Live Science Verdict
We have loved beget to know the Suunto Race . For the most part , it ’s excellent , well - made , has most of the health and fitness datum you could ask for , and the GPS trailing is very accurate on land . We did find inconsistency with distance when swimming , which is the only real negative , and it ’s on the chunky side .
unbelievable battery life
Accurate wellness trailing
The Suunto Race consists of a large watch face, a body packed with sensors, and a quick-release silicone strap.
Detailed mapping pilotage
on-going software support
swim distance accuracy not coherent
The strap is quick release, you can swap it for any 22mm watch band you want.(Image credit: Tantse Walter)
middling big
Not the most nonrational app
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Little details like this add to the premium feel of the watch.(Image credit: Tantse Walter)
The Suunto Race , released in October 2023 , is a formidable - count twist that sits proudly on your wrist joint . Throughout our review period , people often acknowledge the large and bulge 49 mm lookout man face and comment on it , as it take up quite a spate of ' arm distance ' . That is barely surprising , though , given the tech packed into this thing . That aver , Suunto clearly listened to premature feedback and developed a little adaptation of this watch , the Suunto Race S , which we hope to try out next .
It ’s unquestionably worth mentioning Suunto ’s efforts towards sustainability - each scout is fully carbon cancel in a Tree - Nation reforestation project with Verified Carbon Units by planting coastal mangrove forests .
We ’ve spent more than two months wearing this watch around the clock . We ’ve test out slews of features ( though not all the sports manner , as that would take us a lot more time ! ) . study on to observe out if we cogitate it can compete with the fitness tracker in ourbest fitness tracker guide(hint … we do ! ) . There are a mates of reading of the Suunto Race . Our reappraisal sample is the Titanium destination with 32 GB internal storage .
When the strap is secure, the watch sits flush to the arm.(Image credit: Tantse Walter)
Suunto Race GPS sports watch review
Suunto Race: Design
The first thing to say about this watch is , it ’s big . Our reviewer has fairly small carpus , and this watch does look quite menacing . It ’s definitely not a ticker to prefer from if you require something distinct , and is perhaps best suitable to larger arm / radiocarpal joint . The diameter of the AMOLED display is 36.33 millimeter and the heaviness of the watch from your wrist to the top of the scout is 13.33 mm . It ’s fairly obese at 83 K , but our reviewer actually favour make a gadget with a bit of weight to it .
The silicone strap has a tholepin closure and is ventilate with lots of holes , evidently help with breathability . Thanks to the two - thole attachment , it is comfortable and feel unassailable . It is a nimble - release shoulder strap , so it can easily be swap out for other colour and designs — any 22 mm spotter banding will work .
When the strap is tightened securely ( it ’s plenty adjustable for big and small wrists ) , the sentinel sit around closely to the hide to let the sensors to take accurate measure .
The screen is bright and clearly visible even in bright sunlight.
Suunto Race: Display
The Suunto Race ’s glass is ' Sapphire Crystal ' , something our slightly clumsy tester was thankful for on numerous occasions . It sustained several knocks throughout our testing and it still does n’t have a scratch on it . It does contemplate light source quite a lot , resulting in a few episodes of blinding the passenger in the car on a sunny Clarence Shepard Day Jr. or winding the cat up with a chunk of visible light dancing around the walls and ceiling .
The 1,000 - nit AMOLED screenland is very percipient to show , and you’re able to set it to dispirited , intermediate , or high brightness . We left it on medium , which was plenty bright enough in all conditions . There are two mode : always — on and motion - based . The former dims the projection screen when you lower your wrist joint , and the latter efficaciously wrick the screenland off until you raise your limb again . We kept ours as motion - based .
you may also decide whether only the time is displayed on your wrist when you farm it , or the whole vigil face . We tended to bewilder with the former and just bug the concealment if we desire to get the full face . There is a ' do not interrupt ' mode that deaf-mute sounds and quiver and keeps the screen dim until you turn it off , or if an in - watch alarm you ’ve set survive off .
There are extra features beyond the standard fitness tracking including weather, sunrise and sunset times and phone notifications.
There ’s also a ready to hand ' torch ' use . We were skeptical about this , but it ultimately illumine the picket face up bright lily-white , and it is plenty bright enough to find your way to get a deoxyephedrine of water in the night or obtain token in your camping collapsible shelter at night ( we used it for this on several occasions ) .
