the5krunner impressions

JorgeFD

I’m a mixed runner. I’ll try to explain:

· From Monday to Friday I’m a “normal runner”. My training routine is weight training and short runs (60’ maximum).
· Satuday & Sunday I go wild and do trailrunning/hiking between 3 to 8 hours.

My scope is train to ultramarathons from 10 to 16 hours.

For me it would be great to use a S7 from Monday to Friday and my lovely S9B from Saturday to Sunday. I know that sometime I could use a S7 for my trailrunning/hiking sessions but I don’t want to be worried about battery.

What keeps me out of have both watches to day is:

1-. Use my stryd in S7. I know that other apps can do it buy I want to use Suunto Wear OS App
2-. The chance to have both watches in sync with the same app without the need of pair/unpair every time I want to sync

the5krunner

For what they were worth, they were first impressions on accuracy, stated as provisional (gives me some wiggle room )

I like the S7. There are lots of positives and personally I like Wear OS as well (others clearly do not).

Simply because of a lack of competition it must be the best, smartwatch FOR SPORT in Wear OS.

It will be interesting to see how all the PR goes as there are a few obvious flaws. If you focus on those it’s rubbish, if you focus on the positives it’s awesome.

Some perceptions will be akin to what happened with Polar’s M600. It wasn’t what Polar users were used to and wanted. Same with the S7, it’s appealing instead to a mostly new market. #OldMarket #MightNotBeHappy.

Remember, the S7 could be a commercial success and that gives Suunto more money to invest in #OldMarket.

Kindest regards,

tfk
(the5krunner.com)

the5krunner

@pilleus @isazi I’ve said numerous time that “we are all different” so I fully take your point and thank you for the implication that I am a big name Today has started well !

It’s very difficult for anyone to put themselves precisely in another person’s shoes.

FWIW my PERSONAL approach to things like the Suunto 7 is to TRY to put myself in the shoes of who the intended market, which is why I often outline who i think the intended market is and often ask the companies who the intended market is (they don’t usually answer that one! )

I suppose the advantage of being a wannabee triathlete is that triathlete’s are exposed to lots of hours of training and across a wider variety of disciplines/scenarios than most people. Hopefully triathlete’s wider needs are as human as everyone else and use smart features similarly to buy coffee and listen to music.

The great thing with most forum regulars, and regulars who are kind enough to visit my site from time-to-time, is that you’re all a clever bunch seeking out more than one opinion in order to make your own mind up.

Kind regards
tfk
the5krunner.com

isazi

@the5krunner it wasn’t a critique from my side, BTW, just a comment on the fact that we all are people and have different experiences, and YMMV for a variety of reasons

@Brad_Olwin said in the5krunner impressions:

For me, battery life is king for the S7, I want a full 8h-10h of skiing/running/hiking with GPS. At this time I cannot get that, 7h yes, but not 10h.

Interesting. I normally get about 8% per hour in Suunto app (GPS, OHR, never really used their maps as I know the course I run – typically a a mile or so long loop, don’t check my watch too often for same reason). With that, I’d estimate I should be able to hit Suunto promised 12 hours. But I’d say even 6-8 hours should be enough for target audience, whether they run, trail run, or hike.

Adding external sensors will drive the battery life down to 4-5h, which for me starts to become unacceptable.

Wouldn’t HR from BLE sensor require less power than a built-in OHR?

I think for a regular Joe or Jane, the battery is perfectly adequate. Even if the said Joe or Jane decide to run a marathon. The remaining poor souls staring down dozens of hours of training can still benefit from S7 as a daily smartwatch and an occasional training companion.

@the5krunner said in the5krunner impressions:

Some perceptions will be akin to what happened with Polar’s M600. It wasn’t what Polar users were used to and wanted. Same with the S7, it’s appealing instead to a mostly new market. #OldMarket #MightNotBeHappy.

As somebody who got M600 on its release and used it for a while, I must say Polar’s biggest mistake was twofold. Even though they were not going for traditional Polar crowd they designed M600 like a cheaper, but somewhat more modern looking version of V800. A big mistake in times of Moto 360 and Huawei Watch that looked increasingly like normal watches.

Second, they pretty much dropped the ball on supporting M600 soon after the release. In all years on the market, the watch only gained one feature. Their new Sleep Plus. Maybe a few more marginal enhancements. It was perfectly capable of 24/7 heart rate, but did it get it? Nope. It was perfectly capable of using footpods. Did it get them? Nope. Was anything done to improve GPS tracks? Nope again. How about race pace or zone lock? Nada. Orthostatic test? Get out!

