Suunto Software update Q2 (2.56.18) - July 14th, 2026 - Vertical 2 and Race 2

jmolenaar2

I think you are correct but a lot of people don’t seem to live in a world where you don’t get everything with a click on a button. The need for a quick fix and orders delivered the same day is massive. Times are forgotten when you had to wait for a few days to weeks from a package from a different country.

Do the running shoe companies tell you when they will release a new shoe? No. Will you get an email from the company telling you they will release a new running vest on 1st of October? No. Did you hear about the new Android update coming tonight? No.

Unfortunately so many people on this forum keep complaining and don’t seem to have some respect for people doing the best they can.

All the rude comments and complaints telling Suunto could do better.

Do they buy a new bike with 8 gears and then go on a forum complaining that they miss the 7.5th gear? No. They adapt.

Thanks for being supportive and realistic. Indeed; big kudos to Suunto

Have a good day!

Egika

@kriskus said:

I am also so astonished about the fact that there are only 2 devs working actively on the system (+ the forgotten @pavel.samokha) - unless it’s just a hoax. If I’m not wrong, they now have to deal with separate streams for SV/SR/SRs (taking into cosideration that SV is MIP and the latter two are AMOLEDs), SV2/SR2, Suunto Run and then the diving products. Big kudos to them anyway.

I think 1 emoji is not enough…
These two devs do not only have to care about the different product lines, but also develop new ones. So everyone can buy new Suunto’s as Christmas presents.

(and if you read closely, the 2 devs mentioned don’t have anything to do with watch firmware. They are there for the app)

2b2bff

@Egika said:

(and if you read closely, the 2 devs mentioned don’t have anything to do with watch firmware. They are there for the app)

They should unify the translation within the Android and iOS app. Less work for them, better translation for us…

kriskus

@Egika well, I read closely again and Dimitrios wrote ‘its 2 developers (that do work for embedded, Android and iOS)’ - so it is watch firmware + mobile app

cosme.costa

@kriskus I think he was kidding…

Egika

@kriskus right - I did not.
Anyway. See the emoticon.

runomatic

I’m really happy about the new tide widget (even though I’ll only need it for two weeks a year). The new features in maps are really well done. Kudos to the developers. Thank you very much—great job!

kriskus

@jmolenaar2 And just to add - as an old time Suunto user, I remember a similar situation when the Spartan series received its last update and suddenly a lot of people started complaining like it was the end of the world. I kept using my SSU for a couple of more years and it still worked fine. Right now, I’m not thinking about upgrading my SV - it serves me so well. It’s just that when Suunto said it would receive an update ‘later’ - so many people first understood it would be just a couple of days later and when it was not the case - then with the next periodic update (i.e. now, as part of Q2 update). Not indicating any particular date is technically fine, but it raises expectations and hopes.

VoiGAS

@kriskus I think the difference is that Vertical 1 and 9PP are still for sale - without any notes about “Last Gen” or something in the way.
Not everyone is following this forum and knows about these things

Egika

@VoiGAS Are you implying, that a model should not be sold, when there will be no feature additions for it later on?
As there is a Vertical 2, it automatically makes Vertical the last generation before this model. If Vertical 3 arrives (no idea if and when), Vertical 2 and 1 will both the the generation before this.

In my opinion, the users of this forum are a small and rather special fraction of Suunto users. Most people buy it and use it without the expectation, that there must be new things added 4 times a year.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@VoiGAS while I am pushing for updates for every model like most of us here and FT as well, and believe me we do and while I as a sw developer would like any hardware run on the latest SW, while understanding the limitations etc , a HW that is embedded, and works so what fine, its not a reason to stop selling it. just saying.

NOTE: I AM WITH YOU and we are pushing for all gen1 V1,R1 etc to be updated

raven

@Egika said:

@VoiGAS Are you implying, that a model should not be sold, when there will be no feature additions for it later on?
As there is a Vertical 2, it automatically makes Vertical the last generation before this model. If Vertical 3 arrives (no idea if and when), Vertical 2 and 1 will both the the generation before this.

In my opinion, the users of this forum are a small and rather special fraction of Suunto users. Most people buy it and use it without the expectation, that there must be new things added 4 times a year.

I do think for some people there’s a sense that currently sold devices continue to get firmware updates.

For example, over at Apple, some users were dismayed to learn that the forthcoming watchOS 27 will “only” support Series 9 and later, Ultra 2 and later, and SE3 and later. Other models that had been getting updates, despite not being sold for years, will now only get more critical security style updates and not new features.

All the models that will discontinue support haven’t been sold for at least a year, but Apple Watch users have had the expectation their models continue getting updates for several years, so “only” having a year or two of updates has upset them. This is likely an extension of phone culture, where currently sold phones also get updates regularly.

Meanwhile, over at Garmin, they have a harder to follow approach for updates. It seems models released within the last year or two get updates, and in recent years there’s now a common code base for this to happen easier, but Garmin sells tons of older models that no longer get updates. Typically though, one can point to a newer model of the same line that is the “update candidate” so while a Fenix 7 can be bought today and won’t get updates, the Fenix 8 is also available and that one does get updates.

