Polar - Vantage M3

In my experience Precision Prime is way better than Elixir. I returned my M3 for that reason.

This is in line with my observations. Polar Precision Prime is better than Elixir (Pacer Pro better than M3, in my case). I'm glad they went for Precision Prime on the new loop band. Garmin (various watches) was almost always worse than Polar Precision Prime for me.

I think if you dig in my posts you could find a few detailed comparison answers.  I personally would stay away from Run, as it’s a different underlying platform from the rest of Suunto family and is thus incompatible with many Suunto features like S+ apps. Moreover, it seems it was more of a one shot attempt at alternative to the development that started with S9PP and isn’t going forward. Race S is a great watch though, which brings me to my next point. V3 is more akin to Race, so your real comparison is down to S vs M3. Both size, screen size, weight, and price wise.  Sleep, recovery, and general activity tracking is absolutely better on Polar assuming you can stomach their embarrassingly outdated app. They promised to overhaul it next year, but for now it is ass ugly and keeling over. That said Polar does have a web version (Suunto doesn’t anymore), with tons of useful reports and features. Also included are several adaptive fitness programs, from their  running programs to FitSpark to paid Fitness program. I think their training load and training load status are far easier and more intuitive for most people to deal with than Suunto’s stuff licensed from TrainingPeaks. On a flip side, Suunto has a very gorgeous and super informative app with ton of features (and sadly ridden with many bugs) and many great watch features targeting more advanced users, from ability to import workouts from third party systems, to track running mode, to structured workouts targeting specific intensity ranges not just plain 5 zones like Polar, to ZoneSense, to climb guidance, S+ apps and device integrations, and so on. I believe Suunto and Race S do have an edge for more training and fitness oriented people.  Getting to things like accuracy I’d say Suunto owns Polar on GPS (M3 is quite decent but not as good as Races). Also Polar tends to do some weird altitude thing that results in elevation gains 20-30% lower than other watches. On OHR, it’s the opposite. I find Polar far more stable and accurate. If you care about heart rate, unless you go for the latest gen, you’ll want that chest strap with Suunto for sure. Accidentally, Race S is better than other Suuntos, but far from perfect.  I’d say if your focus is more on general wellness and activity tracking and your fitness needs are generally to support that, M3 will be a great choice. If you need something sportier and with more advanced modern day training features go Suunto.  One other consideration is Suunto does update their watches with new features regularly (like 3-4 times a year) and does so for years. On a flip side, those updates lately bring unwanted bugs like HR dropping out in the middle of an activity, sleep tracking not working, etc.  Now my personal solution when faced with a similar dilemma?  I have Vertical 2 on one hand and Polar Loop on another. I do have V3 too for morning orthostatic, jump, and VO2 Max tests and a few other things Polar does well.   It’s either that, or get a single Garmin really… 

As a polar vantage m3 owner I'm hoping this means some polar flow updates to support the new fitness band. Also hoping it can be concurrently used with a polar watch so I can wear my nice watch on non-workout environments while wearing the hand on the opposite wrist. Polar needs to survive the review onslaught though for me to consider buying it though.

Polar has activity tracking over steps. The target is based on your current fitness level, and your own personally daily activity, it gives you a custom target to hit out of 100%. Any movement contributes to the activity tracking. Why this is considered superior to steps is maybe you bicycle, or do indoor rowing. These activities will contribute to the 100% goal but do not have "steps" involved. Polar does estimate steps, but I've never paid attention to it in all honesty. It's a sub menu of the "activity" watch face. There's a lot more sensors in the M3, longer battery life, and the M3 has maps. https://www.polar.com/en/comparison/#IGNITE_3&VANTAGE_M3&undefined

If your primary needs are; sleep tracking, training/exercise programs/suggestions and recovery tracking, then Vantage M3 beats Race S/Run by a long shot. It is not even close.

For me Vantage M3 in greige sand color is good both in its look and the functions

Polar M3 is still waiting (due Q2 2025) for the update from v1 to v3 firmware. This (amongst other things) will add the V3 watch faces with 2 additional fields. It all depends on whether Polar has an offer on one or the other of their top sports watches which you choose. The Grid X/V3/M3 should soon have the same sports functionality so it just depends on the look & feel, and what you can afford. The Ignite is not for serious sporting types, so I rejected upgrading to it from an M2 !

Interesting point of view. Here in Australia, our prices are very different from the US… I actually have an M3 not the V3 (I couldn’t justify an extra $300 for build quality) which is $600, equivalent to about $400USD. Polar sells the Vantage V3 for $899 here which is about $600 US. For comparison, Garmin sells the forerunner 970 for $1,399 here (over $900 US dollars) which is a whopping $400 difference. The Grit X2 Pro here is about $1100 in most stores (including Polar’s website), which is equivalent to less than $750 US dollars. Garmin Fenix 8 is about $1600+ ($1849 on Garmin’s website) which is a whopping $500 more ON SALE, $750 with Garmin’s price. As you can see, here in Australia, Polar’s value is FAR AND ABOVE what Garmin can offer. The cheapest watch Garmin advertises on their website with maps, is the 970 for $1399. The cheapest Polar does is $599. That is half the price.

Dang, I have a Polar vantage M3. A little old, but it does the job

For sleep and recovery and a more attractive design: Polar Vantage M3 For better battery life, faster navigation, and a clear menu: Suunto Race S Or if you use Runna: Suunto Race S, Polar doesn't work (yet). I have both watches here and can't decide which one to keep.