Polar just announced its newest Vantage V3 smartwatch lineup, which is the far classier-looking follow-up to its 2020 Vantage V2. It’s immediately targeted to athletes with a slew of new features like the Polar Elixir biosensing tech and a larger aluminum bezel with support for 22mm wristbands. Thanks to increased thickness and a sportier, almost Nordic look to the exterior – including those sleek red and chrome-colored buttons on the side – it may be Polar’s fanciest smart sports watch yet.
Designer: Polar
The Polar Vantage V3 is an advanced (but not quite futuristic) smart sports watch that looks like it can easily compete against other smart sports watches – like the Fitbit Sense 2 – thanks to its durable and elegant build, array of quality-of-life and GPS features, and purported 140-hour battery life in power-saving mode. Much like the Vantage V2 before it, it also stands completely apart from regular smartwatches like the Apple Watch Series 9 and Google Pixel Watch 2 for users who specifically want the most accurate fitness measurements and most interactive fitness training programs built directly into their smartwatch.
It’s targeted directly to athletes, and it already looks primed to be one of the best sports watches on the market for the near future. The new Polar Elixir biosensing suite includes an improved OHR (Optical Heart Rate) tracking sensor, wrist-ECG, skin temperature sensor to track body temperature throughout the day, and oxygen saturation monitor. All of these components are meant to combine in order to deliver pristine biometric reads, giving you the most up-to-date information about how your body and your fitness plan interact with one another.
Boosted biometrics and swanky casing aren’t the only improvements the Vantage V3 brings to the table over its predecessor; the new watch features an AMOLED touch display with 462 ppi resolution protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The V3’s internal CPU, which is rated for a 129% speed boost over the CPU that shipped in the Vantage V2, is now able to power a large collection of apps, including built-in GPS apps that utilize the new smartwatch’s dual-frequency L1/L5 satellite GPS chip.
The whole thing is also better suited for swimmers. It’s rated for WR50 water resistance, meaning you can dive about 50 meters underwater with it on your wrist before there’s any danger of it breaking. Better underwater biometric tracking make it a competitive diving and swimming watch.
You can now pre-order the Polar Vantage V3 in Sky Blue, Night Black, or (the appropriately fruity-colored) Sunrise Apricot directly from the Polar store for $599.95. Deliveries are set to begin on October 25.
