Suunto - Race S

recently bought my first smart watch, a second-hand suumo race S, and it works pretty well. also, it's European!

Suunto Race S is a great watch. Price for features is great, app is great once you get a little used to it, battery life is more than you'll probably ever need. It has a triathlon mode that is helpful on race day and the accuracy on everything is pretty on par with most. I'd dig into this one if you are considering the Apple watch or the Garmin 165, 265, 965.

It depends on how many activities you track. But if you sleep with it on, expect to charge it 1-2 times per week. I turn it off each night, and I need to charge the Race S about once every 10 days. I track about 6 hikes per charging cycle (6 out of 10 days).

I recently switched to suunto and they are great. The race s is more affordable and pretty good. However for a first running watch I believe garmin is a bit too pricey. They also added many paywalls within their app and various features also are behind a paywall. I've also been told that their app isn't very good. My recommendation is the huawei gt4. (I've used it for 2 years). As it's an older model now, it is very cheap. It has very good battery life, good gps, good heart rate monitoring and many smart watch features. Great for running! If you're thinking about getting one, watch the review from the quantified scientist on youtube. I don't think you'll be missing out on much compared to garmin and again, way cheaper

I have the Suunto Race S. OHR can be iffy but I use a Pilar strap anyway for the best heart rate. However elevation, barometer, compass etc etc is simply brilliant. Don’t use my Coros or Garmins any more.

I’m a long time user of Suunto after having a lot of issues years ago with the early Garmin FR210 series. I upgraded from the 9 Peak to the Race. But just wasn’t happy with a number of things. Bought a 965FR and haven’t looked back. And I’ve had no issues with the Garmin. I took the leap after purchasing a set of Garmin Rally Power meter pedals a few years back which have been excellent. This renewed my confidence with Garmin as a brand in general

I'm of the camp that Suunto, Garmin, and Coros all make great watches and if you've lined up three that all have the features you need, heck, you could go by which one you like the looks of most. Suunto has been stellar for my main sports – running, cycling, snowboarding, ski touring – and I recently went from the 9 Baro to the Race and I absolutely love it. I'm just about to hit the 3-year mark of recording 1 or more activities every day and I've yet to have any issues.

It's also surprising. Afaik, Race and Race S have been excellent when it comes to GPS (can personally confirm for the latter).

It's also surprising. Afaik, Race and Race S have been excellent when it comes to GPS (can personally confirm for the latter).

I regret buying suunto. It was impulse buying wich I regret. Simple features like Find my watch, Oxygen, heartbeat, sleeping time... doesnt work right. My ox is aprox 85% by suunto and when I measure on Oxymeter is 99%. I dont trust this watch and its measurments at all. I was in Wien sightseeing and my frend who was with me had 10000steps, an I was at 7000steps. We were walking together all the time.

Suunto will support the Race 2 for way longer than Garmin will support the FR 970. The Suunto 9 peak Pro is still getting (almost) the same features as the newer watches! I own a Race S, bought last December, and I expect it to get (proper) updates until 2029.

If you're running in the dark, or under tree cover, then AMOLED is easier to read. I find it fine to read in open areas as well. But if I were running in the desert, I'd pick MIP. As for battery life, it's going to depend on how you use your watch, and which watch you're using. Suunto AMOLED models are really power efficient. Without going into a long explanation, my Race lasts longer than my Enduro 2 for my usage model (lots of GPS activities and map usage). Once again, if I were running a lot under full sun (not normal for me), I'd prefer MIP, but for everything else I like AMOLED. The latter also has higher resolution and better contrast. So if you're trying to see detail (on a map for instance) or your eyes aren't as good, then you're going to like AMOLED. If you're running under tree cover, especially in the winter months, you will want the backlight on if you want to read maps on a MIP display. This will negate much of the power advantage that MIP has. Ultimately people are in two camps here. Having used both a lot, I'm currently using an AMOLED watch. It fits my usage model better. YMMV.

