Sunnto 7 Sensor Support
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I just wanted to get this topic separated from other topics on the S7 forum. Who feels adding Bluetooth sensor support (heart rate strap etc) would increase the usability of the Suunto 7.
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To be more precise, you are talking about the Suunto wear app, correct?
Google Fit, Ghostracer, SportyGo can do this already.
I am with you, that it should be the decision of the user how to use the Suunto wear app (with or without external sensors) and not Suunto’s decision!
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@brotzfrog10 - I agree that the suunto app should include this option, as if I want to use it, I want it as part of the suunto app, and not having to import it from another app that doesn’t have the same other functionality that the suunto app has.
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@pilleus yes you are correct. I’m talking about it being built into the sunnto app on the watch, where all their wonderful workout data is housed! I truly think Suunto has the best workout layout of any smart watch maker. I’m also glad to hear you’re on board with such a change!! I realize there’s a lot of other things people might want but for me this is such a simple thing that is frankly very odd wasn’t available from the beginning
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Has anyone done a really long workout with Bluetooth devices connected on the S7 in apps like sporty go? I’m curious what kind of battery life people are seeing.
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This is definitely on my and some friends who also use S7, wishlist.
Many prefer smartwatch for daily driver and using same watch for sport. No going back to sportwatch with some smart features.
Unfortunately there are downsides, one of them being lack of external hr. So many sports out there where wrist hr is not either reliable or userfriendly: icehockey, swimming, cycling just to name few.Suunto, please add the belt support, we need it.
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@Aleksander-H Hello, I tried Ghostracer on a ride of about an hour with climbs. Connected with Polar H7, one GPS point per second, cadence and elevation measured by the watch. It is more energy intensive than the Suunto app but the precision of the heart measurement is surgical. No bug, love it.
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@Jer7678 ambient mode? Or dimmed? I think it is a difference which display settings are used.
With Ghostracer and deactivated wrist hr my S7 uses about 10 to 12 percent of the battery per hour while cycling (ambient mode, barometer on, 1 sec GPS recording).
The next days I will do a comparison with a) wrist hr on and b) wrist hr off and Polar OH1.
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@pilleus I don’t anderstand the difference between dimmed or ambiant ? I don’t precise, always on display was used.
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Sensor support is not only a nice feature but a necessity when doing winter sports. So for now I am back with my Spartan Sport, which also has sleep tracking. But during daytime I do prefer my Suunto 7 because of the great integration with my Android phone. So please Suunto, listen to us, the users.
(I have also noticed in facebook groups that several people who use their Suunto 7 in different indoor training are wanting external HR sensor support).
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@Jer7678 always on uses the most battery. Ambient and ambient dim are the best choices for battery life.
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@aeroild, clear.
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@Jer7678 and for ambient modes you can choose the update interval in Android wear settings in the Ghostracer app on the smartphone.
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@pilleus I ll try.
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@pilleus thank you for the feedback on ghost racer. I just find it sad that sunnto is essentially forcing its customers to find third party work around for something that everyone of their other watches has built in natively. By not letting us use their wonderful workout platform they erode brand loyalty because if you aren’t going to use the sunnto built in software then what’s to keep the consumer from jumping to another brand being every WearOs watch can have access to the same third party apps. It’s honestly shockingly poor planning.
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@brotzfrog10 said in Sunnto 7 Sensor Support:
@pilleus thank you for the feedback on ghost racer. I just find it sad that sunnto is essentially forcing its customers to find third party work around for something that everyone of their other watches has built in natively. By not letting us use their wonderful workout platform they erode brand loyalty because if you aren’t going to use the sunnto built in software then what’s to keep the consumer from jumping to another brand being every WearOs watch can have access to the same third party apps. It’s honestly shockingly poor planning.
I wonder if you can get along with less use of over-excited adjectives.
While it is neither shockingly poor, nor sad, nor wonderful, it is a business case of Suunto, that they should understand better than externals.I’d buy a Suunto for its excellent built quality, water proofing and design.
The app is mainly designed to transfer the data to the service you like, as there are many individual preferences when it comes to data analysis. Why not see it as an advantage to be able to choose the app you like for workouts? Ghostracer and Sportygo are valid alternatives to the Suunto app.At the same time I agree with you, that it would do no harm to be able to switch to external sensors in the Suunto App. Still I see that priorities might be different atm.
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@Egika I’m glad we at least partly agree haha. I still stand by my overall point. Even Apple who has by far the largest App Store maintains a high level of functionally with their watch workout app (sensor support, moderately customizable data fields) and they weren’t first and foremost a workout company like Suunto . Plus they still allow you to sync with most of the major online training platforms. That’s the real key as you said, having the choice to use whatever service you want but my quandary here is why would a company essentially have their own app lack basic training functionally, therefore in some way pushing consumers towards using another companies product or app? Don’t you want to keep a consumer as tied to your own platform as possible in order to create brand loyalty?
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keeping customers tied to a platform is maybe not so much depending on external sensors support, as we (forum users) tend to think.
While I myself see the big plus in winter sports, where the watch is not on the skin - the target audience for the S7 maybe does not really care.
The ones who do care still have the choice to go with the S5 or S9.Anyway - this is now going in circles. Voting for this topic will maybe have the most influence normal users could have, to bring this forward.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that it makes it on the road map. -
@brotzfrog10 said in Sunnto 7 Sensor Support:
@Egika I’m glad we at least partly agree haha. I still stand by my overall point. Even Apple who has by far the largest App Store maintains a high level of functionally with their watch workout app (sensor support, moderately customizable data fields) and they weren’t first and foremost a workout company like Suunto.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the development resources on the Apple Watch are greater than the whole of Suunto to be honest.
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@Egika also to your priority point, I’m sure you’re right as it seems Suunto is really trying to enhance GPS and mapping support which I applaud. I’m not depending sensor support be added tomorrow. My concern is that from every interaction with someone connected to Suunto the idea of sensor support isn’t even on their roadmap. It’s even been dismissed in some cases as they feel the costumer buying a Suunto 7 isn’t really looking for that. That’s where I feel Suunto has miscalculated in terms of who their customer really is for this watch. I see who they want their customer to be for this watch (broader market less fitness data driven consumer) but I think it’s hard to be a fitness data driven company with a well known brand in the fitness wearable space and believe that your largest audience for your new product won’t be expecting a certain agree of functionality (like native sensor support).
I also think it’s reasonable to assume that the $100 price drop on the watch more recently reflects a difficultly to move units. I could be completely wrong but typically a company doesn’t drop the retail price on a product if it’s selling at or above expectation.
