35 thoughts on “Polar Vantage Specifications M Vantage V, V800 M430 Comparison”

1. I hope they bring back race pace for the Vantage V. I like that feature on the V800. The Strava Live Segments were pretty cool too, better for cycling than running as a mad sprint to beat a PB half way through a 10k training run was never ideal. Hopefully a lot of these issues will be addressed with firmware updates over the (hopefully) long product life.

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   1. i hope so too. I got the definate impression that they are no longe trying to compete on NUMBER of functions. they just cant win that battle. so they will be focussing on what their target markets want. I *THINK* they are targetting high level triathletes and runners and what they need….then there is a trickle down effect of those who try to emulate them. not sure they are going for the ultra runers per se,…that’s just my impression

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      1. for trail runners navigate by path profile is a big miss.A few things related to training planning and following it which was missing in v800 is still not here which is disappointing. And the navi!!!!

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         1. i hear ya !!

            keep making these comments everywhere with your fellow trail runners and polar will hear if enough of you shout loud enough.

            IIRC the device IS capable of it. it is just a question of prioritisation. I would imagine that implementing it as per v800 is non-trivial.

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2. Sorry, i discover one error in headlines. you putted 43 hours for two models. One thing i didn’t understand. You don’t have intervals repetition program (simple) in watch, but there will be structured intervals from Flow?

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3. Thanks for all the info!

   Disappointing that the connectivity options have been reduced instead of increased.
   GPS accuracy will never be good enough for instant pace and power measurement from wrist will probably also not be very accurate so I still need a footpod (Stride).
   But as there is still no Ant+ and the gymlink has been dropped I will have to use it without a heart rate strap.
   The wrist heart rate reliability should be very good to consider that…

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   1. Oscar…yep they are all super valid points and right to the heart of the whole thing.
      you sound like you are me pretending to post as someone else 😉

      1. connectivity lower: yes but this is onyl beta. lets give them a chance.
      2. yep stryd like me.
      3. why do you NEED ant+ (I need it for all the squillions of sensors i use). but as me the runner i might make my project this year to migrate my personal data colelction and workout execution to ble and polar and see what happens
      4. whr reliability…yep i agree. If they can just get 5 or 10% better than garmin’s elevate i would consider finally using it without a hrm strap. i have got bored with HRV so don’t need that except in the morning (and coffee)

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      1. 1. Apparently it does not have the hardware to support GymLink so that will never be fixed. Not sure of Ant+ requires special hardware or could be added thru firmware.
         3. Well I don’t need Ant+ but as Bluetooth Smart only allows one connection it is either a heart rate strap or the Stride. Ant+ or GymLink would have allowed another connection besides Bluetooth Smart.

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         1. Oscar,
            You can connect more than one Bluetooth Smart sensor (like HR strap AND Stryd) to the watch at the same time. Absolutely no need for Vantage to have either Ant+ or Gymlink to do this. However, You can’t connect the same sensor to your Vantage and to for example your BLE cycling computer simultaneously (except Polar H10 HR sensor you can, as it is able to have two concurrent BLE connections).

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            1. Are you sure?
               On the V800 I have to delete Bluetooth pairing with HR strap and use that via GymLink if I want to connect the Stryd.
               Has this been changes in the Vantage?

               @the5krunner: could you test this on your Vantage or is external sensor support disabled in your unit?

            2. i was told gym link will not be supported.
               but i have some more news on this whole area later

            3. Hope the news is that it does have 5khz radio in it, even if not initially used?

            4. IIRC it is NOT in it and wont be used.
               It will use the oHR instead
               The H10 CAN cache.

            5. as oscar said, you can pair multiple btle sensors to v800, i bike with btle hrm, separate btle speed/cadence sensor, and btle powermeter all linked. It is the other direction, each sensor can only pair to one item. Do you have your hrm paired to your phone also? i used to, big mistake, the phone will also steal the hrm, meaning as youbsay you have to swap to 5khz. Unpair the strap from anything else around you except the v800, and you should be able to pair both.

            6. nope that is not strictly true.
               unlike the H7, the H10 *CAN* pair simultaneously to 2 devices using ONLY BLE not 5Khz. There is a setting for that in BEAT when that is linked to H10. I have written about that elasewhere.