I've been annoyed by most of those things too, and I could add a couple other annoyences to that list as well. The lower price and better looks vs a Garmin 265 do make up for it though. Haven't run into any actual bugs, and the app works fine for me. But not being able to check which interval you're on, no count down or notifications when an interval is ending/starting,...those are the main things I'm missing. The heart rate tracking isn't too accurate either for me, but I use a chest strap anyway, so it doesn't really bother me.

little point - Flashlight. You get that with Suunto - it can be set up as a shortcut. It uses the screen, which is super-bright. This is a feature I use all the time on the existing Race

No worries, it's a feature i didnt think I needed either, but I use a lot. Also, they've managed to improve wrist HRM recently. I'd still not trust for gym workouts or cycling, but for running, it's been really solid lately.

> I do not want 1000$ Garmin tbh that's not the competition to the race s, but really the epix 2 (cheapest amoled with maps) which you can get for $300-400 i think it's fair to say that the race s has ok HR accuracy, but not best in class. i personally didn't have issues with the HR tracking but i did have a bunch of other issues: https://www.reddit.com/r/Suunto/comments/1itwkov/suunto_race_s_review_and_why_i_am_forced_back_to/ > I'm a little weary about the Race S, as I have a 7 inch (177.8 mm) wrist and this may be on the smaller side? i'm not quite sure whether you're referring to your wrist or the watch being small, but i have 160mm wrists and it was about the right size. wouldn't want it any bigger, but the larger strap balances it out.

I have had my Suunto Race S for a couple of weeks, and sadly am going back to Garmin: **THE GOOD** * The Race S looks *GREAT*. The size is perfect on my smaller 160mm wrists, and the styling is excellent. I'd go as far as saying it's the best looking sports watch. It's rugged, clean, the straps are amazing (and I love that they have some suitably sporty designs/colours). It looks so good and the competition looks so bad that I was *desperate* to find some reasons to stay. * The features are excellent for the money. Maps especially. * Heart rate and GPS tracked fine for me. I don't use heart rate straps or anything like that, so I can't really be sure, but certainly everything looked reasonable on Strava etc. * The app feels a bit simplistic but is presented well, vs Garmin's cryptic data nightmare. **THE BAD** * It's simply unusable for me as a running watch. I use Runna to build a training plan, and as soon as I've got some kind of structured workout it shits the bed. On the guide screen you can only see your current pace vs the target in the 'intensity zones' widget around the watch perimeter. You can't see your average pace for the interval, or interval number, or next interval details. You can customize a separate screen to show you the interval avg pace and interval number, but you can't add the interval target pace widget, so you wouldn't want to be in that screen anyway (**EDIT**: i just did this and insanely it doesn't update these fields during a runna/guided workout anyway! interval count, interval distance and interval avg pace all stay at 0 forever). What's more, the watch will not alert you if you're ahead/behind the target, you just have to keep looking at your watch, which is *NUTS*. It also doesn't count down toward interval start/end. I can only assume that no-one developing this watch has ever done a targeted interval workout, or at least never seen how the competition do it. * Can't pause activity during the maps screen. Apparently you used to be able to, but they removed it inexplicably. The button doesn't do anything now! * The turn-by-turn alerts are unusable. They consume the entire screen (so you can't see the map for context) and overlap each other to the point where there's no choice but to not use them. * It does not allow you to use a combo of miles for distance and metric (centigrade) for temp. The *entire* of the UK will want that. * Absent product team. Firmware updates do come but people have been moaning on the forums about TBT, intervals, metric/imperial etc for years, with seemingly no progress. * EDIT: lap bug means that runna doesn't work at all: https://forum.suunto.com/topic/12624/laps-are-not-exported-from-app-to-strava-and-fit-file-correctly-breaks-runna I can't stress enough how much I wanted to stick with Suunto, as Garmin watches are ugly and chunky, but the intervals thing really is a killer. Even my Garmin FR45 does all this basic stuff, but I really don't want to spend more on another plastic toy Forerunner.

