Race S vs Vertical

[Todd Danielczyk]

@wakarimasen At the end of the day, it is a tool to achieve what I need to do.

I have been more than pleased with the Vertical and plan on getting more “outdoor adventures” with it as time goes on.

[krakra]

@Todd-Danielczyk happier when using race and vertical or race s?

[Todd Danielczyk]

@krakra As long as I use a product it has value to me.

[Tieutieu]

The race S in pretty but it’s not the watch that will make me change my SV !
For many reasons (battery life, titanium and sapphire, size, mips…)
But improvements and tech inside this small watch makes the future very promising !

[Kosta]

Hi!
Have read DCR review of Rase S and after that buy Vertical Stainless Steel ))
My previous watch is 9 peak and for me MIP screen is better in case of sport using.
And sapphire better than gorilla. And bigger battery!
For me Vertical is real Suunto, Suunto of Ambits and Vector, old school, but Rase (S) is “too loud”

[A Former User]

@Tieutieu After the release of the 9PP I started to love the small size, so now I can’t stand bulky objects on my wrist, and both the V and the R are. The RS would be perfect except that my initial enthusiasm for this model is waning by the day and it has to do with the battery and the amoled. Damn.

[raceaddict]

@Hari-Seldon Battery life in activity is the same between Race S and S9PP (40h in single freq gnss, 30h in dual for Race S only).
Out of activities, it will be better on S9PP. So, depending on your training rate it will or not make a difference.

[duffman19]

@Kai-Liu said in Race S vs Vertical:

What are some good stuff of vertical that race s doesn’t have besides the battery?

Well, this is kinda battery related, but navigating and using the map screen seems to barely affect the SV’s battery. Keeping the map screen up on an AMOLED tends to destroy battery life. (I haven’t used a Race, so this is based on using other brands and reviews of the Race/Race S.)

The big one for me, though, is the ability to read the screen at off angles and not having to do the wrist-raise-flip thing. Having to wait that split second for an AMOLED to wake gets quite annoying, especially if you’re in the middle of a grueling climb or interval and just need a quick HR or navigation check. Being able to read a MIP display by simply glancing down during my normal arm swing is a big plus for me.

[fv4500]

@duffman19 100% on each single word.

[Brad_Olwin]

@Todd-Danielczyk said in Race S vs Vertical:

@wakarimasen At the end of the day, it is a tool to achieve what I need to do.

I have been more than pleased with the Vertical and plan on getting more “outdoor adventures” with it as time goes on.

I tested all of the watches prior to release since the Suunto 9. I have purchased two for my own use: Suunto Vertical, which is my main watch and Suunto 9PP. Both are engraved. That likely tells you my preference.

[Luis Andés Olmedo]

The MIPS display and battery life are for me the big advantages of the Vertical over the Race S

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@Kai-Liu it’s a solid watch with a battery that can’t be easily beaten, going to be supported for a while.

I paid for 9PP Titanium more than Vertical Titanium is worth and it doesn’t have maps or dual GNSS.

But it’s OK - I initially wanted the 9P and had no need for maps and a huge watch.

And as always - be happy of what you have and enjoy the sports! And change the watchface from time to time for a fresh feel

[Tami999]

From what I see Vertical is a winner. Mostly is MIP vs. AMOLED which Vertical MIP is very good, i never had a problem to read info. If trend with amoleds go on in next Suunto and competition watches Ill get amoled, but so far I see no point in change.

[kriskus]

I think I know the answer, but I was wondering is there was a chance for a Vertical S coming along…

[LoïcMichel]

@kriskus People on this thread would love the MIP and saphire/Ti on a more compact watch. At leat I would !

But this watch wuold have a battery limitation that would make it seem inferior to the “Big vertical” and perhaps the Race too…
IMHO Suunto will release Race S titanium at UTMB for the buzz an it will celebrate a complete revolution of their 3 Top Watches … in only a year !

Next watch could be a cheap one without baro, only 3 buttons, made in china and even more agressively priced ? That sounds unlikely. The ocean is really a new watch but for a niche audience.
Or they will develop other products arround these nice watch like optical HR, sensors, satelite beacon… following their audio device broadening…
That make sens as we all buy polar’s HR and gamrin in reach or stryd footpod…

The vertical is far from being outdated when it comes to hardware especially if optical HR has been rectified as some review say.
So Suunto should focus on the firmware improvements people ask.

[krakra]

@LoïcMichel wait…did i understood you correctly: vertical is getting new hr sensor - the one from race s?

[isazi]

@krakra Vertical is not getting any new hardware as far as I know.

[krakra]

@isazi ya all clear . I was just reading a comment and was not sure if j understood it correctly. Thank you for clarifying

[kriskus]

@LoïcMichel It wouldn’t harm if they celebrated a complete revolution of their 4 Top Watches in only a year A Vertical S would still have a better battery life than Race S. And Race S doesn’t go much shorter than the big Race. But yes, MIPs are currently in retreat.

[LoïcMichel]

@krakra No it is just me imaginating a “verticalS”
@kriskus Yes that makes sens to me too

After all, having 2 sizes and 2 types of screen is a smart market segmentation because these are 2 independent criteria that change the hardware drastically and suit consumer opposite demands.
Having the smaller cheaper makes sense too.
The rest is complex to grasp…

The marketing challenge here is the “price segmentation”. The fact is that MIP and amoled are said equally costly and Garmin has chosen to priceup the amoled so I do not get the reality behind this big upprice of the vertical. Garmin fusing back epix&fenix will likely bring prices closer and I expect Suunto to do the same so that prices get closer to cost reality.
(BTW garmin has certainly made a crazy benefit margin on epix, that is innovator’s cash)

Then there are materials to make pricetag different and extract more € from consumers.

Titan is more expensive than top hard Steels but the price for a few grams or Titan cannot justify 100 € compared to other Ti products. To me 50€ for Ti is a max as it only gains 7g and no hardness.
Saphire uprice is big and makes sense to many consumer %scratch but the fact is that saphire also has downsides (reflection, glare). Some would pay much more but even garmin addict complain about +100 so 50€ seems a max to my eyes.
To me having the choice of+50€ for Ti and +50 for Saphire independently is best, but or combined in a +100€ Ti+Saphir version is relevant.

Personnally I LOVE the microfiber wrist band but I cough at the 60€ pricetag, why not offering the choice to buy the watch with such band or leather or metalic or other fancy bands for a +25€ to the “standard” price ?

All in all the suunto shop website could become a reference place where we would buy a personnal combination of these choices wich surley help putting more € out of the bank.

The Race was found “competitive” so the Race S version should have been 50€ less and not 100 as it has same functions than the Race… and better HR. I feel bad for small wrist who bought a normal Race !

What would be the relevant price of a speculative “Vertical S” while the S is too low and the vertical too high ? It would be in the middle but it would cut sales and revenues of the beefy&pricy Vertical…

-A compact MIP+Saphir+Ti would be nice watch but what price would you bet ?
-And what look ? a sleek or “crenelized” one ?
-Technically is it even possible ? I have come to believe that MIP cannot have super small pixels so they cannot put 466 in a tiny screen so this watch would have to finally reuce black side margins.

My guess is that suunto will rather follow the money (market shares) and go elsewhere, rather toward a cheap offer to adress “casual” (or just less rich?) active people.
I imagine that: smaller than S, NoBaro, cheaper amoled, 16Go, plastic back, glass, steel bezel, maybe LTE or NFC payment as it suits some audience and would make nice “additions”.