Suunto Race vs Polar Vantage V3

Nordic endurance titans Suunto and Polar go head-to-head with the Suunto Race ($399) and Polar Vantage V3 ($599), both offering high-resolution AMOLED touchscreens, dual-frequency L1+L5 GNSS, and 32GB of preloaded offline topographic maps.

The Suunto Race takes our overall verdict on sheer hardware value: despite costing $200 less than the Polar Vantage V3, Suunto gives you a scratch-proof sapphire crystal lens (versus curved Gorilla Glass 3 on the Polar), double the water resistance (100m vs 50m), double the daily smartwatch battery life (16 days vs 8 days), and a fast Digital Crown for zooming trail maps.

The Polar Vantage V3 fights back with a lighter 57-gram aluminum case, Polar's superior Elixir biosensing suite (adding wrist ECG and more responsive optical heart-rate tracking during intervals), and Polar Flow's deep orthostatic and Nightly Recharge analytics.