Polar Vantage V review

Battery life

• Long-lasting battery
• Doesn't give a clear enough indication of remaining life

The Polar Vantage V claims an ultra-long battery life with up to 40 hours of continuous training using the optical heart rate and GPS tracking.

In our tests over a 6 day period we got 6 hours of running and general usage, with the continuous heart rate on but smartphone notifications switched off.

Another small quirk of the Vantage V is that you have to press and hold the light button to see the battery status. We’d much prefer this to just be on the home screen and also it’s a battery graphic without a percentage so you’re left guessing a little how much juice is left.

Verdict

By far Polar’s best-looking and most capable watch to date, if you’re serious about your sport and you’re into delving deep into your data in search of improved performance then the Polar Vantage V has a huge amount to offer.

There are some genuinely impressive features you can’t find elsewhere, and this is a Polar device that takes us a step closer to having a coach on your wrist.

There’s a feature set here that will give you a near-complete picture, not just of your training sessions but everything that affects how well you train and perform, such as managing training load, recovery and sleep. If you care about the marginal gains this will be extremely useful.

For runners the ability to track power – a new way to guide and assess the effectiveness of your training and pace your races better – is a big deal, particularly as it’s done without the need for a foot pod.

However, a less than perfect strap, a slightly unintuitive interface and some GPS pacing quirks mean the Polar Vantage V is not quite the complete multi-sport watch. It’s not far off but there is room for improvement.

First reviewed: January 2019