Beautiful Sports watches: Polar Vantage V3 vs Grit X2 Pro
Polar is introducing two new high-end sports watches this spring: the Vantage V3 and the Grit X2 Pro. Athletes specifically use the first to track their performance and training progress, while adventurers target the sturdy Grit X2 Pro. In both cases, you have to spend a lot of money: the Vantage V3 officially costs 599 euros, while the Grit X2 Pro even costs 749 euros. What do you get for that money, and how do the watches compare to competitor models?
Polar was one of the major brands in the sports watch market for a long time. If you looked around the starting area of a marathon or triathlon five years ago, there was a good chance that you would see quite a few clocks from the Finnish brand there. But since then, Polar has stood still, and competitor Garmin has almost completely captured the market for high-end sports watches. Polar wants to change that with the new Vantage V3 and Grit X2 Pro. This includes a new ‘biosensor’, improved ‘test and sports algorithms, and detailed offline maps with route functions via Strava and Komoot. The new watches also have clear OLED screens with touch controls, while the Vantage V2 and Grit X Pro used less beautiful memory-in-pixel screens. A new, faster processor should also help to make the watches feel a bit smoother, although, in my opinion, the speed of the previous versions did not stand out negatively.
The same, but different
We combine the Vantage V3 and Grit X2 Pro in one review, because they are essentially the same watch twice, except for the appearance. The watches use the same hardware and software and offer the same functionality. The distinction between target groups is therefore arbitrary in that respect: for example, the Grit The only difference is the antenna design for GSM reception. Because the Grit X2 Pro’s bezel is wider, the antenna is also different, but functionally, it makes no difference.
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Appearance
If I had to summarize the design of the Vantage V3 in one word, it would be ‘understated’. The round watch has a relatively thin black bezel around the 1.4" AMOLED screen, surrounded by a thin aluminum edge that forms the actual case of the watch towards the back. The slightly convex screen protrudes above the housing and is made of Gorilla Glass 3.0. The color of the case is aluminum or black, in the case of the night ‘’black version. The Vantage V3 has five buttons, two on the left and three on the right, with which the watch can be operated. Elongated buttons protrude just outside the housing and are embossed to make them easy to feel. At the bottom of the watch, we see the new Elixer sensor set, which uses four green and one red LED, as well as four optical sensors that measure the reflections of the light from those LEDs. Both watches also have a skin temperature sensor that is not separately recognizable but is probably integrated into the island of optical sensors.
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The bottom of the Grit X2 Pro looks exactly like the Vantage V3, but the rest of the housing is very different. The Grit The Grit X2 Pro also has five buttons, but they are smaller and round in shape. The housing protrudes slightly between the buttons, which should prevent you from accidentally pressing the buttons. There are two rings on top of the housing: behind the lower ring, made of plastic, are the GNSS antennas, while the upper stainless steel ring surrounds the screen and appears to be (optically) attached to the housing with four mini Torx screws. This bezel has a ‘compass ring’ with indications for north, east, south, west, and intermediate degree bars.
This bezel has no practical use because the ring cannot be rotated and when using the digital compass, a rotating compass ring is shown on the screen. Due to the extra compass ring, the diameter of the Grit X2 Pro is slightly larger than that of the Vantage V3, at 48 and 46 mm respectively. In addition to the more robust housing, the Grit X2 Pro has a sapphire lens instead of Gorilla Glass, which is significantly more resistant to scratches. The Grit The watch is available in ‘ night black ‘, with a black case and strap, and in ‘ stone gray ‘, with a case and strap in dark gray. There is also a titanium version that comes with an extra leather strap. This variant is even more expensive and costs 869 euros.
Smartwatch and sports functions
Because both watches are functionally the same, what we discuss on the following pages applies to both the Polar Vantage V3 and the Grit X2 Pro. To make it immediately clear, despite the high prices of both watches, they are mainly sports watches and, to a lesser extent, smartwatches. The new OLED screens and touch controls make them more similar to smartwatches from other brands than their predecessors, but in terms of all-around smartwatch functions, both watches are unfortunately limited.
They can display notifications and act as a remote control for media players on your phone. This makes it possible, for example, to pause music you play on Spotify or skip to the next song. There is also a widget that shows the hourly weather for the coming days and a widget that shows when the sun rises and sets. That’s where the general smartwatch functions end. For example, the watches themselves cannot store and play offline music; there is no wireless payment function; calling from your wrist is not possible; there is no integration with a voice assistant; and there is no option to install additional apps.
Sports functions
Polar focuses on sports and health with its watches, and fortunately, it has a lot to offer in that area. The watches have profiles for more than 150 different sports, twenty of which you can install on the watch at any time. That sounds like a limitation, but in practice, it is not. Profiles for different sports show different (useful) data. Polar offers you the opportunity to largely determine what data the watch shows per sport and lets you choose, for example, whether you want to use automatic lap registration and custom heart rate zones and enable sound and vibration feedback. The Grit This function has now also been added to the Vantage V3 with the latest firmware update. In addition, there is Strava integration, so you can receive notifications when you arrive at a segment you have designated.
Health functions
New to the Vantage V3 and Grit X2 Pro is a built-in ECG heart rate monitor. This functionality is now found on more watches and is used by brands such as Apple and Samsung to detect whether there may be atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm disorder. Polar does not do this, probably because they still need medical approval from the relevant American and European authorities. Polar’s ECG measurement shows a heart rhythm video and heart rate and rhythm variability, but does not warn of any abnormalities.
Thanks to the new Elixer sensors, the watches now also measure skin temperature, albeit only at night. Polar does not show the absolute measured temperature but uses a widget on the watch and in the app to show the deviation from your average per night. What should you do with this data? This is a valid question, given that Polar does not offer any recommendations or cautions. In theory, these types of measurements can help women map out their cycle, but with the current software, Polar does not provide any guidance in this regard. Both watches are capable of measuring blood oxygen saturation (SpO2), but they do not currently utilize this data to determine if you have acclimatized to the altitude, a feature that Garmin does. What is also striking is that the pedometer on both watches is very enthusiastic and, for example, counts steps while cycling.
Battery life
Polar has retained its long battery life despite switching to AMOLED screens. Although the Grit X2 Pro is a bit larger than the Vantage V3, both watches have the same battery. Polar promises up to ten days of battery life in smartwatch mode, and that seems to be quite true. With an average of one hour of exercise with GPS registration, I arrived at 7 to 9 days, depending on the duration of the activities. I mainly tested the watches in raise-to-wake mode; with the always-on function, the battery life decreased by about a third. Especially during activities in direct sunlight, you will notice that the battery life decreases faster if the screen is continuously on.
