Suunto Race S optical heart rate sensor accuracy
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@Brad_Olwin I have the same bad experience with OHR while running on my newly bought Suunto Race S and I just return to the dealer for checking. It give me the inconsistent heart rate data, sometimes it bump up very high and some times no heart rate signal while I still maintaining the steady speed on the flat road. This morning, while seating at the office, My heart rate should be in normal range 45-50 but it is bump up to 90 - 100 ad I cannot measure the SPo2 on my watch, I tried to measure SPO2 several times and it says it is only 70 which is super ridiculous. I feel sad then go to Suunto Vietnam directly after that, now i need to wait for their check.
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@RdoubleC May I know how is the heart rate on your watch now. I got the same issue as you and now I am waiting the answer from Suunto Vietnam after leaving my watch there one week for checking.
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@TuanNT said in Suunto Race S optical heart rate sensor accuracy:
This morning, while seating at the office, My heart rate should be in normal range 45-50 but it is bump up to 90 - 100
While reading this I decided to check what my Race S is currently showing as I am taking a coffee break at work. The watch is showing 120-140 while I am sitting still and my pulse is clearly about 50 - I have manually counted it. This is ridiculous!
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B brechtvb referenced this topic on
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@sky-runner My first impression was that the heart rate accuracy was good. After buying the watch, I went on holidays and used the watch mostly for intensive hiking.
When back home, doing circuit training I noticed the heart rate sensor was displaying half of what I expected it to be. I ordered a new watch strap from Hirsch, model vocem, which better keeps the watch correctly positioned. Accuracy has well increased and I rarely notice heart rate drops -
@dariof
I was so depressed by the ugliness and cheap feel of my Garmin 265 that I purchased the Suunto race S and wore it in parallel for a month.Take-aways:
General- I am stuck in the Garmin eco-system… Would be great to export all activities including gear into Suunto. There are so many things i want to search in my history that Garmin keeps (actually - mostly gear is missing), and MASS import/export
Pro - Suunto
- much more asthetic and better built - I love it
- much nicer overall feel
- incredibly much better navigation and maps
Con - Suunto
1 not as good battery as Garmin - this was a surprise.
2 alarms are not by weekday (i get up different times different days in predictable pattern, my garmin handles that for wake-up alarms
3 eco-system issue
4 the HRM is crap when exercising (However, identical to Garmin when just going about, and very similar HRV for some reason.)- I still dont get a VO2max read out after a month of 24/7 wear?? (hence cant judge if it seems correct)
Overall - impossible choice. I might stick with garmin for ecosystem and some features I am used to. Painful as it is not to have the Suunto on my arm.
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@Tobias-Petrini hey
you could import all your past activities to suunto using RunGap app on iOS or syncmytrack on android Regarding vo2max I think there is a bug you should run 3 times with an hr belt and then it is unlocked if I remember well
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@Josaiplu I never used hr belt and I have vo2max
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@Gunnar with my Race vo2max never appear before I did 3 run with hr belt as far as I remember, if this is fixed it’s good news
thanks 
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@Josaiplu @Tobias-Petrini It took about 8 months running 3/4 times a week with hr belt for VO2 to show up on my Race(1)…
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@Tobias-Petrini regarding VO2Max, try the Cooper Test on Suunto App, after completing, you should get the value.
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I’ve had similar chronic issues with the heart rate on my Race S. Not registering an accurate heart rate until a mile or two into a ride or run, dropping heart rate during an activity, reading overly high during a ride or run. On some activities like cross training, I’ll never get a reasonable heart rate reading. I tried posting a review on Suunto’s website describing this and other issues I’ve had with the Race S and Suunto refused to publish the review saying my feedback “is not a common issue.” I contacted customer support hoping for some resolution since they apparently regard my experience as abnormal. Instead of a resolution, I got a bunch of excuses as to why I can’t really expect the watch to perform any better. All in all, my experience with this watch has been a disaster. I’ll never buy another Suunto product. Going back to Garmin.