However, Garmin’s scattershot approach at making dozens of models and keeping them around forever is a major reason I ignored them and went to Suunto when I got my Race S. I’m hoping that there will continue to be updates for it, partially as there’s no replacement for it at that size and Race 2 and Vertical 2 are too large for me. Even if there was though, as I’ve only had the Race S slightly over a year, it feels far too soon to be considering an upgrade.

Now I get one buys a watch (or anything else) for what it can do today and not for what it might be able to do in the future, so when updates come to an end I think it’s silly to be too upset about it. I get things cannot be supported forever. I do think it’s good to have stated policies on a support page for people to reference so they have the right expectations when they buy. For example, looking at the US Suunto store at the moment there’s this page:

https://us.suunto.com/pages/software-updates

This links to each watch’s current updates. Selecting Suunto 9 Peak Pro (a model still sold on the store), it says “going forward, no additional feature updates or software updates are planned…” This I think is sufficient warning to a new buyer. There is no similar warning for the first Vertical or my Race S, suggesting both are candidates for continued development. I think a nice additional would be guidance on what to expect for every watch; i.e. if the policy is “we plan to do updates for X years after first release” then have that stated somewhere.

Again, for myself I try to follow a policy of “buy something for what it does today, not what it can do tomorrow” but in a world where people have many types of devices like phones, ebook readers, game consoles, etc. have updates that happen after one buys it, it’s an easy expectation to have that “if it’s being sold as new, it’s getting updates.” So simply having support documentation saying what to expect can be useful for people to not get the wrong idea (of course, this assumes people do their research and check these support pages).

sky-runner

I don’t know if others have already commented about the map labels. Unless I am missing something, there is no way to adjust the font size. Currently the font is so tiny that it is extremely difficult for me to read it even when I am sitting still. And if I am on the move - forget about it. It is a bit easier to read on the Dark map theme, but borderline impossible on Light and High Contrast themes.

If Suunto developers went through all the trouble of adding this feature, having an option for larger fonts would greatly expand the feature accessibility for older users.

maszop

@sky-runner That’s the problem with small screens – like on watches.

Either the font and symbols are too small, or if they’re made bigger, they end up cluttering the map.
That’s why sometimes less is more.

VoiGAS

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos I didn’t mean to criticize the number of updates or the time it takes. Its just about the expectations a customer normally has when a product is still on sale. At least in my experience a “sunset process” starts with end of sale, then a defined time period support (eg 12 month) and then end of support. And as both watches are on sale I concluded that they cannot or should not be end of support. But that aligns with the Suunto communication, so all good.

VoiGAS

@Egika what @raven said

maszop

@VoiGAS I see it like this: 9PP (partially), Vertical 1, Race 1, and Race S were more or less from the same generation, so they basically received similar updates. After the release of Vertical 2 and Race 2, which are a newer generation, those older ones now require a completely separate – side branch – of updates.

So it’s obvious they won’t be released at the same time as the main branch for Race 2 and Vertical 2 – there will be two completely independent software series.
That’s why it’s a bit surprising to see people acting surprised that older watches aren’t included in the major update.

elbee

@maszop said:

@VoiGAS I see it like this: 9PP (partially), Vertical 1, Race 1, and Race S were more or less from the same generation, so they basically received similar updates. After the release of Vertical 2 and Race 2, which are a newer generation, those older ones now require a completely separate – side branch – of updates.

So it’s obvious they won’t be released at the same time as the main branch for Race 2 and Vertical 2 – there will be two completely independent software series.
That’s why it’s a bit surprising to see people acting surprised that older watches aren’t included in the major update.

If they just use 1 firmware for all watches there wouldn’t be a problem with releasing at different times.

They just have to build for certain watches with some features disabled (depending on hardware)

That’s what Apple does for their watches. But if I look around, Apple may be the exception. Maybe Coros does a better job, Garmin certainly doesn’t.

maszop

@elbee said:

@maszop said:

@VoiGAS I see it like this: 9PP (partially), Vertical 1, Race 1, and Race S were more or less from the same generation, so they basically received similar updates. After the release of Vertical 2 and Race 2, which are a newer generation, those older ones now require a completely separate – side branch – of updates.

So it’s obvious they won’t be released at the same time as the main branch for Race 2 and Vertical 2 – there will be two completely independent software series.
That’s why it’s a bit surprising to see people acting surprised that older watches aren’t included in the major update.

If they just use 1 firmware for all watches there wouldn’t be a problem with releasing at different times.

If the hardware is radically newer – and everything suggests it is – then it’s better not to keep a single main software branch for very different hardware. Of course, I don’t know for sure how it works with Suunto, but to me it would make a lot of sense.

elbee

@maszop

What makes you think the hardware is radical different?

A new heartrate sensor? That just has the same api. Same for gnss chip.
A different processor? With the same instruction set.
Even the screen isn’t a problem.

Things like calculate sleep score, detecting a track, hrv, every thing else isn’t dependent on ‘radical” different hardware.