Suunto 7

[pilleus]

A barometric altitude app without using the location service. Usable as standalone app or complication in a watch face. I like the simple app and the possibility to calibrate to a known altitude.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wachete.wearaltimeter&hl=de&gl=US

[giulio]

@pilleus
Whats the name of your watch face?
I like

[pilleus]

@giulio

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.thema.wear.watch.quante&hl=de&gl=US

[Steff]

I post here as a follow up on this post because it’s not related only with the battery anymore.

Yesterday I did another hike, 6h10min, 10sec GPS, airplane mode, route loaded with 2 waypoints.

The good news is that it used only 7.29%/hour, considering that in the first hour it used 9% (I switched to 10sec GPS after 20 minutes and I got many off route notifications at the beginning) and after that 6.5%/hour.
So, it can easily last 14-15 hours.

The bad news is that 10sec GPS + FusedTrack is a total mess.
The route which had 15.37km it was tracked as 18.68 km by the S7, 21.5% more distance.
Of course, the autolaps were also totally wrong.

This is the route

And this is what was tracked by the S7 with FusedTrack

If you zoom in, it’s a total mess, and surprisingly it’s more mess on straight lines.

And 2 instances where was totally off

As a comparison, this is what the same route looks on a Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 1, a 3 years old device and 3 times cheaper than S7, which used 72% of battery for the same track

17.28km, 12% more than the actual route.

This is without high accuracy mode enabled(not sure what that does, but it cuts the battery in half)

Also, the exact same route tracked with Huawei Watch GT2, again a devices 3 times cheaper than S7, which used only 25% of battery!!!
It’s split in 2, because I accidently stop it.

16.57km, only 8% more than the actual route.

I’m very disappointed with the S7.

I bought the S7 for mainly 3 purposes: daily wear, hiking and very rarely running.

For daily wear is far from ideal but let’s say that is ok.
Wear OS is more than enough for me, but with 1.5-2 day of battery means that I have to charge it daily to be sure that I don’t run out of battery on the second day.

For hiking it’s a total failure.
If I use 1 sec GPS I’m limited to 5 hours of GPS.
If I use 10 sec GPS I get almost unusable results.
Maps and navigation are very nice, but again almost useless with a 4-5hours battery life.

Running it the only thing ok.

I moved from devices like Samsung Gear S3 or Huawei Watch GT2 hopping that a device from a company with great sports experience will provide more reliable results and in fact I get much worse results.

When I got the S7 I had to choose between it and Garmin Venu.
I choose the S7 mainly because I find Venu to be too small at 43mm.

Now the only thing that is keeping me to switch to Venu 2 is the fact that I loose 30% if I sell the watch, and that the Venu 2 is still expensive being released very recently.

[isazi]

@steff are you sure those other watches do not piggyback on the phone GPS?

[Steff]

@isazi don’t know what’s the normal behavior for the Huawei GT2 but I’m sure that it didn’t shared the phone GPS because I remember I had it disconnected.

For Samsung I think they share the phone GPS, but does it even matter? At least with them I have an option to obtain some usable results and I always take my phone with me, especially on long hikes.

Is there an option to share the phone GPS on S7? Because I will gladly use it.
Not only that it does not have this option, but if I leave it connect to my phone I loose another 2-3 hours of battery.

[Egika]

@steff I think “good” GPS is the issue here together with the hiking mode.
Suunto states: “When running or cycling, FusedTrack is used to improve tracking quality.”
So in hiking mode FusedTrack maybe is not used and you just end up with a 10s GPS fix.

If you not already had a watch, for day-long hikes I would always recommend the Suunto 9B anyway! I have both the S9B and the S7 and for single oder multiday hikes I am taking the S9 with me.
I don’t have to care for battery consumption at all and can use best GPS.

The S7 stays on my arm during my daily life and for the casual weekend run or afternoon activity.

[Steff]

@egika said in Suunto 7:

@steff I think “good” GPS is the issue here together with the hiking mode.
Suunto states: “When running or cycling, FusedTrack is used to improve tracking quality.”
So in hiking mode FusedTrack maybe is not used and you just end up with a 10s GPS fix.

