New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings
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@altcmd I don’t understand at all the choices that Suunto makes. They probably have the best and most accessible app but they lack some really basic things like alerts, though they include a structured workout section on the app. And even if it is better than nothing, most of the things that are Suunto apps should be native to the watch like NGP or the threshold tests or stride length, slope, drinking and eating alerts, HR zones duration, the safe app etc.
It looks like a really good watch with really poor functions. I also think if it is not resolved soon via a firmware update that I will have to go to Polar as alerts are really important to me (and for most of us I guess) and especially Stryd native alerts…
I really think Suunto is shooting himself in the foot not making these features native to the watch… And it’s a shame because the watch is really beautiful, as is the app, and it really has a lot of potential, but I don’t want to wait another 2+ years to have those basic things on the watch -
Can anyone tell me how firmware updates work for Suunto? Is there a monthly firmware update, are-there no specific dates, is-it quarterly?
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@geolerigolo said in New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings:
Can anyone tell me how firmware updates work for Suunto? Is there a monthly firmware update, are-there no specific dates, is-it quarterly?
No specific dates.
The last fw update for the SV was end of June. -
@geolerigolo said in New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings:
Can anyone tell me how firmware updates work for Suunto? Is there a monthly firmware update, are-there no specific dates, is-it quarterly?
Lol it’s soon.
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@zhang965 Yeah! That’s pretty much how Suunto operates - soon. Everything is soon. New features are now prioritised and when you have them, they are poorly implemented to be useless. Maps, structured workouts…half baked.
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@geolerigolo there are usually 2-3 firmware updates per year. Mainly both in spring and in fall.
you can see this easily when checking the updates on existing watches:
https://www.suunto.com/Support/Software-updates/Release-notes/suunto-9/Some bigger, some smaller.
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@geolerigolo
monthly we are waiting since june this year for an udate for the Suunto Vertical change the monthly update to half year or yearly update -
@GiPFELKiND good things need time
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@Marcin-Byrtek yes o know i hope so
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@craigeggleton I’m referring to vibrations. I can’t keep looking at my watch, especially during an interval. It’s a fundamental functionality for any training watch.
I was willing to accept a lot of negatives for the beautiful screen, but that one is just unforgivable.
Also, my good impressions of the OHR sensor are gone, the readings got really bad as soon as the temperature dropped. I live in Montreal and I plan to train outside all through winter so this is not a good start. -
@FoleyRose yeah, if sound and vibration for structured intervals is a must, then maybe Suunto Race is not for you.
Regarding OHR in cooler teperatures: My results went worse in fall (as to be expected) as well. I now have successfully proved a solution for me when running:
Wrap a buff around the watch and the wrist. You can still see and operate the watch, but it is shaking less and wrist is kept warmer.
Also I found that a tight strap that works well for OHR in summer, restricts blood flow even more when it gets colder. So I put my strap a notch less tight. Together with the buff I get exactly the same results as with chest strap connected to Vertical. -
@Egika Its more a haphazard pattern than a rule.
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@Egika said in New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings:
yeah, if sound and vibration for structured intervals is a must, then maybe Suunto Race is not for you.<
True that! As already highlighted, all competitors have it but if Suunto does not want to hear, it can stay adamant about what it thinks its users need - just how it was adamant for a decade that its users do not need structure workouts. Makes you wonder why Suunto looses EUR 40m on EUR 50m sales. Love it - let’s keep this up and maybe another Chinese owner is already lining up at an ever deflating enterprise value.
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@geolerigolo I think Suunto simply has other priorities than interval training. Maybe this will change next year. I did a survey recently about training planning in the Suunto app. If this gets implemented, it would make a lot of sense to think about the implementation of structured intervals again.
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@wmichi Yes, but then what are their priorities? Names on the map would be a great start, as resolving the problem with turn by turn navigation, but I think they are losing a lot of sales because of the absence of alerts during workouts. That’s not just about interval training, if I want to do a long run in zones 1 and 2 I can’t right now, or I can but don’t get any alerts. The problem is that we don’t know what they prioritize and when it will be available. Garmin has now 4 firmware updates a year and it is clearly stated what will be introduced. And most of the time they really listen to their customer (except for the native integration of Stryd on the watch and that’s why I’m looking for a second watch to do my power workouts…). I get that Suunto has less money than Garmin but from what I have read they seem to prioritize things without having the basics first… It’s too unclear for me, I don’t know if and when I will get what with the new updates and that’s probably why I will switch to Polar if at least the alerts are not implemented on a soon to come firmware update. I won’t be waiting for too long even if I really like the watch itself and the app where I do recognize that they did a really good job. But as I said without the basics the watch is not what I’m looking for. And I don’t understand why the alerts are not a priority for Suunto, as well as making some Suunto app native to the watch and with the possibility to choose each parameter (e.g. slope, NPG, etc.) separately
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@geolerigolo said in New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings:
Names on the map would be a great start, as resolving the problem with turn by turn navigation
I don’t agree. Names of the streets wouldn’t fix TBT navigation. I mostly use maps when hiking paths that have no names. Besides, there have been good suggestions in this forum on how to improve the current turn-by-turn alerts and arrows. I hope Suunto will listen to the voice of reason.
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@geolerigolo this is the ever lasting struggle of product management. Weigh effort of implementation to the value of features and market demands.
What are absolutely basics for you, might be not so much for another person and vice versa. Not all users are like you…
Then some peoples requirements are even contradicting each other…While Suunto as no other company I know publicly disclose their feature priority list, I am sure a lot of heads in Suunto are smoking daily with this task.
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@BrunoH Forgot a part there, I meant “as well as resolving the problem with TBT navigation”, sorry
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@Egika Yeah, I get that my needs may differ from other people’s needs and I don’t judge that, it’s a normal thing. But what I am aware of is that all other major sport watch companies have native alerts and I don’t think it would be really hard for Suunto to add that. And if other companies have that feature on their watch it is probably because a lot of people use it, at least from time to time. Also, I read most of the manual before deciding to buy the Race and it was suggested that the alerts were implemented on it (or at least that’s what I understood, hence my choice to buy the Race), which is not exactly true.
I know that a lot of people in the Suunto team are working hard to make the watch and the app a better, I’m just not sure why it is the only company that doesn’t have real native alerts -
@geolerigolo unless you are a legacy Suunto user, this is the sort of question that has been asked of Suunto on pretty much every aspect of the software for the last few years. My personal opinion but the request for these things is rather mundane but a lot of the people in the know on this forum keep dismissing other users like “this isn’t for you” rather than acknowledge that this is a gap and Suunto should do better to remain competitive. Hence this forum feels a bit like an echo chamber. I have voiced concerns in gaps that Suunto has relative to all competition and if all I get is dismissive responses, then why the hell should I care?