they passed the issue to the tech team but nothing as yet. i have returned the watch now :( i also got a issue with the laps not passing to strava correctly during manual lap presses (eg open warmups or hill repeats) so it was unusable with runna for me :(

it’s tricky as i don’t like the look of much else! i am thinking about the garmin fenix 8 43mm but might hold out for the next forerunner which is due to be announced soon. but i really loved the race s, other than all these problems !

specifically for runna they basically don’t work - there’s a bug with the lap button where it breaker the uploaded workout, so if you accidentally press it, or if the workout requires you to press it( open warmups, hill repeats), then your workout will be void. there’s also no pace alerts (high/low), and it doesn’t show you which number of interval you’re on, etc. these are all long standing issues so i wouldn’t imagine they get fixed soon, if at all ! i wrote a ‘review’ here https://www.reddit.com/r/Suunto/s/pzGteQOHZj

i can't comment on cycling or the race 2, but i can comment on running and the race s (which as i understand it has similar functionality/software to the race 2). [https://www.reddit.com/r/Suunto/comments/1itwkov/suunto\_race\_s\_review\_and\_why\_i\_am\_forced\_back\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Suunto/comments/1itwkov/suunto_race_s_review_and_why_i_am_forced_back_to/) in short, i found suunto to be a functional downgrade compared to even ancient garmins, especially around guided workouts. the map/navigation was smoother, but definitely functionally worse than garmin (now i have an epix pro) - no street/road/POI names, no routing, issues with disappearing trails at higher zoom levels. basic smart watch functionality is also worse - basic stuff like respecting DND/focus modes on iphone, or clearing notifications on the phone when you've read them on the watch. i wasn't expecting apple watch levels of functionality but i was expecting it to be equivalent to a garmin from 2019... >reliability ( no resetting during workout etc) i had that happen twice during my 30 days with the race s. never with my two garmins. it didn't even occur to me that a smart watch could 'crash'. i LOVE the design/look of suuntos, and have no love for garmin, but fundamentally i wanted a training watch, and suunto just don't deliver that, and my experience with their support team left me to believe that things aren't going to improve any time soon.

i did a 'review' of the race s (which is functionally close to the race 2): [https://www.reddit.com/r/Suunto/comments/1itwkov/suunto\_race\_s\_review\_and\_why\_i\_am\_forced\_back\_to/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Suunto/comments/1itwkov/suunto_race_s_review_and_why_i_am_forced_back_to/) for me it was an easy decision to go back to garmin now i'm back on garmin (epix pro - functionally similar to fr970) i have been pleasantly surprised by how useful the smart features and mapping is on modern garmins, amongst all the the basic stuff that just...works. i would encourage you to buy and try both (check their returns policies but at least in the uk i was able to return my suunto before 30 days of use).

I use the Suunto RACE, the first version is practically the same as all the others and costs much less, there is hardly any difference in its older brothers and the map looks good for the mountains

I’m pretty new to Whoop. Overall, Whoop is the best fitness tracker I’ve used by far, but the lack of screen/GPS is a disadvantage for endurance training. I tried wearing my Whoop and Suunto Race S on opposite wrists for a few weeks, but it was unnecessary and a little annoying. Now I only do so when exercising. If I were you, I would buy an entry-level running watch (Garmin Forerunner 55, Suunto Run, etc.) and a chest strap and wear them only when you’re running. That will provide you with excellent GPS and heart rate accuracy on your runs. Unless you are trying to compete very seriously in endurance events, that would be more than enough for a beginner or intermediate runner. Most of the other running metrics that advanced Garmins can produce are just not necessary or worth the price for most people. And I doubt you’ll want to drop $800 on a fancy Garmin to only use it while running a few times a week.

