S7 Navigation Issues
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Today I went for a run with my S7 on a route I have never done before. As it was going to be a reasonably complex route, with multiple route options and many twists and turns, I plotted a route in Komoot and imported it to my watch. All good so far.
I set off and all was good with the world. The sun was shining, I was funning through the countryside, I was in my happy place.
And then it all started to go wrong. The watch alerted me to a turn I needed to make. 20 metres after I should have taken it. No biggie, a quick double back and carry on.
It did it again, another 20 or so metres late. And again. And again.
Consistently 15-30 metres late, every single time.At some complex areas in the woods I had to stop and check my phone, as I could not rely on the watch to tell me the right way to go.
I ended up spending so much time checking the watch that I lost the fun of the run. This should not happen!
Whilst studying the watch closely, it was clear that my tracked position was 20-30 metres behind where I actually was. It tracked the right route mostly accurately, it was just behind.
This wouldn’t be an issue if I wasn’t following a route (which is how most of my runs go) but when following a route this is simply unacceptable.I missed turns, went the wrong way, had to double back multiple times. I ended up pretty angry with the watch and decided mid run to replace it.
It is only the fact that the Garmin Epix2 is (mighty) expensive and still on back order in the UK that I have not yet bought one.I love my S7, I really do. But if it is going to be unreliable when following a route, then it will quickly end up in the bin.
I believe this is simply a sign of the age of the watch. Older hardware is underpowered and struggling to handle processing a route, position, and directions quickly enough.
Unless anyone can give me some tips on how to resolve this issue (which I don’t think is possible due to it being a hardware limitation) or has news of a replacement to the S7, then sadly I see my time with a Suunto watch as rapidly running out…
And before anyone recommends one of the other Suunto watches, I have looked at all of them in depth. None of them meet my current requirements. So unless something new is coming out soon, I will have to move on
(which is a HUGE shame, as this forum is one of the best things about Suunto)
Suunto 7 Graphite Copper
Suunto App Beta (Android - Pixel 6 Pro) -
@olymay I have never had this happen, the S7 route finding is no different than other Suunto watches. I would try again.
Vector/T6c/Ambit 3 Peak/S5 Copper/S3/S7 Ti/S9 baro Ti/S9P Ti/S9PP Ti/Vertical Ti/Race Ti/RaceS/Ocean/Wing
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@brad_olwin whilst I don’t use this feature and cannot comment, I would do what feels right for you. In life we have to make decisions and unfortunately sometimes once we don’t like. I loved my S7 and really wanted to keep it but like you I noticed limitation that I couldn’t live with. End of the road. I no longer have it and I am now Garmin Fenix 6 Solar user. The fact that I am here responding tells you something about Suunto forum and the community. Well well, I am keeping my eye on the forum to see if there is any hints of a successor to the S7
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@olymay this happened to me a few times ago and the problem (in my case, ymmv) was because I had set the GPS accuracy to 10s. As soon as I changed it to 1s everything was fine
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@brad_olwin creating the routes is fine (better than fine, it’s brilliant!) and the way it displays the route on the screen is outstanding (large OLED screen is a dream for navigation!).
My issue was the delay in notifications. I would be well past the turning by the time the watch told me to turn. It was so bad I had to stop using the watch and resorted to checking phone periodically and memorising sections of the route ahead. This took away a significant part of the enjoyment of the run
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@binoworld-uk I’m not making any rash decisions (although I was so pi$$ed off with the watch yesterday if the Epix2 had been in stock I would have bought one there and then!).
I am still holding out hope that an S2 successor will come out soon. But if the Epix2 drops in price before there is an announcement then I will not wait.
I am increasing my running distance as well as trying out new routes and entering more events this year. I need a watch that I can rely on for navigation and have a decent battery (which reminds of another issue I had on this run!)
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@g-q That’s a good point, however i never use the 10s GPS as my runs are never long enough to need the longer battery life.
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@olymay whilst replying to these posts it reminded me of another issue I had, this time with battery life…
I have used the watch for navigation in the past, but just to keep an eye on the route, not for turn-by-turn nav.
When checking the map screen, it takes a couple of seconds for the screen to wake up, and then a number of seconds before the location updates. This can be anywhere from 5-15 seconds. Sometimes not an issue, but always an annoyance.