It’s very possible, I remember that I tested the FusedTrack with running profile, but walking not running, through the city, and it was nowhere near as messed up.
Probably the FusedTrack algorithm works best after a certain speed, but I don’t understand why Suunto are not enabling it for all profiles.
Worst than without it I don’t think it’s possible

If you not already had a watch, for day-long hikes I would always recommend the Suunto 9B anyway! I have both the S9B and the S7 and for single oder multiday hikes I am taking the S9 with me.
I don’t have to care for battery consumption at all and can use best GPS.

The S7 stays on my arm during my daily life and for the casual weekend run or afternoon activity.

Or I can get a Venu 2 and have a single watch for both daily wear and day hikes
I know the smartwatch capabilities of Garmin are not comparable with WearOS, but for what I need(and I think most people also) in 90% for situations (notifications, payments, music) Garmin it’s enough

[Egika]

@steff correct. No need to stick to Suunto if the grass on the other side of the river is greener for you

[Martin Vrska]

@brad_olwin Hi, This morning, after updating Google Play services in the watch, a GPS icon appeared that had not appeared before. Does anyone have it too? Thanks.

[Jamie BG]

@steff
I am in a similar but different boat.
I have bought a Fenix 6x Pro (solar) because I wanted what I had as close to possible as the S7 but with better normal battery life.
From what I have seen there doesn’t seem to be a major difference in terms of tracks, distance, altitude etc - Fairly close, but then so far max distance i have used is 4km but done quite a few of those and all fairly close to my S7 on same routes.

[Steff]

@jamie-bg yes, unfortunately the perfect device does not exist.

Before the S7 I always said that the perfect device for me would be a Fenix with amoled and touchscreen.
S7 and Venu are the only ones which come close to this.

I still think that S7, even with the current hardware has a lot of potential.

Maybe a 5sec GPS FusedTrack with 8-10 hours of battery and enabled for all profiles will solve all my problems but I doubt that this is something which Suunto would ever consider.

Until then, I think I will go to the other side of the river where the grass is greener, like @Egika said

[isazi]

@steff said in Suunto 7:

Until then, I think I will go to the other side of the river where the grass is greener, like @Egika said

Hopefully you will not discover that cows are dead on the other side too. And water is poisonous

[Steff]

@isazi if the water is poisonous, both sides of the river will have dead cows

Depends on which side of the river has fewer dead cows

[isazi]

@steff said in Suunto 7:

@isazi if the water is poisonous, both sides of the river will have dead cows

In fact I said “too”

[Jamie BG]

@isazi amazing how the grass always looks greener on the other side and even if it is, sometimes by the time you get there it isn’t. Sometimes it is though and worth the cost of the change.

Learnt that lesson in sailing dighies that just cause a side is favoured, if you get caught on the wrong side, it isn’t always worth changing side straight away, sometimes the initial cost of transferring is worse than continuing on, however in some occasions staying on the wrong side is even worse and you have to cut your losses… The ideal thing is being able to judge and pick the right moment (and or hope we never end up on the wrong side).

But my personal opinion in Suunto vs Garmin is there isn’t a better side - they both have their good and bad - it really comes down to what works for you now. Ideally would love a marriage of the two i.e. Garmin’s health features in Suunto’s layout, Garmins complex training with Training Peaks training at top level (though that would be interesting as they aren’t really the same from what I can make out) and the Fenix 6x Pro Solar with all its features (smart included) with the S9 Peaks screen, and ability to manage customization in the app…

But unfortunately until that comes its what works for you best at this point in time.

[isazi]

@jamie-bg I agree, there’s no one size fits all. As I said already, I owned all Garmin Fenix watches (excluding the original one), 6 included. I owned more Garmin devices, and used them for more years, than Suunto ones

[vr2udt]

Solstice watch face on the Summer Solstice day

[Nigel Taylor 0]

@martin-vrska said in Suunto 7:

@brad_olwin Hi, This morning, after updating Google Play services in the watch, a GPS icon appeared that had not appeared before. Does anyone have it too? Thanks.

Yes - it annoys me!

[Martin Vrska]

@nigel-taylor-0 The icon disappears when turned off and on again. At least for me.