POLAR Vantage M2 Multisport Smart Watch GPS

I’ve been using polar products for years and was pleased after upgrading from an old M430. I liked using the polar 10K training program with the old watch and found that the M2 display during training is a step up and saves me from only being only able to see as muchtraining session info via the great Polar Flow application.

Most people would be impressed by the polar flow application and many should find it useful. I think it is better or at least equivalent to those from other sports watch companies. It is easy to understand,and also has the advantage that polar offers explanatory articles on research underlying the training. available for those who seek them. Although the watch display shows how to do exercises Polar also offers on-line videos showing how to do them.

Although some features of higher priced watches would be nice to have they also include some I would not use much and the increment in cost isn’t worth the value. I think that if I’d bought one of those I’d be having some buyer’s remorse. Although some of those watches are more sturdy, it seems unlikely that the M2 will get very beat up during the two or three year interval before the battery wears down or some irresistible replacement comes along. The one feature I wish it had is an audible alarm. That is because although the vibration feature on the M2 works OK for signaling exercise start and end times, having a tone would be a bit better because your movement can interfer with feeling the vibration and the slight noise of the vibration can’t be heard if your hearing is poor or if background noise masks it.

I’ve begun using the watch fit spark feature instead of the polar running program and so far am finding it quite good. It is more adaptive than the running program and bases recommendations on your sleep or autonomic nervous system status and recent work out history instead of the running program recommendations. I find it recommends a bit more stretching, mobility, or core exercise sessions and has a richer choice of options for the strength portion. The cardio portion so far seems to have fewer days with runs than Polar’s 10K traiing program. However the run days have included more and longer intervals in the highest heart rate zones and longer total durations than the running program. It gives you a choice of several options for type of exercise each day and has you take it easy if your your sleeping autonomic nervous system activity indicates need.

Sleeping heart rate, heart beat interval, heart beat variability, and breath rate combine to give an autonomic nervous system score reflecting your degree of stress or recovery which is used for prescribing the next day’s exercise.

The accuracy of the heart rate monitoring seems fine to me for strength training, walking, and day to day activities, but for runs and interval training I’ve always relied on upper arm mounted sensors or chest straps paired with my watches. Pairing this watch to a couple different brands of sensors has wqrked with no problems.

GPS accuracy seems flawless to me.

The weather, music, and notification features all work well and save the time it would take to see or adjust them on my phone.

The sleep data is impressive when it works for me. However I don’t always see it because this watch (and my older M430) often would not recognize when I began sleeping, often being at least a couple of hours late.. The reason may be that I move more than most sleepers. However based on other reviews I’ve read the sensing works well for most people. For me it works somewhere between a third and half the time.

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Utilisation sportive personnelle

I upgraded from a Polar A370 which did what I needed. I run a few times a week and do some weight training. I’m just an average guy trying to stay healthy, and for that this watch is great. It would probably be great for those wanting to seriously train for an event as it gives you loads of data. I’ve been using the watch for about a month.

The Polar Flow app works great and is an easy way to track your exercise. During and after exercise you can track your heart rate, calories, fuel sources, time, and distance. For activities like walking and running you can see your route, min/mile, cadence, and heart rate max ranges. You also have the ability to add notes to your workout.

The GPS is accurate. I ran the same route 3 different times and showed distances of 5.34 mi, 5.33 mi, and 5.34 mi. Having only 1/100th of a difference between 3 sessions I think is pretty accurate.

The ability to control audio from your phone is convenient. The watch allows you to leave your phone in your pocket, and adjust the volume, skip forward or back, and pause whatever you are listening to.

The sleep data is interesting. I think for the most part it provides an accurate assessment of your sleep. However, there have been a few times where I think it has missed the mark. Overall, I think it’s just an interesting addition to the watch. I tend to know when I’ve slept well or not.

This watch has a lot of features which I won’t use, but for tracking your exercise and having data to look at it works very well. Oh, it also tells time.