WATCH REVIEW: Polar Vantage M2

Earlier this year, Polar released the Vantage M2, joining the V, V2 and M as the latest addition to the company’s Vantage series. The M2 has all the features the M had and then some, with additional smartwatch capabilities, better battery life and more. Like its predecessor, this is a sleek, lightweight watch, and it will help any runner get the most out of every workout. The Vantage M2 is available now on the Polar website, starting at $449.99. 

Battery life 

While the Polar Vantage M2 has the same base battery life as the M, it has power-saving options that its predecessor lacks. When this feature is activated on the M2, its battery life jumps to 100 hours. Even without the power-saving settings turned on, the watch can last for 30 hours without a charge, and that’s at full blast with the M2’s GPS, heart rate and other fitness tracking systems engaged. With such a long battery life, even if you start a marathon with your watch at 50 per cent, it will still be on and tracking your run as you cross the finish line. 

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The battery life would be impressive for any watch, but the M2 is also incredibly lightweight, weighing in at just 45 g (the same as the M and 7 g lighter than the Vantage V2). With such a light watch, it wouldn’t be a surprise if it had a weak battery and short life, but that is definitely not the case with the latest in the Vantage series. 

Running features 

The Vantage M2 tracks your pace (of course), distance run and other classic metrics that all other running watches cover, but there’s more to it than just the basics. For those basics, though, the M2 offers tremendous accuracy. This shouldn’t be something we need to touch on, as one would hope that any watch they buy measures distance and pace accurately, but some watches can be quite glitchy.

There’s nothing worse than getting back from a run that you know is 5K only to find that your watch had you at 4.5K. You won’t have that issue with the M2 (or any other Polar watches), and you’ll be able to be confident in every piece of data you receive from your watch. 

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The M2 also has built-in running programs to act as a sort of coach on your wrist. This might sound a little odd, but once you use it, you’ll fall in love with this feature. All you have to do is say what distance you’re training for and when your race is, and it will give you workouts to do each day. On top of running days, it will tell you what core routines to do, as well as strength work. 

This takes the guesswork out of training. Even if you’ve been in the sport for years, it can be easy to go too hard or too far on days when you should be taking it easy. The M2 monitors your daily workload and ensures that won’t happen, which will help to lower your risk of injury and improve your running as a whole. 

Smartwatch features 

Finally, there are the M2’s smartwatch features. You could connect your Vantage M to your phone, but it would only send you notifications to your wrist. With the M2, you’ll still receive notifications on your watch, but you can also use music controls, check the weather and edit your watch face. 

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This might not sound like much now, but when you’re on a run and a song you don’t like comes on, it’s way easier to tap your wrist than it is to stop, get your phone and skip to a better song. The watch’s display is easy to navigate, too, which means you can get wherever you need to be on your watch in just a few swipes rather than wasting time trying to find the right page (which is the case with some watches). 

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Overall thoughts 

The Polar Vantage M2 is a great watch. If you’re looking for a new wearable but think the Vantage V2 is a little too pricy for you (it retails for $689.99), the M2 is the way to go. It has many of the same features as the V2, but it’s $200 cheaper. Like all of Polar’s watches before this one, the M2 is extremely reliable, it’s comfortable to wear and it looks pretty cool (which might not affect your running, but it doesn’t hurt to look good). 

To learn more about the Vantage M2, click here.