Suunto Vertical 1 – A Few Questions About the Future + Questions About the Vertical 2 and a Comparison with the Coros Nomad / the New Vertix 2026
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I’ve been using the Suunto Vertical 1 for two years. I appreciate the watch for:
- Build quality.
- The software, despite everything—I’ve noticed it’s gained a lot of new features over the past year.
- Excellent battery life.
- Finally, LiveTracking (even though it’s not a native feature).
- The watch has never let me down—it hasn’t frozen, lost GPS signal, unexpectedly run out of battery, or reset itself.
- Tracks for routes of 100 km or more load quickly and don’t cause the watch to freeze, as I sometimes experienced with the Fenix 7.
- MIP display.
On the downside:
- All things considered, the watch faces still need a good graphic designer with UX skills—the existing ones aren’t updated after a while.
- The Android/iOS app isn’t as intuitive for sports as Coros.
- Since this update, it’s clear that the Vertical 1 is slowly dying out. We’re still waiting for an update; the last one was in January.
That’s why I have a few general questions:
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Does the Vertical 2 support more than two apps at once, e.g., Race Notes, LiveTracking, and something else? Is the limit still capped at two apps?
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Is the AMOLED screen really any good after switching from MIP? How is the response speed when you’re running, there are rocks under your feet, and you just want to glance briefly at the watch face without falling into a ravine in the process?
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Is it true that the colors on the AMOLED display are too “vibrant”? Do they fail to capture the essence of a sports watch, making it look more like a toy for teenagers?
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Is there any news about the new Vertical 3? Will there be any new models in 2027?
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Is MIP really being phased out of Suunto’s lineup?
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What’s known about upcoming updates to Suunto’s software for 2026/2027?
I currently have a Coros Nomad. I’m testing it.
It’s a solid watch with software that’s fully integrated with the app. The build quality is definitely inferior, and maybe the design too, but it doesn’t look like a bad watch. It’s definitely fast. The MIP is very good, similar to the Vertical 1. The watch faces are nicer. The app and software are quite intuitive—it’s easy and quick to figure out where everything is. I now understand why Coros is so highly praised.
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- Vertical 2 supports up to 3 apps
- The response is fast, but if that is not enough, you can enable “always on display” when you’re doing an activity
- After the change, you won’t come back. AMOLED is far more clear IMO. Maps, e.g., definitely looks better
Not able to answer to 4-5-6
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@SergioB Thanks for the opinion
Do you see any flaws, despite everything?
Oh, right! Can you attach here a few screenshots of the map? What do the trail names, street names, etc., look like now?
Suunto Vertical + Polar H10
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Good morning everyone. Hi Adrian, I have a V2 and since the last update (in my case) and using Custom Modes and 3 Suunto Guides, the watch has been freezing…in my last run (50km) it stopped measuring my heart rate (new Polar H10) after the first 5km and after freezing completely
️…and I’m wondering… Why am I not using the watch’s optical heart rate sensor if it’s activated???
In my opinion, since Suunto doesn’t have or use ANT+ technology to connect various sensors (including heart rate monitors), it will continue to experience temporary disconnections. The same thing happens when using live tracking; the Suunto app prioritizes its own connection and disconnects live tracking. Anyway…
Otherwise, it’s the typical AMOLED technology upgrade (you won’t go back): good battery life, good build quality, and an elegant look (in my opinion). The app provides enough functionality… I’ve answered based on my experience this past weekend after a test run and the lack of a heart rate monitor on a top-of-the-line watch, which I hope they’ll fix in the next… next… or who knows. This is just my opinion as a user of several brands, but with the bare minimum requirements—no distracting metrics. Sorry about that the extended explanation.
Health for all and kilometers in the mountains
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@Adrian.S Some previous pictures are here: https://forum.suunto.com/post/188739
I hate only one thing. Sometimes, only with specific positions, the watch doesn´t lights up with gesture. For me, this was only advance of MIP, that you can see the time without moving your wrist. During day. -
Yes, amoled is slow to turn on. There is definitely a delay between raising your wrist and the screen turning on. On my race s, it’s better than on my previous garmin forerunner 965. That watch failed to recognize the wrist gesture quite often. Doing fast intervals on a track was so much better with a mips watch. I find mips so much better than amoled. I have all sorts of inconveniences with amoled that I never had with mips. Also, in direct sunlight with sunglasses on, mips was better to read for me.
And yes, mips will be faced out. Shiny gadgets sell better than old fashioned looking gadgets. Mips fans may have an opinion about that, but that’s reality.
Lack of software updates? I had a garmin forerunner 935 for 6 years. Garmin isn’t very good at updating older models. You might get some bugfixes (but they always come with more new bugs) but no feature updates. But the watch was fine for 6 years, until the battery was down to less than 8 hours of gps usage (party caused by age, party by a bug in the firmware)
I understand getting new features is nice, but it will probably not change the way you sport that much. -
@Adrian.S said in Suunto Vertical 1 – A Few Questions About the Future + Questions About the Vertical 2 and a Comparison with the Coros Nomad / the New Vertix 2026:
What do the trail names, street names, etc., look like now
There are no street names or trail names. z
If you search this forum or online you’ll likely see many examples of Suunto maps on the watch. It is the same across all Suunto models.
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@elbee said in Suunto Vertical 1 – A Few Questions About the Future + Questions About the Vertical 2 and a Comparison with the Coros Nomad / the New Vertix 2026:
And yes, mips will be faced out. Shiny gadgets sell better than old fashioned looking gadgets. Mips fans may have an opinion about that, but that’s reality.
I mean it is not that there is just one supplier of MIPS that is not developing the technology any further as it seems. And it is not that basically all MIPS watches share the same screen. It is just shiny gadgets…
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@Adrian.S I moved from the Vertical 1 to the 2. I was really unsure about AMOLED, but now, for me, MIP is history – I’d never go back.
The only thing I miss is a slightly dimmer mode. ‘Low’ is still a bit too bright, but it’s a small thing they could tweak later.
