Polar Vantage M3 Gold/Beige

The Polar Vantage M3 is a stylish, yet powerful sports watch. It is 45 millimeters in size, but I think it fits my smaller wrist quite well. The Vantage M3 is light, I can do a lot with it and it is also comfortable.

Simple design and good size The Polar Vantage M3 looks a bit like a smaller and simpler version of the Vantage V3. The M3 is made of plastic and is therefore very light. I hardly feel it on my wrist. I also like the size. Polar smartwatches are often quite large, but this one is small for what you can do with it. The screen is actually too big for my 14 centimeter wrist circumference at 45 millimeters. Still, it is comfortable.

Clear and colorful screen The fast, clear and colorful AMOLED screen immediately caught my eye. In my opinion, this is the most noticeable improvement compared to the Vantage M2. The M2 is slow and feels old-fashioned. The new Vantage M3 has a stylish look. I operate it easily with the colorful touchscreen and the buttons on the side. It also works smoothly and I can quickly scroll through menus. I can easily read my data, even when the sun is shining brightly on the screen.

One week of battery life The battery lasts about a week for me, depending on how much I exercise. I exercise on average 3 times a week with GPS on. I think this is a great score. I have the always-on screen turned off. When the screen is always on, the Vantage M3 uses much more battery than when it is turned off.

Precise sports results With the Vantage M3 I can accurately measure my sports results. I have run with the watch and done fitness exercises at home. It measured this accurately. I saw my running lap exactly in the app. The Vantage M3 combines my health data with my sports data and bases this on personal sports advice. I received different training and recovery exercises every day. This way I know better what my body can and cannot handle.

Smart functions I don't buy a Polar smartwatch for smart functions, but for the sports functions. I do read notifications from my smartphone on the watch, such as a news notification, email or WhatsApp message. I can't answer it. I also see a call coming in when I'm called, but I can't answer it via the watch. What I do find a pity is that I can't store music on the watch. This means I have to take my smartphone with me if I want to listen to music during a workout.

I'm writing this review after several months of intensive use. The watch is certainly no improvement over the M2, except for the screen. Fortunately, the Polar Flow app has improved somewhat. The watch displays shorter distances than actually traveled. Average speeds are displayed far too high in vivo, only to be underestimated again upon completion of the activity. The lights turn on or off at inappropriate times. The price is reasonable, but it's a shame that no further development has taken place in recent years, based on the excellent Polar Vantage M2.

Unfortunately, very frustrating. The watch systematically switches off during activity and can only be restarted afterwards with a charging cable. We have already returned the product twice, but are repeatedly told that everything works normally.