Does slow rollout of firmware hinder perceptions of Suunto?

[TheGuyFromTheSummit]

@traileyes I would say, that the Garmin “fanbase” is larger and due to the tons of functions a Garmin has + a new watch almost every year the “testers” are trying to get hands on the newest watch.
So they have more clicks etc.

The interest in tests of new hardware seems to be higher, than software updates.

But that is just my opinion without any further research.

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

Valid point. I find it amazing that for a wearable with limited capabilities (well, they’re not that limited but in comparison to android-driven watches - they are) the S series is literally evolving in firmware.

Since its release, the S5 received amazing GPS-related updates, the S+, rise to wake, snap to route, not to mention the features in SA.

And some of the features look like backported from S9P to older devices from S series. Which is interesting as S5 is mid-tier and older, which in how the market is formed - could as well be left behind without anyone having a problem with it.

As @TrailEyes said - this could be as well released as a new “refreshed” device with just a bunch of firmware features exclusive to the new model.

[cs2nd]

@traileyes Thanks for sharing. I’m in a similar situation as you. I was an Ambit user in 2013, my very first sports watch. Then dove into the Garmin world with a Fenix 3 in 2016 then to a Fenix 5 plus in 2019 (Apple Watch in between those years). I was full on Garmin disciple but something about their broad and deep product line, features, groups, competitions… it all got very tiring and bothersome.

So this year I pretty much decided to move on. I looked at a lot of reviews online for: Coros, Polar, and Suunto. I actually bought a Polar Vantage V2 a few weeks back but you know what? I kept looking over the fence at Suunto’s offerings. Kept getting drawn back over there. I slept on it for days and finally needed to scratch that itch and pulled the trigger, ordering a S9P.

I’m happier for that decision. The summary of this is that I have a sports watch and functions that do not get in my way. Allows me to get out there and move, exercise without the various bells and whistles. It functions in harmony with me and is frictionless. And it looks really good!!

Great to be back with Suunto. Suunto, keep being you - thanks @TrailEyes and the community here.

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@cs2nd said in Does slow rollout of firmware hinder perceptions of Suunto?:

(…) The summary of this is that I have a sports watch and functions that do not get in my way. Allows me to get out there and move, exercise without the various bells and whistles. It functions in harmony with me and is frictionless. (…)

This.

[Brad_Olwin]

@traileyes The rollouts are not slow, what you do not see is what happens behind the scenes. The testers have frequent firmware updates, every week in some cases a little longer in others. This is to ensure that when you get an update, there are no bugs. Of course a few escape but the vast majority of issues are fixed before the firmware goes out. Believe me, there is nothing slow about firmware updates! And I can only speak from the testers, I am sure it is much more hectic from the developer side.

The reason that competitors may release updates more frequently is to eliminate bugs that did not get found on beta testing, essentially making their users become testers (in fact some competitors have forums devoted to beta updates……). I do not believe that consumers should be forced to test firmware, especially when it can cause losses of data.

Suunto IMHO is about quality, simplicity and durability. That is an excellent set of features to define a brand!

[A Former User]

@brad_olwin In all honesty, those other competitors have to do what they do.

When you allow third party code to run on your watches, be it a watch face, an app, or a data field, you simply can’t test all possible permutations of code and settings and their interactions in-house. Likewise, third party developers might want a chance to test their bits on real hardware too.

This becomes even more of a necessity in our age of constant hype when every tiny bug is immediately blown out of proportion by we, the people.

The competitors pay a hefty price for this user testing too: all new features get leaked weeks and sometime months before landing on most users’ watches.

@TrailEyes I think Suunto is only behind Garmin and COROS in terms of firmware updates and way ahead of Polar. In fact, if you count only Garmin production releases and take away COROS multiple releases to fix a previous release’ issues, the cadence of updates will be pretty comparable.

[TrailEyes]

@brad_olwin And I whole-heartedly agree with this sentiment – I would much rather receive something that’s tested and without bugs than to get something where I, as an end user, am essentially the tester. I very much laud and appreciate Suunto’s approach, and it’s one reason why I went with Suunto.

Perhaps a better word choice on my part rather than “slow release” should have been “extended release,” as maybe that captures the frustration I have that new-product reviews are often one-and-done forever online and don’t get updated to capture the functionality of a watch’s current firmware. It could make Suunto look like it’s falling behind more than it is because these awesome updates go into older model watches as well as any newer ones, while a company like Garmin puts a new plastic case and new number on the device and would call it a whole new product, thus driving reviewers and internet buzz around a new product with new firmware.

[A Former User]

@brad_olwin said in Does slow rollout of firmware hinder perceptions of Suunto?:

The reason that competitors may release updates more frequently is to eliminate bugs that did not get found on beta testing, essentially making their users become testers (in fact some competitors have forums devoted to beta updates……). I do not believe that consumers should be forced to test firmware, especially when it can cause losses of data.

Suunto IMHO is about quality, simplicity and durability. That is an excellent set of features to define a brand!

Honest question, don’t you think that by opening the beta firmware testing to users a brand can accelerate the development and find bugs faster?
Or the quality of the testing/ reporting may not be ideal?

[DMytro]

@andré-faria it could be that nowadays beta firmware means more of a bug here and there but totally usable and what suunto is distributing to the testers is borderline useful which if released in the public might cause complaints.
But I would definitely try it out.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@andré-faria yeah reporting and NDA.
Also we value surveys from testers. We don’t want to have surveys from people that are not per se the audience we seek.

[zhang965]

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos said in Does slow rollout of firmware hinder perceptions of Suunto?:

@andré-faria yeah reporting and NDA.
Also we value surveys from testers. We don’t want to have surveys from people that are not per se the audience we seek.

I know it’s not a perfect moment to say, but it’s the reason why Suunto 9 has no firstbeat features when released right?

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

@zhang965 nope. That was a Po decision