SUUNTO Race GPS Sports Watch, 26-Day Battery Life, 95+ Multisport Training Watch, Large AMOLED Touch screen & Crown, Dual-GNSS, Global Offline Map, For Training and Racing

This is my third Suunto. While there are competitors with some great options, I've always loved the style and build quality of the Suunto brand. Battery life is truly insane. I've had the watch for over six weeks training with GPS and heartrate a minimum of 4 times a week and I've only had to change it twice so far. GPS is spot on accurate, and always has been. The over the air updates are a nice edition, and the new OLED screen is bright and beautiful. There are more options than most casual to very serious athletes will ever need to train or compete with. Minor gripes are easy to live with - the training terminology used on the app is hard to follow if you're not used to the Training Peaks app but Suunto seems to be adding new documentation on their YouTube channel to help learn how to use those parts of the watch to train and compete at the top level. Also, I've read that the heartrate monitor isn't great. It's much better and more consistent than the Suunto 9 I upgraded from, and if I was really concerned with the 2 or 3 % difference I've seen complained about, a Bluetooth chest monitor is a very accurate and reasonably priced add-on. This is easily the best Suunto I've ever had. Would HIGHLY recommend to anyone not already in love with another brand of sports watch or that wants a rugged watch with a ton of sports options and killer battery life.

Bonne qualité facile à utiliser

After using my Suunto 9 Baro for six years, I decided to try the Suunto Race. I was looking for a better experience with the watch face (better visibility) and for a better heart rate capture (no more wild jumps, or having to wear the watch in the exact spot with the exact pressure). So far, I’m impressed with both. The screen is very easy to view and has all of the features you expect from Suunto. The heart rate monitor seems to be WAY more accurate as I haven’t experienced the same crazy heart rate swings I would see on my Suunto 9 Baro. For instance, I would walk with my old Baro and at times the readout would say my heart rate was 200+ beats per minute. With this accuracy also comes better calorie burn metrics. Let’s just say, I will need to reduce the calorie intake using this watch rather than the Baro 9. In short, I would say that it’s essentially the same watch, feel, size (slightly smaller height)) as I had before with some of the more annoying features of the old watch worked out. I will still use the Baro 9, but only when I’m afraid I will damage the new watch, like when I mountain bike. There was one issue where the watch disconnected from my Suunto App and it took me about an hour to figure out what was happening. Not only do you have disconnect the watch from Bluetooth, forget the watch on your Bluetooth list on the phone and one more step. Buried deep in the “connectivity” folder of the watch, you’ll find an additional connection to the app to your phone. You have to also disconnect this, otherwise the app won’t allow to connect after a soft reset.

There are so many in-depth reviews of this watch, buyers know what they are getting. I will only add a few observations since upgrading from the Ambit 3 Peak that I used for 6 years. The screen is excellent: easy to read, crisp, best of the best. Battery life is best in class, nothing better. The GPS accuracy is excellent. Maps & routing work great. Underwater depth gauge is unique and cool. The heart rate accuracy is mediocre. It's not terrible, but it is not as good as competitors. It sometimes gives very incorrect readings for several minutes at a time. Like climbing up a steep hill with your heart rate in the 160-180 range yet it reads 85 which is about half the true heart rate. Buyers should know that Suunto just released a new version of this watch called the "Race S" that does everything the "Race" does, but is smaller, cheaper, with an improved heart rate sensor. Even so, I'm keeping my Race.

Good so far; learning the capabilities definitely cost effective choice given other competitors in the marketplace.