Suunto - Race S

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.

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.

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.

> 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 !

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 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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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 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

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 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.