Polar Vantage V2 – Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some lesser know Polar Vantage V2 ‘facts’ as well as the answers to your frequently asked questions. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments.
Here are some Polar snippets you may never have known about.
- There is a permanent ‘ON’ backlight setting for when you workout. Access the setting in the gear icon just before you start the workout.
- STRYD works well with the Vantage V2 and can be calibrated plus benefit from Zone Lock. Unfortunately, if your STRYD battery runs out it starts to record Polar Running Power whose value is much higher.
- Polar straps are nice quality, I like them for sport but was disappointed that the straps from the earlier Vantage V are not interchangeable due to the new pin lock mechanism and differently shaped ‘hinge’.
- Dual-sided bike power meters appear to correctly report total power but there is no LR split in FLOW (at least not with ASSIOMA or Shimano R9100p).
- There is an LR power metric on the watch, this would require LR being transmitted over BLE by the PM (just because the PM transmits it over ANT+ doesn’t mean it will over BLE)
- There is no ambient temperature display on the watch but it is recorded and later displayed in FLOW. If you know where to look. (Flow>Gear Icon>Graph Settings>Curves>Temperature)
- Pressing and holding the top left button locks and unlocks the screen.
- STRAVA Live Segments requires a premium STRAVA account, to use the Live Segments feature you need to add the FullScreen STRAVA Segments Training View in FLOW.
- Once you have contorted your wrist to play the compass-calibration game, you can then use the compass to lock on a bearing
- There is no GPS-only option and GPS+GLONASS is recommended by Polar
- Many Polar users have been blissfully unaware of the ability to create complex, structured workouts and various kinds of workout target. Why? Because it is hidden away here.
- Your starred/favourite segments in Strava are automatically synced to Vantage V2, providing you are a Strava subscriber.
- When enabled, Zone Lock alerts you if you leave the currently locked Zone. Usually, you enable Zone Lock when you are ‘in your target zone’ and when the metric you want to lock is displayed as a full-screen Training View.
- You can manually calibrate elevation on the fullscreen elevation Training View.
- You can tap your Vantage V2 to take a lap (there’s a setting to disable that in Flow)
- You can swipe down the screen to reveal hidden features like Airplane mode.
- You calibrate the magnetic compass when on the fullscreen compass view. The compass is only available once your workout has started. Hmmm.
Return to Polar Vantage V2 Review
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ
The Polar Vantage V2 can control music on your smartwatch which must be with you.
The Polar Vantage V2 is Polar’s most featured and most expensive watch, in my opinion, it’s their best watch.
Yes, it’s tested to WR100 or 100m
The Polar Vantage V2 can control music on your smartwatch which must be with you.
Yes, Polar watches are good. They are well-made sports watches with advanced features developed by their in-house sports scientists.
Yes, you can pair your Polar Vantage V2 with either your smartphone or desktop computer, the latter uses Polar’s FlowSync and the former use the free Polar Flow app
Yes, the Polar Vantage V2 is tested to 100m as is designed for swimming indoors or in open water, including saltwater.
No, they are about the same if you mean the accuracy of heart rate or GPS location. Personal usage and physiology complicate the answer.
Polar devices tend to be better-constructed, whereas Garmin devices tend to have more features. Polar focus more exclusively on sports usage.
The accuracy of Vantage V2’s heart rate and GPS location is normal for a sports watch. Personal usage and physiology complicates the answer and exactly how you will experience accuracy.
Use the cable supplied with the Vantage V2 and Polar FlowSync software
You will be automatically offered updates when you sync to either your smartphone or desktop computer
Press and hold the red button to restart the Vantage V2. Press the gear icon when your Vantage V2 is connected to Polar FlowSync, to perform a factory reset.
This can be for many reasons such as not being correctly seated in the cradle for FlowSync, having an active workout running on the watch or a complex Bluetooth issue with your smartphone.
They are similarly featured; Vantage V2 is a sports-format watch and has all the Grit X features plus Music Control, New Physiology Tests, last lap metrics, new watch faces and power target workouts (Q4.2020)
They look the same but the V2 has lots of new hardware plus these features: Physiology Hub & Tests; weather; Fuel Wise; Hill Splitter; Breadcrumb Route Support; plus many other smaller features
V2 has a ‘metallic construction & many more features including Physiology Features & Tests; weather; Fuel Wise; Hill Splitter; Breadcrumb Route Support; Inbuilt Running Power; Audible Alerts; Compass & Barometer; plus many other smaller features.
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Can u edit lap screen ?
not as far as i know
They stated it would be possible 🙂 maybe it is somewhere 🙂
There are now so many ads on your pages that it’s distracting. I know you want to make money doing this, but maybe ease back a bit.
the ads make very little money for most of the year.
