Race S vs Vertical

wmichi

I also got my Race S today. My first impressions in comparison to my Vertical Ti:

It is super comfortable. The Vertical always presses against my wirst bone, the Race S not at all.
As expected, it looks and feels like a premium watch. But at what a price!
Strap is quite stiff
Crown is a little bit too stiff for my taste, which makes scrolling though the widgets harder than it should be
Buttons are tactile and even though everything is smaller, they are easy to press blindly. I find them a lot better than those on the 9PP and as good as those on the Vertical
UI is super fluid
As expected, Gorilla Glass has less reflections than Sapphire. When walking through the garden (sun / tree shadow), visibility was better than on the Vertical. I think in changing light conditions the Race S is easier to read.
The display is REALLY sharp
Tones are as loud as on the Vertical. I remember that the 9PP was too quiet (subjective!). I was afraid the Race S would be similar because of the smaller case, but it is not.
Vibrations feel better than on the Vertical (that’s very subjective)
OHR during the day: On day 1 no strange occurrences. On the Vertical I sometimes have weird HR spikes during the day, like HR 130 while sitting on the couch. So far nothing like this on the Race S.

But what really counts is how it works during training. I will report back after my morning run and enlighten you with my insights

dreamer_

@wmichi fantastic feedback. Will read your report about how do you feel the screen on workout compared to the Vertical.

Mff73

@dreamer_
Buy one and tell us .

dreamer_

@Mff73 I’m about to do it . Race or Race S both steel, same price these days. With the Vertical, the Race S seems the good choice but I’m still debating what to do

Tieutieu

@krakra not really noticeable

Tieutieu

@dreamer_ some of my friends have the Race : since launch I’ve find it less pretty than the SV. The Race s is much prettier to me, perfect according with the SV !

dreamer_

@Tieutieu I have a mixed feeling. I don’t like the Race Ti at all.
But the steel Race looks nice and you could use the new straps of the Race S to make the perfect match. So it is more about the less battery of the Race S (very long races can need the 60 hour mode, which I’m not sure about). The smaller screen it’s probably enough for me with the better readability.
The Race S has also that good DCR’s openwater report that’s it’s even announced at Suunto’s site.
The HR sensor is not a problem for me. I don’t care about that at all, but that new altimeter can be a very good thing.

Egika

@dreamer_ said in Race S vs Vertical:

@Tieutieu
The Race S has also that good DCR’s openwater report that’s it’s even announced at Suunto’s site.

In think it is a little strange, that everyone thinks, Race S has a much better open water accuracy than the Race without S.
It is not a scientific test and just a user experience. If I shared my user experience with Race and Race S in open water simming, the result would look different. Somehow many people think that DCR’S tests are semi-scientific…
I think if he’d worn the other model on that same arm with the same weather and swim style, you would be able to exchange the results…

dreamer_

Thanks @Egika . Totally agree but the thing is that now (for first time), there’s a good report and that report is for the Race S. And he had reviewed many many watches. Why some are ok and others always not? That’s the question. In my opinion, there’s something there that is real and should be looked better. But now we have a GNSS update and I’d be very interesting if anyone could check the new performance (in fact, it’s important because if there’s still a bug there, or a bad report, it should be reviewed)

As you are pointing, I think the most accurate tests should be done wearing all the watches in the same arm (and in the same place on the wrist). Your technique can be very different depending on the arm and where you are wearing the watch.
Perhaps testing only one watch per swim (I.E, one swim with a Race and another one with an FR965 wearing it at the same place) and comparing the distance with another watch on a swim buoy. That’d be pretty accurate.

The problem is there’s not many people that have tested this watch on openwater. I know at least that another reviewer said that it’s ok for him, but there are not other comparisons with other watches.

wmichi

My thoughts after 24h and one short run with the Race S:

Very comfortable to sleep with, no red marks on my wrist bone as I always have with the Vertical
Charged to 100% at 18:00, at 9:00 with 30min outdoor running the watch is at 92% (AOD active, do not disturb 21:00-07:00, no notifications, performance mode)
Did a 5k run in the morning: GNSS spot on as the Vertical. The route is not that difficult, but there’s quite a lot of tree cover. Looking forward to some serious runs in the mountains
Buttons easy to operate while running
Visibility of the screen: Unfortunately it’s a very cloudy day. Readability of the screen in this weather 10/10. People with glasses could have problems with the size of some texts.
Crown: I think I have a faulty unit. When I operate the crown with my index finger, the finger slides 50% of the time over the crown without the crown rotating. And there’s a grinding noise when the crown rotates. No way to easily zoom in/out on the map or go through activity settings while running.

Regarding the crown: So far the only negative and possibly a reason for me to return the watch.

Egika

@dreamer_ this is why I always recommend to test yourself.
I have done many outdoor swims with Vertical, Race and Race S.

While my swim style is maybe not very good, I regularly do triathlons and always get very good to perfect results.
Here is the same event in 2023 with Vertical and 2024 with Race S:
This course even passes under 3 bridges!

A Former User

@wmichi said in Race S vs Vertical:

Regarding the crown: So far the only negative and possibly a reason for me to return the watch

I asked a local dealer to view the watch before purchasing, and even in my case the crown was very very stiff. Faulty batch or low quality?

wmichi

@ferns I will contact support. In my case the crown is rubbing against the case.

dreamer_

@Egika thanks a lot for those shots. So Vertical and Race S are spot on and that report is more than enough to understand than both watches are accurate.
Since you are having good tracking, it’d be incredible nice if you could share a report of the Race that could be compared with the Vertical or Race S (a trainning or something you have there)

I’m probably buying the big Race, instead the Race S. It has a very good price now.

Egika

@dreamer_ this thread is about Race S vs Vertical.
I will PM you some open water swim with Race

Brad_Olwin

@ferns said in Race S vs Vertical:

@Tieutieu I look forward to reading some of your long-term runs to hear more about how it lasts. 50k would be awesome to know

Here is a 50 K race with Vertical and Race S

Tieutieu

Small test of OHR of the Race s, trail running.

It’s not perfect, but it’s far much better than SV.
For training I will not take my belt all the time when using the SRs.

(No power today, I was suppose to do 6 rep…did only 3, and as you can see OHR perfectly recorded that it was going worst and worst ! )

dreamer_

@Mff73 bought finally the Race (but the Big one). Black steel because of the color (exactly the same weight as the F6X Pro I have weared for 5 years. So weight is fine). With those new ATH6 bands It will look fantastic.
So don’t know if I’ll buy the Race S in a future. It has some hardware fixes and in paper it’s the most advanced watch but I was worried about the screen size and the battery for long races.

dreamer_

@Brad_Olwin nice race and very good report!! Thanks

Highlands

@dreamer_ I have the black Race. With a nylon band feels lighter and even more comfortable.