The 955 is still a great watch. I'm as quick of an upgrader as there is (have had a 220, 235, 935, 955, and tested out Coros Pace 3, Suunto Race, and have an AWU), but have yet to see anything on the newer models to get me to pull the trigger on an upgrade. GPS - As accurate as any of the current releases HR - Gen 4 (while not their latest) still being added to watches and does a good job. I run with a strap so the jump from 4 to 5 isn't a big sell When I first got the 955 I wore it every day while doing my most serious training for a half marathon. Had all the sleep, training readiness, training load going. Didn't miss a day with it. The data/information was cool, but I don't think I made any different choices based on the watch. I've trained for probably a half dozen other halfs and a full marathon since I got it, and without wearing the watch every day I don't look at any of the readiness/training status, and get to the same end goal.

Funny that people still find my post lol. After the charge 6 I actually upgraded to a Suunto Race S, never looked back. But I will put some respect on the charge 6, small but mighty that little booger

I was a long time Garmin owner. Mostly Fenix models because I needed the battery life for ultras and Ironmans. I just recently dropped the bulky Garmin for a Suunto Race S. This watch is incredibly light, has great battery life, and the AMOLED looks good. Never thought I'd drop Garmin but so far I'm happy. Edit: Oh and the price. The price of a Race S is wild when you consider the features.

Race or Race S depending on your wrist size - also got your free maps - which the Run Doesn't.

Race or Race S depending on your wrist size - also got your free maps - which the Run Doesn't.

I rewatched the youtube video on his review of the Race S after your comment, and he does say that steady state running was good, but that bike intervals "were pretty bad." I too bought the Race S, sold my Fenix 7 pro, and after a couple of months sold the Race S, and bought another Fenix 7 Pro. The problems I had with the Race S is that the HR would just stop working in the middle of a run, Suunto Support said a firmware an upcoming firmware update would fix that. Besides that, for me the lack of audio cues during training (compared to Garmin) was enough for me to jump back to Garmin. Maybe I'll try the Nomad...they should have put saphire glass on it though...

I run and train with power using a Stryd pod, Apple has the best set up for that with the Stryd app and I’m in the Apple echo system. I use the Ultra2. I got sick of the Garmin software bugs and bad UI and UX after 10 years. Great hardware but so behind in the software. I have always had Apple Watches so it works. But I was gifted a Suunto Race S. That is a beast of a watch for the price point. All the features of the Forerunner 965 and a new rate sensor. It’s a beauty. I often have both it and the U2 on when hiking.

The Suunto Race S is a great watch, I was gifted one, it has a long list of features and a great price with lots of colour/metal options, Coros is another great brand also great features at a much better cost point. Garmins are expensive for what they give you and the competition are catching up quickly and doing so for a better price. I have never used a Polar watch so I can't comment on them but their heart rate straps are the best in the business. I currently use the Apple Ultra2 and I love it, but if I didn't I would use my Suunto daily.

For a runner the answer is clear - whether it is Garmin, Suunto (the Race S is a far better value and equivalent to the FR965) or another brand that is your best choice. Whoop is not a fitness tracker, it gives you no training or progress data and it shackles you to your phone for anything other than heart rate data. It is a health and wellness device. Even if you do keep the Whoop you need a dedicated tracker for your running. Whoop essentially an overpriced sleep tracker - you are paying a membership to see your own data.

Went upgraded from Suunto baro 9 to Race and don't regret it at all. Tons of running and Ice Hockey always using a chest strap. Amazing! Garmin as always peeked my interest but I'm not willing to loose exactly 10 years of data. Been using Suunto since summer 2014

I use AWU as my daily and Suunto Race as a sport specific watch when AWU falls short. I use rungap to sync activities across. Works well.

I can report the opposite. Race S couldn't count correct ascent if its life depended on it. I get days where it counts more than double than what I did, most of the time its about 30-50% more, and only rarely does it count with something like 10% deviation. Apple Watch SE(!), the cheapest of the bunch, *never* fails and is always within much less than 10% of real, topographically corrected ascent. I haven't had much opportunity to test on the latest Suunto firmware update, but they specifically mentioned better GNSS performance - and I hope so.

