Future of the Spartan Line

fejker

@Hannu-Liljemark said in Future of the Spartan Line:

@Michał-Rudzki What features are you missing from SSU? I ran for over 17 years without a watch and then I bought SSU in 2016 when it launched. The firmware releases first two years fixed the biggest issues. Personally I understand Suunto can’t support a product forever with new software. It’s like smartphones and laptops - there is a lifecycle. SSU wasn’t cheap when it launched, but I feel I’ve gotten my moneys worth.

Right now with Stryd pod (purchased 2018) I’m improving my running and SSU still displays/collects the data. People seem to complain about missing structured intervals, but personally I have so many other possibilities with SSU and Stryd to improve my running that I don’t need more features. I guess people use these tools in different ways.

Certainly different ways … I don’t run for example, but I do use my watch for road cycling, hiking, climbing, skiing and other occasional sports like kayaking, etc.
I am certainly not easy to please when it comes to wearables, but c’mon, they really screwed it up with the Spartan line compared to Ambit when it comes to features. Hardware wise I really like the Spartan line.

Michał Rudzki

@Hannu-Liljemark just because you don’t use some features it doesn’t mean that others don’t. Compare that watch to previous Ambit/Core line there is a huge difference in favor of Ambit line and another thing is that at that time other competitors already had better functionalities (don’t know why I choose Suunto, worst choice of 2016) Suunto promised a lot but never keep promises. There was an interview witch one guy from Suunto and a lot of things that were maintained are not in the Spartan line. Would you like some examples:

in the RUN training, you can’t set time of the training to the seconds, there are steps every 5 sec ?!?! (in the watch there are already counters where you can set every second)
Alarm (I know you don’t need that one… ) but I am using the watch as daily and would like to see the possibility of setting the different alarms for different days of the week or even couple alarms for one day. !!!
sleeping feature, luck of the phases !?!?!?! (all Chainise watch for 10$ has that feature) and watch for 650 euro !?!?!?!
it’s not possible to track your progress via APP on android (really) movescount was really great, don’t know why ?!?!?!?!
create your track via mobile on 6", really !?!?!?!?
the biggest mistake is putting all that to 3rd party application, you are paying for watch 650 euro + subscription, for example, Strava/Runalyze/TP to get more you have in SuuntoApp you need have a subscription with you need pay 10 euro/month really !!! there is no discount while you are using suuntoApp. So, if you would like to do some analysis of your data you need to pay and pay a lot…
in the swimming training, you can’t change pool meters, not all pools have 25m ?!?!?!?!
luck of missing battery indicator of the strap or stryd or other Bluetooth dev. ?!?!?!?!
notifications on the watch they don’t work as they should, from the beginning there is a bug related to notifications. You can’t clean notifications that already have been read they didn’t disappear in the watch… IMHO person who was involved in implementing that feature should be fired…
I don’t think if Suunto has Q&A process, there are a lot of issues and errors after releasing a new feature or fixing bugs, I thing people/users are the testers and Suunto should pay us for that testing too or even try to give us more features.
it’s not possible to change hand for the watch, you can’t rotate watch face
missing really good web frontend (when I bought they have at least that one…)
counting steps to km or miles it’s really easy (just set measure your step save that in the watch and count using that variable)
Why Spartan can’t get VO2 0 I use that a lot ??? (don’t say it licensed, they are international company… so the should have some many for that otherwise they can put some effort and many into Azure ML for that and after 2 years the can implement their own solution instead of paying for license)

The watch has 2 years, I don’t agree with you regarding the life cycle, look on the Garmin/Polar or even to some of Chainise like Xiaomi, Samsung their life cycle is around 5 years and the software is much more reliable then Suunto’s. They should admit the Spartan series was a joke, they learned a lot on that platform nothing more and now they are trying to forget about that and putting much more effort into S series.

I bought the watch for Movescount platform before order I did some research and at that time I agree with the fact it’s totally new platform and logically is a fact if you are designing a new platform you thinking about implementing something new, refreshing old and implement also old features. Besides as suunto would behave honorably, I would buy a new their product instead goes to another competitor (definitely not Suunto)

bbx100

@Egika said in Future of the Spartan Line:

My experience is that you do get premium support!
My Spartan Trainer had a battery issue and was repaired and express mailed to Finland and back in almost no time and for free.
Can’t complain at all.
What is your experience with the support?

I had no issues with hardware so far (I have Spartan baro only for 3 months). Previously weared and still have suunto core from 2011, had no issues too. That is the reason why I bought suunto again. I was referring to software support -> updates and so on. And now we hear that only S line will be updated, nothing more for spartans… and I just bought the watch ?
I even don’t know what is suunto support in my country (Croatia)?
I hope that I won’t need it

fejker

@Michał-Rudzki I’m sure there are many other things we can add to that list, but one in particular that bugs me is that you can’t pair multiple sensors to the watch. For example two HR sensors and when you go out you grab one and the watch just uses it without having to go through the unpair/pair process every time you switch sensors. And another very basic one is that you don’t get a list of sensors with their serial number/name … it just has a generic name like PowerPOD or Speed/Cadence or HR strap. On competitor watches when you start to pair a device, it is listed in a list of available devices, but with Suunto, the watch just picks the first one it likes, no choice there - so when I want to pair my indoor trainer sensor as a bike pod, my crank power meter gets picked up or vice versa when I want to pair a power pod, my trainer gets picked up as it also transmits power, but I want to read power from the crank. Then you need to resort to hoaxing the watch to pick up the correct one, but later realise it doesn’t even work properly with the indoor trainer and displays some irrational data and most of the time – instead of any data. Frustrating as the trainer works flawlessly with Zwift or other watches.

isazi

@bbx100 I don’t think there has been any official message from Suunto saying Spartans are not supported anymore.

sartoric

@isazi said in Future of the Spartan Line:

@bbx100 I don’t think there has been any official message from Suunto saying Spartans are not supported anymore.

