How it began
In 1975 there was no accurate way to measure heart rate during training. Athletes and coaches had no portable instrument that could follow the heart while the athlete was moving outdoors. The idea of a portable, wireless heart rate monitor was conceived on a cross-country ski track in Finland in 1975. In 1977 Seppo Säynäjäkangas, a professor at the University of Oulu, invented a battery-operated fingertip heart rate monitor as a training aid for the Finnish national cross-country ski team. He founded Polar Electro the same year in Kempele, near Oulu. The company filed its first patent for wireless heart rate measurement three years later.
How it spread
Polar introduced its first retail product in 1978. In 1982 it launched the Sport Tester PE 2000, described as the first wearable wire-free heart rate monitor. It used a chest belt and electric field data transfer. Books on heart rate training describe it as the first wireless heart rate monitor brought to market.
What changed first
The first-generation monitors were readily accepted by athletes, particularly at the elite level. In 1984 the Sport Tester PE 3000 added a computer interface, which let athletes view and analyze their training data on a computer for the first time. One running handbook notes that Polar was the first company to sell wireless heart rate monitors for athletes.
Where it stands today
Polar remains based in Kempele and makes heart rate sensors and sports watches for elite athletes and casual users. It released its first optical wrist-reading monitor, the A360, in November 2015. The company faces strong competition in wearable technology from brands such as Garmin.
