Gadgets & Wearables

Comparison: Polar M460 vs. M450 vs V650

Polar M460 GPS Bike ComputerPolar’s recently announced M460 offers a refresh of the previous version..the M450. Polar also have the more expensive navigational bike computer in their range…the V650.

Taking out the navigational side of things all the units have quite similar functionality.

Polar are sticking with the BLE only world of communication with sensors. This restricts the ability of this great little device (both the M450 and presumably the M460 too) to get many more sales than it otherwise would. The M450 (the old version) is often as low as GBP110 on Amazon. It really is an all time bargain at that price. Even people just wanting a backup unit that ‘works’ (which the M450 always does) would go for one at that price level…IF it had ANT+ – otherwise the backup unit is the Lezyne in the back pocket for me.

The M460 is a refreshed M450. The case is a little different but the hardware looks otherwise identical. Maybe it’s different hardware inside? It might be. I don’t know. I have a sneaky feeling it might be…

The M460 is almost like a firmware upgrade for the M450. And the extra functionality provided there is a bit of extra power meter stats, access to STRAVA live segments and some basic+app smartphone notifications.

As things stand you buy a M450 if it is WAY below list price. At list price you pay the extra for the M460 and hope for lots more firmware goodies to come (reasonably likely) and if you want navigation you go for the V650. If STRAVA is your thing and connectivity then you go for the M460.

Whilst you can already get BT power meters from PowerTap, Stages, 4iiii, Wahoo Fitness and Rotor there ARE more on their way. And I don’t just mean WATTEAM’s POWERBEAT 🙂

 

M460M450V650
179.90 EUR159.90 EUR219.90 EUR
Smart Coaching Features
Fitness Test••No
Orthostatic Test••No
Recovery status•••
Smart Calories•••
Training Benefit•••
Training load•••
Full Features
–Training
Route importNoNo•
Heart rate•••
HRmax•••
Heart Rate zones•••
Speed/Pace zones••No
Power zones•••
Advanced Power Metrics for TrainingPeaks•NoNo
ZoneLock•••
ZonePointer•••
Strava Live Segments•NoNo
Orthostatic Test••No
Polar Fitness Test••No
Smart Calories•••
Training Benefit•••
Training LoadFLOWFLOWFLOW
Recovery StatusFLOWFLOWFLOW
Back to Start•••
Distance•••
Altitude, ascent/descent•••
Sport profiles•••
User-adjustable training displays•••
GPS•••
OpenStreetMapNoNo•
Route guidanceNoNo•
Speed/Pace•••
Training history•••
Training diary••No
Laps, manual•••
Laps, automatic•••
Personal Best••No
Real-time VAM•••
Autostop/start•••
Barometer•••
Sensor Bluetooth® Smart features
Cadence•••
Speed•••
Distance•••
Incline measurement•••
Measurement
Weight50g50g122g
Display•••
Resolution128X128128X128240X320
Water resistanceIPX7IPX7IPX7
Rechargeable battery•••
USB cablemicro USBmicro USBmicro USB
Bluetooth Smart•••
Smart Notifications•NoNo
Audio alerts•••
Button lock•••
Backlight•••
Front LED light•••
Date and weekday indicator•••
Time of day (12/24h)•••
Bike settings for three bicycles•••
Firmware update•••
–Flow
Diary•••
Map view•••
Relive•••
Explore•••
Social feed•••
Instant activity and training analysis•••
Advanced activity and training analysis•••
Sport profile settings••
Progress follow-up•••

source: Polar with some changes

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9 thoughts on “Comparison: Polar M460 vs. M450 vs V650”

  1. 3rd paragraph, your write: “Polar are sticking with the ANT+ only world…” when you clearly mean “Bluetooth” there…

  2. I owned a Polar S610i, used in gym, hated looking at wrist all the time, started using a Polar CS600 with WIND Strap, cycle computers are excellent for treadmills! Then purchased a Polar V800.. should have learnt. Reverted to an M460 which seems almost a V800 in a nice package. Cycle computers are actually great for treadmill running, esp if HR is a crucial factor in training (such as with HR intervals).

      1. Purchased the S610i in 2006 just before they were discontinued. The more I use the M460 the more it really is a V800 in another package. One thing I miss (from the CS600) is there is no HR trend line… Polar seem to have dropped it, was even on the RS400/800 years ago.

  3. Just added a cheap M450 to my M460. Identical other than Strava and Notifications. However looking at the specs the M450 battery is slightly larger capacity than the M460 by about 10% although both are rated for the same duration. In use, seem pretty identical for what I used them for however. I do not believe the M460 battery lasts longer as some sites claim. If Strava/Bluetooth phone Notifications aren’t needed the M450 is a better buy.

  4. I own a V650 and am trying to understand why Polar’s most expensive flagship cycling computer leaves out such basic features found in lesser models like the M450 and M460: No fitness or orthostatic tests and no training targets, which my old CS600x had. I used to be able to develop workout plans in Polar ProTrainer 5 and load them onto the CS600x, which would then guide me through my intervals. I cannot understand why these things are missing from the V650, and I haven’t been able to find a way to give this feedback to Polar. I found your review by Googling “V650” and “orthostatic test.” I hope Polar gives us a software update to include these things and truly make it a complete cycling computer. I bought it for the mapping capability, and if it didn’t have that, I’d either pick up an M460 or go back to my CS600x.

    1. why missing?: my only guessed explanation was that the v650 is targetted more towards navigation than perforance
      chances of it being added i would have thought are slim.

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