Current state of the App?

[Will W]

Hello all,

How does the Suunto App compare to Garmins App?

I’ve had a Ambit2 since it came out and have worn it as a daily watch but now I’m looking to upgrade. I’m deciding between the Garmin Fenix5 and the Suunto 9Baro. Both watches look great and have pros and cons to both. However, I have seen many different places that the Garmin software is far superior to Suuntos. Is that still true or has Suunto updated their App enough to be competitive?

I hike at high altitudes, weight train, stationary bike, water sports, and many other random activities on a daily basis. I’m also interested in sleep tracking. Is the Suunto 9 the right watch for me? Thanks!

[Luís Pinto]

@Will-W Suunto and Garmin have complete different aproaches. Garmin release many models, they have many, many features in watches. Suunto have excelent hardware, design, and software should improve over time. Companies have a complete different structure, in terms of human ressources.

[Chocksta]

Hello Will W.

The Suunto App is still some way from the level of Movescount with regards to analytics and the Garmin software is very well established and developed. It must be said though that the Suunto App is improving all the time and I am sure it will get there. In my opinion having used Garmin devices previously, The Suunto hardware is fantastic. GPS acquisition is far quicker with my Suunto Spartan Ultra than any Garmin device that I have used and the watch itself is more straightforward to use with an intuitive user interface but to be balanced, my friend swears by his Garmin Fenix3. The fenix5 has a couple of extra features on board the watch eg. you are able to enter a grid ref. on board the watch and navigate to it (I have requested this as a feature request for the Spartan Ultra/Baro 9 so it may come with a software update in the future) but the capabilities of both are fairly equal and so things like fast and accurate GPS lock etc. are important for me and I think that Suunto are best in this area. Personally, I wouldn’t make the decision of which watch to purchase based on the software which is constantly changing and being developed. It would have to be based on the hardware for me.

Whichever way you choose to go, they are both powerful devices so happy buying

Regards.

[pescacebesforum]

My personal impressions:

Sleep tracking: Garmin (no doubt at all)
Accuracy: Both are excellent
Useability: Garmin (specially because you can change your mind on the go while Suunto requires to stop the current activity, go to Suunto app, customize, sync and start a new activity)
Web: Garmin (Suunto will kill Movescount and no web replacement in sight)
App: Garmin
Routes, POIs… Garmin (maps option not in Suunto). Suunto lacks routes and POIs proper management right now (if you use SA)
Hardware: Suunto. But Garmin is more than ok too
Features in the web: GARMIN, GARMIN GARMIN GARMIN
Suunto requires external sport tracking services (Strava, Runalize…) if you are serious about following your progress. Garmin gives you quite a good set of tools to do that.
Note: I owe a FR 235 and a Suunto Spartan Ultra. Satisfied with both, but longing for a major Suunto software upgrade both for the (unexisting) web and the watch

Hard decission. If you are not like me and have some patience, I suggest to wait for the next upgrades of Suunto and/or the outcome for a fully fledged web based service.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@pescacebesforum Does the garmin app allow you to create routes as you wish ?

[Will W]

@pescacebesforum thanks for the response. very helpful!

[Will W]

@Chocksta thankyou for the response! good insight! It is a very tough decision for me, I have loyalty to Suunto but they are making it hard for me to stay with them!

[A Former User]

@Will-W Let me point a few out a few things. Leaving watches and the web aside, since this may or may not have been a part of your original question, here’s what Suunto app has that Garmin doesn’t:

• Clarity: a lot of watches with lots of features means that Garmin’s app is fairly cluttered. They did a very nice redesign two years ago that helps, but getting to many things is still a hassle.
• Map creation/management: you won’t be able to create or import maps in Garmin’s app. The only way to get them
  is to either use web tool or their very simplistic in-app “automatic” creator that’s as good as non-existent.
• Running power. Considering using Stryd or Runscribe? Too bad! While Garmin has arguably best integration with Stryd Powercenter in terms of pushing data, good luck getting your average and maximum power in workout summary. Or having a power chart as a first class citizen along with pace. Yes, the charts from Stryd do get displayed in the workout details pages. But not always. Because running power isn’t a native feature on Garmin watches.
• Sports mode customization: you have to set up and customize all screens on your watch. Some people love this, but I personally find scrolling through a bunch of fields and layouts on a watch pretty inconvenient and time consuming. More so for a quick field change unless you are already inside an activity of your choice.
• Sports types: Garmin is limiting you to a handful of activities such as running, bike, swimming, walk, gym, and ever growing “Other”. They recently added diving and yoga. And that’s it. Doing crossfit? You are out of luck! Martial arts, boxing, and the like? None are available. Kettlebells and other cardio-inducing weights? Nope, not there. Stretching or mobility drills? You’ll be labeling these as yoga I suppose. The bottom line: hard to analyze things if you can’t put them into correct buckets.
• Comparing workouts: SA has a nice feature comparing your runs on the same route, for example. And their week-by-week info on your workout time is arguably more in your face and useful. Android has even more analysis built-in. Most of this is not available in Garmin.
• Connectivity. Your mileage may vary, especially if you have Android, but on iPhone both my Suunto 9 and Suunto 3 Fitness I tried for a while were rock solid. I’d leave my desk to grab water and as I approach it, the watch would immediately reconnect and sync notifications. Can’t tell you how many times Garmin devices just stopped connecting, which required toggling Bluetooth on them, the phone, throwing things at the wall, etc.
• Key features work: I don’t remember when SA failed to sync a route or a sports mode customization. Happens periodically with Garmin

I think the only three differentiators not subject to watch features that Garmin has is support for multiple devices connected to the app, daily heart rate, and sleep analysis. Movescount had multiple devices, so that’s a future possibility in SA. Heart rate is being worked on per @Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos, and Garmin’s sleep analysis is fairly inaccurate compared to, say, Fitbit, Oura, WHOOP, or Withings.

[karel louda]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
Garmin Connect not, but Garmin Explore has a full support to create/edit routes and waypoints and that all is possible in OFFLINE mode (without data connection - maps are downloadable).

[A Former User]

@karel-louda Not all current Garmin watches are compatible with Explore. You’d need Fenix or Instinct I believe to use it. Maybe they extended it to a few Forerunners. I haven’t followed. But last I checked, the list was fairly restrictive, and the app itself pretty buggy and clunky. I have no doubt Garmin will polish it in coming months and years. But let’s compare apples to apples… Primary watch app.

[Brad_Olwin]

@karel-louda said in Current state of the App?:

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos
Garmin Connect not, but Garmin Explore has a full support to create/edit routes and waypoints and that all is possible in OFFLINE mode (without data connection - maps are downloadable).

I have a Garmin inReach Mini satellite communicator that uses the Garmin Earthmate app, and Garmin Explore is a clone of that. I am not sure that you can plan routes and sync completely offline. I cannot with Earthmate and both use the same web platform. I can only import GPX via the web, it is a PITA. The route planning on Explore is not very good and there are no heat maps. SA is miles ahead on iOS as it allows cloud import and sharing of GPX tracks. You cannot import into Explore and the maps that Garmin uses for these apps are not that great. GAIA is way better and that is what I typically use for route planning.