I hope that my Race S will start doing that too. I prefer it a ton over an AW. But respect where respect is due: AWs do not track wrong data and have a ridiculously good optical HR sensor (it parallels my chest HR belt even during weight lifting HR spikes.. it's *that* good!) BTW: If you want to check Race accuracy, just export the GPX from the app and import it to [gpx.studio](http://gpx.studio) \- it's like a 10 second workflow. This way you will know *the real* distance you hiked and can check whether Race or AW was wrong. I'd love to hear back from you! I really want to know if you AW measured the wrong distance, since it never ever did for me.

I have an AWU2. I had one actually. I replaced it by a Suunto Race July last year. In January I deceived to go back to my Apple Watch. I missed that offline music and tap to pay. In may I was already back to my Race. AWU2 accuracy sucks. At least in my experience.

That absolutely sums up my opinion. I sold my Coros Pace 2 because my ageing eyes had issues with the MIP display on the smaller screen, and moved on to amoled displays on the FR265 and Race S. But now, with the Pace Pro, I would definitely go back to the Coros because it offers a good balance of features, purpose and stability. If you think Suunto's software quality has been better than Garmin's in recent months, you're clearly not affected by the inferior software quality (sleep tracking, OHR, WiFi, etc.) of the last two Suunto FW releases.

I own both the Race S and the 265, I much prefer wearing the Race S because it has a certain personality that the 265 completely lacks. But yes, I have tried pointing out the shortcomings on the Suunto forum, such as the far inferior interval mode. I think Suunto has lost the ability to relate directly to its loyal user base for the most important use cases, otherwise there would be some progress in use cases that the typical Suunto user cares about. But hope dies last.

I’ve now had my race s for one day and the heart rate is trash for everyday health tracking. So very disappointed because I lake everything else about it. Sending it back

You might want to consider Suunto Race S as I am using it. Based on my experience, it is a great watch for you, especially considering your needs and budget. It does a great job of heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and resource management, and it has a long battery life and is comfortable to wear. Overall it's a watch well worth considering

The Polar Vantage M3 is on sale for 299€ where I live (Grit X2 378€) which is a good price and I bought it. I am happy with the purchase and can easily recommend it to especially all beginners (Fitspark, nightly recharge and overall an easy to use system). I have previously had the Pacer Pro (very good basic whatch) but like the M3 more. I have also a Suunto 9 Peak pro and the Race. Both Suuntos are good watches, but I wanted to try Polar again. No regrets so far and it will be interesting to see the comming software updates which are said to be released by the end of the year.

I use Suunto Race for tracking and sometimes navigation. It is not a Solar Titanium one so the battery life with Tracking along with HRV and Sleep Tracking On is about 6-7 days on average before requiring about 1.5-2 hours of Charge time.

I just got Race S about two weeks ago and I had to compromise a lot of things. Crown Vibration is annoying as hell but if I turned it off all vibrations are turned off. Auto lap vs manual lap is also does not make sense(it’s complicated, auto lap and manual lap are independent and I can’t see manual lap while autoIap is on). I had to turn off auto lap to use manual lap. They do some good things such as zonesense and generic watch design. Sleep tracking is usable. They took measurements seriously than Garmin IMO. Overall I feel developers do not use the watches in real life.

Suunto Race S. Has all the stats you need in a UI that is much more streamlined. Physically looks much nicer as well.

Really depends on your expectations. Garmin provides more detail in some cases and is probably better if you like all of the info you need plus more. It will be better with gym workouts, may be better with intervals and other little things that some users enjoy. It may be better with smart features as well, if that's of any imporance. Suunto provides a more streamlined experience. The buttons and interface are much nicer and more intuitive, app provides more pertinent info about your workouts, and the build quality is much nicer (though Garmin's quality is certainly more than good enough in most cases, just different design choices). I think most would say that the Suunto is much nicer looking as well. Either will do that job and do it well, both are overkill for most of us. Battery life is really a non-issue in either case, unless you have a specific need that requires every last minute of battery. I personally moved to the Race 1 Ti after trying the Race S and 965, moving from the 955. I much prefer the Suunto and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it, as long as the user has reasonable expectations. I really didn't care for the interface on the 965, though it sat well on wrist. I also don't care for the 5-button layout, seems ridiculously complex and unintuitive. It works once you figure it out, but needs to be rethought. Good luck with the decision, both are good tools and will get the job done.