So, regular folks have been put off by a bulky parole bracelet like design. Fitness people quickly realized they would need to look elsewhere for their training needs. And this IMHO represents a cautionary tale for Suunto 7. Making a sporty smartwatch is a very tough balancing act.

Brad_Olwin

@pilleus said in the5krunner impressions:

@Brad_Olwin said in the5krunner impressions:

I have the same and it is a pre-production model!

I don’t understand. You mean the 5krunner has a pre-production model? And did the tests with this watch?

No, I have a preproduction model and my OHR is great, spot on when compared to Suunto smartsensor.

pilleus

@the5krunner said in the5krunner impressions:

thank you for the implication that I am a big name Today has started well !

No doubt about it. It is a fact that you have a very solid knowledge of all kinds of sport or smartwatches which I accept.

But nevertheless, as you mentioned, I am different and therefore I wrote that I never was interested in the reviews of other users. Sounds like a criticism, but in my mother language I could explain it more precisely. Instead of interested I should have taken the expression “reviews do not affect my personal experience and usage”. ️

Brad_Olwin

@NickK Agree with you regarding the target audience. I find the S7 is a great watch, I have an AW4 that has similar battery life and a better smartwatch than S7 as I am on iOS but…it is a PITA to use for intervals and I have been in the Suunto ecosystem for so long that I am more comfortable with Suunto. I use the S7 exclusively when I travel for work to find popular running routes.

isazi

And the final review: https://the5krunner.com/2020/03/02/suunto-7-review/

Bulkan

@isazi said in the5krunner impressions:

And the final review: https://the5krunner.com/2020/03/02/suunto-7-review/

So what does that sound like? Yep. To me, it sounds like an alternative to an Apple Watch. NOT an alternative to a Suunto 9 or Garmin Fenix 6 Pro Solar or even to a top-end Garmin Forerunner running watch. Suunto devotees may scoff, and rightly so, this is not a watch for them. But hey, the Apple Watch is the best selling wearable…EVER. There REALLY is a market for this sort of thing. Honest!!

Finally, someone who gets it. I agree with this review. Honest and objective.

@Bulkan Except all people writing here are Suunto 9 or Suunto 5 owners And all of them want Suunto 7 to be Suunto 9 with smarts and better screen at a cost of battery life.

Suunto should really consider making Suunto 9 ¾

isazi

@NickK Suunto 8, the love child of 9 and 7. Or maybe is it Suunto 16?

Brad_Olwin

@NickK said in the5krunner impressions:

@Bulkan Except all people writing here are Suunto 9 or Suunto 5 owners And all of them want Suunto 7 to be Suunto 9 with smarts and better screen at a cost of battery life.

Suunto should really consider making Suunto 9 ¾

I am a Suunto9 and Suunto5 owner. Not in the group you mentioned as the S7 cannot be an S9 and I don’t think we will have the two merged for quite some time. My hope is that in some way the maps implementation can be parsed into the successor of the S9.

@isazi @Brad_Olwin :

Suunto 8, the love child of 9 and 7. Or maybe is it Suunto 16?

I see… No Harry Potter fans here
https://makeagif.com/i/reDFWg

vlado

This is definitely more realistic and more honest review than the one from dc rainmaker.
I say more honest because i think that DC went intentionally more harsh in his review just to maybe shake Suunto a little bit in order to Suunto consider all drawbacks of this watch that he is mentioning and i can not say i dont agree with couple of his remarks.
But overall, i like 5krunner’s review more and in my opinion this watch can really have great future.

Fenr1r

@NickK said in the5krunner impressions:

I see… No Harry Potter fans here

That might have got more love in the platform discussion.

kkalsi

@Bulkan I have found I need to look at external sensors for strength and circuit training. OHR seems fine for me for running. This is a huge gap in my opinion as you should not really need to go out of the Suunto ecosystem to support this with other apps - if you do not do that then you do not get a true measure on effort and recovery.

the5krunner

@Bulkan he he he. I like you ! thank you for the kind words

the5krunner

@vlado

thank you.

FWIW, I think I finally largely understand the commercial side of doing reviews.

In a nutshell: it just isn’t possible for anyone except dcr to make a living in this space EXCEPT from Garmin commissions and ad revenue income and maybe paid-sponsorships for the likes of GCN.

If you accept that as ‘probably true’, then you can draw your own implications about the motivations behind what people write.

To be clear: my statement is not aimed at dcr. he is probably the exception to the rule.

Regarding his intentions to shake up Suunto. I would imagine that Suunto is fully aware of what they released with the S7 and why they released it. All the companies understand what they are doing 95% of the time, they are stuffed full of intelligent people. They make compromises, perhaps, for commercial or timing reasons.