So I bought a Vantage M in October and am very much regretting that decision. Yes, the online interface is pretty but the GPS is terrible and I can't use it with my Stryd pod. I do all my workouts on the road so in those moments I would really like to have good information on pace and covered distance. Equally, the Polar doesn't give me any useful information on the pace during the last lap when triggering one manually.
Thoughts on selling it and going for the Garmin?
The GPS is pretty bad on that and the Vantage V. I keep wondering if there is a setting wrong, but it is cutting trail runs way short and even road runs. The mapping is terrible.
Polar is lame.
Garmin is the clear winner. With the 245 now having GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo, it clearly surpasses the Vantage M (lacks Galileo). Plus Garmin has been nothing but amazing when it comes to their customer service, software updates, and ease of use.
I just bought a polar Vantage m and have been able to use my stryd out of box. The problem is that polar really screwed the pooch on their software with the Vantage series. I had one of their m400 earlier and the sport profile settings from the m400 transferred to the Vantage m, so my stryd settings were set for manual calibration factor and a factor of 1 .0. if you want to use your Vantage m with Stryd correctly, you can borrow or buy an old m400 and configure the foot pod that way.
Thanks. I'll see how I can salvage this as best as possible. Oddly enough Huddle in London wore the V800 even though she advertises the Vantage V on Instagram.
My issue there is that you won't have GPS and the Vantage also doesn't record any of the other metrics the pod provides. I spoke with their customer services about this and they indicated that taking distance/pace from the pod and GPS from the Vantage may be implemented eventually but nothing on other metrics. Yet, the Garmin takes these things without a problem. The Vantage is the first watch I bought and I guess I fell for their marketing (and DCRainmaker for that matter).
Molly had the Vantage V in London. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCOjUilEHUw at 2:34 she's rotates her arm towards the camera.
I think Garmin has the best support in terms of Stryd. The CIQ functionality allows for better customization and you have more of an idea what data you'll get from Stryd in terms of pace/distance info.
The Polar stuff is okay, but the Vantage series has been wonky in all of the testing I've done with Stryd.
245 is a great option, and I primarily run with Stryd + 235/645 or Apple Watch right now and I would choose pretty much any option over Polar.
That information is incorrect. On the two runs I've done with my vantage m, my stryd pod synced perfectly and I have all metrics and GPS on. I am able to compare to get a fit file from Power center with everything inside. It works, surprisingly.
Both of my Stryd's are within 0.03 after about 5 miles of hilly terrain.
But how? And if you get GPS then why does Stryd on their website state that you should turn GPS off to get pace/distance from the pod. And which metrics are you referring to? Power is not the issue and I also get stride length on Polar Flow but ground contact time for one is missing both on Polar and in the Powercenter when enabling automatic syncing with Polar Flow.
BornAnAxolotl wrote:
But how? And if you get GPS then why does Stryd on their website state that you should turn GPS off to get pace/distance from the pod. And which metrics are you referring to? Power is not the issue and I also get stride length on Polar Flow but ground contact time for one is missing both on Polar and in the Powercenter when enabling automatic syncing with Polar Flow.
The thing is, is that if you don't already have an M400/V800/M430 on your Flow account, then your Vantage will not use Stryd properly because the Vantage software is so bad at the current state. They took two steps back from their previous software and removed manual footpod calibration settings. However, if you have an earlier watch and manually set the footpod settings, those setting will be carried over to your Vantage. So if you set a footpod calibration factor of 0.75 on an M400, then sync the M400 and Vantage to Flow, your Vantage will now use a 0.75 calibration factor for the footpod.
I have a 1.0 set on my M400 and the Vantage uses 1.0 with Stryd. GPS is enabled. I get leg spring stiffness, GCT, VO, form power all in the FIT file from Powercenter. I verified this by recording a Stryd with both a Garmin watch and the Vantage.
forcerunner wrote:
I think Garmin has the best support in terms of Stryd. The CIQ functionality allows for better customization and you have more of an idea what data you'll get from Stryd in terms of pace/distance info.
The Polar stuff is okay, but the Vantage series has been wonky in all of the testing I've done with Stryd.
245 is a great option, and I primarily run with Stryd + 235/645 or Apple Watch right now and I would choose pretty much any option over Polar.
I have to agree with you. Garmin is the best. In my opinion, getting a Vivoactive HR and Stryd is a pretty cheap way to get great data.
The Vantage series are really nice watches and feel quality, but the software is such a miss. Polar should feel bad. I mean, it;s great that the Vantage M is a multisport watch, but it's missing so many basic features.
I see. Thanks for clarifying this. Such a shame with Polar's software, especially as I have none of these watches.