Polar Vantage V3 In-Depth Review // The Best Polar Yet...But Can It Compete?

[@covle9180]

An important detail people often forget to mention: polar is an EU company and has a really good privacy policy. (And responsive dpo). If you're going to give your location and heart rate every minute of the day to a company, I feel it's important to be aware of what they do with that data.

[@gunnarchristensen9623]

I do love the Polar eco system. Polar Flow is much better than Garmin Connect in my opinion. I was (in the past) a long term Polar user, but the price of a Garmin epix/fenix 7/7x (especially used)is much less than this with more features.

[@SteamyPMcGee]

Its absolutely gorgeous. I can't justify it with my polar pacer still going strong. I love the polar programmes and fitspark!

[@palbenyo6726]

I am confused about all the negative comments! This V3 seems to be a good watch for athletes. Don't get me wrong, it can be used as a smart watch too, but it is supposed to be a watch for (professional) athletes. Should be used together with H10 and Flow. This combination is the best what you can get. I have all the Garmin watches too and those are good, especially the 965, no question about it! But! This Polar V3, which still should prove itself in daily training use in the long run, is primarily for athletes! Buy it only for what it is ment to be...

[@AzureSoukyuu]

Why would anyone get a pricy watch with inferior sensors and lack of features, besides because they are already invested in the polar system? Even much cheaper Garmin watches offer more features with better sensor accuracy. And accuracy is what athletes care most about. edit: it doesn't even have ANT support at that price point?

[@palbenyo6726]

Why invest in V3? I try to explain. Yes, the system is very important, maybe more important than the watch itself. You are not only buying a SPORT watch you are buying the system with it too. That is an extra cost, a premium that you pay for when buying the watch. Garmin's Connect is inferior to Flow, kinda useless for training/competition analysis. Forget the wrist HR, none of them is reliable in the heat of the battle. Forget music, you listen to your coach and your own body during training. ANT would be sg nice to have indeed. For example for Concept2 machines Garmin is handy with its ANT support. Lack of features? What feature do you REALY miss for your sport....? BUT, if someone doesn't need THE system, if wrist HR is good enough for him and he can't work out without music then I accept that for him the V3 is perhaps not the best watch to buy.@@AzureSoukyuu​

[@bigboy9842]

@@palbenyo6726100 percent spot on!

[@erichweggelaar1320]

​@@palbenyo6726I fully agree. What the reviewer does not mention is that the V3 is on the cheaper and of watches with Saffire glass.

[@sovereign775]

Do you like the 965 or V3 better? I’m am deciding between the two. Would mainly use it for indoor training and sleep tracking, HRV, VO2max. Thanks good sir

[@ukulanne]

You can select which apps to receive notifications from. I think it has been possible since the Polar Unite. Maybe even from the m600 but I can't remember. I have them set so only text messages, slack, outlook and calendar ping my phone. This is using Android phones.

[@jjsampo]

I returned mine Polar Vantage V3 and ordered Suunto Race Titanium.

[@dcutl]

I really like Polar and I am considering getting one but i usually wait 8 months or more to allow Polar to fix all of the bugs. I bought my Vantage V about a year after its release and it has served me well so far, but Polar is notorious for releasing products too early with bugs. As far as optical heart rate, i use the OH1 for long and tempo runs and the H10 for intervals. The wrist is just a bad place for reliable heart rate.

[@nsbsociety]

V3 still have bugs and i think that Will stay.. They go for new watch soon and dont care about previous models as always.

[@samchitsaz8874]

Thanks for the review. One thing that's keeping me from upgrading from Vantage V2 to V3 (and missing on your review) is that V3 is slightly heavier than V2.

[@DesFit]

It's pretty marginal and not really noticeable 👍

[@GENE2A]

​@@DesFit Des, do you measure it at 47mm or 50.8mm?

[@gadenhertog]

Would love a Polar watch to add to my H10 and get more into the Polar environment and insights, but no offline music is a deal breaker for me. Especially at such a price. For me features like navigating are not so relevant. I would hardly ever use it, while music I'd use multiple times a week. And seems a simpler (less hardware and/or requirements) than navigation.

[@ActiveIdeas]

Nice Video Des! Not completely sold on the V3 yet, proper shame about the HR, can’t wait to test it though 🌟

[@steveforde7475]

It’s definitely an improvement for Polar, but a word of warning for those new to Polar. They are not great at adding features to released products, they’ll fix bugs but rarely add features. I fell for that policy a few years ago, I had a V800, a great watch of its time. When the Vantage V was released it lacked several features of the V800, I bought the V1 expecting that the missing V800 features would arrive and eventually they did, but NOT in the V, they released the V2 with the new features and refused to update the V1. You had to buy the new watch little more than a year after the previous model was released.

[@erva1976]

Exactly the same happened to me and my Vantage V - and I also refused to upgrade to V2. Out of curiosity, have you kept it still, or did you moved on from Polar?

[@kurtkawodna]

Same thing with ignite

[@steveforde7475]

@@erva1976 I didn’t go for the V2 but did go for the Grit X Pro, which is what the V1 should have been in the beginning.

[@peterullinger2814]

Looking at the history, what Polar did with the Vantage V1 and M1 which arrived in a dire state software feature wise, there is a possibility that navigational features and such will be added down the road.

[@ericsisk1]

Great video Des! Very insightful dude!

[@DesFit]

Thanks Eric!

[@uhuhuhuhuhuh91]

Here we go!