Just so you are aware, I own a Suunto and there currently is no stair climber activity option. I have a Suunto race and have enjoyed it, had some freezing issues during a run but updating the software on the watch via the app fixed the issue

I have a Suunto Race S. I've only used it a bit for swimming, but extensively for hiking, running, and biking, and several times for paddleboarding. It has been extremely accurate with location and distance tracking. I bought it because I spend a lot of time hiking in places where there is no phone service, and also I don't like carrying a phone when running. It comes loaded with tracking setups for dozens of activities, including open water swimming.

Suunto Race is a really nice device with competitive price. There are a number of things that it does better than Garmin. But you should be aware that there are tons of complaints about its wrist HR accuracy. If you go with Race you should be prepared to use an external HR sensor.

I bought Race S about a month ago and has been testing it alongside my old Fenix 7X. Even though Fenix 7X has an older generation Elevate 4 HR sensor, in comparison to it, Race S HR accuracy is still noticeably worse. I regularly see it experiencing cadence lock. I've been using Race S as my primary device, but I am still deciding whether to buy Garmin Epix 2 Pro or Garmin Enduro 3 - I should be able to get either at 20% discount. I should add that I bought Race S at REI, so I have 3 months to return it.

After the first week of using Race S I did a full factory reset of the watch and was ready to return it back to the store, but at the end couldn't force myself to do that because there were some elements of experience that I really liked. At the end I decided to sacrifice some features of Garmin for the simplicity and comfort of Race S and haven't used my Garmin Fenix 7X even once in the last 3 months. I am more of a trail ultrarunner so I don't really do structured workouts. But I use map and navigation a lot. I provided the same feedback with regards to turn notifications on the Suunto Forum. They heard it, at least the beta testers who have a direct channel to the Suunto team, so hopefully a change is coming. I provided tons of other feedback and a few minor bug reports as well. The main problem with Garmin is that I simply no longer trust reliability. Garmin may have a lot of software engineers but their software engineering culture is crap - they don't make nearly enough effort to ensure quality and bizzare bugs and crashes make it to public releases on every software update. Every single update may fix a few issues but introduces a bunch of new bugs. Even when serious bugs are reported in their beta forums, they tend to ignore that and release updates with those bugs regardless. They simply don't respect their users, and I no longer want to pay my money for that. I was fairly active on Garmin Forums and with their customer support and reported a lot of issues. In almost 5 years they addressed only one software issue of many issues that I had reported. The Suunto software development team isn't agile for sure, but at least they do a much better job ensuring the quality. I think that despite preferring Suunto I'll probably move to Coros in the future. I do prefer the design of Suunto but Coros is simply more agile in terms of new features and software updates. They sponsor a lot of prominent trail ultrarunners, including Kilian Jornet, and seem to understand this user segment.

Suunto Race S is $350 new - a very good value in my opinion. It will do 30 hours in the most accurate GPS mode with dual-band GPS and up to 50 hours in GPS only mode. It has offline maps and navigation too.

Suunto Race. It can do 50 hours on the most accurate satellite setting with multi-frequency GPS, which actually beats most Garmins! I also have Suunto Race S which is very similar but smaller and has a shorter battery life. Both are very accurate when running on trails and have good mapping features.

Suunto Race. It can do 50 hours on the most accurate satellite setting with multi-frequency GPS, which actually beats most Garmins! I also have Suunto Race S which is very similar but smaller and has a shorter battery life. Both are very accurate when running on trails and have good mapping features.

I don't agree with your statement. It depends and more expensive is not always better. I bet my Suunto Race S which I paid $280 for on sale is far more accurate than your Forerunner 935. I also know for sure that it is more accurate than $900 Garmin Enduro 3.

