Suunto Race S analysis: a worthy competitor to rival Garmin
Suunto Race S analysis: One-minute analysis
The Suunto Race S is a cracking smartwatch which may be a reputable numerous to any of the devoted working watches that Garmin produces. With monitoring capabilities like on-board GPS and coronary coronary heart cost monitoring, the smartwatch provides all that is needed for proper measurements.
The AMOLED present seems good because of its high-definition resolution. Navigation using the touchscreen is easy and pure, although the system is a bit bit let down by the underperforming crown button. Common assemble prime quality is great, though, with sturdy components that may stand the check out of time. The watch itself is most undoubtedly on the larger aspect so it won’t swimsuit all people nevertheless if in case you may have a wrist that will accommodate it, then it will really look the half.
Together with its choices for athletes, the Race S moreover gives smartwatch efficiency like notifications and music administration. It has an prolonged battery life, which can closing spherical 10 days in smartwatch mode and as a lot as 30-35 hours in teaching mode.
Whereas the Suunto Race S gives a terrific set of choices for athletes, it lacks among the many choices current in numerous smartwatches. If you happen to occur to’re further into effectivity monitoring, then the Race S is up there with the perfect.
Suunto Race S analysis: Specs
| Value | $349 / £325 / AU$599 |
| Dimensions | 45 x 45 x 11.4mm |
| Weight | 60g |
| Caze/bezel | Stainless steel |
| Present | 466 x 466 px AMOLED |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BEIDOU |
| Battery life | Smartwatch. mode = as a lot as 9 days. Teaching all methods = as a lot as 30h |
| Connection | Bluetooth |
| Water resistance | 50m |
Suunto Race S analysis: Value and availability
The Suunto Race S 45mm model costs $349 / £325 / AU$599. There are an abundance of strap selections, along with Black, Powder Grey, and Powder Pink. For the check out, I’ve the enticing orange strap, which has a graduated coloration from orange to purple. All strap selections value the an identical.
The watch is on the market inside the US, UK, and AUS. If you want the marginally larger 49mm model, then that goes by the establish ‘Suunto Race’ and attracts a barely elevated worth, significantly within the occasion you go for the titanium strap. It is not solely larger however moreover has an prolonged battery life.
Suunto Race S analysis: Design
- Good-looking watch
- Plentiful strap selections
- Secure assemble prime quality
The Suunto Race S is a great-looking watch, significantly with the Powder Orange strap that I examined. With seven utterly completely different strap colors on the market, there usually are not any shortage of customise the watch. We’ll come once more to the strap in a minute nevertheless let’s focus first on the watch itself.
The very very first thing I was struck by was how chunky this watch is. The 45mm diameter provides a unbelievable present measurement with ample real-estate to point out your whole essential metrics. Sadly, the thickness of the watch is form of 12mm, which makes your entire factor sit very proudly definitely. The final dimensions make it much like the Garmin Forerunner 265, which is equally cumbersome. At this measurement, and with a weight of 60g, this could be a sit up for thick wrists that will accommodate it; in some other case, it will merely look plain odd.
The stainless-steel case seems good with the easy coloration palette, inflicting the watch present to take centre stage. It properties an AMOLED present with a 466 x 466 pixel resolution. In consequence, all of the on-screen graphics look large sharp with no sign of any pixelation. Sadly, Suunto has left a tiny gap between the glass and the case that catches grime, and since it’s so skinny is hard to remove.
The assemble prime quality of every the watch and the strap are second to none. I used it whereas performing quite a few kinds of prepare, along with contact sports activities actions, and under no circumstances managed to wreck it. In actuality, I was under no circumstances concerned about doing so, such was the usual of the components.
The three buttons are all positioned to the right-hand aspect of the watch and are small enough to not rub in direction of your hand. The best button launches you into train mode by taking you straight to a list of prepare varieties, whereas the underside button takes you once more to a menu.
Between the two regular buttons is a crown, which has similarities to what’s now seen on completely different smartwatches, along with the Apple Watch. A crown-style button is sweet to have nevertheless I don’t suppose Suunto has nailed the engineering of it. I found it tough to rotate predictably and, on account of it sits lower than the watch face, it’s really pretty powerful to utilize with one finger. I really ended up ditching it in favour of swiping.
As with all smartwatches, the sensor is on the once more. It’s a bit prouder than I might need favored, nevertheless it does permit a wide range of monitoring varieties along with teaching efficiency.
The strap not solely seems good nevertheless is awfully cosy. Most importantly, it wipes clear, an necessary for athletes who sweat fairly a bit. The catch is unique in its design nevertheless it provides the required security to take care of the watch safely in your wrist.
All in, I’ve really cherished sporting the watch. It’s cosy, makes a press launch, and options extraordinarily correctly. At this worth, the design competes with even the perfect that Garmin has produced. If they are going to improve the crown and the final thickness, then this is ready to be the working watch to beat.
Suunto Race S analysis: choices
- Fairly a couple of choices designed for runners
- In depth monitoring capabilities
- Lacks some key smartwatch choices
Suunto Race S boasts a wide range of teaching choices and assist for all kinds of prepare along with coronary coronary heart cost zones, power zones, and tempo alerts.
If you happen to occur to love to be prepared ahead of time, then you definately probably can plan your route sooner than you even go away the house. It reveals you the place you might be positioned and gives you updates on what you might be about to return throughout. In that regard, chances are you’ll on a regular basis actually really feel prepared. You could don’t have any worries about getting misplaced due to assist for all kinds of sections.