[@DesFit]

🙌

[@NAW32Nicoisme]

Wow, good review 👍

[@DesFit]

Thanks!

[@sjoerdveenma]

Really good review !! exactly what you need as a potential buyer. So how and when will we know whether they are doing updates that resolve the accuracy (gps and hrm) and navigation (bugs) problems ? I had the V1 and now the V2 so I was planning on getting the V3 but no way I'm buying it when they don't solve or update things.

[@CraigEggleton]

How good is it to hear competitive landscape:Garmin, Coros, and Suunto? Very good time to be a buyer of sports watches.

[@johnmanley4528]

I love the look of it. It might be a bit big for me. You wonder if they will come out with a Vantage M in an amoled. I am still using my M2.

[@DesFit]

I'd have to anticipate more watches with AMOLED displays 👍

[@thani7963]

Great review, I’ve the watch & long time polar fan I changed to other brand due to lack of updates, you summed it not ready yet… HR struggles in gym workouts, problems in synch.. with phone FlowSync doesn’t cover all features.

[@brunobgiovinal]

my favorite watch !!! thank you

[@JyvaslentisM2]

15:26 This happens to me really often when cycling with my Polar Verity Sense. Super frustrating!

[@faziellaloe]

Don’t know what to get next. Still using the normal GritX. Need good GPS, sleep tracking & easy UI for programming plans.

[@courtneyregan4005]

The most polite review of an inferior watch.

[@AntonioSta-gj3xk]

Hey man, so with the new firmware that just arrived today, are you going to do an update on the watch? I just ran with mine and it did pretty good! I was looking to sell it on eBay, but now I want to hold onto it and see how it goes. The new maps outside of workout is nice too. I found this to be the watch it should have been before launch. What do you think?

[@DesFit]

Yup, testing is already well under way!

[@runmattrun-go9qp]

It looks like you can replace a battery on a Polar watch (for a ~$100 fee). If that doubles the life of the watch to 4 years, it becomes the budget watch, with a daily cost 1/2 of all competitors including the comparable disposable Coros watches (but really all the other are disposable after the battery dies in 2 years).

[@bchandler81]

Polar is the only fitness watch that I have ever returned, twice & 3 years apart.

[@jcap8391]

Garbage af for real. I don't even want to buy their heart monitor strap. The watch scientist said this watch is garbage af too. This company clearly doesn't care to watch reviews. Their last couple watches have been bottom of the barrel. I had to sell my Polar ignite 3 for $50 on eBay and the buyer wanted a return because he even thought it was garbage ☠️

[@Outlaw_j84]

Woah, good info

[@Outlaw_j84]

Damn!

[@lukidharma838]

@@jcap8391polar ignite 3 for $50 ? Sell it for me sir lol

[@SPARTANTRAD3S]

Brooo 😂

[@juanantoniobh]

Can you pair this watch with the Polar Arm Band Heart Rate Monitor? And if the answer is “yes” then … what’s the heart rate that will be recorded on the watch for the workout? The one coming from the optical built-in sensor or the one coming from the arm band heart rate monitor?

[@DesFit]

Yes and the HR coming from the external source

[@TheSlickpt]

Im a massive polar fan but im struggling to justify getting this watch . In my country its 80 dollars more than a 965 and with the accuracy problems i dont think i can get there

[@Adrianobolado]

were do you live?

[@TheSlickpt]

@@Adrianobolado canada

[@jespermatti3545]

is it just me noticing Polar always falls short on distance compared to other brands when running or cycling out in the forrest? Can someone please confirm? My current polar watch are always some hundreds of meters off from my friends Garmins and Suuntos... Looks like I'm switching to Garmin but I really like the astetics of the new polar grit x2 pro

[@davgor7170]

can i completly turn off bluettoth in this watch?

[@TexKP]

The lack of music storage is a deal breaker for me. I understand that compatibility with music services is a hurtle, but this feature has been on the scene for years now. Even if users opt to use their phone for music on longer runs, they don’t want to gear up on the majority of days.

[@michael516]

Does it have offline music?

[@litetaker]

He mentioned that it has no ability to store music offline.

[@ikuturso7570]

I wonder how many really use that feature. Some, sure, but personally I have used offline music like once a year on my Garmin.

[@princenemesis]

Pixel watch 2 review?

[@DesFit]

In the queue 👍

[@RogerC2023]

Honestly, I don't think I'll pay $600 for a watch made out of aluminium case and non-sapphire glass with 5 bar water resistance. Material wise and fit & finish is not even close to Suunto vertical/race, GPS and other key functions are probably miles away from Garmin epix 2/fenix 7. My conclution is it's not competitive at all for being $600.

[@ChenggangTang]

Polar has much better taste than Coros

[@AlfuhPAD]

Yikes. With Epix Pro on sale at $600 right now who would rather have this? Worse battery life out of the box along with less than stellar GPS and HR. DOA?

[@erichweggelaar1320]

Please redo testing after latest firmware update 2.3.3

[@Boosh248]

Personally i’m going to wait for the price to fall and some updates to materialise prior to committing. Polar always seems to cut corners with a muddled lineup/ product portfolio. It should just be ignite, grit x and vantage. The pacer/ pacer pro/ m2 were just overkill. Updates take forever to materialise (thinking music controls when the ignite had them but the grit x didn’t or non existent support on the v800)

[@CliffR]

Way over priced even if it was slightly better with HR and GPS. Max $450 is where I think it should be. Less comparable to Garmin. Even Coros and Suunto are better value. Then factor in their financial trouble makes you worry about longevity