Polar, best known for its line of heart-rate chest straps and running watches, feels that taking fitness seriously is what other smartwatches have been missing. Its new Polar M600 will be available towards the end of September for $330 or £300 (which converts to around AU$435).

The Polar M600 has GPS, interval training, a built-in heart-rate sensor and phone notifications.

If you're serious about athletics, the Polar M600 is hands-down the best smartwatch on the market for you. Even if you're just a user who might only go for a run every few days, the easy to use training software will help you develop an actual training program and start working towards new goals.

Overall, the Polar M600 looks and behaves more like a smartwatch and less like a running watch. The integration with Android Wear is slick, and Polar Flow is a clean and easy-to-use app, but the watch falls short of expectations once you start running.

Smartwatch notifications; Accurate GPS; heart rate monitor; Easy-to-use Polar Flow app

Bulky; Disappointing activity features; Short battery life

We've read reports that there will be no new Android Wear smartwatches from Huawei, Motorola, or LG this year. If you are interested in a new Android Wear smartwatch that also serves as a solid GPS sports watch, then none of this matters as the Polar M600 is available now.

Lightweight and comfortable to wear 24/7; GPS performs as good as the Polar V800; Onboard music playback works well; Fully customizable workout screens; Can't answer phone calls on the watch

Vibrations are a bit too light for morning alarms; Thick watch with limited band options; Display too dim in direct sunlight

Android Wear has had somewhat of an up and down year this year, the majority of the ‘usual' Android OEMs haven't released new models, but on the up side new manufacturers have filled the void.

While we were disappointed with Polar's first attempt at wrist-based tracking with the A360, we found the M600 to be extremely accurate when compared to a chest-strap. We did multiple runs with either a MyZone or Wahoo chest-strap on and the M600 never let us down.

Great Polar Flow integration; Battery life is great; Android Wear fitness apps

Design is bland; Quite pricey (for a Polar; No auto activity detection

The explosion of smartwatches and fitness trackers has thrown up some real gems and thrown down some real turds, leaving us all to step carefully when choosing a new device. Polar is an established name in fitness devices, one of the oldest, perhaps, when dealing with heart rate monitoring.

Solid design; Sports takes priority over smartwatch; All of Android Wear's functions; Polar Flow does so much; Respectable battery performance for a smartwatch; IPX8 waterproofing

Design could be more exciting; Swimming could be better served; Heart rate can be a little erratic; Price

The M600 is probably one of the most unique products that Polar has made in a long time. It's also one that's clearly pushed them outside of their comfort zone, and I say that in a good way.

There's no shortage of Android Wear watches to choose from. Companies including Huawei, LG, Casio, and Fossil all have smartwatches that run on Google's wearable operating system, and all of them can use Google Fit's activity tracking.

Bold; bright touchscreen display; Onboard GPS and space for local music; Rated IPX8 so you can swim with it; Android Wear will add useful features and notifications for those connected to an Android smartphone

Bulky design makes it hard to wear all day; Heart rate monitor can be slow to catch up to high pulse rates; Expensive for what it offers; Not worth the money for iPhone users when they can get the comparable Apple Watch Series 2 instead

If you're in the market for an excellent running watch with a heart rate monitor that also counts steps and has some smartwatch capabilities, the Polar A360 and the Garmin Vivoactive HR are much better options.

High-quality build; Built-in optical heart rate monitor; Runs modified version of Android Wear; Waterproof; Works with both Android and iOS devices

Bulky; Short battery life; Occasionally high heart rate readings in testing; Can't set a custom activity goal