Suunto news ?
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f I look at athletes in my athletic club, on strava or at races/trailruns, almost all use a garmin and there is the occasional Polar/Suunto/Coros. Don’t see any shifts over the last couple of years. (I live in the Netherlands. It might be different for other regions.)
Here in Germany I usually see Garmins all around. Occasionally a Polar or Coros. Seldom a Suunto. There are more Apple Watches in the races I take part of that Suunto and Polar, possibly even Coros combined. At least in the road running segment.
Trail running is still new to me and in the Race I took part of there has been a higher density of Suunto watches. Partly because there has been a Suunto booth, I guess.
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Could very well be that the suunto race and race s were sold at lower margins just to draw attention. Don’t know how that worked out. Suunto marketing hoped on “so much watch for so little” but it might be “so cheap for a decent watch”. Any successor that is more expensive might then disappoint.
Garmin is a no go for me at the moment. With the 965 they started to add voice. The damn thing announced tbt alerts via my headphone and it couldn’t be turned off. The newer forerunners also get microphones so I guess garmin focus on voice operated watches.
Coros is an interesting option. But for now I think my race s will last for many more years, beating the forerunner 935 I had for over 5 years.
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@elbee yes, but if they sold them under margin then how is Garmin able to sell the FR970 for only 70€ more with all the additional functions in their software + hardware (microphone, torch, ECG). I rather suspect Suunto trying to maximize margins by orientating at slightly undercutting Garmin.
Coros also manages lower prices and their apex 4 & Pace Pro are very similar to Suunto Race 2 but cost 150€-200€ less and even have on device music…
I think they should rather aim for the Coros or a middle segment and not the premium segment. They cannot compete with Garmin in that segment. I mean Garmin resources, marketing, ecosystem is huge!BTW one can of course disable the voice prompts/alerts on the FR965.
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Race 1 and Race S was perfectly fine about price. For me only OHR was poor (at least Race 1 which I used). I mostly used chest strap awnyway, but sometimes didnt use or just left it home, and it was completly *****. Race 2 solved this problem when I compared watch OHR vs. Strap. Also at launch date Race UI was so laggy (at moment Race 2 release it was speed). Didnt bothered me so much, but for new user or someone born after 2000, it could be ancient technology if we talking about speed of using it and kinda bad first impression. Anyway I think Race and Race S was one of biggest step for Suunto, especially very popular Race S from what I’ve seen.
Race 2 OHR was much better, also faster in using, and in maps., but price went up. Iam very interested what Race 3 will bring. By rumors Race 3 got no longer sapphire glass (must have for me) and AI coach subscription (which I completly dont care). If it will be main changes I’ll stick with Race 2 few more years, and who knows, maybe I’ll give a try Coros or Garmin.
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BTW one can of course disable the voice prompts/alerts on the FR965.
No, you can’t (at least on the 955, which I think shares SW with the 965)! Even if you don’t have headphones, it’ll announce turns through your phone’s speaker. It’s been a bug for who-knows-how-long with many users complaining about it, but never solved.
Back on topic, though… I tend to agree with @brave_dave that Suunto had an opportunity to be the simple, reliable, no-fuss, mountain-focused brand, but lost their way a bit playing the bigger, brighter, more-features game. If Suunto were happy with their market share (which I’m sure the new-ish owners are not), they could have carved out a really interesting niche product line for users who aren’t interested in following the trend towards ever more data collection. Some of us just want a simple, well-design, long lasting watch with accurate distance, altitude, and HR readings ('cause that’s all one really needs, right?). Instead, it seems like they are falling in line with every other brand.
Like others, I find it surprising that new Race models are coming so fast. I’ll be interested to see what new features they bring and how it affects the existing models’ software updates. As for me, though, I hopped off the watch update train with the Vertical 1.
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@duffman19
Voice prompts/alert can disable.
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@runyx17 @duffman19 @elbee exactly. My girlfriend also has a FR965 and om iOS in the smartphone app under the watch settings is a navigation section and there one can turn off the turn-by-turn alarms.
But yeah, coming back to Suunto watches as it’s a Suunto forum here
I agree with everything you said and that is also what I hoped for when they announced the Race 2 but then the massive increase in price without any new features or massively increased hardware was pretty shocking to me. Back then it was announced as investment in the future, but where are these nice improvements/updates now, one year later? Nothing that would justify the increase from the Race 1/Race S in my eyes. -
@elbee yes, but if they sold them under margin then how is Garmin able to sell the FR970 for only 70€ more with all the additional functions in their software + hardware (
The race 1 and race s were quite some more that 70euro cheaper than a fr970
BTW one can of course disable the voice prompts/alerts on the FR965.
No, definitely not possible to have the damn thing shut up. Loads of people complained on the garmin forum. So much, garmin support got annoyed by it and closed the thread.
Maybe things have changed but it was the final push for me to sell the watch a year and a half ago.
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Stačily by mi jen dvě věci k úplné spokojenosti :
Sledování polohy živě - ano vím jsou v S+ ale není to dobré…
Kalendář možnost uložit si den závodu.
Jako nový uživatel Suunto R2 jsem hodně spokojený. Neměl jsem zatím žádný problém které se tu hlásily. -
Im not talking about general support but concerns around the roadmap, critical bug progress, development issues etc.
Yep, the secrecy doesn’t help at all. To me it feels more like a lack of accountability. As much as I prefer Suunto watches over Garmin or Coros, I am more likely to switch to another brand like Coros because of the lack of communication. Reporting issues often feels like shouting into the void. It is nice when one of the mods respond to my post saying that they’d relay information to the dev team, but historically that has very rarely resulted in any outcomes, or least it feels that way.
And with regards to talking directly to a tech support, I often find them clueless and knowing less about Suunto watches than me. Arguably, for advanced users this forum is a better medium for communicating issues if we get more engagement directly from Suunto employees.
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