Just bought Race - struggling very dark or Off screen

cumbrian-runner

I bought a Race on Ebay - very pleased as it was under £250.

However I am really struggling to keep the display on ir bright enought to be readable - always On display is enabled

The watch will briefly shoe a pretty watchface but it seems there is a timeout that either turns it Off or goes to a very simple grey digit only screen made up of flickering lines (the flicker is really offputting as I see it out the corner of my eye), I can only bring it to the full watch face by pressing buttons. I cannot get any sort of ‘raise to wake’ function to work properly (for a second or two if I am lucky)
In activities things follow a similar pattern - the screen starts bright but dims after a few seconds. In sunlight it is impossible to read and the only way to make it visible is to press the middle (crown) button which brightens it. But this only lasts a few seconds before it dims again. On a bike on a mount its completely unusable due to the need to take a hand of a handlebar to press the middle button!

I feel I must be missing a setting but I can find nothing relating to the display in Activities to keep it to a decent brightness during my runs and Always On then in General/Display I am at Medium, Always On (Enabled) and Full Wake Mode

Nothing is behaving as I expect - the display is really nice when its actually On fully but its so fleeting and much of the time its so dim (especially in sunlight) its unusable

Did I buy a faulty watch?![alt text](![image url](![image url](image url)))

freeheeler

@cumbrian-runner
this is all by design and intention to save battery and extend screen life time

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@cumbrian-runner the always on display during activity was disabled to avoid burn in for AMOLED devices. I will come back with a user warning when enabling it.

cumbrian-runner

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos

Thanks, when you say it ‘was’ disabled this is a Sunnto design choice?

I am failing to find any setting that keeps it on. What setting do I need to change to see this warning? I will take the risk as a completely black screen I see when used on a bike mount is useless and also poses danger to the user as the only way to wake the screen is pressing the middle button. Needing to do that every 5 seconds is terrible for safe cycling!

Petr Hudeček

@cumbrian-runner i have same problem with this suunto amoled solution… its it dissaster without end

sartoric

@cumbrian-runner said in Just bought Race - struggling very dark or Off screen:

What setting do I need to change to see this warning

It will come back with a user warning when enabling it.

Stefano M64

@Petr-Hudeček said in Just bought Race - struggling very dark or Off screen:

@cumbrian-runner i have same problem with this suunto amoled solution… its it dissaster without end

I got the same feeling at first, but after a short while I started to enjoy the brightness and deep colours (and blacks) of the big amoled display of my Race, its resolution is amazing and the visualization of the maps is above expectations.

A couple of days ago, I bought a S9PP for my wife, choosing that model for her small wrist, well the comparison between the two displays is, ehm … embarrassing

A Former User

@Stefano-M64 said in Just bought Race - struggling very dark or Off screen:

I bought a S9PP for my wife, choosing that model for her small wrist, well the comparison between the two displays is, ehm … embarrassing

as a former S9PP user and waiting for a new small unit is something I would not have wanted to read… but let’s wait and see what this Race S will be like, maybe they have changed display brand being of different size (43mm?)

isazi

@Stefano-M64 said in Just bought Race - struggling very dark or Off screen:

@Petr-Hudeček said in Just bought Race - struggling very dark or Off screen:

@cumbrian-runner i have same problem with this suunto amoled solution… its it dissaster without end
A couple of days ago, I bought a S9PP for my wife, choosing that model for her small wrist, well the comparison between the two displays is, ehm … embarrassing

It is, the colors of the amoled display are wonderful. I am still in the MIP camp (Vertical), but if in a few years we can get amoled displays that with always-on last 60-80 hours I may switch

Stefano M64

@Stefano-M64 said in Just bought Race - struggling very dark or Off screen:

A couple of days ago, I bought a S9PP for my wife, choosing that model for her small wrist, well the comparison between the two displays is, ehm … embarrassing

OK, after just few days of thinking, my wife and me decided to send the S9PP back to Amazon, there is really no reason to keep that model, paid 399€, when the Race cost only 440€. The Race’s price puts a new reference, so that now the S9PP should cost no more than 300€ to be reasonable. Rumors about Race S made the decision easier