With Black Friday and Cyber Week within the rearview mirror, I’ve lastly discovered time to take a look at the brand new Polar Vantage V3 fitness-focused smartwatch. That is the primary Polar wearable I’ve had the prospect to check out. And although I am solely starting to wrap my head round it, a number of key facets of the V3 shock me.
Should you’re not conversant in the Vantage V3, this is the deal: This $600 system is the model’s flagship mannequin and is marketed to severe athletes and health buffs. The V3 options a big AMOLED show, dual-frequency GPS, built-in maps and an infinite suite of activity-tracking capabilities and restoration instruments.
On the well being monitoring aspect, the Vantage V3 boasts an optical coronary heart charge sensor, SpO2 sensor for monitoring blood oxygen saturation, a pores and skin temperature sensor for holding tabs on sleep high quality and stress ranges and an ECG sensor for on-wrist monitoring of total coronary heart well being.
That is simply one of many extra superior well being health monitoring units you should purchase in 2023. And I look ahead to placing it by means of its paces for a full evaluate quickly. Within the meantime, listed here are the 5 issues concerning the Polar Vantage V3 that stunned me probably the most.
1. It is giant and light-weight however wears small
I am not an enormous fan of enormous, chunky watches, whether or not they’re of the good or mechanical selection. Within the picture above, the Vantage V3, which is 47mm in diameter, sits subsequent to my mechanical Hamilton Khaki area watch, which is 38.5mm. Whereas the V3 is significantly bigger, I used to be stunned to find that it truly wears a lot smaller than it seems on the wrist.
Curiously, each the V3 and Hamilton Khaki have an analogous lug-to-lug distance, which could clarify why the previous feels smaller than it’s. I used to be additionally pleasantly stunned by how mild the watch is. Whereas the bezel and housing are fabricated from aluminum, the case again seems to be plastic. Both method, it weighs solely 57g, which is a full 3g lower than my little mechanical buddy.
Past that, I am discovering the V3 to be fairly snug on-wrist. I’ve but to sleep with it on, so the jury remains to be out on all-day and evening consolation. However I definitely do not feel like this system will weigh me down.
2. There’s a plethora of bodily buttons
The buttons, Duke, the buttons! Oh, what a rarity it’s in 2023 to have a bit of client know-how with so many bodily buttons along with a touchscreen. However with 5 in whole, there is no such thing as a doubt a studying curve to utilizing this smartwatch.
That stated, navigating settings and menus from the watch face does not take a level in rocket science. The touchscreen also can typically be utilized in a pinch (pun supposed) once you’re not precisely positive which button to press.
3. Setup is painless
Organising a brand new tech wearable could be a actual chore. From pairing points to lengthy, arduous firmware replace processes, I’ve seen the worst of the worst. Nonetheless, I used to be pleasantly stunned by how easy and painless the setup course of was for the V3.
Anybody able to following primary on-screen prompts ought to have the ability to get this system up and working with ease. I used to be additionally severely stunned by how straightforward to navigate the Polar Movement app is. Duties like including further trackable actions to the watch, as an example, are a simple affair.
I did have to attend about fifteen minutes for the units to obtain the most recent firmware and replace, however that is par for the course. Extra importantly, I’ve had no pairing or syncing points but to talk of.
4. It tracks a severely spectacular variety of actions
Whereas I benefit from the occasional jog, whether or not on a treadmill or outdoor, most of the bodily actions I get pleasure from probably the most cannot be tracked by fashionable health units. As an example, my Fitbit Encourage 3 does not maintain tabs on my skateboard classes or snowboard excursions, nor can it give me information on my kayaking adventures. However the Polar Vantage V3 can do all three and extra.
In truth, there are effectively over 150 sports activities profiles to select from. These embody all the things from jazz dancing to disc golf and windsurfing to desk tennis. Higher but, the V3 helps you to customise and save as much as 20.
5. The AMOLED show is attractive
Lastly, I used to be delighted to find that the Vantage V3’s 1.39-inch AMOLED show is vibrant, crisp and colourful. The decision is 454 x 454 pixels, which I discovered lots detailed. I additionally had no points studying the watch in direct daylight, with the display screen set to its brightest setting.
The face itself makes use of curved Gorilla glass, which ought to hopefully maintain as much as bumps and bangs. As talked about, it is also touch-sensitive. Nonetheless, by default, the touchscreen is disabled whereas actions are being recorded.
Polar Vantage V3 surprises
Finally, my quick time with the Polar Vantage V3 has been fairly constructive, as I am positive you in all probability gleaned from this text. And I am very a lot trying ahead to extra time on the wrist. I can also’t wait to delve into my stats the following time I shred the gnar, both on the mountains or on the skatepark.
