Polar Vantage Roadmap

49 thoughts on “Polar Vantage Roadmap”

1. Hello, a small correction to Version 3.0: Applies to V & M (Q1-Q2.2018)…. => Q1-Q2.2019!

   Is 2019 not 2018. We should need a time machine ; ) Feel free to delete this after correct it.

   Regards

2. So smart notification possibly in June 2019… couple that with your comment from the other thread on GPS accuracy after latest firmware update, that it’s still on and off and it’s kinda tricky to pull a trigger on this one.

   1. i’m still on beta hardware…lets see what the live hw/fw is like

   2. Please note that V800 still does not have training notifications during training sessions for Android. Only IOS. This information seems to be deliberately hidden from all marketing materials, only buried deep in the manuals.
      https://support.polar.com/e_manuals/V800/Polar_V800_user_manual_English/Content/Smart_Notifications_Android.htm

3. Oh, nice. With navigation it starts to become of interest for me again.
   In Q2 2019 we should also see how the Sony GPS will perform from real world usage.
   I’ll evaluate again next year for sure.

4. It would also be great to get clarification on the smart notifications as to whether it is similar to the v800/m400 families. With those devices, I believe DURING activity you only received call notifications, whilst texts and emails did not come thru. Any idea if that is the same on the vantage series devices?

5. Thank you for the post. Any word on race pace? It is my favorite feature.

6. Any updates on Race Pace? Best feature to meet a Pr.

   1. i have asked for update on some point people are asking about including this

      1. Can you ask for advanced race pace so you can program in negative splits etc in Polar Flow.

      2. that sounds like something new for polar? I can’t see that happening.

      3. Agree 100% and instead of focusing on “Smart notifications (calls, messages, unsure of app notifications)” which is useless in daily training they shall be focusing on core features which can either make it real v800 successor or neither v800 nor m600 migration path. Navi is great selling point for me – including profile navigation (what to expect while racing on unknown track) and proper interval training is what i would be missing.

      4. taking a step back, Polar specifically want to make this an accurate, pro device. So I think there is therefore a good argument for us to say we want pro features like: proper interval training; training plans; alerts; ohr that works; super-accurate gps and so on. personally the route stuff is irrelavent to ME but I appreciate there are others who REALLY do use it. so i agree that the notifications stuff can be somewhat of a distraction…many want it but it is NOT a pro feature.

   2. I’m an ultraendurance athlete and it is also crucial there – the maths on what the required average pace is on the remaining 450k is not something I want to do when I haven’t slept in two days. Not having that is a deal killer, and the software dev work is not complex. So frustrating!

      …and I’d think that I’m pretty much core audience for liking the 40 hour battery life.

7. This is both good and (just slightly) bad news. Good that navigation is on the roadmap (and kudos to Polar for listening). Slightly bad news that implementation could be almost eight months away in the worst case. I need a new watch and that’s a long time to wait before making a move.

   1. With V800 much of what was planned within a few months took 2 years. Only buy your watch based on what it has now.
      A few things for V800 were not done at all. I.e. call notifications during activity for Android phones.

      1. Oh, I have no intention of buying the Vantage V before route nav actually shows up on the watch! And if it hasn’t done so by late February I’ll be forgetting about Polar and heading for Suunto. I’m not willing to wait indefinitely.

8. Regarding navigation specifically for the Vantage V Polar officially announces “Waypoint navigation for downloaded routes: Discover new routes from other users in Polar Flow and third-party services.” What do they mean by WAYPOINT navigation? I hope this refers to following a route functionality as it is implemented in V800 and Garmin devices.

   1. i have already asked for clarification on this and other questions. I suspect they want to be helpful but do not want to give away too much competitive info

9. Power zones with zone lock – that would be the killer. I will send Polar flowers once that is implemented 😉

   1. yes this is the BIG one for me too. i have asked but i currently expect it for release. (hopefully!!)

10. polar isnt the fastest in pushing out new firmwares/updates as we saw in the past on V800/M400 with smart notifications etc.
    i hope this time it is in time!

    im not 100% sure if i should get the Vantage in this state of development.

    1. fair point.
       a lot of what is planned to come they have done before with previous models as you say. hopefully this time it will be faster.
       the hardware and software seems solid. i guess if it is missing a feature that you want then hold fire!