All I wanted to say is that being more expensive is not necessarily better. I owned 9 different watches over many years of trail running. I did extensive analysis of accuracy which included, for example, comparison of tracks and distances of multiple runners who finished the same race. I owned Fenix sapphire 6X, which was top of line at the time - it was quite mediocre as a trail running watch in PNW. Then I owned top of the line Fenix 7X, which was one of most accurate watches I ever owned. Then I owned a very inexpensive Suunto Race S which was easily on par with the experience Fenix 7X term of accuracy. A friend of mine owns Enduro 3, and I have compared tracks and distances between it and several other watches, so I know for sure it is less accurate. See this thread: https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/enduro-3/383891/gps-accuracy-issues-on-enduro-3 And towards the end of the thread there is a side-by-side comparison that shows that the one of the most expensive Garmin watches is easily worse than an old Fenix 7X or much less expensive Suunto Race: https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/enduro-3/383891/gps-accuracy-issues-on-enduro-3/1951075#1951075

My Race S sensor is completely on par with the sensor on my Garmin Forerunner 245 so I don't see the problem with his statement.

I’m considering an oura for day to day tracking steps/sleep etc, I have a Suunto race for exercise (mainly running by gym too) sounds like this is the kind of scenario you’re suggesting they’re good for?

I use Suunto Race, it last 1-2 weeks between charging without couple recorded session per weeks. The HR on the watch is not the best but other than that I am pretty happy with it.

I totally get it. I've learned to work with my Suunto Race even if some basic features are missing when I've moved from Garmin (no pause with maps on, no countdown to the next rep, etc.). As for the intervals screen, here's what I've noticed: * When you create an interval workout directly from the watch, it works really well and you get all the metrics you need. However, you can't create complex workouts, only repetitions. * When you create an interval workout using the Suunto app builder, you get that hideous screen with barely some information. Why can't we get the same screen as for intervals created on the watch? * Since I've started using [intervals.icu](http://intervals.icu) to build my workouts, I'm getting a better screen (avg pace, target, time or remaining time, distance or remaining distance, HR, number of reps and the pace zone indicator at the top). So I guess it also depends on the developer and how he implements those workouts on Suunto. What's funny is that the screen I get with [intervals.icu](http://intervals.icu) is better than the screen I get with Suunto's own app. As I said I miss many basic stuff from Garmin. What makes up for it is the beautiful design, the great battery life and the price tag. At the time I was looking for a new watch a Race was almost half the price of a Garmin Epix.

When you create a structured workout, either manually or using a third-party app (Runna, [intervals.icu](http://intervals.icu), etc.), you can set the target pace or heart rate zone. Those colors at the top will indicate if you're in the right zone, above or below it. Personally, I get the best screens either by creating an intervals workout directly from the watch (start an activity and go to intervals, set the number of repetitions and the duration of each rep) but it only works for basic workouts (e.g. 5x5min, 7x1km), the second option is [intervals.icu](http://intervals.icu) which is well implemented with Suunto the screen I get has all the info I need. I am not aware of any ways to get alerted when you get out from the target zone. I've never used it even on Garmin because I don't find it very accurate (since GPS and HR are not always accurate at a given instant). I know my paces and the effort I need to put, I only look at the watch to confirm.

When you create an intervals workout from the watch, by default you get 2 screens: * During the interval: rep number, distance, pace and remaining time * During the rest: rep number, pace, current HR, remaining time and information about the previous interval (pace, distance, avg HR) You can also create your own data screens from the Suunto app. They will work well with intervals created from the watch (but not good enough for intervals created from the app, I've never got that part). The major drawback is that you cannot create more complex workouts like pyramids or mixed sessions (ex: 5x1km + 4x200m). You only get to choose the number of reps, rep time or distance and rest time or distance. Of course you can also move to the main screen by pressing the crown button, there you will find the ramp with all the HR zones colors. Don't get me wrong I also do check my HR constantly haha, I just don't like the alerts when out of zone for 2 reasons: * When you start an interval, your HR will increase gradually but your watch will keep yelling at you for not being at the right zone * When your GPS or HR sensor messes around you'll also get a lot of alerts even if you're in the right zone

