Polar Electro Oy (globally known as Polar) is a manufacturer of sports training computers, particularly known for developing the world's first wireless

heart rate monitor A heart rate monitor (HRM) is a personal monitoring device that allows one to measure/display heart rate in real time or record the heart rate for later study. It is largely used to gather heart rate data while performing various types of phy ...

. The company is based in

Kempele Kempele is a municipality south of the city of Oulu and south of the Oulu Airport in Northern Finland. Historically it was in the province of Oulu, but today it is in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia. The population of Kempele is () and the m ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and was founded in 1977. Polar has approximately 1,200 employees worldwide, it has 26 subsidiaries that supply over 35,000 retail outlets in more than 80 countries. Polar manufactures a range of heart rate monitoring devices and accessories for

athletic training Athletic training is an allied health care profession recognized by the American Medical Association (AMA)"What is an Athletic Trainer?". The Board of Certification Website. 2003. Athletic training is also recognized by the Health Resources Serv ...

and fitness and also to measure

heart rate variability Heart rate variability (HRV) is the physiological phenomenon of variation in the time interval between heartbeats. It is measured by the variation in the beat-to-beat interval. Other terms used include: "cycle length variability", "R–R variabi ...

History

In 1975, there was no accurate way to measure heart rate during training, and the idea of a wireless, portable heart rate monitor was conceived on a

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

track in

. Polar was founded in 1977, and the company filed its first patent for wireless heart rate measurement three years later. Its late founder Seppo Säynäjäkangas (1942–2018) was the inventor of the first wireless

EKG Electrocardiography is the process of producing an electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), a recording of the heart's electrical activity. It is an electrogram of the heart which is a graph of voltage versus time of the electrical activity of the hear ...

heart rate monitor. In 1978, the company launched its first commercial product, the

Tunturi Tunturi is a Finnish manufacturer of bicycles and fitness equipment. History Tunturi's history began in 1922. The foundations of the Tunturi brand began when brothers Aarne and Eero Harkke set up a small bike shop, ''Pyöräkellari Oy'', in T ...

Pulser. In 1982, Polar launched the world's first wearable wire-free heart rate monitor, the Sport Tester PE 2000. Today, Polar has products ranging from basic models for beginners to fitness enthusiasts and training systems designed for elite athletes. Polar has also developed heart rate monitoring and training systems for

equestrian sports Equestrian sports are sports that use horses as a main part of the sport. This usually takes the form of the rider being on the horse's back, or the horses pulling some sort of horse-drawn vehicle. General * 4-H * Equitation *Horse show * Iceland ...

. Polar technology and devices are widely used in various scientific studies, as well as being adopted by many university research departments. In part due to its own history and the affiliation with universities and the scientific community, Polar offers a research co-operation programme focused on supporting studies in exercise science. In November 2015, Polar released its first optical wrist-reading heart rate monitor, the A360. In July 2018, Dutch newspaper

De Correspondent ''De Correspondent'' is a Dutch news website based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was launched on 30 September 2013 after raising more than in a crowdfunding campaign in eight days. The website distinguishes itself by rejecting the daily news ...

revealed that Polar's fitness app shows users on the map, making it possible to find out their real names, profession and home addresses. In a reaction, Polar ended some of the online functionality of sharing routes on the map.

Current products

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* {{Authority control Finnish companies established in 1977 Electronics companies established in 1977 Sporting goods manufacturers of Finland Finnish brands Watch brands Activity trackers Kempele

History

Current products

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Further reading

External links