Throughout the past few years, we've had to choose one or the other – fitness trackers or smartwatches . Dedicated fitness trackers might be better at tracking your daily activity and heart rate, but they normally lack things like voice commands and proper notification support – two features...

Accurate activity and GPS tracking IPX8 water resistance Two-day battery life Plenty of third-party fitness apps (thanks to Android Wear

Large; bulky design Display is a tad small compared to the overall footprint Software can be buggy at times Should be ~$100 cheaper

Excellent device. The band is soft and comfortable for all day use. Using with iOS. Short battery life requires nightly charging. Ok once you get in the habit. Features are excellent and the HR monitor works much better than other wrist base devices for tracking sport performance.

As a comprehensive fitness tracker, the M600 is pretty well equipped. You’re still not guaranteed to find GPS and heart rate tracking in other Android Wear watches, so if you can put up with the mundane looks, it has a slight edge for recording your exercise routines. With an ever-increasing app library, too, there should be something here for pretty much every activity or sport. Android Wear notifications and second screen smartphone controls are handy to have, but only if you’re going to be wearing your watch all the time. I’m not sure this fits the bill for something you’d wear every day, though. The design and build make me think this just isn’t meant to be worn outside of the gym. Seeing as it’s kind of pricey, too, I think you’re either better off with a dedicated fitness tracker like a Garmin Vivoactive HR, or saving a bit more cash and going for an Android Wear watch you’ll actually put on every day. Buy the Polar M600 here from Amazon

GPS and heart rate tracking; Respectable battery life; Built to take a dunking;

Really not very good looking; Limited software smarts out of the box;

GPS and heart rate tracking; Respectable battery life; Built to take a dunking;

Really not very good looking; Limited software smarts out of the box;

Whether you're working off last night's takeaway, trying to outrun middle age on a treadmill, or lifting weights in front of a mirror like a preening peacock, you're basically just a sweaty mess.

For an Android Wear smartwatch with fitness chops, you can currently do no better than Polar's M600. It offers the most intuitive third-party integration with Google's wrist-based OS we've seen yet, and the comprehensive set of workout options should be exactly what most generalist gym visitors are...

Built-in GPS; Robust fitness tracking; Waterproof

Screen shows scan lines; Not the best-looking smartwatch; Poor battery life on iOS

The Polar M600 is a near-perfect combination of smartwatch and fitness tracker, blending both worlds into a true multi-functional device that is easy on the eyes and easy to use.

The market for wrist worn wearables has broken itself down into three segments – smartwatches, activity trackers, and hardcore exercise devices. To succeed in any one of these segments generally means compromises in the areas and features that may make for a winner in another segment.

Polar isn't short of know-how when it comes to sports watches; its M400 GPS Running Watch was one of our all-time favourites. The M600 is altogether a different wrist-based wearable.

Comfortabe to run with; Accurate GPS and HRM; Water-resistant

Silicone strap picks up lint and fluff; Poor-quality display; Charging is slightly fiddly

Bought this instead of a Samsung Gear Fit2 Pro, where the GPS barely works ... What a difference ... GPS locks fast, the statistics seem to be fine. Polar's "Flow" app and website provide a good overview of the training. It uses it as a lock-in, and it does it with a goodbye.