Suunto 7

MiniForklift

@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

Storz

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?

Storz

@jean-william-cousin Same here!

DmitryKo

@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.

@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.

MiniForklift

@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

Alessandro Pelicioli

I can not understand if there is the chance to create Complex training with distance/pace/rest like on the Movescount app… can you help me, and tell me something more?

Luís Pinto

@NickK said in Suunto 7:

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.

Why you said that Stratos is a smartwatch? It isn’t. Did you saw specs? Did you saw firstbeat goodies?
https://en.amazfit.com/stratos-3.html
https://www.firstbeat.com/en/consumer-product/huami/amazfit-stratos-3/

dulko79

@Luís-Pinto what about stratos’ HR tracking in sport modes? is it any good? If it is not, no FB goodies will make any difference.

Luís Pinto

@dulko79 i can say that wrist is not bad at all. Much better than some sensors. For me works fine. Why i can say this? Because sobreposition in same activities of hr registry between wrist hr and belt. Is not perfect but good enough.

Try make a watch like this for 200€. Yes, is chinese…

pilleus

@dulko79 said in Suunto 7:

stratos

I had Stratos 3 for testing. Altitude is a shame. Barometer is only displayed without any function in sport modes. And the display is not bright enough.

Luís Pinto

@pilleus nothing is perfect.

@Luís-Pinto I’m well aware of the FirstBeat goodies on Stratos and if I remember correctly, it did have things like watch faces, notifications and even music controls. Not sure if it had apps though. I remember some review alluding it was possible in the underlying platform.

As you add features to a sports watch, distinction between a pure smartwatch and a pure sports watch begins to blur. Is Fitbit Versa truly a smartwatch? Is Garmin Fenix 6 not a smartwatch? Because it sure as hell has more features than Versa, more data and watch face customization, plenty of external connectivity, an official API and SDK, abd more apps to boot…

S7 can remain largely as is, with minimum changes, and be a decent WearOS based smartwatch with some nice sports pedigree, adding to a fairly busy lineup of other WearOS watches screaming active lifestyle. Or it can acquire additional features we came to expect from Suunto and become the first smartwatch that is also a truly competent sports watch in ways even Apple couldn’t accomplish with their wearables. Yes, it will not serve ultra-endurance segment either way. But it is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of exercising public.

DmitryKo

@NickK Here is the problem - if Suunto 7 is not the watch for you and me, despite all the (supposedly) advanced analysis tools, but there are twice as cheap WearOS alternatives which should be enough for casual users who don’t need this advanced analysis… who’s going to buy Suunto 7? And if they abandon their firmware development in favour of WearOS, in the end they risk being reduced to a software company that makes pretty UIs for someone else’s devices, just like Sports Tracker.

Now if they could use this AMOLED screen and optical sensor to develop a true Spartan/Suunto 9 successor, that would be another story; but I wouldn’t really count on this to happen.

Brad_Olwin

@DmitryKo @Luís-Pinto @NickK For me, I would (and am) use this as a daily watch, then use the S9 for SkiMo and long exercises. I think 8-10h GPS from the S7 is possible. Although 12 is the specification we’re not quite there yet. I did a 5.5h run last weekend and was able to use the watch the entire day without charging. Why would
I do this, screen is amazing and maps are great. Now to get SA to have multi watch support.

@DmitryKo said in Suunto 7:

Now if they could use this AMOLED screen and optical sensor to develop a true Spartan/Suunto 9 successor, that would be another story; but I wouldn’t really count on this to happen.

AMOLED screens are very power hungry, especially when they are high resolution, so don’t count on building an S9 like watch with S7 screen. There is a reason Garmin continues to use low resolution screen on their Fenix line watches even though they have Venu.

Prenj

Not impressed at all…

clemens.renzl

@Prenj …

Luís Pinto

@Brad_Olwin i’m pretty sure that amoled screens or equivalent at some point will substitute actual major screens. But with another ultra-low CPUs and with another batteries. This is the begining. My concern with S7 sucess is price. I really don’ t know if a casual sport guy or girl will buy this watch with so many choices in market.

jsuarez

@Prenj That’s really really bad…