Aimed at multisport athletes, Polar's newest premium sports watch, the Polar Vantage V2, looks to combine not just advanced training metrics, but help wearers with their recovery. And, Polar added in some smartwatch features to make the Vantage V2 one of the best running watches you're more likely to wear both day and night.
Polar Vantage V2: Price and availability
The Polar Vantage 2 is available for preorder starting today (October 7) for $499.95. It will come in black, green, and grey-lime and in two sizes. You will also be able to purchase it with the Polar H10 heart rate strap for $549.99.
S-part accessory bands will be sold separately for black, grey-lime and green for $9.90 each . Black, grey-lime, green, red, rose-plum and white silicon accessory bands are available for $34.90.
Weight: 1.8 ounces
Size: 46 x 46 x 13 mm
Display: 1.2-inch, 240 x 240-pixel resolution
Battery life: 40 hours (active GPS)
Water resistance: 100 meters
GPS: Yes (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo & QZSS)
Heart rate monitor: Yes
Polar Vantage V2: Design
The Polar Vantage V2 looks nearly identical to its predecessor, the Polar Vantage V. Both are perfectly circular smartwatches with two buttons on the left and three buttons on the right.
Made of aluminum, the 1.8-ounce Vantage V2 is slightly heavier than the 1.6-ounce Vantage V, but has the same size resolution and display (1.2 inches, 240 x 240 pixels). That's the same screen as the just-released $499 Garmin Forerunner 745, another sports watch aimed at multisport athletes.
Polar says the Vantage V2 should last up to 40 hours when using GPS—the same as the Vantage V—and up to 100 hours when you enable certain power-saving options. That's pretty epic, and on a par with the Garmin Forerunner 945, which costs $100 more.
Also new to the Vantage V2 as some smartwatch-like features: Music control, weather, and smartphone notifications. While you can control music playing on your smartphone using the Polar's display, you can't download tunes directly to the Vantage V2—something you can do on Garmin's devices, as well as many of the other best smartwatches.
To help determine your optimal training, new Running and Cycling Performance tests take into account an athlete's heart rate, speed, and muscle power, to let you better adapt your fitness regimen.
When you've completed your workout, a new Leg Recovery test will help determine how long you need to rest before your legs are ready for another round. This is similar to other recovery measures you can find on competing sports watches, but none are specific to just your legs.
These new features augment the existing Training Load Pro and Recovery Pro found in the Vantage V, which help to prevent you from overtraining, which could lead to injury.
In addition, the Vantage V2 has sleep tracking and Nightly Recharge, which shows how the quality of your sleep affected your recovery.
Aside from GPS (and GLONASS, Galileo & QZSS) and heart rate, the Vantage V2 also has a barometric altitude sensor, and can also measure your VO2 Max. It also has BLE, so it can connect to other Bluetooth sensors, such as Polar's heart rate straps.
The Polar Vantage V2 looks to have some modest upgrades over the original, but its long battery life could be very tempting for endurance athletes who don't want to worry about their sports watch calling it quits.
