Software Update 2.44.46 (2025 Q3)
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I wrote a long post in the Race S area but have received zero replies. Usually if someone is having issues that others are not having they will at least say as much. I am going to copy and paste it here to see if I can get any help or suggestions. I made a couple edits to save time. Sorry it is so long.
TL;DR
Experiencing persistent heart rate sensor (HRM) connectivity issues, unreliable climb guidance, and problematic sleep tracking on Race S after recent software updates. Looking for confirmation from other users and troubleshooting advice.I thought a lot about whether to write this or not. I have loved my Race S and it has done a great job 85% of the time. I am noticing little quirks that my COROS either does not have or cannot have due to the fact it does not have Ciimb Guidance.
Issues with having more than one HRM available to the watch.
Since updating to the new software version my Garmin HRM Pro +. It has been really bad at keeping connected.If other Bluetooth devices (like a Garmin watch or my phone) are nearby, the Race S connects/disconnects from the HRM erratically, impacting Zone Sense reliability.
During a recent run, the HRM stayed “connected,” but produced a flat, incorrect HR trace for 28 minutes before suddenly recognizing Zone Sense.
The watch will randomly connect to HRMs even when not doing an activity.
Having multiple HRMs on the watch seems to swap mid-activity, causing further instability. Not sure if this is because I am using the HRM Pro +Turn by Turn Guidance and Climb Guidance Issues:
Today during a hike with 2400 ft of climbing the climb guidance would not show were I was in the picture (it shades blue to show progress). The only way it would work is if I scrolled down to the second climb guidance screen and back. This happened over and over.
Also it announced the first climb, but it never showed up in the guidance. It was red in the graph, but…nothing.
As I approached the second peak I stopped short of the summit of the planned route by about 20-30 feet. There were a ton of people and I did not want to deal with it all so I started to head to the third peak. Because I did not “stay on the route” this cancelled any turn by turn navigation and climb guidance from there on out. It all disappeared.
There was cell signal so I stopped and did a replan of the rest of the route. This worked and the watch started working correctly. Shading in the climbs was also correct now. However about 30 minutes in I could not leave the navigation screen. It got stuck. I had to reload the route again to get it to go back to normal.
Sleep Tracking & Recovery Data
Sleep tracking is crucial for recovery metrics and HRV, but the Race S’s implementation is unreliable:
Initial sleep tracking only worked if worn in a non-standard way (inside right wrist after months of experimentation)
Recent “improvements” appear to have broken this function again, with frequent missed HRV readings.
When use competing platforms (Garmin, COROS, Whoop, Oura) I rarely have sleep tracking failures.
Are other people seeing little bugs like these?
Thoughts?
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@Stavrogin I experienced some of these issues. I had issues with the watch refusing to connect to HRM twice even though both times I could go to the paired sensors and see the sensor responding and showing the battery level.
With the elevation profile not showing where you are, I saw that at least once with a previous software version, so I think that likely isn’t new. I think that might also be related to the blue navigation arrow not showing up on the map, which I have also observed several times.
With the issue where you turned around shortly before the peak, can you describe what the route was like. Was it a short out-and-back to the peak but otherwise continuing further on the original route? Even better, can you share the route and show where it lost you? In my experience, Suunto navigation doesn’t handle cases like that well. From my experience, it probably attempted to reverse the route and find you on the reversed path.
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Is it about reloading a route when this happens during navigation? Didyou doing anything special to get HRM to connect continually
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@Stavrogin Once HRM has connected it stays connected. I have never experienced flaky connections. But a few times I experienced HRM refusing to auto-connect in the beginning of an activity - the last time that was this morning. After a while I figured out there is a way to select a HRM in activity start screen options and connect to it manually.
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@sky-runner thsnk you for this! I see it but it is really annoying - I do not want to have to select my HRM everytime I do an activiy when it used to just autoconnect.
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@loopylou72 the watch automatically connects to the last sensor you used, exactly as before
Watch: Suunto Vertical Ti
Blog: isazi's home
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@isazi Correct, but it will also connect randomly outside of activities.
