DC Rainmaker Review

[Matthias Hüls 0]

Using the S7 for about 3 weeks for running and swimming (pool) and as a daily companion, I have to admit that Ray is correct here. While GPS can compete with a Forerunner 945 or AW, OHR is biased. For example, in pool swimming it +- gets distance correct, but OHr is erratic and completely useless. And an annoyance is the battery use in smartwatch mode (2-4%\h!), which is not up to Suunto‘s promise of 2 days at all. On the other hand, the hardware itself is beautiful, a fact also acknowledged by Ray.
My impression of Ray‘s review is that of a huge disappointment with respect to initial expectations. And I don‘t have the impression of Ray being a Garmin fan boy, quite the opposite, considering his criticism on Garmins sportwatches.
Point is, Suunto has to work fast on their side, namely the Suunto app on S7. And they should work on their communication strategy, shiny catchwords as for advertisements will not suffice.
Personally, I decided to sell my S7 and go for an AW3, which is chepaer, mare accurate on sensors with additional smartwatch functionality.

[A Former User]

@Matthias-Hüls-0 said in DC Rainmaker Review:

For example, in pool swimming it +- gets distance correct, but OHr is erratic and completely useless.

Please show me the OHR that consistently works great in the pool. Also, a regular contributor @Saketo-Nemo found the pool OHR quite acceptable

And an annoyance is the battery use in smartwatch mode (2-4%\h!), which is not up to Suunto‘s promise of 2 days at all.

Well, your mileage may vary, but I took my watch off the charger about 8 hours ago. It’s at 85% as of now. That works out to be less than 2% battery, in smartwatch mode, with many notifications received, emails previewed and deleted, timers run, weather checked… Oh, and I have an always-on display to boot! At that rate, I could expect 53 hours. And it should probably be more, because at least 16 hours of those would logically be Theater Mode / DND during sleep.

And I don‘t have the impression of Ray being a Garmin fan boy, quite the opposite, considering his criticism on Garmins sportwatches.

Care to show us some of that criticism? Apart from a single article about bugs he probably wrote because his Forerunner crashed, lost weekly quality workout or race, and Ray was very, very disappointed. Last time I checked, Ray hasn’t met a Garmin watch he didn’t like, nor didn’t think was absolutely amazing, most advanced, perfectly priced, and so on. From a lowly Forerunner 45 to MARQ Athlete. And I find it increasingly funny that known Garmin issues (remember ANT+ antenna debacle in Fenix 5) somehow get completely missed by Ray in his rigorous testing.

Check out Fenix 6 thread in Garmin forums and a number of issues reported by people there. That’s half a year after the release. And somehow, none of these issues stuck Ray or have been mentioned in Ray’s review

Again, I’m not saying Suunto 7 doesn’t have its fair share of shortcomings (and even more so on iPhone side), but let’s call spade a spade. Had Suunto 7 been called Garmin Fenix 7, the tone and emphasis of Ray’s review would have been completely different and many of his criticisms wouldn’t even have been voiced.

[Yak Ima]

I like my Suunto 7, but Suunto MUST fix this like right away…

• Route navigation. I can’t believe that a watch with maps doesn’t have navigation. It completely blows my mind.
• Sensors. Just like evetyone else. Let me decide if I want to run out of battery fast or not.
• Let me configure my sports profiles. For general use they are ok, but if I want to do interval training I need different data screens.

Other than that I’m perfectly fine with it. Battery life, OHR, sync, options… The watch looks gorgeous.

[Brad_Olwin]

@Matthias-Hüls-0 I have an AW4 and have done extensive comparisons with the S7. My take:

• AW4 OHR does not work as well as S7 for me, I get a lot of flat line OHR when running.
• The GPS accuracy of AW4 is nowhere near as good as S7
• To get the functionality of S7 a third party app is necessary
• Downloaded offline maps on the AW4 require a third party app and are much more work than S7
• Getting my data out of the watch and into 3rd party analysis is a PITA on the AW4
• AW4 Stryd app is great, if Suunto Wear OS app would allow these sensors this would not be an advantage.

I have data for wearing the S7 and AW4 on the same runs to verify my claims for the first two points. I agree as a smartwatch for iOS AWs can’t be beat but… they are not great sport watches in my experience.

[A Former User]

@Brad_Olwin To add, I run extensively with AW3 last summer and Stryd app connected to Training Peaks. While the setup is a dream come true for structured workouts and running with power, I had Stryd signal drops and the app freezing constantly. Several times on all my long runs, sometime for good half a minute to a minute.

