DC Rainmaker Review
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Hot off the press over at: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/02/suunto7-wearos-gps-watch-in-depth-review.html
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Thatâs a paddling.
I know he says the Suunto forum agrees re:his optical HR interpretation but all of the main users on here have been remarkably positive about it versus the Spartan/S series watches (although not amazing for gym stuff), which is a bit surprising.
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Donât think he is a fan.
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Scroll down to the end of the review. Scroll down.
If you find the review useful or not, you will get 10% discount on the purchase of a S7! đ§
This made my day.
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I have to agree with my heartache in the summary of this test. I will be sending my Suunto 7 because this watch let me down. It stays with S9 but the competition is already very far away and if Suunto doesnât wake up, the company may fail to flap for a long time
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@MichaĹ-MuszyĹski I think that what DC thinks is: S7 have potential, but he found problems: no custo sport modes, small implementation of data in SA, no routes import, bad hr wrist (questionable), no external sensor support and price comparable to other suunto watches.
For him it is inconceivable that S3 have more sport support than S7. He emphasizes that price is a problem for what offers in terms of features. And there isnât roadmap that give confidence to potential buyers.
I think he was irritated by not having answers from suunto personnel in terms of serious gaps that he found.
Issues of Suunto ecosystem is not hardware. Never was.
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I read it. My personal opinion. Ray, I have the impression, since long time , is not a huge fan of Suunto. His reviews looks like if a watch doesnât do what Garmin does is not good. And the review turns out of a brand not doing the things like Garmin. I would like he would reviewed the watches not just only like triathlete âmentality â.
I agree with him about the data, I would like to have it in Suunto app, specially steps, sleep and calories.
I agree with him about the lack of sensor support in Suunto app.
I donât agree about the OHR, is better than my Suunto 9, he refers to this forum, and here most of users said is better, at least I remember.
What I donât like is the frustration turned into a massive destructive review. Is the first sport watch with WearOS. Do we remember how was the first applewatch? And is the first smartwatch of Suunto with an amazing display and Iâm getting 30-36 hours, good enough for me.
If you read the reviews in other sites, the5krunner or the wereables, or the videos of a German couple in English in YouTube arenât so agressive about the watch, even speak well of the watch, even say is very good in somethingsâŚ
Disclosure: Iâm just a moderator, I donât work for Suunto, Iâm just part of this community.
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The man is clearly not impressed.
He does have a valid, more general point that Suunto answer criticisms of their navigational failings with the word âAdventureâ as if itâs a remedial mantra. It isnât: itâs shouting âSquirrel!â to a hopefully excitable dog.
On the other hand (or wrist), Iâm not sure about the âhard-plasticâ issue with Spartan straps, at least. Admittedly âclunky,â the silicone on my SSU is like suede. So now Iâm questioning everything in the article. Do S7s really come in that steampunk color scheme?
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@Fenr1r Yes, when I read about hard plastic straps I had to stop and ask myself if I was still reading somebody posing as an objective reviewer with experience in various sports brands, or a social media hitman on Garminâs payroll. I have Spartan. The band is as comfortable as anything Garmin has made to date. I have Suunto 9. Canât complain either.
You know a person is going for the throat but doesnât have much to say when they start a pissing contest about how soft replaceable bands areâŚ
RIP, DCR! -
Honestly, while I agree with many criticisms and voiced many of them myself â sports mode customization, intervals, sensors support to name a few, Iâm kind of speechless after reading the review. Quite a few people suspected it would be negative, but to this extent? And so openly biased.
Blaming Suunto for not having sleep analysis. Does his beloved Apple Watch have it? Oh, wait. It doesnât.
He canât show us payments because heâs in the wrong country. Well, he can start by showing us Garmin Pay that to this day doesnât include majority of US credit cards. American Express, Ray? Citibank?
Suunto doesnât support sensors, boo! Does Apple Watch? Footpods and power meters in their native app? What about Fitbit as the only other viable smartwatch platform? Anything there?
The Suunto app on the watch doesnât sync perfectly, no way! How about picking up an Android phone and not reviewing a Wear OS device connected to an iPhone, for which all connectivity is handled by Google Wear OS app with an amazing 2 star rating.
He finds the price outrageous. Maybe it is. But given how he rationalized the existence of Garmin MARQ line⌠All that design, materials, fashion, appearances⌠You canât say $1500 for a Forerunner 945 with better design and materials is fine, and Suunto 7 at a third of this price isnât.
PS Really loved how he tried to dance around Fenix 6 having much worse GPS tracks when compared to Polar and Suunto. Ouch! That must have hurt.
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For me as a user who has been using Suunto for 6 years, S7 is a funny joke. If this watch offered everything that S5 plus maps, Google Play, Weros, then the battery would not be a problem for me but it is currently not such a functional toy. I can buy Fossil and I will have the same.
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I donât have a S7 but this is the biggest take away from me in the review:
âI have low confidence that Suunto will make much progress in that anytime soon. They donât have a road-map (I asked, and got no response), and historically speaking the last 2 years weâve only seen Suunto remove features in their products and platforms.â
As a company, Iâve just given up that Suunto will communicate with itâs core users and itâs clear that neglecting them the last few years with a slow to market SA app that still has missing core features so they can develop a smart watch hasnât really panned out. For some the price, feature set, and battery life might work, but I donât think it will work for most, especially because people think of fitness with Suunto, and will expect some of the basic missing features that Ray mentions. Anyway, Iâm pulling for SuuntoâŚI hope to buy another device form them some day.