There are fifteen watch face to prefer from , which can be selected on the vigil itself , and each watch face can be customized with ' complications ' . We did find it a small foxy to get the watch face to show exactly the data point we wanted as all of the aspect have different numbers game of ' complication ' ( bit of data point e.g. , heart rate , gradation enumeration , lineage oxygen , etc . ) .
Some complications are selectable on some faces and not on others . After a computer software update that our lookout face reset — it took seconds to change back , but this was just a slimly teasing niggle as we ’d had it set up exactly how we desire it .
Several sensors on the base of the unit track a lot of useful health information.
Suunto Race: Features
The Suunto Race is pile with features . It has all of the usual things we ’ve come to expect from fitness watches — it is n’t missing anything aside from stemma pressure sensation monitoring , which you commonly need to put up with an external machine anyway . All the basic are there — heart reminder , oxygen model , sleep quality tracking , mettle charge per unit variableness ( HRV ) , calories burned and vitality levels ( address ' resource ' ) .
Historic data point is all seeable in the Suunto App . Again , we do n’t think we ’ve maximize the usance of all of the data point that this lookout collects to its full potential difference , though we have found ourselves wanting to hit PBs , monitor sleep day by day , being more aware of bedtime , making certain we come to our stride - count goal , and being consistent with exercise — all good reasons to use a fitness tracker .
This is predominately a fitness tracker , as defend to a smartwatch , but it still has plenty of features that a smartwatch has . you may control medicine , receive notifications when you are getting a call on your headphone , and send pre - defined replies ( which you may edit in the app ) to incoming messages .
We found the Suunto Race to be excellent at motivating us to stick to our fitness and exercise goals.
One thing users may miss is being able to make up for their shopping using NFC — not something we mind too much , as we got this picket to preponderantly utilize as a seaworthiness tracker . The required hardware does exist in the watch so this might be added in a software / firmware update in the futurity .
There are almost 100 dissimilar pre - defined sports mode , with the functionality to add your own . A duo of the more ' strange ' examples include rolling wave skating , horseback riding , Nordic walking , surfing , mermaiding and cheerleading . All of the more plebeian sport and activities like hiking , swim , track , weight training , mountain biking , and circuit grooming are included .
Our tests centered around weight training , hiking and swim . Each sport mode collects unlike information based on the activity .
We really liked the ability to import GPX and KML routes into the watch, it made navigating in the hills really simple.
Suunto Race: Performance
For weighting training , the watch records the length , median / liquid ecstasy wink , calories bite , Peak Training Effect ( PTE ) , Training Stress Score ( TSS ) , and Excess Post - exercise Oxygen Consumption ( EPOC ) . Again , if you ’re Modern to breeding with a fitness watch , perhaps you ’ll need to Google before understanding how this information can be helpful .
Hiking is what we enjoy about this watch most — the joyfulness of being able to bestow a GPX or KML route to your watch and follow the piloting on your watch concealment , without having to keep getting your earphone out or even consume to have your phone on you is howling ( though we would n’t urge hiking with no means of communication ) . We lie with , we fuck , newspaper map still exist , but we think have the route available on your wrist , directing you which agency to go , actually grant you more clip to bask your surroundings without having to bar and check the map at every stile or fork in the way of life . you’re able to also use it as a grasp with a traditional single-valued function if you ’d prefer .
You get a strait / on - screen warning if you accidentally veer off route , so you do n’t have to keep your eyes on it all the time to quell on track . you may zoom in and out just like you may when looking at a map on your earpiece . If you are n’t using a pre - specify itinerary , you may leave ' breadcrumb ' as you walk , which you may ' surveil back ' if you lose your path — a overnice safety machine feature article .
The GPS was incredibly accurate both in the great outdoors and in built-up areas.
We did change by reversal off the machine - pause function after a while as it is very sensitive and beeps every time we check and get down walk , even for the abbreviated moment , which somewhat disquiet us from the heartsease of being out in nature . We are yet to determine a place setting to turn this ' beep ' off ; our ' tone ' show as off , so we thought that would do the trick , but no luck so far .
For swim — we were unrestrained to give this a go in our local 50 chiliad kitty , however , there were some niggles — which would be a problem if you ’re using this for swim only . We put the puddle length in the watch to 50 molar concentration and swam two length ( to check everything was turned on and working correctly before continuing with our physical exercise ) . The aloofness display on the screen allege 150 1000 , obviously wrong . Swam another length , this time only 25 m log . And this figure of faulty distance hang on .
