Treadmill Usage – Pace and Cadence IS shown when running indoors on a treadmill and is calculated from the accelerometer. These workouts will suit many athletes and the workouts now also support POWER. At the overview level, it is a spreadsheet-like tool to balance and structure the various aspects/themes of your training over the year. In the above example, this would be where you plan your easy weeks, hard weeks, base training and so on.
You’re not getting payments, apps, a music player or communication features like taking calls or responding to notifications. Polar is still sticking to the basics and it does a good enough job of those basics. The presentation of the data though feels a bit overwhelming to absorb and digest. The nightly recharge measurements live in a separate part of the app and again, there’s a lot of data here.
Table of Contents
Polar Vantage M
This is a nice feature which I’ve enjoyed on the Vantage V2 and Grit X already, the weather information watch face is a simple representation on the upcoming weather. Going into the details you get more than just sun, clouds, rain, snow, etc. Upcoming temperatures, wind direction and intensity, the works. It is periodically synced to the watch for today and the upcoming two days, with less and less granularity. Michael is a freelance journalist who has covered consumer technology for over a decade and specializes in wearable and fitness tech. Previously editor of Wareable, he also co-ran the features and analysis sections of T3, and has a long list of bylines in the world of consumer tech sites.
Stamina remaining lets you know how much energy you have left after a workout, and how long you should wait before a hard workout. At the top end of the Suunto family is the Suunto 9 Peak, which takes the Suunto 9 and gives it a slimmer and lighter design. That includes up to 170 hours of GPS battery life with intelligent battery modes for those who want to track for days plus the ability to monitor blood oxygen to assess acclimation to altitude.
Polar Vantage M2 Analysis|
Battery life up to 30 h in training mode (GPS and wrist-based heart rate) or up to 7 days in watch mode with continuous heart rate tracking. The Polar Vantage V2 brings advanced heart rate tracking, up to 40 hours of GPS training time, color display, running and cycling performance testing, music controls, running power, and much more. For indoor HIIT workouts and indoor rows, these are modes where you are just getting access to tracking workout duration and heart rate data. You can fire HR data to other devices over Bluetooth, set up interval timers and use the power save settings available in all of the other profiles. As mentioned, these types of modes don’t track movement, and we also had to head into the Polar Flow web app to add the indoor rowing profile because it wasn’t available in the mobile app. Unfortunately, it doesn’t track stroke rates like you can find on most Garmin watches and watches from the likes of Amazfit and Huawei too.
Over the years, I’ve continued to tweak my GPS testing methodology. For example, I don’t place two units next to each other on my wrists, as that can impact signal. If I do so, I’ll put a thin fabric spacer of about 1”/3cm between them (I didn’t do that on any of my Polar Vantage M2 activities however, all workouts only had a single device per wrist).
Perceived Load
I mean, I don’t want to name names here, but the dashboard that keeps showing me as ‘Overreaching’ is pretty close to getting the ax. I’ve gotta wonder if this is Polar quietly admitting the Vantage V2/Grit X sensor was actually a step back in accuracy. Myself and many other analyzers found it finicky, often showing small spikes in the HR – and in general being less accurate than the generally quite good original Vantage series sensors.
Along with those core stats, you’ll find a lot more in the Flow app. Things like Running Index give you an insight into the quality of that run. We were quite happy so see Elite for our Running Index on most occasions and see that runs were helping to increase our resistance to fatigue and improving our aerobic fitness levels. It’s got the same 43mm sized case that measures in at 8.5mm thick and weighs the same 35g. The case is made from glass reinforced polymer with a stainless steel bezel once again, but this time it has a nicer, more textured finish to it. You’re also still getting a solitary physical button with the emphasis on making most use of the touchscreen display.
Training and recovery made simple
The popup text includes the “V2” everywhere, however the buttons protrude from the housing and the Polar logo is missing on the dial. HR zones are actionable information from a workout, but perceived calories expended during a workout are added to a daily number that gets ridiculous and confusing. GPS – I mean, I know exactly where I ran…i compare it to that. M2 has more than enough new features to make you choose it over the earlier Vantage M but perhaps not enough for the upgrade. Running Index is calculated when using STRYD and GPS – needs 12 minutes of running. This definitely works in the generic RUNNING profile but other running profiles may be different.
In fact, all of the units were pretty solid on the intervals. The FR745 optical sensor had a rough go of the first 5-6 of the warm-up, but then was fine all the way till the 6th-8th intervals, where it wobbled a bit at the top-end. Each day it’ll give you a suggested cardio workout, and then after you’ve completed that it’ll give you a supportive or strength workout. These aren’t tied to a specific training plan , but rather, aimed at giving you a ‘Workout of the day’ concept. The backlight solves that, but ultimately it’s no different than previous Vantage displays. You can tap into that, and it’ll ever-so-slowly load expected rain, wind speed, and the forecast for the coming days.
Training Plans – Scheduling Favourite Workouts
You can hit the bottom physical button when you take rests and then tap it again when you’re ready to go again. The FitSpark™ training guide offers daily on-demand workouts that match your recovery, fitness level and training history. Freshen up the look of your Polar sports watch with a new silicone wristband. The quick release spring bars make the band quick and easy to swap anytime, anywhere.
The Vantage V2 is designed for serious athletes, think dedicated marathon runners, ultrarunners and triathletes. It offers access to features like Training Load Pro and Training Recovery Pro to delve deeper into your workout data to help better shape training plans and when to take rest days. When it comes to running watches—it really depends on what kind of runner you are and what features you demand.
Polar Vantage M2 In-Depth Analysis
Again, if you’re on a structured training plan towards a specific-season race, this frankly isn’t for you. Instead, it’s for folks who don’t have a specific training plan, but just want to keep active in an endurance-sports focused manner. The watch won’t mess around, it’ll throw-down solid workout suggestions, so don’t think you’re just gonna get a bunch of 30-minute easy-peasy stretching workouts. For the most part, I find Polar’s sleep tracking pretty good. I didn’t have any meaningful errors here, with the sleep times within a few mins of when I actually fell asleep or woke up.
Whereas the Zone Pointer is only available for HR/speed/pace. You can also display the clock face during a workout as well as ‘back to start’ and interval/countdown timers. You get the watch and a bespoke USB charger as well as numerous bits of paper.
polar ignite 2 is perfect for…
The Pace 2 is charged using a small USB cable that attaches securely to the back. We’ve mentioned it before, but we much prefer this type of charging cable to Fitbit’s awkward clamps that have to be lined up just so for the connectors to meet. When you up the intensity, it actually handled the sudden spikes and drops reasonably well. As you can see, there’s only a 2bpm difference in the average of an interval session against the HRM-Pro chest strap, which is impressive. Another thing that hasn’t changed is that this is one you can take swimming. It has a water resistant rating that makes it safe for dunking in water up to 30 metres depth.
Why is Polar Vantage V2 better than Coros Pace 2?
These sport profiles are controlled on Polar Flow, either via the smartphone app or website. While many of them are similar, the main thing is really calorie burn metrics between them. Next, there’s my weekly training summary, in hours and time per heart rate zone.
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