar Watch detects motion while you wear it, then uses your movement to calculate how much energy you've used.

To find out how accurately it counts calories, 31 adults wore Activity Watches while on a 10 kilometre hike. Some of the hikers also carried portable metabographs that measure indirect calorimetry. Every half hour, data were collected to test the watches' performance.

Throughout the hike, the AW200 measures of kilojoules correlated well with those from the metabograph. During the first 90 minutes on the trail, the watch and metabograph gave identical readings of the calories that hikers had burned.

After two hours, the Polar readings came in a little lower than those from the metobograph. But the difference between the two devices was small, less than ten percent.

Measuring how many calories you burn off isn't all the Polar AW200 Watch can do. The AW200 also functions as a step counter, barometer, thermometer and altimeter.

Besides hikers, the watch appeals to walkers, joggers and anyone else who likes to track their activity.