It’s been three years, but smartwatch brand Polar is back with a new Vantage wearable, now equipped with the company’s recent ‘biosensing technology’ platform.
The platform is called Polar Elixir and consists of sensors that give the Vantage V3 the ability to measure important body functions, such as your cardiovascular system, autonomic nervous system and body temperature. In return, athletic users receive vast amounts of data about their physical fitness, giving them insight into how to improve their workouts. For example, data from the wrist ECG sensor can be viewed on the Polar Flow app, where you can “see how your heart responds to exercise”. That information can then be exported to a PDF file to share with others, namely your personal trainer or coach.
Additionally, the smartwatch can measure the temperature of your skin at night, providing other essential health insights. For example, a rising skin temperature may indicate that you are becoming ill.
For the outdoorsy types, the Vantage V3 is equipped with a dual-frequency GPS capable of measuring “distances with precision and with less interference” from surrounding buildings or bad weather. According to Polarthe device features track-back and turn-by-turn guidance, so you always “know exactly where you are and where you are going”. You can even download “offline maps” if you ever plan to go off the network.
Hardware specifications
Everything you see here is displayed on a 1.39-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 454 x 454 pixels. Apparently the Vantage V3’s screen is so bright that it can double as a flashlight (the Google Pixel Watch 2 does this too). It is unknown what kind of CPU is under the hood. Polar doesn’t provide details, although it does claim that the processor is 129 percent faster than the hardware on the 2020 Vantage V2.
Speaking of the V2, the company claims that the V3’s battery is 41 percent larger compared to the older model. The company claims it can last eight days straight “in standard mode” or up to 53 hours if the GPS and OHR (this is the optical heart rate sensor) are enabled. Other notable features include 32GB of storage space, 15 different widgets, 18 colorful dashboards, and a Recovery Pro mode that lets you know when to lighten up the exercise.
Availability
The standard model of the Polar Vantage V3 is currently available to pre-order for $600/£520/$900 AUD in Sky Blue, Night Black and Sunrise Apricot. Or you can buy the two-device pack, including the Polar H10 heart rate sensor, for $650/£560/$1000 AUD. However, the colors for the latter are reduced to just black. No word on when the wearable will officially launch, although we did ask.
Admittedly, we’re pretty excited to get our hands on the Vantage V3. We were big fans of the older V2 model for its extensive training features and route guidance technology. Hopefully the laggy touchscreen will be addressed.
If you’re interested in other options, check out TechRadar’s list of the best fitness trackers for 2023.