Race vs Garmin Epix Pro
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@David-Lown I’m glad it works for you. I can’t really justify leaving Garmin at this point. The Suunto oHR is so many generations behind it’s kinda weird. It’s more basic than my first Instinct I had in 2019. The accuracy in my couple runs and walks were acceptable though, so kudos to them for making it work well enough despite its apparent age.
The 51mm Epix definitely gets caught in cuffs haha, especially noticeable with the fall weather we are starting to have now. I really wanted to like the Race, like I said I’ve been yearning to give Suunto a shot for years.
I can’t complain about anything with the Epix Pro, it really is just that good. Its GPS only tracks are surprisingly good, and using Sat-IQ is next level.
I’m working up from half marathon to full marathon for the BMO next year in Vancouver. Will be my first run over 30km!
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@Shuhite send that sucker back and get a refund. I think for your use case I suspect you’ll be unsatisfied with this purchase long-term.
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@Shuhite while I don’t necessarily disagree with your points, I think it’s important to understand that it’s very easy to use the Garmin as a benchmark at face value for the completeness of its features, and pit all other competitors against it only to realize and then lament their shortcomings. Clearly, with Garmin’s resources, it can be miles ahead of the game, depending on how you see it. So, if you’re happy and it works well for you, that’s great - just stick with it.
But if you do decide to try out one of the competitors, in your case Suunto, I would encourage you test drive it for a week or two, track some more activities, and see beyond the specsheet if certain aspects might in fact be better implemented and gauge how well or important those aspects are for you. I can’t guarantee you’ll fall in love, but who knows, you might end up becoming one of the very enthusiastic members on these forums.
P.S. if you believe you’ve received a faulty device, you should always try to get it returned or replaced.
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@Shuhite
- Your unit is faulty 100%. I have no gap, not even a mini gap, between the layers of the watch.
- Unfortunately “day 1 patch” with a big firmware upgrade is becoming more and more frequent with tech products of every type.
- I can suggest you turn the widgets that you don’t use off. I just have those that I use active, so that if I have to get to the last widget in the list i just have to scroll a bunch of them. Some widgets, like control panel, are totally useless, you can reach the control panel by short pressing the lower button already.
- there should be the possibility to run the activity in the background. It’s an old issue and request by buyers of Suunto.
- I get mixed results with the gps accuracy in urban areas, but never inaccurate as the one in your photo. The GPS accuracy overall works great for me and catches very intricate trails with a lot of close bends on the side of the mountain. When I had the Suunto 9 Baro the gps trace was all over the place, while the Race has been very accurate so far.
I suspect your unit is badly built and maybe it is affecting the gps antenna and gps accuracy overall.
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@Jonathan-C I had a sour experience today on the Garmin Forums. I made a post asking if anyone thought that Garmin could improve the Multiband GPS battery life, since the Race is 40, the new Polar Vantage is expected to be around 53 hrs, and the Garmin Epix Pro 51mm which has by far more battery life in standby (31 days, or 11 days if AOD, with HR tracking etc on), gets only 38 hrs (and an even worse 30 hrs when the display is always on).
I immediately got attacked by some of the OGs there and was interrogated about where Suunto states the 40 hrs is for multiband, and that it’s for GPS only, etc. I found a support article regarding the SV GPS/battery modes, and it mentions in a note at the bottom it’s for the new multiband watches so it applies to the Race too imo. They didn’t believe me and kept insisting that article only applies to the Vertical…and the one guy who acts like a moderator downvoted all my replies.
I think I even got deleted or banned from the forums because since then I can’t log in or see my old posts, despite being in the beta program for Garmin for the last couple years. So yea, not so nice feeling.
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@Shuhite said in Race vs Garmin Epix Pro:
I immediately got attacked by some of the OGs there and was interrogated about where Suunto states the 40 hrs is for multiband, and that it’s for GPS only, etc.
As far as the “where,” that’s referenced on the Suunto website, even if the listing makes an assumption that the user knows the four settings Suunto uses on its newest watches (which is almost certainly in the manual, but I havent looked specifically):
Pleae correct me if I’m wrong, but the first value is Performance, which is top-tier multiband at one-second intervals. The second is Endurance, which is all-systems GNSS at one second (this setting is equivalent to the best setting on the 9 Peak Pro). Then you have Ultra, which is all-systems at one second but at 50% power. Then there’s Tour, which is going to be longer intervals (like one or two minutes) between pings.
