Polar M460 GPS Bike Computer with heart rate monitor

The Polar M460 is a nifty little device with plenty of advanced features, a very good companion app in Polar Flow, and great Strava integration. With the continued sticking point of no ANT+ connectivity, though, and a small but cluttered screen, not everyone will get on with it.

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Two years after the M450, Polar has swapped out the smallest GPS unit in its line-up with the refined M460. It's smaller and lighter, all-black instead of black and white, and there's now the integration of Strava Live Segments into the device.

Our test unit came with a heart rate strap that you connect up via Bluetooth Smart, a USB charging cable and an adjustable mount that fits to the stem or handlebar (no out-front mount here, à la Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, Garmin Edge 520 or the new Giant Neos, you'll have to pay another £20 for Polar's).

Get set...

During initial device setup you can alter most of the settings on the unit such as miles or km, your own physical profile, and time and date, but to set up the data screens you need to connect to Polar Flow. Polar Flow can be downloaded to your phone or desktop, and it's nice and easy to use, with a personal diary, progress chart and community (Polar Groups) to keep you motivated, as well as the basic syncing, uploading and device setting functions. You can also get smart notifications from your phone if you simply can't miss a text or an email.

You can only have up to four data fields at once on screen, and six screens in total for each sport profile, which gives you a total of 24 metrics. For me this isn't quite enough if I'm using a GPS with a power meter (I'd want at least current speed and power, plus averages, and my total distance and time on screen), but for basics it's okay.

Go

When I set off for my first ride, the GPS locked on reasonably quickly, but I found if you need any firmware updates it really interferes so you need to check this regularly to keep it performing at full capacity. It uses GPS only and not the GLONASS system simultaneously like Garmins do, which does mean you'll experience more small dropouts compared with GPS/GLONASS combo computers, but the overall accuracy was good.

You can set up the device to bleep when you start and stop, which is pretty loud so you can also silence it, and to start a recording it's the big red button on the front. Press it again and it records a lap, which I did in error at traffic lights numerous times before getting used to it. I would prefer if this button was also used for pausing, but instead you press the stop button on the bottom left once to pause and hold it down for three seconds to stop a recording – not the most intuitive in my opinion, but it works.

Interestingly, there's a small front light that comes on automatically (you can set it to turn on at dusk or when it's dark), a handy and unique feature to make you a little safer if you're late getting home from your ride.

I did find the screen a bit cluttered and difficult to make sense of at times, with metrics such as the barometer and altimeter. Unless you can remember exactly where you've configured each one, when you switch screens it takes a second to realise what you're actually looking at; there is a visual key, but obviously it's small on the 35 x 35mm screen, and you don't want to be peering down for too long on the go.

If you haven't used Strava Live Segments before, I'd recommend you try it out. You'll need a premium account to take advantage, and you can get a free trial with the purchase of a Polar M460. It's great fun, and on a Polar device it's probably the best experience you can have with it. The M460 tells you when a segment is approaching, counts down, and then in real time tells you your results and whether you got a PB, KOM or QOM. You can see your results in the Polar Flow app rather than having to head over to Strava, which is unique to Polar as far as I know.

Other training features included are a five-minute fitness test and orthostatic test, completed in conjunction with Polar's HRM strap. They're useful, but to get the most out of them they require regular analysis on Polar Flow and a semi-regimented training routine, so won't apply to those who use their data more sporadically.

Power meter matters

Connecting a power meter is simple as long as it's Bluetooth Smart-compatible, which brings us to a hurdle: the M460 isn't compatible with ANT+, something that was a sticking point with the previous M450, so it's a surprise it still hasn't been sorted. That means you can't use SRM or Garmin Vector 1 or 2 pedals with it, for example, although most power meters nowadays are Bluetooth and ANT+.

In Polar Flow you can edit all the usual power settings (3/5/10-second average, percentage of FTP and so on) and add them to your sport profiles.

Battery life

Claimed battery life is 16 hours using all the functionality, and based on my experience I'd say that's pretty much spot on using both heart rate and GPS. It's better than the majority of the competition (Garmin Edge 520 is a claimed 15 hours, as is Wahoo's Elemnt Bolt) but less than the huge 24 hours of Lezyne's Super GPS.

Value

In terms of value for money, I'm not convinced the M460 at £199.50 is the most attractive proposition when you can get the Garmin Edge 520 or Wahoo Elemnt Bolt for around the same price, both of which come with turn-by-turn navigation, which the M460 doesn't. If you shop around you can get the M460 for around £150, which makes it more attractive.

> Buyer's Guide: 10 of the best GPS cycling computers

In summary, the M460 does everything you want it to, just not – for me – the way I'd want it to: I didn't find the buttons the most intuitive and I'd appreciate more viewable data, which wouldn't fit on the small screen on this computer. The battery life is good, though, Polar Flow is a decent companion app, and you can analyse all the usual metrics applicable to the majority of riders. I just didn't fully get on with the head unit configuration and there are some things that needed ironing out on the previous M450 that haven't been, such as ANT+ connectivity.

Verdict

A compact and functional GPS with plenty of advanced features, but not a show-stopper at this price point