Polar Vantage M

I’m a keen runner, cyclist and swimmer and about to get into triathlons. I wanted a watch that tracked open water swimming with decent GPS and also monitored heart rate whilst swimming. I also didn’t want to spend a fortune as some of the Garmin triathlon/multi sport watches Cost a fortune. I thought this watch, albeit not the latest model, covered all my needs at a really reasonable price of £160. After a couple of weeks of use I am really chuffed with it. Clear and relevant info on the screens, great gps accuracy even in open water. Accurate indoor swimming lap tracking. Heart rate generally accurate apart from I notice it’s not great whilst cycling, but I use a chest strap with my cycling gps ( and you can connect a HR strap to the watch for better accuracy). Only slight niggles when I compare to my old Garmin Forerunner 35 are; not as many alarm repeats - you only get one alarm per day, and the battery life isn’t as good - 3-4 days between charges if you use it for exercise tracking regularly. Overall a brilliant watch for the price - highly recommended. Looks ok on the wrist too!

Bought as an upgrade to my M430 as I was getting frustrated with the limited battery life and touch screen bugs - turns out unit was faulty and I did receive a refund but I decided to keep the Vantage M.Battery life - I only charge it once a week, which is perfect for me, as I run 5 says a week and feel like I am constantly plugged into some charger or other.GPS - takes a little while to connect but no more than a minute, never showed an incorrect recording or map so far.HR - wrist based heart rates are sometimes a little dodge but so far it seems to have served me well. I have manually inputted my HR zones as they were too long for peak performance and they work for me much better now.Ease of us - menus are easy to navigate. I know there was a bit of feedback that the buttons are slippy, but I've never had an issue whilst running. I actually find it easier to use than my previous touch screen which disliked cold or sweaty hands!Polar flow/cardio load - I'm an absolute data junkie and the app/desktop site is amazing for getting all my stats through on. Cardio load is really handy for monitoring your current strain.For me it does everything I nee it to, at a cheaper price than the equivalent Garmin.

Polar vantage M2 has everything I wanted for daily use and to track all my preferred sports and sleep. It is very intuitive to use, has a large screen with data in nicely displayed layout. Connection with the phone is quick and stable. Battery lasts many days and recharge is very fast. And it is also very beautiful. 2 points I didn’t like too much is accuracy of pace, speed and heart rate without chest sensor. During sleep the watch can sometimes press areas of the wrist that might be discomfortable. In general, I loved the watch and strongly recommend.

Used for almost a month, the running programme has got me back into that, alongside weights. Lost 6% body fat during momth. The hr zones i auto calibrated and do seem about right, e.g i can run for relevant times in the different zones. Seen gains on fit test and running score over that time. No way of checking accuracy though as I don't have the chest strap. The online stuff is great too, with detailed feedback and editable sections, really useful for me as I can add weight, reps and sets onto the strength sessions. Only criticism I'd have is that the running programme sessions, that match up with fitspark sessions, do not have the same graphics on watch and instead you have to be near something to watch the video provided workout instead. I'd say you'd need to be able to use the online stuff alongside the watch to make the most of this one though.

I have waited for nearly five months of use before writing this review, mainly because I wanted to give the watch a fair try. I had read some very negative reviews about it and to be honest was taking a leap of faith when I bought it. However, I should never have worried. This is my fourth Polar device and by far the best!! If you are looking for a no nonsense accurate device to record your training sessions, and look good as your day to day watch, then this is the device for you. I train 4-5 times each week, with a varied range of activities from circuit training, running, swimming, cycling, both indoors and outside. I have found the Vantage has recorded all activities accurately and reliably. I do wear the H10 HRM most of the time, but even without I find the Vantage keeps an accurate record of my HR. It is a sturdy watch with a decent strap - believe me I put these areas to test every day!! Coupled with the continuing development of the supporting App, I have found this to be a brilliant device and would recommend to any day to day sportsman.

I bought this as I need to replace my old Garmin Forerunner 225 and out of the box the watch looks and feels great, lovely. Bodes well.Heart rate tracking was a bit erratic, but not terribly. I could live with that. But here's the major bug - the distance and ave page tracking is a mess. At not one point on the first test run did I know actually what pace I was doing... 5min/mile? Nope. 10min/mile? Nope. It flickered between these two for 16 miles.So two days later I tried again, only this time it tracked me as around 8.35min/mile for the whole run... I even stopped and stood for 30 secs, still 8.35. I sped up to somewhere I know is 6min/mile, still 8.35.There's the makings of a good watch here, the Polar App is great and allows you to fully customise what data you'd like to see on the watch etc... but if that data is flawed, then there's no point.Back to my old watch then which is basic, but works.