Downloading map takes a very long time

Michał

Since the last software update (version 2.53.42), it takes a very long time to download the map. My configuration is the same: the watch is plugged into the charger and lies 20 cm from the router. A 200 MB map takes 5 hours to download. The WiFi connection sometimes breaks, so the download needs a couple of restarts. The process is always the same: the selected map downloads up to ~18% in 2 hours, then the connection crashes. A Swatch soft reset is needed. Maps always take a long time to download, but it’s now awful.

snow*

@Michał said in Downloading map takes a very long time:

Since the last software update (version 2.53.42), it takes a very long time to download the map. My configuration is the same: the watch is plugged into the charger and lies 20 cm from the router. A 200 MB map takes 5 hours to download. The WiFi connection sometimes breaks, so the download needs a couple of restarts. The process is always the same: the selected map downloads up to ~18% in 2 hours, then the connection crashes. A Swatch soft reset is needed. Maps always take a long time to download, but it’s now awful.

odd, mine is ~190MB and it took barely 20min or so

larrybbaker

@snow no issues here. I downloaded 5 maps to my ne V2 in about an hour and later another larger map in under an hour. Have you checked your internet connection/stability? Restart your modem and router?

elbee

I don’t have any numbers but downloading was quite slow. I was wondering if the watch used wifi or did the download via bluetooth. (Watch was on the charger and wifi was configured correctly)

larrybbaker

@elbee watch uses WiFi for map downloads. I left my watch at home while I ran an errand and all the maps downloaded without issue. The charger is no longer required- but the prompts still say to do it.

2b2bff

I have longish download times as well. Like the updates on all the installed maps (less than 10) took 1-2 hours. But that is not related to the new version and has been that long before…

Goatee

I used fast WiFi & to download England z Scotland & Wales was nearly 11 hours

larrybbaker

@Goatee what is your internet speed? 11 hours seems crazy!

Goatee

@larrybbaker “super fast” BT business WiFi (next to the router plugged in) then finished off at home after work

larrybbaker

@Goatee I have 1gig speed to the house and run eero mesh routers throughout the house and my watch downloads off and on the charger are great.

Goatee

@larrybbaker I think Scotland alone took 5+ hours

larrybbaker

@Goatee so I decided to test Scotland - not that I’ll ever use it. App showed 957.9 MB download size.

Start 7:53 pm finish 8:32 pm: 39 minutes elapsed.
Watch NOT on charger.
Vertical 2 latest FW
IOS 26.5
iPhone 17 Pro.

I’d start investigating what you are really getting for internet service speeds and your hardware.

snow*

@larrybbaker not even here…

Egika

Race S, Vertical 1 have a slower processor than Vertical 2.
My Vertical 2 is also loading maps way faster than my Vertical 1.

Since you do this only once a year or so, I think it does not really matter. Just leave the watch on the charger over night and it will be done.

Goatee

@larrybbaker I’m sure someone else said about Scotland being a really long download too
I had the phone & watch on charge
Race S
Samsung S25 Ultra
Android Suunto beta app

suzzlo

In my experience, it takes too much time (hours).
There is a bottleneck somewhere, and it’s not the internet connection or router, since the offline maps for suunto app takes minutes or seconds.

Perhaps it’s the watch procesor, memory… i think the slow item in this chain is the watch

larrybbaker

@suzzlo watch being the bottleneck makes sense. I did go ahead and test my V1 with the Scotland map download and it took just under an hour. So I still think there is more to it than the watch.

Tieutieu

This map update took sooo long also on my SRs (around 8-9 hours for whole France)
It has been noticeably faster to perform it on my SV1 (I would say around 20/30% faster - even it’s still long).
High speed WiFi, watch on charge less to 1meter from internet box

muurain

Our household has a Race S and a Race 2 and to me they both feel equally slow on downloads. On average about 15min for ~250MB of download. So about 2.2Mbps.

The router reports the devices do get a 72.2Mbps wifi connection (2.4GHz/20MHz/1x1), but even with that they only ever use at maximum 5Mbps. My work macbook can pull close to 1Gbps from internet using the same router and internet connection using wifi 6.

So my guess is there is something in the watch or Suunto’s cloud service that throttles the downloads.
Its a small device so I kinda get how the hardware just might not keep up with a large download and the computing related it. I doubt anyone has a broadband connection this slow.

But the speed is also really dependant about the wifi strength. Even though a router might first show a faster link, any movement and distance from the router during the download will kill the download speeds. I found that the best speed was within a 1-3m radius of our router with a line of sight between router and the watch.

Also 2.4GHz wifi band is often crowded, so your beighbours wifi usage might also interfere with the connection.

snow*

@muurain said in Downloading map takes a very long time:

Suunto’s cloud service that throttles the downloads.

Fair