Choices embrace coronary coronary heart cost sensing, an altimeter, and a gyroscope. These exactly observe your actions and provide recommendations on the best way you are getting on. Irrespective of prepare you might be doing, the watch can seize your data exactly every time. I had no points with any GPS signal dropouts, even when sweaty or moist. Usually, I was very impressed with the rate of readouts and the accuracy of them.
Sleep monitoring screens your sleep prime quality whereas moreover feeding once more in case your sleep patterns may very well be affecting your effectivity. Personally, I wasn’t overly keen on using the watch as a sleep tracker, as a result of it was merely uncomfortably enormous to placed on at nightime.
The watch has a wide range of choices, with a selected give consideration to athletes and other people keen on staying match. It moreover gives choices that may enchantment to those who merely want it to mix with their smartphone. As an example, you probably can administration music playback from the watch, serving to you retain centered in your prepare.
Furthermore, the watch receives notifications for calls and messages, so that you would not have to take care of checking your cellphone. For the worth, I might need favored efficiency to allow for replying to textual content material messages nevertheless, then as soon as extra, that’s primarily a working watch. The watch is appropriate with every Android and Apple telephones, although I solely examined it with an iPhone.
In conclusion, the Suunto Race S is a smartwatch that is centered completely on athletes. All of the monitoring abilities current the required data for mid-exercise updates and post-exercise research.
Suunto Race S analysis: effectivity
- Fast and responsive
- Appropriate GPS
- Very good battery life
The Suunto Race S is a strong all-round performer, significantly for athletes like runners, swimmers, and cyclists. Getting the watch organize took no time the least bit, with charging to full taking no a number of hour. Downloading the Suunto app and pairing the watch was equally straight-forward. I was up and working, pardon the pun, in a short time the least bit.
Then it was time to get exercising. The very very first thing I did was soar on my bicycle to verify the GPS and monitoring efficiency. As quickly as I was open air, the watch picked up GPS quickly and easily. I had initially tried to launch it whereas inside nevertheless it failed to connect, a typical draw back with all GPS enabled devices.
As quickly as on my bike, the Suunto Race S coped admirably, monitoring my route utterly along with appropriate distances and measurements. All of the data is displayed on the large 45mm present nevertheless there are moreover additional screens that current further further in-depth knowledge.
The Suunto app provides rather more data so to drill down into the way you’re performing. The app may be very nicely designed with an incredible format that is merely navigated. I significantly love the maps of routes travelled and graphs providing nicely being data. It moreover provides some reporting so that you probably can improve in your performances each time.
I’ve already talked about the sketchy effectivity of the crown button inside the design half nevertheless usually, interaction with the watch was very constructive. The touchscreen responsiveness is sweet and I had little draw back shifting throughout the menus. The swipe gesture was able to cope with shifting up and down prolonged lists with none fuss. The responsiveness was even very good whereas sweating or as soon as I had merely gotten out of the swimming pool.
The battery life delivers good effectivity too. Having worn the look forward to some months, I was able to check out it for prolonged durations with every gentle use and heavy use. Merely using the system as a watch and a few completely different choices, along with checking messages, I was able to get about two and even three weeks out of the battery.
Monitoring prepare with GPS enabled had an anticipated impression on battery life. As soon as I used it for daily biking commutes, having fun with soccer, and working, I found that the battery would closing spherical 5 to seven days. The battery life was so spectacular that each time I really needed to contemplate the place I had left the charger on account of it had been so prolonged.
Must I buy the Suunto Race S?
| Class | Comment | Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Value | Properly-priced for the best way environment friendly it is. | 4/5 |
| Design | A beautiful and correctly constructed sit up for athletes. Assemble prime quality is extreme nevertheless engineering on the crown button is lacking. | 4/5 |
| Choices | In depth operate set designed primarily for athletes. Lacks the broader range of smartwatch choices that people have come to anticipate. | 4/5 |
| Effectivity | A responsive watch that is extremely efficient ample to stay away from any dropouts in effectivity. The battery life is wildly spectacular. | 4/5 |
Buy it if…
Don’t purchase it if…
Suunto Race S analysis: moreover ponder
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Suunto Race S | Apple Watch Sequence 9 | Garmin Fenix 7 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | $349 / £325 / AU$599 | From $399 / £399 / AU$649 | From $699.99 / £599.99 / AU$1,049 |
| Caze/bezel | Stainless steel | Aluminum or stainless-steel | Fibre-reinforced polymer with metal rear cowl |
| Present | 466 x 466 px AMOLED | 352 x 430px / 396 x 484 px always-on OLED Retina Present | 260 x 260 px MIP |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, BeiDou | Certain (unspecified) | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo |
| Battery life | Smartwatch mode: as a lot as 9 days; GPS mode: as a lot as 30h | 18 hours | Smartwatch mode: as a lot as 18 days; GPS mode: as a lot as 57 hours |
| Connection | Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi, LTE selections on the market | Bluetooth, ANT+, Wi-Fi |
| Water resistance | 50m | WR50 (swimproof) | 10 ATM |
Suunto Race S analysis: how I examined
I’ve been proudly sporting the Suunto Race S for two months and have tried to position it by as many kinds of prepare as I can, along with working, having fun with soccer, swimming, and desk tennis. It’s unbelievable what variety of numerous sorts of actions it helps, so I believed it solely correct to try as many as I could!
To verify it’s waterproof rating, I took it whereas swimming and managed to get it down spherical 3 m. It’s nowhere near the marketed 50 m nevertheless I figured my check out might be sufficient for a lot of prospects.
I moreover paired it with the Suunto app to get a fuller picture of what the watch is ready to. The pairing course of was simple and straightforward, and I favored the app.
