Race needs updating to not be nerfed by Race S
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I’m a long time relatively happy (did someone say hard-to-read screen and sticky buttons?) user of Suunto 9 and lately have started to look where to go next. I was getting ready to buy the Race, but then Suunto came out with the Race S and now I’m in trouble.
The trouble comes from Race S having a much better heart rate sensor and better user experience (responsiveness) in the software compared to Race. Race S is also a lot cheaper, but has a shorter battery lifetime and inferior scratch resistance crystal. Race S does not have the “extra mile” higher quality/price version at all.
The end result is that in the top(per) of the line Race model I’m not getting some of the good features of the cheaper model Race S. And I can’t get the sapphire crystal and longer battery life in the Race S. I would love to pay the Race price, if I got the best of both models, but currently it’s not possible. I just refuse to give up the sapphire glass.
I hope you at Suunto realize Race S is maybe the biggest eater of Race sales, not the other brand competitors. Kudos to Suunto for coming up with the Race S at the price point you did. But I hope you realize you need to fix Race to make it competitive again, and fast.
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@sapphireforever I have 3 (yes 3
) watches and I wholeheartly suggest you get the Race and you’ll not regret it. First of all I too had ‘mixed’ feeling about the HR (spikes during Rest, too low on bike and too high on runs). After the 2 or 3 updates of the Race and Vertical (this was my HR impressions based on) the only minor issue with the HR is the initial lock to cadence when running. Of coure I never, never really run without HR belt so I couln’t care less about the ohr.
So if you use belt during runs there is no reason for you to hold off. I would not state it as better HR sensor since as I can see the sensor is same, it only has 2 extra LEDs.
One other observation I had and I believe this is the reason the smaller watch got more LEDs is that when the watch is bigger the band holders dont dig in your wrist and elevate the HR sensor. This is the reason I think for my wrist the Suunto Ocean has the most accurate HR since it goes so smooth over my wrist (this little mm count compared to the Vertical/Race) and the sensor sits very nicely on the skin.
Concerning the responsivness of the UI this has been addressed with the latest FW accross all watches Race/Vertical/Ocean. In the end I believe they all have the same cpu/mem components. There is no chance the Race S has better cpu than the Race or Veritcal.
Cheers.