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@TrailEyes Yea you’re correct, I found that in the guide for the Vertical. Can’t find it for the Race yet, but they are similar watches. But these people wouldn’t believe me. Makes me want to just get rid of Garmin, even though it’s nothing to do with Garmin.
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Both are fantastic watches and in my opinion represent both companies at the top of their respective games. I own both along with Apple Watch Ultra 2. What I really like about Suunto right now is they have released 2 watches (Vertical & Race) which give them plenty of room to grow into next generations of watches. I think they are few tweaks away (new hr sensor and continue to get the processors a little snappier). Their app is hands down more enjoyable than any other plaform I use. Their designs are class leading and have such a premium look compared to…well everyone except Apple! Garmin is going to be tough to beat long term and not even sure that should be anyone’s goal short or long-term. The one thing keeping me with Garmin is golf features. Suunto has pretty much caught up with everything I care about on the fitness side which is outdoor running (Best in class GPS or at least tied with Garmin) and the seamless integration with Training Peaks. Only reason I keep Apple Watch is for a phone on my long runs.
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@Shuhite Sorry this happened to you and I can confirm the Race is 40h multiband and far, far better battery than the 47mm Epix2 Pro, which is the correct comparison. The two companies approach features very differently. I test drove an Epix2 for 8 months and it wasn’t for me. I do agree the OHR on the Race could be improved but I’ll use a belt no matter what. No watch I’ve tried has good enough OHR including Apple.
Folks shouldn’t be so insecure and you are welcome here even without a Suunto watch. After all, it is a watch, more important you enjoy life, exercise and the outdoors.
Vector/T6c/Ambit 3 Peak/S5 Copper/S3/S7 Ti/S9 baro Ti/S9P Ti/S9PP Ti/Vertical Ti/Race Ti/RaceS/Ocean/Wing
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@Shuhite said in Race vs Garmin Epix Pro:
I immediately got attacked by some of the OGs there and was interrogated about where Suunto states the 40 hrs is for multiband, and that it’s for GPS only, etc.
Actually the community features Suunto offers in the app (following other people’s adventures) and in this forum here, are one reason for me preferring Suunto over all other brands. I find it motivating and enjoyable to see what other people do outdoors (and indoors
) and I learned so much here, making my own experiences much more enjoyable. I would still run with much too high heartrate chasing some unrealistic pace, and not really enjoy the running itself, if there wasn’t people in this forum who advised beginners to start slow, walk if needed and emphasised to look „how it feels“ and not so much what your metrics are. And for me that changed the whole experience. -
@ChrisA said in Race vs Garmin Epix Pro:
@Shuhite said in Race vs Garmin Epix Pro:
I immediately got attacked by some of the OGs there and was interrogated about where Suunto states the 40 hrs is for multiband, and that it’s for GPS only, etc.
Actually the community features Suunto offers in the app (following other people’s adventures) and in this forum here, are one reason for me preferring Suunto over all other brands. I find it motivating and enjoyable to see what other people do outdoors (and indoors
) and I learned so much here, making my own experiences much more enjoyable. I would still run with much too high heartrate chasing some unrealistic pace, and not really enjoy the running itself, if there wasn’t people in this forum who advised beginners to start slow, walk if needed and emphasised to look „how it feels“ and not so much what your metrics are. And for me that changed the whole experience.
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Brad_Olwin said in Race vs Garmin Epix Pro:
I test drove an Epix2 for 8 months and it wasn’t for me.
It looks like someone cannot recognize its watch, again…
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@zhang965 said in Race vs Garmin Epix Pro:
It looks like someone cannot recognize its watch, again…
Seriously man, …
S9PP
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@zhang965 muted for 30 days for systematic trolling and inappropriate behavior towards other forum users. Next time it will be half a year
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@pavel-samokha I honestly don’t get it. Time is the one asset I have that I can’t get more of. If I buy a product or service and am unhappy with it, I don’t buy it again. Cut my losses and move on. Complaining about it rarely (if ever) solves anything and just is a waste of my time.
Why I choose Suunto is why I buy most electronics
- build quality
- battery life
- future proofing
One thing that I always thought was cool about Suunto over the competition is that they will pass along updates/features as long as the hardware supports it. The same cannot be said about the competition. The forums have been a great asset to me to answer questions and resolve issues (yourself included; thank you very much!)
The trolling just reminds me of the girl that got stood up at the dance and wants to take anger out on anyone in her path. With that attitude you won’t get invited next time!
Seriously thank you to yourself and all the forum members that make this a great place. It is a platform that is full of great resources/information and makes it easier to get the most out of our products.