       1. tbh there is (for me) no real alternative (had a 935 which i regretted buying, dont like the suuntos).
          i´m happy with my m400, bought it right away when they released it. trainingwise its enough for me, the features are ok, except sometimes i wish a few more hours of battery and a barometric alt would be nice!
          for daily use a color screen would be just nice. the oHR, if it can fully replace a breast sensor – i dont need RR recordings, would definitely make me buy it.

    2. Still I don’t like the fact that companies release unfinished products – not only polar! – and keep pushing basic features into firmware updates. Basic features = features the Predecessors already had ( smartphone notifications, intervals, stopwatch etc.) Looks like polar didn’t finish in time but were forced to release it because of Christmas!

       On the other side a pro of polar is that they support their products long and don’t release new watches every year with mini changes! At garmin I would always have the feeling to have soon an old watch even if I’d buy the latest one because they push out watches sooooo often!

       1. Vantage was planned for Spring 2018 (via a leak reported here)

11. Thanks. Does Interval Timer mean capable of pre-programmed structured workouts with targets for each step?

    1. it doesn’t mean that in my opinion.
       however i am trying to clarify what general fuctionality is going to be around racing/intervals/plans

       1. I think this is fundamental. As others have commented here, having made the decision to concentrate on crafting a serious training tool rather than compete with Garmin and its gadgets, they need to concentrate on doing exactly that. And structured interval training is surely an essential part of that. More so than smartphone notifications.

       2. I hear ya !

    2. Since their phases can synchronize with nothing (and i am not sure it’s even visible externally – since i wasn’t able to find them in tcx file) advanced interval timer planner would be much appreciated (assuming they would keep the phase to lap mapping as it’s in v800 right now).

    3. I suspect that this should be covered by means of phased training targets (which will be there at launch).

       1. But this is polar flow’s feature. And these phases are visble only in flow. They’re not mapped to laps in other platforms – e.g. Strava or TP and TBH i do not see them looking at the xml/tcx file. This is a bit different with interval timer on v800 itself – it maps intervals to laps – and this way you can analyze the training on any other platform easily.

       2. And to add to that – they’re just not using the data properly – no matter if it’s phased or interval training – when it is planned in flow complete training is set as a single lap (you can see it in tcx file). When you run the interval timer on v800 every step/phase is properly set as a lap in tcx file. IMO this is easy thing to “repair” on flow end. And since you can’t “catch” a lap while transitioning between phases – as the watch is not accepting it – it’s even more important either to fix that on flow platform or give users proper interval planner on the watch.

12. Is race pace never coming back? As a V800 owner, that’s a deal killer to me.

    Edit: I see this is being discussed later in the comments. Consider this my +1 to that.

13. Any updates on gps accuracy with the new firmware?

    1. i still have the old hardware which is the issue

       1. Do you mean that Polar will change the chip or the antenna with the final watch hardware?

       2. no.
          but there are more tweeks going on

       3. Hardware tweaks? What kind? You keep on saying that you have old hardware which indicates that there will be some hardware changes to the final product…

       4. i have no idea.
          If I had to guess I would say that they would be tiny internal changes.

       5. so it is just a wishful thinking? or you have some indication?

       6. i’d say it was fairly obvious that they would not, for example, swap in a new chip provider a month or so before launch. If you look at some of my other posts there is a shot of the rear of my Vantage V it says BETA NOT FOR RESALE on it (IIRC). These are the same ones ALL the media people got in september. I’m not quite sure what you are getting at and why you want to know at thi stage.

       7. sorry if it came out the wrong way, I was just hoping that GPS inaccuracy that was reported by you and DC will be better in retail units thanks to some mystical HW changes. I guess I just really want to love it before ordering one.

       8. np 😉
          I can’t really say what will be in a retail unit until i have one
          just wait for a couple of weeks after launch see what people say then take the plunge with a bit more confidence. I’m PROBABLY going to be using one of them next year quite a bit BUT I will almost certianly use a H10 and my awesome STRYD so that kinda answers and doesn’t answer your concern !! Sorry to be no help 😉

       9. Im waiting for the reviews of the first end user devices aswell. I hope they made the
          GPS more accurate and keep on pushing out the promised features soon.

          Are the prices controlled by polar? When do you expect first discounts?

       10. I can’t advertise any discounts offered by my partners.

       11. they were all sent units that were made in august or july. polar will be making the consumer units now. polar won’t give a running commentary to bloggers on what they are doing

       12. there is some commentary but certainly FAR from a running commentary

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