This. I bought the race s because of him and therefore dont trust his review at all in the HR area. Race S HR is actually „okay“ for running i give him that. For all other activities its literally off by 60 bpm in some cases. The saddest thing is that i dont wear it anymore besides activities since i know measurements are not reliable and therefore everything the watch shows me is useless. why would i wear the watch over night for useless data. :)

When a watch ONLY uses HR Sensor for all calculations (activity, tss, rest, calories) and the sensor literally is shit. How is this acceptable for you? I needed to buy a polar h10 because suunto race s sucks in hr sensor. With Race 2 they should at least reach garmin levels, if not apple. But they did fail again. This watch therefore is no fitnesstracker, no hr tracker, no ressource tracker. Its a (very good) GPS device that pairs with HR belts. /rant over

So HR sensor still trash. Why cant those companies deliver? i dont trust DC Rainmaker at all in HR since he did tell me Race S has a good sensor too a year ago.

I’ve used both the Suunto Race and now the Race 2, and I’ve never had HR sensor issues with either. If you want really reliable HR data (especially for running or anything where accuracy matters), a chest strap is the way to go. I’d never swap my Suunto for another watch, they’re just so much more aesthetic, simple to use, and overall amazing. I compete in endurance sports, vertical Ks, long races, and high-intensity comps like Hyrox, and my watch has never let me down.

Bought one around October last year for 359 EUR, very happy with it. I also tried some OLED watches: 965, Suunto Race S, Coros Pace Pro and didn't like them. I'll take OLED for all my screens but prefer MIP for my watch.

I've had both. The Pace 3 is a very solid, dependable watch that will do everything you want (including HRV). Coros has a great app that's very performance-oriented and maybe a little less about all day health tracking. The watch itself has a cheaper, functional aesthetic - plastic, cheaper glass, smaller. But it works. I recently got at Race S and I like it so much better. I really like Suunto's software and overall approach. The watch itself looks really nice, it's made of nice materials, it's got nice UI touches, and the whole aesthetic is just much more streamlined and well-designed. That stuff doesn't matter to everyone but it matters to me! For me, it's much more functional as an everyday, all-day watch. Reliability has been the same for both. In fact, I struggled with cadence lock on the Pace 3 a lot - my HR would get stuck at very high levels. I've had that once or twice with the Race S but it settles quickly. Otherwise it feels pretty accurate.

Race S is a great watch but not accurate gps for open water swimming, 50k ow swims on varioua.locations and always about 15% more than actual. Vs my friends garmin.swim 2 The S9 peak pro I had before was more accurate

I feel the same, tbh, I really want to stick with Suunto but their lack of software features is really forcing me to consider alternative. I was F965 user and switched to Race S, I liked their simplicity coming out of Garmin's clutter, but in this day n age Suunto is way behind.

I ordered mine yesterday, I got the Race originally and then swapped it for the Race S. Did a deep dive on reviews yesterday and then hit buy. It's already at my local sorting station! I do more weightlifting/strongman so will always wear a chest strap, but even on the race, and race s, if i wore it tighter the HR data was generally ok GPS seems fine unless you are around a million sky scrapers, I'm not a big runner so just tracks walks or hikes which will be fine I also like that suunto is dumbed down, like garmin had too many bells and whistles and they are more and more pushing smart watch features when i just want a fitness tracker. Suunto just gives me data on the watch, tracks what i need and i really like the new app update

I ordered mine yesterday, I got the Race originally and then swapped it for the Race S. Did a deep dive on reviews yesterday and then hit buy. It's already at my local sorting station! I do more weightlifting/strongman so will always wear a chest strap, but even on the race, and race s, if i wore it tighter the HR data was generally ok GPS seems fine unless you are around a million sky scrapers, I'm not a big runner so just tracks walks or hikes which will be fine I also like that suunto is dumbed down, like garmin had too many bells and whistles and they are more and more pushing smart watch features when i just want a fitness tracker. Suunto just gives me data on the watch, tracks what i need and i really like the new app update