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The Polar Vantage M3 is packed with tons of features, from detailed training plans to recovery tracking to it’s sleek looking appearance, it’s not the most beginner-friendly running watch, but definitely great for multi-sport athletes.
If you’re just getting started with running or looking for something simple to track your miles, you might find the watch a bit overwhelming.
Polar designed this watch for multi-sport athletes who love diving into data and are looking for tools to help them improve their performance. Basically if you are an athlete that loves having all the bells and whistles at your fingertips, this watch would be a great fit!
I took this watch on the roads, trails and of course the treadmill to put it to the test. Let’s take a closer look at what I loved and well didn’t love about this watch.
Who is it good for?
- Novice Runners: Might be more bells and whistles than you need
- Current Garmin Users: Not ideal if you’re a treadmill runner needing to calibrate
- Trail Runners: Battery life may drain faster especially if you’re an ultra runner
- Daily Usage: Has everything you need right on the watch except being able to use your mobile pay
- Value for Price: Perfectly priced for multi-sport athletes at $399
Polar Vantage M3 Review
Straight out of the box, the Polar Vantage M3 immediately catches your eye with how sleek the design is. It’s super lightweight and the bright AMOLED screen gives it a look of a fancier watch that you could wear to literally any occasion.
It’s clear that Polar focused on making the Vantage M3 comfortable for everyday wear, whether you’re running, training, or just tracking your daily steps.
While Coach Amanda was pretty in love with the Polar Vantage V2 because it had some of the best HR tracking she’d ever seen…I was more ho hum on this watch. HOWEVER, we can all agree that they are doing something right with HR monitoring because it is pretty dang good.
Of course we still recommend you use the armband HR monitor to get more accurate results, that also means you can buy the cheaper watch!
As someone new to Polar, I found the watch a bit tricky to set up at first.
There are so many features and options that it took a little while to figure out where everything was, both on the watch and in the Polar Flor app. I definitely hit the wrong buttons a few times during a workout! Whether you are new to Polar or have used their devices before, just know it might take a bit of exploring before you have a good idea how the watch is set up.
The other thing that had me on the fence about loving this watch was how it performed during treadmill runs. I put A LOT of miles on my treadmill and I am used to being able to calibrate my watch post-run.
The Polar Vantage M3 does have a built-in accelerometer to measure speed and distance from wrist movement if you’re not using a stride sensor indoors.
But as we know, you should always go by what your treadmill says since the watch is likely going to be inaccurate!
Quick Take Pro’s and Con’s
Pros:
- Amoled screen
- Dual Frequency GPS
- Fuel and Hydration Alerts
- Extended battery life and multiple power-save options
Cons:
- No calibration option after running on the treadmill.
- No wrist mapping or colored maps
- No smart pay features
- Touchscreen can be super sensitive
Smart Watch
Like most GPS running watches now it can display text notifications, calendar items, phone calls, etc. I agree with Amanda’s past reviews of Polar devices, it’s really nice to have a super detailed weather screen.
You can scroll through to see the temperature, humidity and even wind so that you can pick the best time of day to head outside!
- Music Controls for whatever is playing on your phone
- Step tracking, 24/7 HR Tracking
- Easy to customize watch faces per activity via the Polar Flow app
- Holds up to 150 sport profiles (customized on the app)
- Available in just a one size fits all strap, but you can swap out straps
- Extended battery life and multiple power-save options
- Available in 2 colors
Once you determine what each of the 5 buttons do, it’s pretty simple to use. The largest red or bottom left hand buttons is what you’ll press to indicate you’re ready to do a workout. Then you’ll select from the list of running, walking, strength, etc to start your workout.
Top left button is to turn the watch face on and off.
Top and bottom right buttons are to go up and down.
Battery Life
- 7 Days in smartwatch mode
- 30 hours in Performance Training Mode
- 70 hours in Eco Training Mode
- Super fast charging for those oops I forgot mornings
I did accidentally forget to charge the watch overnight but plugging it in while I did my dynamic warm up got me about 20% battery.
The other nice thing is that it will send notifications to your phone about the watch needing to be charged or when the charge is complete!
