THE LATEST GEAR - TESTED BY EXPERTS
POLAR VANTAGE V3
£519Is this the watch to turn around Polar’s fortunes?
News of Polar’s financial struggles has been sad to hear, with a 15% reduction in headcount last year due to poor sales in 2022 and into 2023. It’s a similarly bleak picture across the industry, of course, with cycling hit particularly hard. It’s not hyperbolic to say that much weighs on the success of the company’s new Vantage V3. But can it beat the likes of Garmin’s Forerunner 965 and Suunto’s Race?
Well, it can certainly match them when it comes to clarity on the fly thanks to the crisp AMOLED screen. This proved its worth during a dark, grey, wet test period. The downside of AMOLED is its battery drain, albeit around 28hrs in full-workout mode isn’t bad at all.
As you’d expect for a £500 training watch, it’s packed with all the sports modes you need including pool and open-water swimming. Positively, it recognises swim styles beyond front crawl, which will be a boon for triathletes who favour breaststroke, though this doesn’t transcend to open water. That said, GPS is impressive, though outdoor swimming was limited due to December testing.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the optical heart rate sensor, which delivered inconsistent readings. Whether this is a hardware or algorithm issue remains to be seen but was something picked up on by Fredrik Mentzoni, a PhD engineer working at the Norwegian Olympic Centre, who showed the V3 was much less accurate than the Polar Verity Sense chest strap. That might not be surprising, but it does seem a particular concern on the V3.
The jury’s not out on the new maps feature, however, which will appeal to many. You can download the coloured maps via the Polar Flow website and use them offline. Navigation is a simple breadcrumb, but it’s certainly a strong base from which to update down the line.
Another standout is the ECG – the first time Polar’s used this feature. To take an ECG, you scroll through to the ‘Tests’ section – via touchscreen or button – and tap ‘ECG’. You then place a finger on the upper-left button for 30secs. This then gives you info like heart rate variability (HRV) and beat-to-beat interval, which ultimately all feeds back into your state of being. It’s useful, albeit the ECG moniker’s a touch misleading and arguably should be HRV.
You can also measure your skin temperature, which is useful in the heat, gauge sleep, run by power, see strain of workout,
