I got the Polar M430 watch as a gift for my birthday in 2018. Over the last six years, it is not just my hair that has gone gray. My watch has also started to show signs of aging. During the period, I often looked at different options for upgrading the M430 but so far I figured out it is not worth the upgrade. I am revisiting the topic again in the post.
About Polar M430
The watch has been very reliable for the last six years. I have used it to track my sleep, workout sessions, tennis sessions, running sessions, and cardio workouts. The below table provides a list of pros and cons from my experience.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Extra-ordinarily long battery life | Hideous looking |
| Many workout options | Outdate monochromatic screen |
| Good GPS and heart rate accuracy | No nap tracking |
| Sleep tracking is good | No onboard music storage |
| Changing band is a pain |
Some of the cons might be little unfair considering that the watch is six to seven years old. However, it is mainly a wish list of things that I want my watch to do. Mainly, I want my watch to look modern. When I go out for runs after work, I would love to drop the phone at home and still be able to listen to music. Knowing the impact of a nap would be so great. Unfortunately, most Polar watches I looked do not have nap tracking at all.
On the other side, the sleep tracking seems to be fairly accurate. It may be a little psychological but generally looking at the sleep statistics gives me an idea how I am going to feel the rest of the day. Furthermore, the battery life is such a big plus that I did not want to give up. It almost used to last a month on a charge. The watch is always ready to track my workouts. I often see my wife putting her Apple watch series 8 to charge as it is dead when she is about to start a workout. I do not want to factor in the watch charge status into my workouts. It will just adds another excuse to not workout! Especially, when the watch needs a charge every day. Luckily, at this point my M430’s battery life has come down to a week per charge. In away, it is a nice way to transition to most modern watches that do not last as long as the M430 did even a few months back.
Lastly, the Polar M430 does give me more steps than what my wife gets on the Apple watch 8. My wife would be out the whole day walking around, while I will be at home working on my laptop and I would end up getting more steps than her. I suspect the outdate technology in the M430 is probably the cause of it. That said, I do not know whether it would be a pro or a con. At least it gives me more steps and makes me feel good in the process!
Give all the above, I am ready to upgrade to a new watch if it adds enough value without compromising too much on the battery life.
Upgrade Options
he budget for the watch is around $350 to $400. The battery life requirement immediately eliminated Apple Watches. Though I have to give credit to Apple for the different watch and strap color options. I would have loved to try some of the Android watches, unfortunately, they do not play at all or play well with Apple iPhone.
Polar Ignite 3
As a repeat customer of Polar watches, I always kept an eye on the newer Polar releases. The Polar Flow app is very reliable and something I am used to for the many years. However, Polar had only addressed a few of the cons from the M430 list over the years. The Polar Sleep wise still does not seem to consider naps and there does not seem to be a push to add onboard music storage to these watches.
Given the modern color screens, the battery life advantage has gone down as well. That said I found that the Polar Ignite 3 Titanium is one of the most beautifully designed watches. Just based on the look of the watch, I had it on my wish list for Christmas 2023.
Garmin Venu 3 or Venu 3S
I have been looking at the Venu 2 and Venu 2 Plus before the Venu 3 series was launched. It seems Garmin had done a great job to appeal the consumers of my kind. It almost checks all the cons that I have listed in the cons of the M430 and not addressed in the Polar Ignite 3. It is a good looking watch, has a decent battery life, has onboard music storage, tracks naps, while still not losing on the good features of the M430.
With that said, it is always hard to get a consumer to switch from one brand to another, especially, when they are used to software associated with it. Hence, it took me a long time of going back and forth to decide that I am going to switch to a Garmin watch during the current upgrade cycle. Moreover, Garmin Venu has many other features that I am excited to try it out such as Body Battery, Fitness Age, Pulse Ox and other smartwatch features. The MSRP for the Garmin Venu 3 and Venu 3S is $449. However, I have seen them go on discounted to $399 multiple times already, which would still fit in my maximum budget.
Of course, if only making a decision were so easy! I had to ponder whether I should go for Venu 3S or Venu 3. Furthermore, the Garmin Vivoactive 5 seems very similar as well. I went to Best Buy to see how these watches look in my wrist. My wrist is relatively smaller and I was wondering whether Venu 3S would be a better option. However, the longer battery life on the Venu 3 is hard to pass. Vivoactive 5 is a little less bulky and might actually look better on my wrist. But, it does lack a few sensors as compared to Venu 3/3S. Most likely, I do not need any of those sensors, but still would want them anyway. Hence, at this time, I have zeroed in on getting the Garmin Venu 3. One thing I wish is that the Venu 3 series watches come with more color and band options like the Apple Watches do.
Summary
To conclude, I decide that my reliable Polar M430 is well past its due date. Introspecting, I believe that the super awesome battery life was one of the biggest reasons why I held off an upgrading it for such a long time. Furthermore, since I am not using the watch for features such as payments, I was not forced to upgrade because of not receiving any more security updates, as it often happens with tablets and phones. Finally, as of today my plan is to upgrade to the Garmin Venu 3. Beyond the features that I want, I look forward to try many of its other features that are exciting. I will write about my take on the Garmin Venu 3, especially, the exciting features, and whether the watch lives up to its expectation for my use cases when I put it to test in real life.