First Polar Grit X vs. Vantage V Comparison Results

Polar coming out with a new outdoors watch meant that I wanted to try that out – and here I’m starting with results, comparing between Polar Grit X and Vantage V, first of all…

Heart Rate

Heart rate is, given Polar’s experience in that field, something much-considered. The Vantage line came out with high promises for the Precision Prime sensor, but in my experience, they were not truly satisfied.

The Grit X comes with a Precision Prime 2.0 oHR that switches from green and red LEDs to orange and red ones, with a central green LED also in use… it’s all quite curious.

My first results look promising.

Polar Grit X oHR vs. Polar Vantage V oHR vs. Polar BEAT recording HR off the H10 chest strap

Still some differences between oHR and chest strap, as to be expected, but considerably closer a fit between the two than with the Vantage V.

GPS Tracks

In my easy, flat, open terrain, GPS tracks are hard to get wrong – or a good sign of something being wrong.

Here, now, on this first run, there was nothing to mention.

Autolap markings (at each 1 km) were at most 20 meters apart, there is a little bit of a switch, but that’s all just because I wore the Grit X on my left wrist, the Vantage V on my right.

GPS Tracks from Grit X, Vantage V, and Polar BEAT (i.e., my Galaxy S9's GPS) — GPS Tracks from Grit X, Vantage V, and Polar BEAT (i.e., my Galaxy S9’s GPS)

GPS Tracks from Grit X, Vantage V, and Polar BEAT (i.e., my Galaxy S9's GPS), Detail — GPS Tracks from Grit X, Vantage V, and Polar BEAT (i.e., my Galaxy S9’s GPS), Detail

Distances, just to make sure?

Polar Grit X: 9.84 km
Polar Vantage V: 9.85 km
Polar Beat: 9.85 km

Sounds good… but was also really easy, so that anything else would have been very disappointing.

Considering that people have been complaining about the Vantage’s GPS, though, it’s also quite interesting.

Pace

Pace is one of those things, dependent on GPS as it is, that people have been holding against the Vantage…

… but this doesn’t look too bad, if with some difference.

The low pace at the beginning squishes together the data, though, so let’s zoom in on the parts that look similar, after the beginning of the run:

Pace (min/km) as per Vantage V, Grit X, and now also Polar Beat (i.e., my smartphone), zoomed in

Still some differences, still not very large ones… and many times, the smartphone GPS (Polar Beat) and the Vantage V recording look to be closer together than the Grit X.

Who knows which was closer to correct, though.

Power

Vantage V introduced “power from the wrist” in running; the Grit X follows suit.

Well. These numbers are somewhere somewhat in the same ballpark, but also fluctuating near-randomly. (Not a mathematical analysis, though.)

I will also record with the Stryd pod next time, I think… but that will mainly just make it obvious, as it always has, that the Stryd records a wattage that fluctuates similarly, but at lower values, than Polar watches.

Anyways, this was fun and there’s more to come.

2 responses

Pieter

2021

hello, could you please tell me which the watch is on top of this page, the left one?
I’m looking at pics of both models and can’t really find resemblance.

thank you

1. Gerald Zhang-Schmidt
  
  2021
  
  In the top image for this post? That would just be the Vantage V. Or do you mean another image?

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