Correct
And just consider that “support” doesn’t necessary mean “updates” or “new features”

Brad_Olwin

@fejker But the multiple sensors is system-wide for Suunto! None of their watches accept multiple sensors and have not since the T6c! My T6c accepted two HR sensors, I believe. I agree and wish that this was a feature that would be implemented at least in a watch used for biking. I have 3 bikes and understand the issue.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

I think that might change since this 2020 bug arised

ABHISHEK ROY BARDHAN

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos The Spartan WHR is my first watch ever. I had never used anything before. Really liked it - few complaints. The line should definitely be supported for some more time in the future.

ABHISHEK ROY BARDHAN

@bbx100 My case is very similar to yours , I brought this watch in India , liked the Spartan very much. Perhaps Suunto should consider supporting this line as in money countries Spartan is affordable and perhaps the first people will buy. Yes there are Garmins and all but supporting Spartan is a strong case.

Hannu Liljemark

@Michał-Rudzki

the biggest mistake is putting all that to 3rd party application, you are paying for watch 650 euro + subscription, for example, Strava/Runalyze/TP to get more you have in SuuntoApp you need have a subscription with you need pay 10 euro/month really !!! there is no discount while you are using suuntoApp. So, if you would like to do some analysis of your data you need to pay and pay a lot

Should Suunto provide better analytics for all sports the watch supports, only for running or biggest tracked sports based on user stats? Today I realized how good Stryd’s analytics are, at least for a hobbyist like myself. But Stryd only supports running so I guess it’s their core business to give metrics and intelligence to the users.

I agree some deal to get discount from 3rd party monthly service would be really nice.

theorydude

@isazi “I don’t think there has been any official message from Suunto saying Spartans are not supported anymore.” - that’s because Suunto refuses to communicate anything to its customers. Spartan’s are dead. Suunto is all about the 7 line:
smartapps to compete with iWatch, and trying to get the SA connected with as many paying services as possible.

Can’t say I blame them, as they have to follow the profitability. I just wish that they would be transparent about what they are doing, and give people a roadmap. The core problem/challenge is this: Suunto is about 300+employees - no idea on their sale, as they are private. Garmin is over 10K employees and over $3 billion in sales.

Suunto developed multiple lines and watches to try and compete, but they simply don’t have the manpower to keep them supported. Unfortunately, we are getting stonewalled in the process, as they are afraid of losing customers wholesale.

Egika

@theorydude Spartans are not dead. The are great gadgets working as they’re specified.
I had a Spartan Ultra and have a Spartan Trainer.
All good with them and nothing dead about it.

Michał Rudzki

@theorydude look on the firmware on Spartan’s did you seen there some updates?! I don’t think so, support also won’t tell anything about updates. No updates mean the Spartan line is dead. X line had a couple of updates in the meantime.

Egika

@Michał-Rudzki ok, if this is your definition of “dead” - then you are right.
That also means a Rolex when you buy is for a couple of thousand dollars is dead right away…?!

My definition is: The gadget has a spec. I buy it according to this spec. Then it does its job until it is dead (broken). This should not happen too soon - and my Spartan Trainer is still going strong. As well as my S6 and T6. All of them are only dead if I don’t replace the battery.

Why on earth would you regard a watch as “alive” only as long as there are new features coiming in? Get one and use it

Michał Rudzki

@theorydude I am not expecting to get thousands of new feature, I am only expecting to get bugs that are in the watch firmware nothing more… any try of contacting with support ends on quote “we are working internally and we can’t say when it happens” besides mixing Rolex watch with Smartwatch isn’t on the place.

Egika

@Michał-Rudzki in your post in this thread (Dec 29) you ask for a lot of additional features (which is legit and most of them others would like to see as well) - now you are talking about bugs.
What substantial bugs are there left in the Spartans that don’t allow to use it according to the specs?

Michał Rudzki

@Egika what features I am only expecting improving what is already in the watch and fixing some noting bugs and behavior that has been thousands of thousands of times commented by the community. I agree with the fact that Spartan will not get any new features because of X line. Regarding your note, on Dec 29 not all was known regarding Spartan Line and it’s not a necessity to catch me for a ‘word’ what I would like to have in an unsupported watch that is still sold in Amazon even in Suunto Shop. For most communities, it’s obvious if you are selling something you should support it.

Egika

@Michał-Rudzki ok, now we better stop argueing, because this goes in circles.

My Spartan Trainer had an issue last year and was replaced within days.
This is what I call support. And it works nicely with all watches Suunto is selling as of today - including Ambit3

Otherwise the watches are what they are. And if your definition of support is an ongoing change in firmware, yes, then there is no support for older models like Spartans (while there has been a fix around new year, when the date issue came up. That’s support - isn’t it?)

zhang965

@Michał-Rudzki said in Future of the Spartan Line:

@Egika what features I am only expecting improving what is already in the watch and fixing some noting bugs and behavior that has been thousands of thousands of times commented by the community. I agree with the fact that Spartan will not get any new features because of X line. Regarding your note, on Dec 29 not all was known regarding Spartan Line and it’s not a necessity to catch me for a ‘word’ what I would like to have in an unsupported watch that is still sold in Amazon even in Suunto Shop. For most communities, it’s obvious if you are selling something you should support it.

I totally agree with you, BUT

It’s time to move on.

Suunto has their own problem, not only for supporting one line of watch.

I was an user both of Spartan ultra ans S9B for long time. I know, they did provide any improvement for Spartan Ultra since long time, so what? S9B has no improvement either…