FitSpark Workouts
Some days I just don’t feel like putting together a workout and would rather follow something pre-built. FitSpark is a personalized training guide directly on your watch that has three different categories- Strength, Cardio and Supportive (which is basically circuit type training combining strength and mobility).
All of the workouts are time-based and are adjusted based on your fitness level. You can get up to 2-4 suggested workouts a day.
The watch will explain how to work through the circuit and even has tiny graphics that mimic the movement. The workouts are definitely not like a Peloton class but it’s still something to keep you accountable!
GPS and Navigation
Now that I am starting to dip my toes into trail running, a watch that has an accurate GPS and navigation is becoming more and more important. Polar actually provides you the option to connect to a variety of different satellite options, which will help with accuracy and be especially useful to switch if you are in the US vs Europe.
For navigation you have so many options!
You can pre-download a map that can be used offline. You can also plan out a route and use navigation to guide you turn-by-turn along the path or trails.
Or my personal favorite is having the ability to drop “Breadcrumbs” so that I can get back to my starting point when I happen to get lost on the beautiful trails here in Colorado because I saw a moose or something.
Fuel and Hydration Alerts
There are so many things that we need to keep track of while running. I love how the Polar Vantage M3 has both fueling and hydration reminders. You can either set these up manually by selecting anywhere from 5 to 60 mins alerts or you can use the FuelWise smart fueling assistant.
The Smart Carbs Reminder estimates your fueling needs based on the intensity and duration of your workout. A little reminder will come up on the screen with a suggestion of how many carbs you should be taking at that time!
If you are going to be out there for longer, always remember to pack a little extra incase you drop fuel or wind up needing more than planned.
Structured Workouts
For as long as I can remember, I have always followed some sort of structured workout on my watch. Whether it’s a tempo workout or something as simple as strides, it’s always nice having something preloaded on my watch to keep me on track.
Putting together a structured workout was not as straightforward like when using Garmin or COROS. You have to use the Polar Flow app or log into your account through the Polar website. From there you have the option to create a “quick target” or “phased target”.
If you are working with a coach and they prescribe a specific workout, you will want to use “phased target”. But keep in mind the workouts will be specific to your Heart Rate, Pace and Power zones found in your Polar account.
Fitness Testing
The Polar Montage M3 has a few different types of test that you can perform to keep track of your progress and optimize your training. Some of these are common with Garmin and COROS like the Running and Cycling Performance Tests. But the others are unique to Polar and are tests that you can perform on a regular basis.
- Running Performance Test
- Cycling Performance Test (requires a power meter)
- Orthostatic Test
- Walking Test
- Leg Recovery Test
Polar Elixir
This is the first Polar watch to have a biosensing technology that is capable of analyzing and translating biomarkers.
- Optical Heart Rate- new sensor reducing the interference that can occur during movement to provide more accurate HR readings
- Wrist-ECG- keeps track of the heart’s electrical activity and rhythm
- Sp02- useful for HIT or high altitude training
- Nightly Skin Temperature- looks at how your temperature fluctuates during sleep and compares it on a rolling 28-day average
All of these combined basically helps you to get a bigger picture of how to make the most out of your training.
Polar M3 vs Polar V3
So, what are the differences that may convince you to save $200? Honestly, there’s not too many now that they share the same HR monitoring tool, so you’re largely looking at battery life and an overall nice feel to the watch.
Both the Polar M3 and Polar V3 are very sleek designed multisport watches with a ton of features. Here are a few of the key things you will notice when training with the watch.
Polar Vantage M3
- 1.28 Inch display
- 53g weight
- Front and Back case are plastic
- Touchscreen
- 7 days Smartwatch mode
- 30 hours Performance training mode
- 70 hours Eco training mode
- No wrist mapping but you can follow a route and use back-to-start
- Available in 2 colors
- Find it now for $399
Polar Vantage V3
- 1.39 Inch display
- 57g weight
- Front case is Aerospace aluminium
- Back case is plastic
- Touchscreen
- Brighter screen with 454×454 resolution
- 10 days Smartwach mode
- 43 hours Performance training mode
- 140 hours Eco training mode
- Wrist mapping with full color maps
- Available in 4 colors
- Find it now for $599
All right, hopefully this Polar Vantage M3 review helped breakdown some areas you might have wondered about! If you have more questions, we’re always happy to answer.
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