Sharing is caring!
This week, Polar released two new watches, the Polar Pacer Pro and the standard Pacer. These are aimed at runners, but should work as multisport watches.
These two watches changed the Polar line, effectively making the M2 obsolete and reducing the appeal of its high-priced watches. In theory, that’s good for consumers, but if you look at Garmin’s similarly priced offerings, they’re probably not as good as I’d like them to be.
Price and Alternatives
I’ll start with pricing as that provides some context for the comparison.
Polar Pacer Yes A very attractive price of £169.
The Polar Pacer Pro costs the same as the Vantage M2, but adds a ton of features that effectively make the Vantage M2 redundant. The Vantage M2 is available through some websites for less than the RRP, but the Pacer Pro has a lot of extras and I’d still go with the Pro.
The Polar Vantage V2 has an MSRP of £429 and £390 on Amazon. Since this costs more, I left it out of the comparison.
The Garmin is by far the best player in the game, but at these price points, you don’t have many options.
The Garmin Forerunner 245 comes closest to the Pacer Pro in price. You have the £210 no-music variant or the £299 musical model. These have been around for a while, so you can get them for less than RRP. On Amazon, the Forerunner 245 is £180 and the Forerunner 245 Music is £270.
Sitting under it, you can get the Forerunner 55 for £150.
While I don’t usually associate Garmin with affordable equipment, if you want a cheap GPS running watch, the Garmin Forerunner 45S is probably your best bet. It’s currently £100, but it’s been as low as £85 recently.
Or if you can stretch your budget, it’s hard to ignore Garmin fēnix 6 ProCurrently only Amazon £360. It’s much better than the Pace Pro, but even at this great price it’s still £100 more, so I took it out of this comparison.
Garmin Forerunner 255
Notably, the Garmin Forerunner 255 should launch soon. If you’re not in dire need of a watch, I recommend sticking with it.At the very least, it should help lower the price of the Garmin Forerunner 245 once it launches
Polar Pacer Pro vs Vantage M2 vs V2 vs Garmin Forerunner 245 Specs
| pacemaker | Pacers Pro | Vantage M2 | Forerunner 245 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material | plastic box. | plastic box. Aviation aluminum bezel. | Glass fiber reinforced polymer shell. Stainless steel bezel, buttons and buckle. | fiber reinforced polymer |
| aspect | 45 x 45 x 11.5 mm | 45 x 45 x 11.5 mm | 46 x 46 x 12.5 mm | 42.3 x 42.3 x 12.2 mm |
| weight | 40 grams | 41 g | 45 grams | 38.5 g |
| Display size | 1.2 inches (resolution 240 x 240 pixels) | 1.2 inches (resolution 240 x 240 pixels) | 1.2 inches (resolution 240 x 240 pixels) | 1.2″ 240 x 240 pixels |
| display type | Always On Color Display (MIP).Corning Gorilla Glass 3.0 Layer | Always On Color Display (MIP).Corning Gorilla Glass 3.0 Layer | Always On Color Display (MIP). Hard-coated PMMA laminated lenses. | Sunlight Visible, Transflective Pixel Memory (MIP) |
| Battery | 265 mA | 265 mA | 230 mA | no description |
| Battery Life | Up to 35 hours in training mode (GPS and wrist-based heart rate). Training time with power saving option is 100 hours. Watch mode with heart rate: up to 7 days. | Up to 35 hours in training mode (GPS and wrist-based heart rate). Training time with power saving option is 100 hours. Watch mode with heart rate: up to 7 days. | Up to 30 hours in training mode (GPS and wrist-based heart rate). Training time with power saving option is 100 hours. Watch mode with heart rate: up to 5 days. | Smartwatch mode: up to 7 days; GPS mode: up to 24 hours |
| water proof | 50 meters | 50 meters | 30 meters | 5 ATM (50 meters) |
| sensor | accelerometer, heart rate | Accelerometer, Heart Rate, Barometer, Compass | accelerometer, heart rate | Accelerometer, Heart Rate and SPO2, Compass, Thermometer |
| Global Positioning System | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Suggested retail price | 169 | 259 | £259 £251 via Wiggle |
£210 without music Music £299 |
Polar Pacer Pro and Vantage M2 Features
DC Rainmaker There’s a list of bullet points highlighting why the Vantage M2 is redundant right now. Compared to the M2, the Pacer Pro has:
- Add barometric altimeter
- Added faster processor, more memory
- Added new clearer screen/display
- Added wrist-based running power (no accessories required)
- Added Hill Splitter (hill repeat counter)
- Added route navigation
- Added Strava live segment
- Added performance tests (walking, running, cycling)
- Added Polar SHIFT strap accessory compatibility
- Add compass during activity/workout
- Added smartphone notifications during workouts
- Increased GPS battery life from 30 hours to 35 hours
- Vantage M2 water resistance increased from 30m to 50m
- Smart notifications during training
- Pacer uses different HR sensor, same as Polar Ignite
The Polar Pacer is functionally nearly identical to the Vantage M2, but at a much lower price.
Polar Pacer Pro and Garmin Forerunner 245 Features
Garmin is hard to beat due to its wide range of features. In particular, they’ve done a great job of incorporating everyday smartwatches and health features into sports watches.
Obviously, the music function is a big selling point of the Forerunner 245 Music. All watches can control the music played by the phone.
The main selling point of the Polar Pacer Pro, at least for me, is the built-in wrist-based running power. You can save a lot of money by buying a Stryd or Garmin strap with running power.
The Polar Pacer Pro has a built-in barometer, while the FR245 relies on GPS for altimeter data.
Polar also has Strava live footage, but not the FR245, I don’t think.
Polar also has a multisport mode, which DC Rainmaker and others think could be a good, affordable triathlon watch. Polar is also listed as being compatible with the power meter on the bike, but getting it to work seems like an accident.
Garmin, on the other hand, has a PacePro feature that many people love running. Polar has Race Pacing, but it doesn’t work very well. Then there are various other fitness and recovery features such as Recovery Advisor.
After watching my partner run the Manchester Marathon, I really liked the Garmin’s real-time tracking that Polar lacks. Garmin also has emergency contacts and SOS. I’ve used it in marathons before, but this is the first time I’ve used it to follow someone and I’m loving it.
Garmin also supports ANT+, while Polar only supports Bluetooth.
Overall, the Polar Pacer Pro seems like a tough sell, and it does have a lot of advantages, but it also feels like a lot of advantages will only appeal to a few.
overall
These two Polar Pacer watches are a very interesting product from Polar. They almost cannibalized sales of several other watches. Now, the Vantage M2 is pointless.
There’s also not much difference between the Polar Pacer Pro and the Vantage V2 or Grit X, probably not enough to justify the £160 difference in RRP.
This is great for consumers. Features have trickled down to more affordable watches. On the downside, Polar isn’t really launching anything new. They just took existing technology and made it more affordable. I think the lack of innovation in this case is forgivable.
Alternatively, you have the Garmin Forerunner 245/245 Music. This seems to have more mainstream consumer appeal and has many features that the Polar Pacer Pro lacks, making it appealing to runners.
Last updated on 2022-04-15 / Affiliate Links / Image from Amazon Product Advertising API