Interestingly enough, no other device – be it Suunto, Polar, or Garmin – lost Stryd on that route. Bottom line: AW comes with issues of its own. YMWV.

[vlado]

@Yak-Ima Completely agree with all three points

[Bulkan]

@Yak-Ima I agree! But I would like to know the data of how many users use sensors via third apps Here most of the users aren’t in the target of this watch, maybe we want to like this watch, is a Suunto, but is not as our previous Suunto. For me the sync in Suunto app of steps, heart rate and calories pushed from google fit will make a better experience in the Suunto’s ecosystem.

I read @jorgefd78 about LTE. I don’t find useful LTE but there are a lot of users willing to have that in a sport watch. But if now the main critique is the battery life of the Suunto 7 I can’t imagine with LTE.

Today since this morning to 20:20h battery status 61%. I didn’t workout, twisted ankle!

[Brad_Olwin]

@Yak-Ima Just to ask, is the Running Interval Sport mode not sufficient for Intervals? Or are you asking for Interval set ups for other sports?

[JANTIKAINEN]

Quick OHR comparison from this morning’s commute to work.
Polar OH1 (left upper arm)
Suunto 7 (left wrist)

Distance: 8,87 km
Duration: 24:45
Temperature: -6 C

Polar: avg 128bpm, max 150bpm
Suunto: avg 122bpm, max 151bpm

S7 = red

If I look at the course profile the S7 should be more right in the beginning but it’s hard to say, what was the reality.
I’ll try it again on my way home and also with running.

[A Former User]

@JANTIKAINEN I’d say it’s not a very fair comparison

-6 is cold enough to skew something on your wrists when compared to the upper arm blood flow wise. Even mid-course due to wind and stuff.

Also, were you on the bike? That would skew things even further. Generally, wrist location is OK for the bike, but only OK… Upper arm would again have a much better blood flow at all times.

I’d recommend comparing apples to apples: wrist vs wrist. Or better still a strap vs S7. Preferably in activity like running that doesn’t involve wrist flexion.

[JANTIKAINEN]

@NickK Yes I was on a bike and yes I think also that it’s not a fair comparison overall, not even if I would be in ideal conditions. Cycling and WHR has never worked for me and looking at the merged chart I find S7 very good.
So my point here was that S7 performs very good. When looking at the course profile it’s actually makes more sense.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

Alright. I ll take this now for a ride and see how the S7 performs in 1c in VogelenSang

[A Former User]

@JANTIKAINEN said in DC Rainmaker Review:

So my point here was that S7 performs very good. When looking at the course profile it’s actually makes more sense.

I know But since you are taking the time and effort to do the comparison, we may as well do it strict So, certain watch fashion bloggers wouldn’t discount that as flawed. Likewise, if Suunto 7 does fail in one regard or another, I’m sure Suunto would like to know about exact circumstances and benchmarks.

[JANTIKAINEN]

@NickK I’ll be heading home with my bike in a moment and will try the OH1 in my right wrist vs. S7 on the left.
Temperature at the moment is +1 celcius.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

Ok sorry I broke my promise. Forgot to charge the s7

[JANTIKAINEN]

Cycling 8.89 km
Temperature: +1 C
Left wrist: S7
Right wrist: OH1

Suunto: avg 118 bpm, max 147 bpm
Polar: avg 122 bpm, max 149 bpm

[A Former User]

@JANTIKAINEN I’m really interested in those two spots (middle and end) where sensors disagreed. Do you feel OH1 was right? What was happening on the route?

[JANTIKAINEN]

@NickK
The middle part is a section where’s lot of pedestrians crossing the bike lane so this is probably the slowest part of the route. I think the reality could be somewhere between the 2 readings.

The end part is strange. The highest OH1 peak is the peak of not so steep uphill. Looks like S7 comes a bit behind but doesn’t reach as high. At the very end where S7 goes down is actually correct, since I’ve already stopped but OH1 still makes a bump up.

[Brad_Olwin]

Here are three comparisons for HR with S7 and S9 using the Suunto Smartsensor. One is SkiTouring and two are intervals for trail running. Temp for ski was -3C and for running was not above 5C.
Run (started S9 again so starts late)

Run

Ski

[Yak Ima]

@Brad_Olwin yes, kind of, but I would like things in different places