      2. This might be helpful.
         https://the5krunner.com/2015/11/11/1-minute-review-syncmytracks-software-app/

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      3. no i wouldn’t do that. i use spoirttracks, golden cheetah and some other niche sites. so MY issue is getting it out of garmin.,polar/suunto

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4. ty !! Mr ML
   1. yep. but polar expect to have usable hr data
   2. it flashes all the time. i dont know the answer. looks like every second
   3. IIRC they would have to pay for it
   4. IIRC I did look at that (and 1000 other things over last week). I believe it is still as you say.which….. (you can see foryourself in flow my flow online posts were NOT from beta)
   5. yep. it’s better than suunto at same stage of release but needs tinkering IMHO
   6. dont know
   7. i care so much i haven’t even looked at it 😉 then again i haven’t got hold of an iphone yet either which could have been a limiting factor;-)
   8. could be stronger. i’ve only noticed them from the orthostatic test . perfectly fine.
   9. that’s my working assumption too
   10. i do NOT think it means humon (but it might). I think its more like assima stages etc etc. stryd works tho as a running PM.

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5. Think it looks really good…I currently have a Garmin Vivoactive 3 & was looking for an upgrade…due to multiple issues I have seen with the garmin firmware upgrades, was keen to jump ship & good to see Polar have a great device

   Curious that they decided to drop some of the nice to haves like interchangable bands which I would have thought is quite basic & strava live segments. I suppose they have taken a call to just focus on the pros & not try to be everything to everyone.

   Wonder if it will still come with basic bells & whistles of alert notifications from phone so that an average weekend warrior like myself can still make most of it.

   Like the price point though especially when comparing against the $1,000 fenix plus models..appreciate your discount code as well..wish they shipped them out sooner though, looks like they have a terrible procurement/sales cycle…2 months waiting time for ship out in this day & age is a bit silly, IMO

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   1. the M DOES have interchangeable bands…not the V
      yeah the is smartphone stuff…just not very exciting but agreed it needs to be covered at some point (review)
      the productrion is just started so they are ramping that up…it takes time. Poalr are a large compnay and this will sell lots of units

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6. Are the M and V watches compatible with the polar hr7 as well as the 10? Great intro to the watches.

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   1. Yep same question here.
      I’ve a h7 and wonder if all the functionality on the V work without the h10 (recovery pro,…)

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      1. finally an easy question from you guys !! 😉

         YES

         any ble will pair but i think that for the HRV stuff (recov pro) then it MIGHT WELL jsut be the h7 and h10. IIRC polar do a special sensor check

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7. Was looking to upgrade my V800 to the Vantage V (watch strap on V800 has broken and cannot get the pins out to replace with a new strap). However, there are a few functions on the V800 that I’d struggle to live without
   Race Pacing – Great for marathons to hold pace in the first 20 miles.
   Route Navigation – I create a lot of custom routes to makes the recovery & long runs more interesting

   Polar has always been good with releasing new feature upgrades over time so hoping v800 functions will make a reappearance

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   1. Nothing personal towards you Darren but I find it intriguing how the reputation of Polar for bringing out an incomplete product (software wise) has changed into appreciation for them releasing new features.

      But let’s face it, software development just does not get enough attention within Polar:
      – It has taken them 5 years to come up with a successor of their flagship model and it’s still missing functionality. Polar might state this is due to the complete rewrite of the code, but one could also argue that the software team is just too small…
      – This is now the second time in their flagship line that they are pushing out a product that is incomplete considering the intended use (multisport watch), its users or what could be considered industry standard. I am not talking Go-Pro control, e-mail notifications, Strava Live Segments or other niche functionality. I’m thinking of the interval timer (introduced 4 months after release), speed and pace zones (7 months), open water swimming metrics (14 months), phased training targets (14 months), etc.
      – It also not only took many months for the improvements (gap and bug fixes really) to come out but the updates often introduced new bugs or even left users with non-functioning watches. Several updates were had to be withdrawn within days after release.

      This is not meant to bash on Polar, Garmin has their own problems with the thousands of features they cram into their watches, but I promised myself to be careful next time.
      I still remember the frustrations of the first year after buying that fine piece of V800 hardware but having to wait for basic software functionality that was present on the RS800 to be restored.

      People should be careful jumping on board as an early adopter, they might turn into an unpaid product tester…

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   2. @darren in theory power is your marathon pacer but, yep, i’ve no answer to the nav point that you and several others make.
      @Oscar, some good points there. the early adopter is probably a truism you could apply to any manufacturer in this sector. your ‘fave feature’ that doesn’t work will always be done superbly by someone else (whose other features may well be sub par)

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8. I’m going to take the “Garmin owner” Perspective here, but everything about this watch left me underwhelmed.

