How is the 9PP positioned with the new arrival of the RaceS?

[VoiGAS]

The discount is here finally! 9PP reduced to 299€ from 350€. Tempting, but as a 9P owner I think the difference is not significant enough for me to justify the buy

[Umer Javed]

@VoiGAS said in How is the 9PP positioned with the new arrival of the RaceS?:

…I think the difference is not significant enough for me to justify the buy

That’s an important point. Important question to ask if your current setup is hindering your training in any way. If it’s not, maybe best to wait it out a bit more as the tech will improve every year

I migrated to the 9PP from the Ambit 3 Peak, and before that I had the Garmin Forerunner 201 (that big ugly rectangle ), so it was a major jump between generations each time I upgraded. When I was buying the 9PP in October 2022, I gave myself the goal of not replacing for at least 5 years. I’ve been tempted with each of the new releases since then but I’m trying to push how much I can utilize what I have.

So, I’m waiting for a model in Autumn 2027 with this wishlist:

• Routable watch maps
• Multiband GPS (L1, 2, 5, 6…)
• 1-month battery (lifestyle tracking)
• 100m+ WR
• Wrist HR tracking on par with market leaders in that era
• 9PP/Race S formfactor
• sapphire glass
• mip woud be nice but I don’t care as much about the screen tech, I assume 3 more years is suitable time for the watch display tech to have addressed some issues that are present right now.

[Евгений 2]

@Umer-Javed Does the nasty, rattling vibration bother you in your watch? would you like to have a vibration power setting in the watch of the 27th year? I also like the 9pp form factor, but the vibration is really annoying, everything else is fine.

[VoiGAS]

@Umer-Javed Nice watch history. I had a similar journey, but with additional filling material
Garmin FR201
Garmin FR910XT
Suunto Ambit3 Vertical
Suunto 5
Suunto 9 Peak

Half of them wouldn’t have been necessary and I chose the 9P vs 9PP because it was 100€ cheaper last year. But that was before Suunto stopped updates on the 9P and brought really nice features like HRV and ClimbPro to the 9PP. Also new Suunto Apps are coming and can be saved on the S9PP (but not on the S9P). Looking back the 100€ would have been a good invest.

[wurzlsepp]

@VoiGAS well, if it helps you: i don’t think you’d miss the two named features a lot if you had them The HRV is mostly a gimmick in my opinion, since the HR sensor present in the watch is simply not realiable enough (for me that is); i turned HRV off. Min HR over the night is literally the same …
And the climb feature is nice, but very basic at the moment. In my bike holiday i ended up setting a way point before each climb in the Suunto App with the peak height as name. A bit more work, but also a more reliable solution. That may change if they add inclination, a proper elevation model and colors in the graph though

[Mauerwegler]

@TrailEyes said in How is the 9PP positioned with the new arrival of the RaceS?:

I have a Q&A with Suunto that’s in the editing phase and publishing next week, but I’ll offer up a sneak peek here

[…]

“Race S is more or less designed to replace it and modernize it. But with the 9 Peak Pro being a MIP display, it may still have a place in the line through the end of the year or even longer. There’s just a matter of whether it can be engineered now with some new supply chain options that we have and can it be sold profitably at a price point that’s in the mid-$200s?”

On Suunto’s website it now says the S9PP is produced in CN (select Specifications in the menu), not in FI. Did they really move manufacturing so late in the life of the product? On the Race S page it also says CN (and not FI, CN as I expected).

[VoiGAS]

@Mauerwegler You are right, Race S is just “Developed in Finland” regarding to the website and produced in China. If now everything in build in China, then my next watch is from Coros.
To bad I ordered the Race S exactly today, I’ll check if I can cancel. For me thats a Gamechanger - but the negative one

[VoiGAS]

@Mauerwegler Same for the Vertical!!!

[Egika]

@VoiGAS my Race S is “designed and made in Finland”

[VoiGAS]

@Egika Yes, it must have changed in the last days. My Race S should arrive in 2-3 days, then we will see…

[far-blue]

I believe there was a forum topic about this when the Race was released. If I remember correctly, watches are being manufactured both in China and in Finland, with the Finland production targeted at Europe distribution and China production covering the rest of the world. Of course, if there is surplus stock in one location it is likely to get moved around. With multiple manufacturing locations it would just be messy to explain that on the website.

[Maryn]

@VoiGAS my race s will arrive tomorrow . I will let you know

[isazi]

@VoiGAS isn’t Coros made in China too?

[VoiGAS]

@isazi Thats why - then thats no difference anymore. And if its good enough for Kilian Jornet, it will be good enough for me . But maybe I am lucky and I still get one from the finish production batch

[isazi]

@VoiGAS unfortunately, you don’t get paid to wear it, like Kilian

[Todd Danielczyk]

@VoiGAS @isazi I stated this a while back where the distinction being gone make the already saturated market space even more so.

https://forum.suunto.com/post/146330

To me it comes down to price alone at that point. That is not how I prefer to make my decisions and one of the reasons I went with Suunto in the first place.

[Ze Stuart]

@isazi yes, from watching videos with Killian talking about his training, his watch seems to be unnecessary to him. I remember one asking him if he used maps on his watch, and he said something like ‘no, I’d prefer to explore’.

[VoiGAS]

@Ze-Stuart Yes, but he seemed proud to show his (thousands) of yearly training hours. And he is absolutly right to do it. So he at least used the watch…

[VoiGAS]

@isazi said in How is the 9PP positioned with the new arrival of the RaceS?:

@VoiGAS unfortunately, you don’t get paid to wear it, like Kilian

I can ask . But you could be right…

[VoiGAS]

@isazi said in How is the 9PP positioned with the new arrival of the RaceS?:

@VoiGAS unfortunately, you don’t get paid to wear it, like Kilian

Regarding Coros as a Suunto alternative: I would prefer Coros Pace 3 over 9PP for a similar price. But for Race S there is no competition in Coros Land, the Apex is much more expensive - and the Pace has no maps. So I think I’ll keep the Race S, even if its made in China. Same for Garmin, 265 has no maps, 965 is much more expensive.

Suunto really found a sweetspot with the Race S