Suunto Race and openwater swimming

dreamer_

@sartoric @isazi @Maryn I was wrong with my assumptions about the simultaneous satellite systems. It seems there’s a correction at Suunto’s web site:

I have seen reviews like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4OK9-jUwZA&t=714s

Where there are differences in that number:

But it does not seem true (at this moment). At least in the Spanish site.

dreamer_

@Egika sorry for the mention. It’s just I have read you swim a lot in other posts and I think you have very good experience here. Do you have reports of SR vs SV’s accuracy? Something we can see. It’s just there’s nothing but DCR’s review (outdated, since lasts firmware updates) and I think It’s good to know about SR’s accuracy on openwater.

Thanks

Egika

@dreamer_ Actually I have no swim recorded with Race. With Vertical and 9PP I have lots.
Accuracy with both has been superb for me (normal amateur freestyle).
Like here the swimming leg of a triathlon wich is supposed to be 1500m and passed under a bridge 3 times (the last bridge was like 50m long, narrow and dark). This is Vertical. I would think Race should behave similarly.

dreamer_

@Egika thank you so much!!

freddubai

@mlakis Polar Optical HR armband works brilliantly with Suunto Race in pool and open water swimming. I use it for running, cycling and swimming.

dreamer_

@freddubai I didn’t expect that.
Have you tried the arm band with a wetsuit? It is always said that bluetooth does not work well underwater (light pulsed HR is not good with water and the signal transmision does not work well too). That’s why the cheststrap is usually needed for swimming and you need a cheststrap that can save in memory the data to transmit that data after the swims.

freddubai

@dreamer_ I have not used it with a wetsuit, but the Polar is highly reliable. Polar also provides a holder that fits onto your goggle strap so that the sensor touches your temple - this is actually recommended when you need a wetsuit.

dreamer_

@freddubai the thing is that I have the H10 and the HRM Tri. Both have built-in memory for the swims but the first one only syncs inside Polar Flow and the other only syncs with your Garmin watch after the swim. I like the idea of the arm band if it works (I have a Coospo HW9 but that band is only IP67).

dcrainmaker

Just to respond on this…

I did some tests (across 14 GPS watches) the week of April 20th. There haven’t been any GNSS updates to the watch since then.

Here’s the first test, where the Suunto Race was pitted against the Garmin Forerunner 265: https://analyze.dcrainmaker.com/#/public/8992e4ba-6881-4a6f-6a42-34a8f974725e

You can see it struggled quite a bit, compared to the reference track (swim buoy), and the Forerunner 265.

Then, after all 14 watches were done, I had a second round, the ‘Failboat Finale’, giving the two worst-performing watches a second chance at things. This was the Suunto Race vs the COROS Vertix 2S. (Note: The Suunto Vertical did OK, not as great as others, but enough to not end up in the bottom two).

Results: https://analyze.dcrainmaker.com/#/public/9e25ec07-ec0f-4919-6485-08d4179607da

It somehow managed to perform even worse on that test, despite being an easier test. It got things wrong before it even got to the usual brief treading water test (which, any GPS watch should be able to do just fine, and recover from 15-30 seconds of treading water, as if waiting for someone to catch-up, waiting for a boat to pass, etc…).

Again, I’m not aware of any changes in the GNSS side of things since that test, and I know Suunto engineering did see the data as part of my COROS Vertix 2S review.

dreamer_

@dcrainmaker A 14 watch test with the Race performing so bad, seems important enough to understand there’s something here that Suunto should look at.

Thank you so much for taking your time to post here and for your fantastic work Ray.

dreamer_

Just to note the new firmware of the Race seems to have GNSS accuracy fixes. Has anybody tested it on openwater?

Despite I have the Vertical, I’m thinking in the Race S as an smaller watch but then it seems both Race models have the same price for a few days here and there’s the doubt. Openwater is the only thing I remember the Race was not doing ok, but I don’t know now if that issue has been finally fixed.