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@Shuhite
Not sure why they don’t get longer battery life than 38hrs (aod off / 30hrs AOD on) - doubt they can get anymore in multi-band as with all the garmins, suunto, polar etc I have seen I only ever seen an increase in gps battery life once - and that was the Suunto 7 - but not a true increase as was changing gps fix from every second to every 10s.
With Race training modes: Training mode with GPS 40h / 50h / 70h / 120h - what happens with each mode to adjust out the battery life. Also is that 40h with AOD on or off - no mention, cause if its with AOD off then 40h isn’t much different to 38hrs?
Cause with Epix its (all AOD off wrist gesture on) its 38hrs multi, 62hrs all systems, GPS only 82hrs before you start hitting the ultra trac 125hrs or expedition modes which can extend gps time out to 27days. Of course all this battery life is based on standard settings i.e. bluetooth on, HR continuous every second etc (mention that due to how apple ultra watch extended modes work - no idea if suunto extended modes the same) - as can adjust some of those settings and extend battery life even more.
Re forum issues - sorry to hear about that - its just wrong, but are you sure it was the Garmin Epix forum https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/outdoor-recreation/f/epix-2
as I don’t remember that post and its super unusual for anyone to be banned there. At the most they might just lock the thread - but not for someting like that. And sure like every forum there is the odd muppet, but usually its pretty friendly and Chris the garmin employee/mod is usually super solid.
Are you maybe thinking about the Garmin Reddit - as that wouldn’t surprise me as those mods are complete and utter muppets (been banned numerous times for nothing).
If it is the Garmin reddit -try GarminWatches reddit - much more friendly and where I lurk - given up on the muppets on the Garmin Reddit (mods are supposedly gamrin employees but serioulsly doubt it the way they behave); or the actual Garmin Epix forum. -
One thing that I always thought was cool about Suunto over the competition is that they will pass along updates/features as long as the hardware supports it. The same cannot be said about the competition. The forums have been a great asset to me to answer questions and resolve issues (yourself included; thank you very much!)
sorry but is that a fair comment to companies like apple watch (which is competition in some ways) and to Coros - they seem really good at pushing down features to all their models.
Tend to agree fair comment in relation to Garmin.
But then again if you are paying for features why should a £200 watch have the same features as a £1k watch - why buy the £1k watch…But yes there are certain features that should be rolled out better, and especially agree in regards to health features - where the garmin hardware can support see no reason why can’t be rolled out. Got to remember though that garmin crunches 98% of all their metrics on the watch - and that could potentially be limiting some feature set from being ported as not sue how different the hardware inside is.
It is really interesting to see that the Venu 3 in its latest beta is getting wrist running power and is getting wrist running dynamics (but can only see post activity in app). This is a masive change to how the venu 3 has been previously positioned and seen in garmin. And you have to wonder what this may potentially mean going forward… -
@Jamie-BG 100% agree with your comments. I didn’t want to name -the-names but my reference was certainly pointed at specific brands of both smart watches and fitness trackers. Companies like Fitbit, Garmin and Google Pixel push their base to buy the latest tech versus rolling updates out.
When I was cross shopping brands, I considered Garmin as their build quality and battery life is comparable to Suunto (which I value). The fact that they steer buyers to models based off features or paid subscriptions (like Apple) is a game I am not willing to play.
Overall I have been happy with Suunto; starting with a Baro 9, to a Peak 9 to now Vertical Solar. The Peak 9 is a great watch but was a bit small for my liking so I moved to the Vertical.
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@Jamie-BG said in Race vs Garmin Epix Pro:
@Shuhite
With Race training modes: Training mode with GPS 40h / 50h / 70h / 120h - what happens with each mode to adjust out the battery life. Also is that 40h with AOD on or off - no mention, cause if its with AOD off then 40h isn’t much different to 38hrs?
Race in Performance and Endurance mode has an always on data display. Only the map is switched to a breadcrumb view when lowering the wrist. So 40h with AOD and Dual Band GPS. Here is an overview:
…plus in reality the battery calculation after a longer activity is usually higher than 40h for me.
t6, S6, Elementum Terra, Ambit 3 Sapphire, Spartan Ultra Copper, Traverse Alpha, S7 Graphite LE, S9B Ambassador, S9P Granite Blue Titanium, S9PP Titanium Sand, Vertical All Black, Race Titanium Charcoal,
Race S All Black - TI Canary - Titanium Courtney -
@Egika In Endurance mode with Maps - off, does it show at least breadcrumb trail on the black background, and can it load route and navigate?