Suunto Vertical, Race, Race S and Run
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Bug on my Vertical Ti; after the latest FW update the “Intensity zones” under “Exercise options” does not save the last selected option (e.g. Power zones or ZoneSense) but always reverts to “HR zones”.
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@Stavrogin correct, I am checking it this has been reported already
Watch: Suunto Vertical Ti
Blog: isazi's home
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@isazi answering myself, already fixed in next firmware
Watch: Suunto Vertical Ti
Blog: isazi's home
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@isazi Is there any ‘next firmware’ available?
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@isazi thanks,
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@kriskus it’ll be available when released, I just tested it and this bug is solved
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@Jan-Suchánek said in Software Update 2.44.46 (2025 Q3):
@isazi Also the option for wheel circumference Is missing for speed sensors. How does it work now? Only automatic calculating after some distance?
I hope you’re wrong because I use the Bike Sensor indoor so no GPS signal to determine the distance.
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@fondueaufromage said in Software Update 2.44.46 (2025 Q3):
@Jan-Suchánek said in Software Update 2.44.46 (2025 Q3):
@isazi Also the option for wheel circumference Is missing for speed sensors. How does it work now? Only automatic calculating after some distance?
I hope you’re wrong because I use the Bike Sensor indoor so no GPS signal to determine the distance.
This support for multiple sensors of the same type seems to have created quite many issues.
Also when pairing a smart trainer-based power meter, the watch asks you to configure the crank length which makes no sense. Crank length is only relevant for pedal-based power meters.
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I had not deeply tested yet new climb guidance.
Love the zoom feature from waypoints
But ihmo there is some misses :- zoom level on current section is not available if there are waypoints
- data screen when waypoints doesn’t show grade of climb
It would be perfect if zoom level on actual section could be added when there is waypoints on the routes.IMHO actual behaviour is a big limitation. I use waypoints a lot on my races but love to see current section and how steep it is. With current update I will have to make a choice.
@isazi @Brad_Olwin does it has been asked already ?Perfect for me would be :
- no waypoints => ok like it is, zoom on whole route, or zoom on actual section with grade
- waypoints : ok like it is, but just add as deepest zoom level the zoom on actual section with same data than on screen when no waypoint
Pictures on same route, the first with waypoints, maximum zoom. The second with no waypoints on route (my wish would be that to be the max zoom level screen when there is waypoints)
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@Tieutieu I’d like to have both modes too. I used Garmin ClimbPro extensively when I owned a Garmin watch. But I can see that it may be difficult to make a consistent user experience because end of a climb may be either before or after a nearest waypoint.
Perhaps if a single climb mode looks distinctly different, it would be an OK experience to have that as an extra zoom level.
One other thing that I wanted to mention is that I don’t like how Suunto breaks the elevation profile into climb segments. It doesn’t actually break it into climbs and descents but segments based on category so you may end up, for example with a red segment followed by an orange segment, followed by another red segment, followed by a blue segment - all while the same climb continues uninterrupted and the actual grade is nearly the same. That unnecessary creates a lot of segments many of which are tiny, which makes the experience less than acceptable. It works OK for long and steep climbs and descents, but is frustrating on a rolling terrain.
For example I have just tried importing a route for UTMB Kodiak 100K race and that generated over 100 segments on the profile, many of which are tiny in length. Some may be so tiny that the watch skips them completely during an actual run. I wish it worked more like Garmin Climb Pro, which tracks complete end-to-end climbs or descents, but on on single climb you may see multiple colored segments that show you the grade. Another issue with Suunto’s implementation is that the color indicates cycling climb category rather than the grade, so it is quite possible for an orange segment to be steeper (e.g. 12%) than a red segment (e.g. 5%) if the orange segment is short but the red segment is long. For the same reason you can never see a long orange segment.
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The problem with changing the GPX route during an activity while ascending or descending is still not fixed.
