New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings

seanvk

@Fizzgig I have the same experience. Crazy spikes that I see at my desk or when making sudden movements. I’ve even had my Garmin 7X on the other wrist just to note my heart rate was normal.

Brad_Olwin

@GiPFELKiND I do not know, it works very well for me. If there are tattoos or dark skin I think a problem as well. I have shaved the area around the watch and that seems to help. You need blood flow close to the skin for this to work. The measurement relies on blood flow.

Brad_Olwin

@Fizzgig Your wrists are quite thin from the photo. The wristbone may interfere with the readings. You could try moving the position of the watch and see what happens. The reliability of the OHR will vary by individual and it does not matter the brand! My wife, who is very small cannot get an Apple Watch OHR to work either sitting or exercising, she uses a belt for exercising.
For me when exercising Suunto, Garmin are not good; Apple Watch Ultra is ok if low intensity. For not exercising Suunto, Garmin and Apple work equivalently.
I do think Suunto’s sensor is more sensitive to position and movement but I see reports from testers where it works well for some even exercising. I think one has to be careful to generalize quality based on a single individual and their experience.

@Brad_Olwin

I tried a Garmin Forerunner 965 today in the same conditions as the Race. This is what the HR gives in the afternoon with two peaks going up the floors and the rest of the trips to site meetings at work. We also clearly see the return to seated calm at the end of the afternoon.
The data collected is overall much better and consistent.

Brad_Olwin

@Fizzgig As I said in my post, OHR will vary from individual to individual, just because one brand works for you does not mean it works for everyone. For me, Suunto 9PP and Garmin Epix gen 2 were about equal.

@Brad_Olwin

I wore 6 Garmin, 2 Coros (pace and vertix), Apple S5 and S8), a Fitbit bracelet and all measured accurately. It would still be strange if Suunto was not compatible with me…
Being on a dedicated Suunto forum, I suspect that a moderator will not recognize the failure of the HR sensor. I am still interested in a copy of your daily HR statement. With certainty, we will obtain the same uncontrolled variations.

Brad_Olwin

@Fizzgig Here is today, nothing unusual. Run in the morning has normal HR with belt. No spikes.

And the watch

@Brad_Olwin

Thanks ! all the day with belt ? Or only the small running?

Brad_Olwin

@Fizzgig only running for 45 minutes at 07:15 with belt

David l

My HR for the day via OHR. Very up and down but this corresponds with my movement around the classroom and school. The slide down @ 6pm is where I get home and have a brew……

I do think it comes down to how you wear your watch. I’ve looked at the last 3 months worth of data and it is very similar to my previous Fenix 6X. As others have stated, use a strap if you want accuracy and precision. The Race works well, if used correctly.

As for saying that a moderator wouldn’t say there was an issue, I think that’s actually a tad out of order. Of all the forums I use or have used, the mods here are pretty good and switched on.

@David-l @Brad_Olwin

Thank you for your reply. The curves look cleaner than I was able to achieve with my Race. I don’t understand why I get these values because quite honestly, I have been wearing and using GPS watches for over 10 years with 40 km of running per week and 100 to 150 km of cycling on Sundays. I run and trail run competition. I am absolutely not trying to criticize anything and am just simply trying to understand. I love the simplicity of the app and the design. I would really like to make it a training buddy. Maybe I’ll try a vertical one.
Finally, the moderation team seems dedicated and quite open to dialogue. I may have been a little directive in my remarks and I apologize for that.

David l

@Fizzgig thanks for your reply. Are you using the original strap? It’s probably not anything but I have had a fabric strap (bought from corus via decathlon for half the price of the Suunto version). It’s slightly elasticated so gives a good but not tight fit.

@David-l

Yes! I use it with the original Suunto bracelet.

I just sold the race to a friend. He offered to buy it for me to try. He doesn’t care about HR measurements since he only uses the watch for sporting activities.
To avoid being a failure, I ordered the vertical to see if the latter could do better for me. I should receive it tomorrow, I can’t wait to see if everything will be ok. To be continued…

Brad_Olwin

@Fizzgig I hope that works for you. I do not have large wrists and use the Vertical quite a bit. For 24/7 HR is fine for me but running with the Vertical is poor, the watch is too heavy and large and my wrist too small. I always wear a belt.