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This review may be cruel, but hey⌠Suunto entered the market with the watch that is half-baked (it seems normal with their products lately) and much higher price than itâs competitors so if you are not offering much more for much higher price, what did you expect?
I really wish Suunto 7 becomes a success story and they get a substantial money injection which will help them strengthen their software development that will benefit all their watches in the future so they can get rid of the stigma of software that lags behind great built quality. But Iâm highly skeptical of WearOS.
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Here there is another review of external tester of Suunto
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@NickK The fact that some features are missing in AW isnât an excuse about the same missing features in a device of 479âŹ. Come on, also mi band 4 tracks sleep and it costs 35âŹ.
This is a watch with only very basic fitness and sport features which costs more than twice as much as others. Iâm definetly thinking to return or sell mine because I donât see any light in the next future of Suunto. -
@MichaĹ-MuszyĹski said in DC Rainmaker Review:
I can buy Fossil and I will have the same.
No, you wonât. The screen will be smaller and less bright, battery life shorter, poorer OHR quality, much poorer GPS quality, no offline maps, and no decent first party sports tracking app integrating into other platforms.
Thatâs here and now, assuming Suunto wonât make any improvements to S7.
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@Manuel-Silvestri said in DC Rainmaker Review:
@NickK The fact that some features are missing in AW isnât an excuse about the same missing features in a device of 479âŹ.
It isnât. My point was you canât make a huge deal about it in one device and completely ignore it in another. No smartwatch on the market at present, with exception of Fitbit Ionic and Polar M600, has native sleep tracking. Maybe battery life of 1-2 days has something to do with it?
Come on, also mi band 4 tracks sleep and it costs 35âŹ.
You can buy a watch for $1 and it tracks time! Does it mean all watches should cost $1? More importantly, does it track sleep or âtrack sleepâ? How do you know? Did they publish validation studies?
This is a watch with only very basic fitness and sport features which costs more than twice as much as others.
Others being? Fossil? See my response above. You get what you pay for. And if you needed advanced sports features, Iâm not quite sure why you purchased Suunto 7 to begin with. Its product manual, early reviews, and even this forum was quite clear about whatâs missing.
The truth is: there has been only two real sports smartwatches to date. Polar M600 and Sunnto 7. I will be the first to agree that M600 was a much stronger contender out of the gates for sports, especially gym use. It still does a lot of things even Suunto 9 canât do (Hpace zones per sport mode? Structured workouts? Detailed sleep tracking?). But M600 failed where it matterer for smart watches. The daily use. Design. Materials. Screen.
Suunto may or may not improve 7. Buy what they have today based on what you need today and you wonât be disappointed. Or donât buy.
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@NickK If Suunto puts the S7 in the section watch for sport, I buy it because iâm expecting that itâs a usefull tool with all the related features for it. Instead, it has not all the features that it should have, including sleep tracking.
And I donât think the only watch to compare with is the M600. Garmin Venu itâs a sport smartwatch and it tracks sleep, or not? It evaluates VO2 max, or not?
Iâm the first that expects that Suunto fills these gaps with the other manufacturers, but it is always several step behind them.
Just to finishâŚprobably if I knew this forum before, I certainly wouldnât have bought it. I only hope in further improvements. -
@Manuel-Silvestri said in DC Rainmaker Review:
@NickK If Suunto puts the S7 in the section watch for sport, I buy it because iâm expecting that itâs a usefull tool with all the related features for it.
You realize same section has S3 and S9 in it? Do they have same features? Why donât you expect same features in S3? Itâs in the same section, no? How come it doesnât have GPS or barometer? How dare they!
Garmin Venu itâs a sport smartwatch and it tracks sleep, or not? It evaluates VO2 max, or not?
You are making it too easy. Venu?
- Does Venuâs pay supports all major credit cards? No. No AmEx or Citibank for you in the US. Same goes for most of other countries
- Does Venu let you install apps like Keep, Telegram, AccuWeather, etc? No. They donât exist. They canât exist.
- Does Venu let you install as many apps as you want, even lame ones? No. Because Garminâs ConnectIQ has limitations on a number of apps/data fields on the device.
- Does Venu let you download as much music as you want? No. Because of similar ConnectIQ limitation.
- Does Venu let you type in replies to messages, text or chat? Nope.
- Does Venu let you read full notifications including pictures, etc? Nope.
- Can you deal with email messages â like delete, etc â on Venu? Nope.
- Can you listen to your voicemails or place calls on Venu? Nope again.
- Whatâs offline mapping/navigation options I have on Venu?
- Can you get access to custom app specific notification actions on Venu? NahâŚ
I can go on and on.
Venu is a an advanced activity tracker, with a nice screen, and a handful of smartwatch and sports features. Truly a jack of all trades, master of none. It falls short on all fronts. There are better activity trackers (anything Fitbit), better smartwatches (Apple Watch, Fossil, Suunto 7), and better sports watches (even Forerunner 45 is probably better).
Just to finishâŚprobably if I knew this forum before, I certainly wouldnât have bought it. I only hope in further improvements.
Return your S7, get Venu. Better still, get Venu but make sure to keep your receipt.
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@NickK Iâll do! Thank you for your kind support!
