Suunto Race S general discussion

matt-r

@taziden Of course, I have already written directly to support, but seeing that my problems are not isolated, I decided to highlight a series of issues. Maybe not for those of you who already have the watch and are satisfied – congratulations on getting a good piece – but for those in Poland, for example, who might find this forum before purchasing and consider not just what the manufacturer describes, or what is so positively reviewed on platforms like YouTube for models produced in Finland.

It turns out that not all units are the same, and even though, as you mentioned, this relates to issues with my specific model, when I browse the forum, I see that each of these problems has been flagged earlier – either collectively, as in my case, or individually.

jjpaz

@matt-r said in Suunto Race S general discussion:

First, what’s already been mentioned on the forum – the sleep tracking doesn’t work. At all! Neither naps nor night sleep – nothing. What does this mean? There’s no way to collect data for HRV…

I suppose you have configured the 24/7 tracking and HRV measurement (unoder ‘Sleep’ menu), right?

If that’s correct you can verify your DND hours and your rest hertrate for improved measurement). Also, you can perform a soft-reset and test.

matt-r

@Todd-Danielczyk I first want to state I can understand your frustration; you buy a product to work.

One thing I noted with my Vertical is I was getting inconsistent HRV/Sleep until I set my resting heart rate up higher in the watch. I will need to search for the post I made in this regard but that may be something to try. Once it was raised I was getting much better data and may help you in this case.

Once I find my post I will update this to give you an idea of how much from baseline I moved the resting HR.

matt-r

@jjpaz Of course, I had it set up. I spent almost 2 hours fiddling with the correct settings, etc. At this point, I’m positively obsessed – I even read the manual when I don’t know something
I did a soft reset, then a hard reset – and still the same issue

dreamer_

Hi @matt-r . About the sleep issues I seriously think there’s something with your unit. My SV was not tracking the sleep well, but my SR was perfect even with the naps, as far as I remember. And the SR is using the same algorythms as the SRs.

Only one thing. I have had a similar feeling with my SV and SR I had and for different bugs as yours. In fact I don’t own them now for several fixes that are still pending. But while I understand your frustration, just to note that the CN reference in the way you are using it, doesn’t sound very well for several reasons.

Don’t take me bad, it’s not my idea to correct a man that is frustrated and that I even completely understand. But a guy of these forums made me think that we are living in a global world and with users that are also from China, and that some are also perhaps here reading your comments and thinking about them.

And there’s also a true reality here we are not used to think. Most of the electronic devices (almost all) are manufactured in China (even Garmin or Apple watches are made in China). And chinese companies (like the now owner of Suunto) do also have engineers working worldwide, like in the Suunto case.

A similar example is Coros (with headquarters at the USA and the EU), Huawei (with a fantastic health lab in Finland) or even Amazfit (with many people working for Zepp in the whole world. I.e, Their PAI thing is created by a norwegian University, for example).

I’m not defending Suunto for the issues but It’s just It does not have sense at all to think that if a watch is manufactured in China is going to be worse. That is not realistic in 2024 and that does not correspond to (any) brand of the world.

matt-r

@dreamer_ I’m not referring to China as a problem, but rather, from what I researched at the very beginning when I was deciding on a watch to replace the Suunto 5, I was “informed” from all directions that this was again Finnish-made, at least for the US and European markets. And that was a big plus for me, even a huge one. My first surprise came when, while attaching the strap, I noticed the “CN” label… It’s not about that. I’ve been using Thinkpad laptops for years (this is a side note, but let me explain) even when they were still under IBM ownership, and I continue to upgrade to new models now that they’re owned by Lenovo, and I would never switch to another brand – and it’s directly in Chinese hands. That’s not the point. I mentioned this because many people are complaining about this model – Suunto Race S – for various reasons. But no one specifically mentioned what the exact production origin of the unit is – I’m simply looking for a “common” denominator to understand what Suunto as a brand did wrong.

far-blue

I completely understand the frustration when you put good money down for a device and it doesn’t perform as expected but I do feel it healthy to pull some perspective here.