@Brad_Olwin

THANKS ! Yes I hope.
I received it this morning and our story got off to a bad start (see https://forum.suunto.com/topic/8846/suunto-vertical-bug-collection/664)
I ran for 8 months with a Fenix 7 Sapphire Solar (73 gr), it didn’t bother me, even in competition (10km, half marathon and short trail).

I always use a belt during sporting activities. Never used 24/7 for tracking.

jacekfra

Hello,
This is my first Suunto watch.
I must admit that its capabilities and appearance exceeded my expectations. It’s really nice and works great.
However, I am missing one feature. Namely, “Live track” starts automatically.
I run with my dog in the field and for my own safety I prefer that someone has access to my location/route.
Currently, I have to do it using other applications running on the phone.

martintrail

After months of use the first major problem, the crown stops working in heavy cold and wind. The clickable buttons are ok. I’m a little sad about that.

buttercup_alex

Hello, everyone! I guess that I’m the luckiest owner of this watch.
Previously, I’ve been using Apple watch series 7, and they work very good expect for battery life. But on very cold weather they’re switching off during my long runs. As an Apple watch user, the Suunto Race feels like a good watch without the meaning of some key elements that are floating everywhere in wearable tech. I’d like to share some of my thoughts with you and hope one day they will be changed:

Confusing menu. I have Parameters and Settings, I’m not sure why there are two options for one action. I guess it would be better to combine them.
Watch faces. I’ve read about it on this forum and I hope that someday there will be another watch faces with more features.
No option for switch specific app notifications. It’s a hell! On apple watch I’ve switch every annoying notifications (for example ebay), but here I can only switch notification completely! I guess it’s an API issue or something else, but hope that it will be fixed or at least explained.
Not symmetrical always on display time. It’s annoying!
Ability to turn the display off with a palm or at least ability to change the timer of display to switch off. during night it’s annoying.
An extra mode to activate only sleep tracking and low light screen. Right now it’s not very user friendly. You and activate do not disturb and plan a sleep from specific time period, but there will be no time displayed. I guess on apple watch it works better.
Activate watch from sleep or from always on display with a tap on display, not click on a crown or button.
More visibility for connected external HR sensor. It’s a mess for every smart watch device. I’m using Polar H9 and I still don’t know is it connected to Suunto Race or not. I’ve paired the watch with HR sensor, but there is no name in menu (only some hr sensor, not polar H9 or just polar HR sensor). Yes, I can see connected devices, but i’m not sure that it’s my HR sensor or is it connected right now. Maybe it’ll be better to add this trigger to start up menu for activity, so I can be sure, that my HR sensor is connected.

Overall, I like this watch, looks good, works good and I hope they will be better!

Brad_Olwin

@buttercup_alex said in New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings:

Hello, everyone! I guess that I’m the luckiest owner of this watch.
Previously, I’ve been using Apple watch series 7, and they work very good expect for battery life. But on very cold weather they’re switching off during my long runs. As an Apple watch user, the Suunto Race feels like a good watch without the meaning of some key elements that are floating everywhere in wearable tech. I’d like to share some of my thoughts with you and hope one day they will be changed:

More visibility for connected external HR sensor. It’s a mess for every smart watch device. I’m using Polar H9 and I still don’t know is it connected to Suunto Race or not. I’ve paired the watch with HR sensor, but there is no name in menu (only some hr sensor, not polar H9 or just polar HR sensor). Yes, I can see connected devices, but i’m not sure that it’s my HR sensor or is it connected right now. Maybe it’ll be better to add this trigger to start up menu for activity, so I can be sure, that my HR sensor is connected.

Overall, I like this watch, looks good, works good and I hope they will be better!

For #8, the watch will default to HR belt if paired to one and you have the belt/armband on. You will see with the HR symbol at the beginning of an exercise with a belt rather than just a heart symbol. This will tell you the belt is attached and working. Hope that helps.

Brad_Olwin

@martintrail said in New owner of Suunto Race - first feelings:

After months of use the first major problem, the crown stops working in heavy cold and wind. The clickable buttons are ok. I’m a little sad about that.

I think only if you have significant moisture, I have used for SkiMo and running now several times and not had the crown stop working as cold as -10C.