We got in touch with Suunto , who advise checking the pool length was go under to the veracious amount ( it was ) , not to change stroke mid - length ( we were n’t ) , to verify we push off the rampart at each end and to work the GPS on . We did all of these things but still stupefy consistently inaccurate distance measurements . As passing swimmer who predominantly use it for worldwide physical exercise we could deal with updating the space manually in the app post - swim , but for militant or professional swimmers this is less than ideal .
We tested the watch by swimming ten lengths at a time with the watch on, we had to manually alter distances in the app on pretty much every occasion before a firmware patch was released which fixed the issue.
Edit 07/07/2024 : Just after submitting this review for publishing , the watch received an overnight software program update . After this update , we can confirm the swim distance trailing was a lot more reliable . We could n’t see anything in the update release notes that mentioned change to float mode , but GPS tracking has been update , so perhaps this has help with more accurate swim distance tracking . So if you ’re experiencing the trouble mentioned above it might be deserving updating your firmware .
We mentioned antecedently that we ’re big fans of the GPS — aside from swim , it is unco exact . After a walking , you’re able to depend at the itinerary you took ; it tells you accurate elevation gain , descent , space , and so on , along with a playback road function . The GPS is so accurate you may see where you crossed the route , exactly which line you took through the park and when you hold back to permit the wienerwurst play in the river — it ’s eerily good , hail to think of it !
To finish , on another positive bill , the barrage fire lifespan is keen . Having upgraded from our ( now old ) Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 , which barely lasted for more than a day and a half , we could n’t believe what we ’d been missing . We can recall charging this check up to full twice since we started using it more than two month ago . We have a 24/7 heart rate monitor on , have been on several 10 km+ hikes , day-to-day walks , swam day by day , raise weights two to three time a week , and have generally not had to be ' careful ' to preserve bombardment at all . It ’s simply grotesque !
The Suunto Race has a surprising amount of functionality packed in, that helps you know if you’re on track to reaching your fitness goals.
Suunto Race: User reviews
The Suunto Race scores 4.2/5 on Amazon , with users stating that Suunto is an underappreciated brand . Many user ( quite rightly ) comment on the excellent battery and the big cover , which help with visibility when out on the trails and in hopeful sunlight . As per our experience too , the GPS is very accurate and invaluable for following tracks in the mountains .
Should you buy the Suunto Race?
✅ Buy it if : We have love using this fitness tracker for cover our day-to-day walking , weight lifting , and hike . The health data is thorough and certainly helps you supervise melioration or weakness in your performance , sleep , oxygen grade , and so on . The battery life sentence is surpassing — we’d happily take it aside from home for more than a week and leave behind the charging cable television at home .
❌ Do n’t buy it if : This is n’t a smartwatch , so it should n’t be considered as such ; though it does offer some smartwatch functionality , it is definitely design for fitness tracking , hence the name ' Race ' . It ’s fairly handsome , though that might be a orientation for some user . The only intellect we would n’t recommend it is if swim is the primary sport you want to track — the distances are n’t uniform and often inaccurate . Distances can easy be amended post - swim , but you ’d find this frustrating if you cover your swimming fitness on a regular cornerstone . That enunciate , as we ’ve mentioned , swim tracking did meliorate after a recent software update , so this can only get better !
If Suunto Race is not for you
If you ’re disappointed to find that the Suunto Race is n’t ideal for swim tracking , another modeling to consider would be theWhoop 4.0 , which is quite a different type of wearable . It does n’t have a filmdom , so it preserve you more sleek in the body of water . It offers elaborate wellness metrics to help sportspeople ameliorate their performance , though it miss basic functionality like dance step tracking .
TheGarmin Fenix 7is the most likewise designed fitness tracker in ourbest fitness tracker guide . There are a whole host of Fenix 7 variations , ranging in price from around $ 699 to $ 999 . The performance seems to be passably like to the Suunto , and it also negates the motive to take a phone out and about .
If you ’re an Apple fan , we can recommend theApple Watch Series 8 — its design is much sleeker than the Suunto and the wellness and fitness tracking is brilliant , tho not all that different from the Suunto race , and the battery only live one day .
Suunto Race: How we tested
We spend around two calendar month testing the Suunto Race . We aimed to try out as many features as possible — we took it exercising weight preparation at the gym , on long rise in the great open air and swimming length in the local Lido .
We supervise our own fitness and exercise stats over the review menses , and the watch ’s data was consistent with result we could physically see and feel when exercising .
We wore it pretty much 24/7 throughout this time and checked the stats against our Myzone heart rate monitor and Samsung Galaxy 4 vigil .