I don’t mind the ads around the pages (I know they are a necessary evil for “free” information like this), but there was one location in particular that keeps resizing/relaunching above the article, in different sizes, causing the page to jump up/down each time it change(s/d). It would definitely be helpful if that particular location could be frozen to a fixed pane size at least, or not use a content rotator after initial loading.
edit: actually it was mid-content, between the first section and second, in retrospect after scrolling up.
yes, i dont want that to happen.
resizing was happening before and i thought i had it fixed.
if you could tell me which ad unit i can get it looked at eg roughly how many lines or paragraphs into the content
many thanks
—–
If I put the ads only around the pages they NEVER show on mobile ! the majority of my traffic is mobile
the ones in the content are the ones that give some payback. unfortunately, the more annoying they are (eg in-image ads) the better they are financially. I really don’t want to do it but i dont think i make a decent return on the time that i put into this. I have tried zero ads |plus long form content before…it doesn’t work. at least not for me.
I have removed ads for some posts (controlled on a post by post basis) like the longer reviews. less there…more here….the complexity never ends
You can actually do the soft reset by holding the Red button.
I never knew that
!
One typo, one slightly incorrect bullet above…
Really both bullets are saying the same thing anyhow, Polar watches do NOT play music (maybe the 600 did, not going to research, but nothing current does), they do have music controls, for your smartphone, but the smartphone, exclusively, is what is actually playing music.
Very good summary and tips/tricks though, thanks for this, I’m sure many will find new tips here!
I was inspired by the phased targets thing, Polar could have hidden it more effectively. but did a pretty good job as it is.
some of the questions are very similar, that’s intentional !
than you for the points, I will change them .
You know I’m going to be the one to ask it.
How does the Vantage V2 stack against the Coros Apex Pro in terms of features/metrics/accuracy? I know Stryd integration in Coros is full and not on Polar, so beyond that is what I’m wondering.
I trust that Polar will have put some good effort into validating the accuracy of their metrics. the accuracy of gps/ohr is ‘average/normal’. Polar’s FLOW ecosystem is superior. I guess both Polar and Coros could add more metrics…they both have enough for me. native and full running power integration could be argued to be finished by polar once the power target workouts come out in the near future. I cant see polar pulling training plans off stryd’s platform anytime soon
Is that their native power, or Stryd’s?
they are treated as the same.
The Coros Training plans, are, fine, I guess. I’ve never had much use for things like that as my workout regimen has always been handled externally with the watch just being the respsitory of the results.
Impromptu workouts also thrown off a structured plan if you’re using one imo.
If Polar never picks these up, that’s just fine. Polar could steal one thing Coros does; multiple internally made watch faces with varying metrics on the face.
yes, like Apple/WearOS with complications.
or even open up an api for watchfaces. i think sportygo do some REALLY clever watch faces with their Samsung watchfaces, effectively making a custom watch face into a battery-friendly app.
What info does the lap screen show?
lap#, lap time, duration
Just wanted to add something here about the Vantage V2 (I got one to try out).
The “Tests” do not work. The Orthostatic test fails over and over and over, the Leg Recovery can not get enough data after 6 times trying to get a result and the Fitness test just told me I have a Vo2Max of 68. I’m in shape, but that puts in Olympian levels of shape (i’m actually around a vo2 max of 53).
The Nightly Recharge is nice, the workout data is too, but it’s nothing more than that. The overall package seems buggy passe’ at this point. How Polar gets this moniker of being super accurate really needs to be put down solely to the workout tracking alone. The rest is in a alpha phase.
It’s already on its way back.
what hrm are you using?
I had zero issues with the jump test.
sometimes the HR tests would need a second go.
I was using a H10 for all of them. Battery is fairly new. I got the Orthostatic test to work just once and never again.
Honestly, I just want a watch I don’t have to worry about that just does everything I need it to, is accurate and has a good battery life. The V2 dropped 20% in less that 24 hours. My Apex Pro is double that in the same timeframe. I only debated going back to Polar because my partner has an ignite. I might end up getting them a Pace 2 for the device unity.
yes household device unity is a good phrase and IS a factor in some of my purchases too
i was going to suggest a new battery, sorry i cant help there.
What is better, Polar V2 or Garmin 745 ?
i would use the V2, the 745 is too small for me
Not sure if this was in an update by Polar since the article was published but
to 8: you could just take it off and move it in your hand without needing to dislocate your shoulder, elbow and wrist 😉
to 17: it’s possible to calibrate the compass from the ‘location’ view (settings – choose views – location)