Question about Adventure Racing sport mode

JManZA

Hi there!

I’m a new forum member, and switched to a Sunnto Vertical from Garmin and am just loving the watch - it is fantastic.

I participate in Adventure Racing regularly - an adventure multi-sport that emphasises traditional map and compass navigation like orienteering, but specifically prohibits the use of any watch mode that allows access to maps, breadcrumb trails or any other digital navigation aids. The only data the rules allow access to are elapsed time, health data (like HR), altitude and vertical gain/loss.

I noticed that Adventure Racing is listed as sport mode in the help documentation, but I am unable to find it in the list of modes on the watch. It would be amazing if this was a sport mode on Suunto, as it would enable me to use my Suunto watch during AR races to track the activity but without breaking the AR rules.

If it is not currently a sport mode, are there plans to add it in the future?

Egika

@JManZA We are in the same boat.
Suunto does not have the specific AR mode.
I have a ticket open with this request but I guess it is of low priority as the market of AR is small

I use the orienteering sport mode to record races and cover the watch under a buff with maps switched off.

JManZA

@Egika thanks so much for the feedback. I’ll log a ticket too - is this done on the forum, or through the Suunto website?

Thanks for the suggestion - Initially I got excited about the the fact that you can turn maps off in orienteering mode, but then of course discovered you can turn them back on at any time through the control panel which will make the watch illegal.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will probably just continue to use my Suunto Core during AR for the time being. I am often racing in teams with people who have garmins with AR mode, so get the tracks off them after the race.

Holding thumbs Suunto add the mode!

Egika

Yes, under the rules of ARWS this is not allowed.
I am a Suunto field tester, so I have access to some internal reporting tools.
What you can still do is just write to support. The more voices the better.

…from my own experience, this is still not very likely to come…

maszop

The type of sport can be changed during an activity. I don’t know if such a watch would not be against the regulations despite this anyway.
If turning on maps is a violation of the rules, then the same applies to changing the type of activity, and I think every watch allows it. How does it work in practice?

JManZA

@maszop I might be misinformed, but the only other watch I know of with this type of mode is some garmins. Once the activity is started, navigation features are inaccessible, and changing the activity is not possible, but the watch records your track in the background.

In an Adventure Race, gps watches are not allowed unless they have this type of functionality. Athletes are required to register these watches before the start of the race, and submit them for inspection upon request at any time during the race to make sure the activity has not been stopped and restarted.

Egika

@maszop garmin has a special AR mode, that allows recording but not much else. and basically it shows a time stamp since when this mode was enabled uninterruptedly.
So it can be checked easily after the race.