This Polar Vantage M2 proves that you don’t always need the top model to be more than satisfied. This GPS sports watch offers all the functions that the largest group of athletes uses from a sports watch, but at a much more attractive price than a real top model. This makes it the best Polar to buy for many athletes.
Polar Vantage M2
MSRP 299.90 incl. VAT
Guarantee 24 months
Website www.polar.com/en
8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Ease of operation
- Multisport
- price
- Polar Flow app and web service
- Functionality
- Negatives
- No touch screen
- No contactless payment
- No navigation
- Menus
In our flat country, do you think it is not so relevant to know how much slower you run or cycle uphill than downhill? Do you mainly do your own laps and therefore rarely use navigation or pre-loaded routes? Are you satisfied with the free version of Strava and are you therefore not using Live Segments? Do you mainly exercise when you feel like and have time without first measuring whether your legs are ready? Do you not need a sound signal for cardio training, are vibrations enough? Do you never dive deeper than 30 meters? Do you never train for more than 30 hours? And do you think operation with buttons is as clear as a touch screen?
Then this is your Polar, because apart from the fact that this Vantage M2 is not a few things, it is mainly a lot of things and that quickly makes it the better choice over the much more expensive top model, the Vantage V2, which does have all the mentioned things.
Screen
The Vantage M2 is a very complete multisport watch that does not have a touch screen, but with its five clear buttons you can quickly and accurately go through the menus and many options. With the GPS and a heart rate monitor, it records all your activities such as cycling, running, swimming and much more, both indoors and outdoors. The 3.1 centimeter large screen with a resolution of 240 x 240 pixels is housed in a fine 4.6 centimeter large and 1.5 centimeter thick plastic housing with a stainless steel ring all around. The screen is always-on and lasts up to 5 days on the battery without charging but with continuous heart rate measurement.
Functionalities and app
A basic set of data and analysis can be conjured up on the screen with a few clicks, but for real insight, the Polar Flow smartphone app and online service are among the best of their kind. Polar also offers a number of nice extras on the Vantage M that certainly appeal to serious athletes such as Fuelwise. Fuelwsie calculates in advance how many carbohydrates you will use during an activity and compares this with the energy expenditure during exercise. It then indicates on the way when you should eat or drink. It does the same with drinking for which you get warnings along the way, ideal for an athlete like me who doesn’t like drinking on the go but would rather not meet the man with the hammer. There is also FitSpark that offers ready-made workouts that match the fitness of the body and recovery needed after the previous effort
If you also wear the Vantage M2 at night, it provides insight into your sleeping pattern and calculates the physical recovery during the night. There is a modest set of smartwatch functions such as controlling music that plays on a Bluetooth-connected smartphone and reading incoming notifications, but contactless payment is lacking.
Conclusion
The Vantage M2 is an excellent GPS sports watch with a very complete range of functions and useful extras. Together with the accompanying Polar Flow app and Flow web service and hassle-free integration with other sports services such as Strava, this is more than enough for the masses of athletes. With the Vantage M, Polar can easily compete with comparable Garmin models such as the Vivoactive and Venu series and who often also decide in its favor.