   I had high hopes for this (bordering on unrealistic I know) but really, and after five years…

   Polar put out a subfunctional Fenix/Forerunner 935 watch that doesn’t even pace the pedigree that came from the v800.

   We can argue that Polar is the superior company when it comes to tight algorithmic metrics and delivery of meaningful information, but how consistent is that going to be with users forced to choose how many external sensors they can use. They removed some options that were on the v800.

   I’m never going to be convinced running power from the wrist is going to be not only accurate but consistently accurate, nor will wrist-based oHR measurements once you get beyond the equivalent of z2/z3 HR zones. And it doesn’t matter how many LED’s they throw in there; there are far too many hindrances on the wrist to make it worthwhile. I’m even worried about how effective the oHR is going to work with the additional magnetic charge ports that double as a skin sensor, so the oHR doesn’t needlessly stay active if not touching your skin. My wrist flexes, everyone’s does, will this lead to the LED’s continually turning on and off ALL the time if not in direct touching of my arm? Must all (4) connect for the sensor to turn off, or just (1)? How long before the watch sensor turns them off? How long before it turns back on?

   Then there is the evolution of the sports watch market. The vantage V/M does not have:

   *App store
   *Onboard storage for music
   *Onboard storage for maps
   *No Wifi
   *GPS with no navigation? Is there Galileo support? Single band? Dual Band?
   *No NFC, so no watch pay and no expansion down the line towards it.

   And potentially poor smartwatch-like support for notifications (I know on beta they aren’t enabled, but what WILL be enabled?).

   Why did they bother putting a touchscreen on the V? The screen doesn’t work when in an activity, but I also don’t want a smudgy mess of a watch face all the time. I deal enough with this on my phone, why would I want it here? As far as I know, you can’t navigate the menus with the buttons, nor can you turn off the touchscreen altogether.

   Look after five years I’m glad they put something out, but they already way behind the curve from where the market is now, where it’s going. Time will tell if the Vantage is more accurate than everyone else out and maybe that wins the day in the end. But if it is anywhere close to the accuracy (perceived or otherwise) of the Garmin rivals, it’s not going to make it, at least in the eyes of current Garmin owners looking to get out of the ecosystem. If then though you’ve been with Polar, maybe this is a huge upgrade, but ask yourself: What’s literally dropping in less than six months across the market? Worth the investment?

   Alright, that’s my two cents. I think you knew this was coming at some point 😛

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   1. that’s a bit harsh but i see your angle.

      first thing is “how can polar bring a watch to market that justifies it being sold”. i think they have done that. the real question then is how can the platform be developed over the next 3 or so years.
      actually i see it as having pretty much most of what i need and maybe the oHR if it works properly. and it’s pretty.
      they specifically KNOW that they can’t compete with Garmin on features and so they have had to, i assume, do some market research and choose the most productive features to include for the release.
      the only real widespread gripes have been about NAV. doesn’t bother me…DOES bother others.
      notification is on the menu, it will be on I assume.
      power/hr…yeah may not be perfect but there are some interesting angles here that appeal to certian people eg those who don’t want to buy stryd.
      touchscreen…yeah i’d agree with that.
      “way behind the curve”…hmm. they ‘re not way behind the curve…just way behind apple and garmin software features (maybe wearOS maybe fitbit)

      if it can get accurate gps AND accurate ENOUGH HR. And then if they introduce custom multisport profiles i think i would go for it and take whatever else comes as a nice to have. if it had ANT+ (which it never will) then I’d definately switch.

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9. Is vantage m supporting all external Bluetooth sensors like Powermeter? In the past the m series didn’t.

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   1. i believe so. but it is something i need to double check as what you imply is usually that ‘lower’ models do not have bike PM support. and yes i would agree that it is a super important thing to know.
      this functionality has not yet been enabled (although i have a new firmware waiting to upload)

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   2. yes, main review links to page showing compatibility of many power meters

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10. Are there any screws on the watch under the strap? It would be good if the battery could be replaced like on the V800 and M430.
    Is it possible to switch off the Vantage models or they run continuously?
    Thanks in advance!

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    1. i dont plan to take the vantage to bits
       yes you can switch them off but even my M has been on watch mode for more than a week with power left (just got back home after holiday)

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    2. Since when can the battery on the V800 be replaced? I was told only a few days by Polar support in Europe that it was not replaceable. I hope that is wrong!

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11. The Vantage M does not have audio alerts. Only vibration alerts.

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