Suunto 7

Brad_Olwin

You all know I am an ultra running person, it is my hobby. The S9 is the best watch I have used for ultras, and I purchased one when it was announced. I started running ultras prior to the release of the Ambits and ran my first ultras using a T6c, which did a fairly good job. I have seen quite a few changes occurring, the Ambits, followed by the Spartan and S series. I have to say I am impressed with the S7. I could use this as my daily training watch and pull out the S9 for weekends if I am going on something long. The smartwatch features of the S7 are nice to have, the maps are an incredible help when I travel. I have run a route simply following the heat map on the S7 and not had to hassle with drawing and downloading a route on the S9. For those of you that won’t be running longer than 6h this is a great watch in my opinion.

Brad_Olwin

@Frederick-Rochette said in Suunto 7:

@Brad_Olwin It’s not difficult to be better than S9… But what is différent from S3/S5/S9? the brand? the model?

I would argue with that, the FusedTrack Suunto has developed is quite amazing, only available on the S9 and no other company has anything to match it. I know you will say that other watches have as long or longer battery life in 1s GPS fix. But, no other company has the ease of routing and the ability to have a map screen loaded while running an ultra that minimally impacts battery life. So I totally disagree, from what I have seen and tried, the S9 is still one to beat for ultras.

Frederick Rochette

@Brad_Olwin I misunderstood, I was talking about the OHR and not about the watch in general

Brad_Olwin

@Frederick-Rochette OK, I get your point, the OHR on the S9 has never worked for me and I have tried hard. It is fine for all day and at the gym for me doing Pilates or strength workouts but has worked marginally for trail running. The S7 OHR is quite good, hard to believe actually! I have run quite a bit with it and I could ditch the belt, it even works well for the type of interval running I do and it has an interval running screen. (I use the lap button for my interval workouts on all my watches).

Brad_Olwin

@jthomi I think that is certainly one issue, a watch on the handlebar with HR is not possible for the S7, yet. I don’t know what Suunto’s plans are.

dulko79

@Brad_Olwin does that mean that training plans/structured intervals from 3rd party apps (TP, Strava, Nike RC …) could be used on S7 and then results analyzed on websites? If data flow is possible both ways no additional Firstbeat features on watch are needed.

Brad_Olwin

@dulko79 That I do not know, I am an iOS user and I am limited to what the apps can do on the watch only. Some of the features you are asking likely require an Android phone. However, most apps that work on WearOS should work on the S7.

sartoric

@Brad_Olwin
Out of curiosity, there is no barometer, correct ?

At a great risk of starting a flame war…

Boy, was I excited until I started looking into the details The overall design and materials are fantastic, as all things Suunto are! The screen is gorgeous. New OHR package is at least intriguing. I’d be grabbing this in a heartbeat on pre-order, but the current spec as priced simply doesn’t compute:

No sensors, really? Apple Watch supports heart rate sensors natively and third party apps like Stryd can connect their own. Polar M600 supported heart rate sensors too and for a little while, there were even rumors of bringing footpod support in until M600 crashed and burned along with the rest of WearOS bandwagon. That was 4 years ago. Surely, in the meantime things improved?
No FirstBeat metrics? Even S9 got them following popular outcry. Other competitors in pure smartwatch space, be it Huawei or Xiaomi have it. Why not S7?
All activity tracking – from steps to 24x7 heart rate – flowing into Google Fit as opposed to Suunto’s own app?
Being WearOS effectively means Android only. iOS side of things from Google has been extremely weak to the point of unusable. As in your watch can either connect to your phone, or your heart rate belt, but not both… But more often than not, the watch simply won’t connect to the phone, period. Just look at the reviews for WearOS app in the iTunes app store.

It seems that sports and activity tracking wise, S7 is a step back even when compared to S3. Sure, it can be a fantastic package if what you do is running outside. Perhaps, do some swimming and stretching. But I seriously doubt wrist OHR will pull off HIIT bout with a pair of kettlebells, or a heavy lifting session, not to mention impact sports where watch simply cannot be worn.

My feeling S7 is really just a WearOS smartwatch, in Suunto skin, sprinkled with a bit of Suunto magic dust like those heatmaps. You still require your trusty S9 or S5 to do the actual training. Perhaps, the updates will change that. But currently there’s no roadmap saying hey, we will bring sensors in February, FirstBeat stuff in May, and activity tracking fully integrated by the end of August.

And without that, why would I want to have S7 on my wrist as opposed to Apple Watch or Huawei Watch 2 or even Fitbit Versa? Why Suunto, why?

Egika

@sartoric said in Suunto 7:

@Brad_Olwin
Out of curiosity, there is no barometer, correct ?

there is a barometer. And there is FusedAlti.
Specs are online on the Suunto website.

dulko79

@Brad_Olwin that would be great to know, I am ios user too. I look forward to reviews.

Brad_Olwin

@sartoric There IS a barometer, the watch uses FusedAlti. My experience has been quite good and on par with the S9.

Brad_Olwin

@NickK I get it, I am an iOS user. That said, I have had few if any issues with connections, etc. The S7 cannot compete with the Apple Watch as a smartwatch on iOS. But the integration is not bad, Wear OS reads my Apple calendar information, my contacts and controls my music on the iPhone. The OHR is great, I don’t know about Kettlebell workouts but biking, running and general strength I don’t need the belt, even for interval running. As far as comparisons to an Apple Watch for exercise, I could discuss that.

sartoric

@Brad_Olwin said in Suunto 7:

@sartoric There IS a barometer, the watch uses FusedAlti. My experience has been quite good and on par with the S9.

Yep
I’ve found the spec page now, couldn’t find it this night (hours ago)

@Brad_Olwin Perhaps, things got better in the past 12-18 months, or Suunto knows something about connectivity others don’t. I had Polar M600 back in 2016-2017 as well as a number of Android smartwatches until 2018. My mileage on iOS was bad, real bad. The watch would disconnect if you leave your phone on a desk and walk away for a few minutes and never re-connect. Pandora streaming app, though totally independent of the watch while in offline mode, would continuously crash. Google Music would fail to download even a quarter of my songs… And I don’t mean songs for offline use. I mean a song list from my music library. And on and on…

I understand Suunto strategy here and would even buy into it. A smartwatch from Suunto, with legitimate fitness bits. S5 or S9 still required for serious training. Sure!

But not at $499 a pop. I think even $399 DCR suggested is way too much. When M600 was released in 2016, it was just $320, in the neighborhood of other Android smartwatches of the time like LG Sport released six months later. And M600 was fully integrated into Polar platform, activity and sleep tracking including, from the day one and included at least heart rate sensors.

Fenr1r

@Brad_Olwin So it’s more in line with its stated specs than the Spartan (on the earlier watch’s launch)? Pretty much what you see advertised is what you get?

Brad_Olwin

@Fenr1r Yes, the stated specifications are accurate. The screenshots of the watch are accurate too…I know, hard to believe and not mockups.

Fenr1r

@Brad_Olwin Very pretty indeed - altho’ I’d probably still need glasses to read my wrist. And good to learn Suunto’s better at expectations management now (at least as far as a new product launch goes). Thank you.

Brad_Olwin

@NickK I have had no connectivity or syncing issues. I have run the watch out of battery and the activity up to the time the watch died is saved and synced.

Brad_Olwin

@Fenr1r I wear glasses and do not need them with this. The screen is 484x484, easy to read.