Suunto 7
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I was thinking of replacing my Spartan Sport with a new Suunto model, most likely S9, but I was also thinking there was something coming soon. This wasn’t exactly what I was thinking but a lot of the things I was hoping for.
Some specs are simply not what I want right now, and so, still more waiting time for me. What about this S10 you are all talking about?
This S7 goes in the right direction for me, just add HR belt support, get rid of all things google, enhance battery life to S9 levels and I am good to go. -
@Fenr1r yes, the maps are able to be zoomed quite a bit, here are zoom levels near me of a trail area.
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@Brad_Olwin Useful pix, thanks. Crucially, for assessment of the Suunto 7: does the mountain look like a rabbit? Is it particularly full of the things? Was it named after a particularly leporine local individual?
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I had 2 android wear watches for 4 years: lg watch and mobvoi tic watch. I even had few days monster from casio f21 android designed for adventure with barometer (but not serions sport at all)
Few facts:
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These watches do not use transflect screen which soak light from ambient, they use classic lcd which do not have backlight… like phones. This screens consume a lot of power and they are invisible in sun, but very good visible in dark (oposite from transreflect)
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these screens are very sensitive for touch and water. It can not be forever turned on, after 5 sec they go to slip and you can wake up it with wrist turns. They are not appropriate for seriuos athletes, because screen is almost invisible under sun.
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Glass material can not be saphirre or mineral.
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Android watches are very difficult to pair with BT senzors. Very few apps support Heart rate senzor or bike senzor or stryd.
5 They are good for basic sports, forget custimizable screens like now, maybe few fields and very limited functionality.
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Suunto 7 is not ONLY future for Suunto ( I guess and hope). Number 7 is lower than 9 so this is not flagship. Polar has midlerange android wear watch m600 for about 3 years. They released flagship last year vantage V, which is not android wear.
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Android wear is 80 % smart watch and 20 % sport watch. Suunto 9 is opposite ( 20 % smart watch and 80 % sport watch.
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If you want a toy with perfect support for notifications, colorfull maps, go for it. You will charge it every single day, i can bet on this. My casio f21 worked 1 day and/or 3,5 hours with GNSS max.
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2 years is around and I think that in summer they will release suunto 10 WITHOUT android wear
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No external sensors… really? No watch screen customizations? No activity tracking to their own backend platform, besides Google Fit?
How does it differ from Fossil Q HR and other WearOS watches that sell for half the price?
Right now Suunto 7 looks like another step away from Suunto core user base - which also raises questions over the future Spartan-derived watches and the current Suunto App that works with the SportTracker back-end.
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@DmitryKo In all fairness, the Suunto magic dust is there:
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First party fairly sophisticated sports tracking app, with multiple views, stats, and all linking via Suunto platform to a variety of real deal services like Training Peaks. No need to use jokes of an app, which is the vast majority of Wear sports apps – Endomondo and Strava, I’m looking at you!
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Built-in full-color offline maps during your outdoor activity. How many watches except for high end Garmin have this?
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Heatmaps to pick your outdoor running without tapping too much around the phone and/or watch
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A fancy looking, and I’d imagine customizable to a degree like all WearOS watch faces, Heatmaps watch screen
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Your workout data is transferred into Suunto app where you can further slice it and dice it. The configurable lap tables are quite nice. Better than anything from Garmin or Polar in that regard. Same goes for weekly/etc. summaries
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FusedTrack / FusedAlt / FusedSpeed… Or is there a FusedTrack? Nah, I think there isn’t.
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More buttons than your typical Android smartwatch with 1-2, making sports usage and glove operation way more relevant
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Battery life: don’t remember LG Sport giving me anywhere close to 8 hours of OHR, GPS, and music. And it was bulkier than 7. Not to mention both its GPS and HR were horrific. Ditto for M600, though at least it was good HR wise and reasonable GPS wise.
The jury is out on OHR for me (though I tend to believe @Brad_Olwin it’s good because otherwise, why would Suunto go with changing the package?), but this might be another improvement over existing Spartan and S5/S9 lines.
