Suunto Race 2 General Discussion

sky-runner

@Tomas5 Race 2 already has NFC hardware from what I understand. So support for NFC could be added in the future via a software update.

Tomas5

@sky-runner didn’t know that. Thanks for info.

Steven Hambleton

@Tomas5 Agreed - I find the current smartphone features just about right for me.

One thing to note about the Apple Watch, repeated charge cycles deplete batteries sooner so that’s another reason to like longer lasting watches like Suunto!

jazzersize

@FCDsh Yes Coming from the 9 Peak, this is a great upgrade for me! Wife got it for me for my birthday… if only she would let me open it early!

raven

@Tomas5 said in Suunto Race 2 General Discussion:

We already have NFC paymants on Phone, is it really needed in watch ?

My preference when I go out running is to leave my phone at home. I also often go for walks in the neighborhood leaving my phone at home. Therefore, there’s many times I have only my watch and there’s features I like to have, including NFC payments (which it seems the hardware is present), the ability to play local music from the watch (which the Suunto Run has, but not the Race series), and LTE connectivity (for streaming music, and ability to send an emergency text/call if needed). Why should I carry a heavy phone? If I’m lighter, I run faster.

Also, if I’m carrying my phone, I could just record my session using Strava or some other app. I wouldn’t need a watch at all for basic data like overall distance.

I just end up running with two watches to get the things I want (Apple and Suunto; for Suunto, I wanted ZoneSense, and I wanted to compare how the experience was with Apple), but it would be nice if this was on at least one Suunto watch. Garmin recently released Fenix 8 Pro with LTE that does much of this.

Now I get that many of these features are secondary to other things. The fact Suunto has made two new charging docks this year (the Run differs from the Race / Race S, the Race 2 differs from all of them) means there’s basic functionality they haven’t nailed yet. There’s also training features I want like connecting to a rowing machine to get my power data in I’d like to see (Garmin and Coros can do this, Apple and Suunto cannot) that I’d also consider more important. That doesn’t mean the non-training features aren’t also nice to have.

krzyśMac

@Steven-Hambleton I had battery capacity after 4 months 97%. With this speed in one year that will be circa 90%

vjakub

Do you think Suunto will make use of LPTO technology for the watch face when it’s in AOD standby, similar to Garmin or AW?

helgonet12

@vjakub I really hope they do. This is the sad side of the watch. Since everything else looks really good it would be nice if the AOD screen also feels more usable and looks design wise better.

Tomas5

Order experience:
I ordered yesterday in the morning Suunto Race 2 from suunto.com. At evening, I already got notified that the watch left the airport in Helsinki. In the middle of the night, it got to Germany, and at morning, it was already in Slovakia. It got to me at around 12:00.

So make it clear. Since the order until delivery in less than 29 hours, that’s excellent.

Watch first impression:
Positive:
Really heavy, feels good quality.
Fast user interface.
Good charger cable.
Many new features compared my old S5.
Neutral:
Display has nice resolution and colors but MIP fetl somehow better, need time to get used to it.
Negative:
Strap feels less comfortable than one on S5. It is not so soft and one setting is too tight and next one too loose. I will see in few days, maybe will replace for Suunto Textile strap.

I will write more after few days of using it
Overall looks great.

Currently downloading maps which is too slow.

Highlands

@Tomas5 Congrats Awesome watch. The red strap looks terrific. Enjoy

peegee

@raven can’t agree with you more about NFC payments

peegee

@sky-runner hopefully it will happen

Steven Hambleton

@peegee What do you do if you need to call someone?

Ars Vitae

@Jakub-Brzóska Same here. I would have similar questions regarding accuracy when swimming. If I were ever to consider purchasing a new Suunto, this issue would have to be resolved.

Ars Vitae

@Tomas5 Could you tell if the charger magnet is strong? Does the charger come off easily when you lift the watch or not?

safari

@Ars-Vitae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpEoe4npYZM
This video at 2:18 will give you an idea. There is a third magnetic direction.

Ars Vitae

@safari Thanks. The charger is improved. But the video also reveals a decline in GPS accuracy, which is a shame.

safari

@Ars-Vitae
I use vertical solar.
Yesterday, I did my first extreme camping trip since the last FW.
Even though I was on the road (steep mountain on my right, cliff on my left), they told me I was off-route That was hilarious. There’s no other way, and this route was drawn with the Suunto app.
For reliability, I’ve also shared the route video and image.

https://maps.suunto.com/move/bilal10/68c6d107ede0761cd988f37a

Tomas5

@Ars-Vitae it is strong in my opinion.

Tomas5

@Ars-Vitae i have two activities only yet. Accuracy looks good. There are some few places where it is not 100% accurate but in most of track you can see clearly on which side of road i was riding/walking. I will see later when hiking under trees or some other harder conditions.
This is worst part i found on todays 16km ride.

Other than that it looks just fine. I see few other places where not exact but still very good.