“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.” –Aristotle
When a brand, with a long-term dedication to sports science, research and innovation in wearable sports and fitness technology for the past 50 years, announces a new release you can be forgiven for getting a little excited. When said brand’s new release is marketed as its new premium product you can be forgiven for getting over-excited. Step forth the Polar Vantage V3 watch – a premium multi sport watch that brings with it Polar’s Elixir™ technology and a stunning new Nordic design for everyone who feels and acts as an athlete.
The magic behind the multi sport watch is the Polar Elixir™. It is the next generation of Polar biosensing technologies. It arms the Polar Vantage V3 with a whole new level of body monitoring systems and for the data crunchers amongst you this can only be a good thing. Measuring a spectrum of bodily functions from cardiovascular activity, the autonomic nervous system and body temperature, the Polar Vantage V3 can then translate this into digital data and insights, including blood oxygen saturation, skin temperature and the electrical signals of the heart with Wrist ECG.
This advanced data collection can be likened to having a sports science analyst monitoring your every move as users are empowered with a suite of training and recovery tools based on Polar’s Smart Coaching algorithms generated from its range of physiological and mechanical data points. Bodily functions aside, this multi sport watch features a stylish, high-resolution AMOLED touchscreen display, dual-frequency GPS, offline maps, and a new processor. All of which helps deliver the smoothest and swiftest performance in a Polar watch to date.
Dedicated to harnessing the talent and determination of the user, Polar CEO, Sander Werring is keen to stress that the technology behind the watch is there to assist the wearer noting that “athletic progress is defined by goals; setting them, working towards them, surpassing them and setting the next ones. This requires a vast amount of personal insight only achievable through measuring and analysing highly accurate data about your performance. This knowledge, paired with personalised guidance, is the ultimate key to progress.”
So what’s it like in practice? From a simple gym goer to a performance athlete the feedback has been positive so far. As a general watch to wear at the gym through to undertaking a multitude of different sports, the Polar Vantage V3 ticks all the boxes. It looks great, it has enough features and functions to cover even the most menacing activities and it’s packed with enough technology you won’t know what to do with all the facts, figures and functions being fed back to you.
Look & Feel
From an aesthetic perspective this watch looks every bit the premium watch that it is. Inspired by Polar’s Nordic heritage, the Vantage V3 has an entirely new design that is ideal for both sports performance and everyday use. It features a remarkably bright 1.39-inch AMOLED touchscreen providing users a large viewable area, ideal when needing to glance at the watch in between breaks or on the go. At 462pixels per inch, the content looks sharp and vibrant.
In addition, the aluminium bezel feels light and elegant around the clock. In terms of functionality, the buttons are seemingly well spaced around the outside of the watch face and have a rugged design making the buttons glove and sweat-friendly to use during high-intensity workouts, swimming and endurance sports. As for customisation, the V3 lets users choose from a number of watch designs from different watch faces, colours to the data displayed through its various widgets.
Features & Functions
With over 150 built-in sports profiles, the Polar Vantage V3 really does cater for the masses and is a phenomenal tool for athletes and fitness enthusiasts who participate in a variety of sports and activities. Additional features such as fitness assessment tools, like Running and Cycling Performance tests, make it easy for you to estimate your VO2 max, power and heart rate zones, giving you an insight into what level of training intensity you should be working out at. Whilst the suite of advanced recovery tools can help you assess your current condition so you can tailor your training plan to align seamlessly with your body’s state, the purpose of which is to mitigate the risk of overtraining and promote optimal performance.
Equipped with offline maps the watch allows users to plan their training confident in the knowledge they’re not going to end up stranded in the middle of nowhere and with little hope of making it home before sunset. With features like track-back, turn-by-turn guidance powered by Komoot, and Hill Splitter™ the maps function enables users to transform any terrain into their elite training ground. The AMOLED display with its enhanced screen sharpness makes the offline map experience user-friendly, even in the most challenging conditions. That said, even if you were to find yourself stranded in the dark, then the V3 comes equipped with its very own torch capability, illuminating your wrist to assist with visibility.
Performance
In terms of performance, the Polar Vantage V3 delivers incredible performance, with a 129% faster CPU speed compared to Vantage V2 and 32GB of internal storage. Plus, dual-frequency GPS measures distances with precision and with less interference from buildings and bad weather. So gone are the days of running through those high-rise city districts and being alerted that you’ve lost GPS signal yet again.
Despite its larger and brighter display, the Vantage V3 delivers a battery life of up to 61 hours in training mode (GPS and wrist-based heart rate), up to 47 hours in training mode (dual-frequency and wrist-based heart rate) and up to 8 days in watch mode with continuous heart rate tracking. In addition, the watch comes with multiple power save options allowing up to 140 hours of usage in training mode. So, for those who plan to wear the V3 for sporting activities only you will find that even after a few days of inactivity it will still be ready to perform without the need for a lengthy charge.
Conclusion
The Polar Vantage V3 is an impressive piece of kit. For the average user you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s a little overly complex with its multi layered functions that you’re likely to only scratch the surface of. But remember, this is Polar’s premium sports watch. It caters for the extreme as well as the everyday. It does what many of its competitors on the market cannot and it does so in horological abundance. But it also does the basics extremely well. The technology contained within the Vantage V3 is mightily impressive, but what’s more impressive is how the battery stands up to the hours of use throughout the week.
For those of a slimmer build, there is a concern that the size of the V3 could be overbearing on your wrist, however once on those concerns quickly disappear as your eye is drawn more to the sleek and stylish design rather than anything related to its size. Polar’s latest watch has already grabbed the headlines with its innovation and enhanced technology. Its purpose now is to grab your attention and provide you with a personal approach to your training that many other watches would struggle to match.
For further information please visit the Polar website.
Edward Lumley is Editor-in-Chief for Of Wealth & Life and a Freelance Men’s Fashion Writer. Edward has written for publications such as FashionBeans, Harrods and a variety of online outlets specialising in Men’s fashion for the past eight years. Follow Edward on Instagram.