I’m fairly certain future updates will add more functionality, though without a clear roadmap this is a no go at the current price.
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So we have the S5 and S9 with their own Software and SuuntoPlus, all set with the SuuntoApp.
And now we have the S7 with a new Software for tracking activities and the Wear OS, with all this Google Stuff.
Two platforms where people have to work with at Suunto HQ. Oh my.
And I totally don’t understand why S7 doesn’t send Steps and Daily HR to SuuntoApp. This is nonsense in my opinion, I hope they change that. And adding Google, well I try to avoid Google. When all future watches will have this Wear OS stuff…hm.
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@Fenr1r from the right direction it looks like a rabbit! I will snap a photo in the next couple of days:)
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@jthomi agree with you on activity tracking. Sure hope it gets unified into SA.
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@Brad_Olwin It’s still a month till release and as far as I understand some posts here and on the web, there are still some beta functionality on the watch that needs to be get better. Remember, “your watch gets better every day”…
So a lot of time to change some small things, or even bigger ones. Adding HR from chest belt should be crucial!!
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@Brad_Olwin Most generous: at your leisure, of course.
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@Brad_Olwin Seems so. But oddly it seems to be holding battery pretty well during exercise, it’s the day-to-day use where it’s depleting quickly
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Will I be able to view the altimeter, barometer and heart rate graphs on the Suunto 7 during NON activity like you can with the Suunto 9?
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@jean-william-cousin Same here!
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@NickK I mostly do rollerblading and cross-country skiing, so I don’t need heatmaps and location maps since I can’t really follow other people’s running trails.
OTOH a heart-rate belt is a must for Autumn or Winter activities when the temperatures fall down to 0°C (32°F) and below, so long-sleeve jackets and gloves have to be worn, making the optical sensor unusable.
So there is no point in advanced analysis tools when you cannot record your HR data in the first place. Not to mention that the Suunto app is basically the Sports Tracker app with watch setup/customization - which doesn’t even work for Suunto 7.
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@DmitryKo While I agree with a sentiment, I think you are being too harsh. Especially regarding Suunto app.
Then again, as I said above: from what we can see thus far S7 is really a WearOS smartwatch, in S9 skin, with a bit of Suunto magic dust sprinkled on top. It is ideal for everyday wear, with perhaps some basic fitness pursuits. Run a few miles in a park, hike around a lake, stretch at a yoga studio, get your pumpkin latte while listening to a podcast. Is it for you? Probably no. Apparently it’s not for me either. Sucks to be us, pal
I have a feeling Suunto is gunning for the same crowd who buys Fitbit Versa, Amazfit Stratos, Huawei Watch 2, Samsung Galaxy Active… Great! Trouble is: they all are half the price.
Now, if Suunto moves more in the direction of Polar M600 (which did have structured workouts, and the best implementation of them on the Polar platform!) and beyond and adds legit training features like external sensors, intervals, sport mode customization, and the likes, I’d be handing the Finns my money pronto. Happily! Might even dust off my Android phone to get better features on the smartwatch.
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@NickK said in Suunto 7:
I have a feeling Suunto is gunning for the same crowd who buys Fitbit Versa, Amazfit Stratos, Huawei Watch 2, Samsung Galaxy Active… Great! Trouble is: they all are half the price.
I can believe that, and if I’m honest I can’t fault Suunto for going down this route if that is indeed the case. Must be hard to sustain a brand that purely caters for ultrarunners and other extreme athletes; in the grand scheme of things I can’t imagine this share of the market being an overly large one. Factor in that you’re putting out a watch like the S9 that is super-reliable, feature packed and has a huge battery life… repeat sales are likely going to be years apart.
I don’t really see many issues here, hopefully something like the S7 is going to give Suunto a lot more exposure to a broader range of athletes and it will take some sales from brands like Samsung and Huawei. Endurance athletes that the S7 isn’t targeting still have plenty of options, with the S9 still being Suunto’s flagship model. Well done Suunto for keeping current, as long as the S9 doesn’t suddenly get forgotten and the updates & improvements keep coming I’ll be pretty happy