As others have suggested I think in your case there’s a good chance you have a device with a defect - uncommon (although you’d think not from this forum because if you don’t have a defective device you are unlikely to shout about it here!) - but that’s why all the activity device manufacturers have decent replacement policies. However, even without a defective device some functions just don’t work for everyone. Remember the issue a lot of devices had with OHR with different skin pigments or with tattoos.

What I think is slightly weird about the running world is that if a sports watch doesn’t track all your stats to 99.99% accuracy we seem to get upset but if a €250 pair of ‘super shoes’ doesn’t work with your personal biomechanics there doesn’t seem to be the same reaction. At least with Suunto if you don’t find joy in a replacement watch you can return it and try another option without being out of pocket. You may find a Coros or a Polar or a Garmin is just going to work better for you. Just like Brooks, Nike, Hokka or Puma shoes may or may not work better for you.

For reference, my Race S works perfectly for me so at least it’s fair to say the Race S can do everything Suunto claim, just not for everyone all the time everywhere.

nicovoim

@matt-r I would say that where Race S is manufactured doesn’t play a big role at all. I have Finnish made and Chinese made both in stainless steel and also titanium one from china and they are identical. Build quality and way the watch works is similar, only difference is that Finnish made has crown lot stiffer than Chinese made.

nicovoim

@matt-r said in Suunto Race S general discussion:

Hello everyone,
First of all, I’ll start by saying that I’ve been a Suunto user for 2 years – I was using my old Suunto 5. After such a long time, even though the watch works fairly well, I decided to treat myself to a new one. I chose the Suunto Race S.
What it “offers” was enough for me to upgrade from my previous usage, but hey, we need to evolve.
How wrong I was…

Suunto Race S – the CN version – sorry for the term, it’s a waste of money. At least with the update 2.37.48, because that’s the update the watch forced right after starting it and connecting it to the app.
I don’t even know if what I’m going to describe below is related to the update, the place of production, or just the overall terrible watch…
First, what’s already been mentioned on the forum – the sleep tracking doesn’t work. At all! Neither naps nor night sleep – nothing. What does this mean? There’s no way to collect data for HRV…
Second – the heart rate for the whole day is not correctly transmitted to the app. The same goes for steps. I suspect, because these three pieces of information are all in one place – recovery – something’s wrong with the app vs watch function.
So, in my case, the entire “recovery” panel ends up being empty.
What’s even stranger, the running steps are shown on the app in the “steps” tile, but they are not included in the “Activity” tab.

It’s hard to believe this watch is so popular…?

I read a statement in this discussion: “Suunto is not Garmin.” Maybe, I don’t know what Garmin is like and I’m not interested. But I SPENT MY OWN MONEY to buy from this manufacturer, and explanations that “it’s not that accurate” – sure, it might not be precise, it doesn’t have to be – BUT IT DOESN’T WORK AT ALL!
Someone said: “Well, you should measure heart rate with a chest strap anyway.” Sure, I’ve been using it from the start, but then why does the manufacturer include it in the watch, so heavily advertising the HRV feature, if it causes so many problems? Wouldn’t it have been better to make a true RACE watch – without all the “extras,” but with 100% working RACE features – let’s call them sport functions – save the space for a bigger battery and there you go, a “perfect” watch.
Instead, I got a new piece of junk, which from my point of view is worth less than my old Suunto 5.

You can criticize me – maybe everything works fine for you, maybe it’s because of the production being moved to CN? What about the watches you describe that “everything works” – where are they made?

I don’t know… I know one thing – I am VERY DISAPPOINTED with this purchase. Since the watch was bought at an electronics store, I can’t return it.

Maybe I’ll just stir up a storm in a teacup, I don’t mind. Maybe this will make the manufacturer PAY ATTENTION THAT SOMETHING IS SERIOUSLY WRONG.
Matt

I have my resting hr set to 60bpm and do not have any issues to track sleep or naps. Race S for me is the best watch to track sleep compared to Fenix 7 and 8 cause those sometimes struggle at least for me.
So try setting resting hr bit higher, mine actual resting hr is about 50bpm so 60bpm setting in watch works flawlessly. For steps when running, those are shown on activity tab and steps tile and in watch also and seems to be again for me quite accurate as well, tested with taking 500 steps and watch recorded 496.

Jeffrey Tillack

@far-blue well said!