As I knew I would be using the map screen a lot yesterday, I set it to be ‘always on map’, to avoid this delay when checking.
I knew this would be a hit to the battery life, so I charged the watch to 100% before leaving and as I was only going 14km I wasn’t overly worried.By the time I had done my warm ups and hit start for the run, the watch was on 98%, more than enough for a 14km run.
It was. JUST!!
When I stopped the watch at the end of the run it was down to 19%!!!
The run lasted 1hr39mins (99 mins!) and the watch dropped 79%. That seems excessive to me, especially I was only actually on the map screen for 2/3 to 3/4 of the run (there were a few sections I knew well and didn’t need the map open).
I know that batteries degrade over time, and this watch is almost two years old. But I look after the battery and it still lasts well in normal use.
I fear that under a bit of stress the battery might be struggling to cope.Whatever the reason, the battery is not responsive enough to use the power saving navigation mode and the battery is no longer good enough to last in power hungry mode.
My S7 is clearly in the twilight (or later) of it’s useful life. I NEED an S7 replacement. I really hope Suunto will be the one to provide (I love the Suunto App, the community, pretty much everything), I just the hardware to go with it now.
Please Suunto, please.Suunto 7 Graphite Copper
Suunto App Beta (Android - Pixel 6 Pro) -
@olymay - and this was my main reason for making the change I did - battery life just doesn’t cut it.
Am looking at swopping out the F6xPS for an Epix 2, as miss the S7 screen and touchscreen (but not enough to go back). Only concern is E2 battery life - going to miss the F6x battery life so was considering the F7x, but then would miss the screen…Thanks to backlog have more time to consider it. -
@jamie-bg said in S7 Navigation Issues:
@olymay - and this was my main reason for making the change I did - battery life just doesn’t cut it.
Am looking at swopping out the F6xPS for an Epix 2, as miss the S7 screen and touchscreen (but not enough to go back). Only concern is E2 battery life - going to miss the F6x battery life so was considering the F7x, but then would miss the screen…Thanks to backlog have more time to consider it.The screen is super important to me. It is the main way of interacting with a watch (and any device) and will be looked at multiple times a day. OLED is simply stunning and very difficult to go back from.
I’ve always hated the transflective displays on Garmin and others, but appreciate why they were used.The battery life of the Epix2 would be more than enough for me (the S7 is mostly good enough, so the Epix would be plenty).
One thing to note with the Epix2 (and the F7) is that there has been at least one firmware update that has optimised the device and improved battery life. So the quoted times mentioned in all reviews are now out of date and the life should be longer.
Even so, 6 days of life with the screen set to always on is mighty impressive! -
@jamie-bg Based on everything you have said here, I think you would love the Epix 2. You’re right about it having less juice than the 6x Pro Solar, but if you tolerated the S7 battery for any amount of time, you’ll love the 5-6 days you get with the Epix, and that’s with AOD on. I, like you, still hang around here to see if Suunto has any kind of S7 successor in the works, hopefully with far better battery life and far better GPS accuracy.
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@olymay I still like my S7, even with the bugs and drawbacks it has. But I still expect some firmware and SWA update(s), if this doesn’t happen, it doesn’t make sense for me to buy a new Android Wear successor from Suunto again, yes maybe another model and resign the Android Wear capability.
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@flypg said in S7 Navigation Issues:
@olymay I still like my S7, even with the bugs and drawbacks it has. But I still expect some firmware and SWA update(s), if this doesn’t happen, it doesn’t make sense for me to buy a new Android Wear successor from Suunto again, yes maybe another model and resign the Android Wear capability.
I still love my S7, it’s not perfect but it’s a great device and does most of what I need it to.
My main issues with it now are:
- The above mentioned navigation issues (only a problem on some runs, but when it is a problem it’s a big problem)
- The lack of external sensor support. I understand why it’s not there and the hardware limitations behind it, but it still irritates me.
- Battery life. Is absolutely fine as smartwatches go and has been more than good enough for the past two years. The issue now is I am training for my first Ultra, and whilst I still have a way to go, it won’t be long until the S7 simply cannot keep up
I don’t think we will see any further firmware updates or features added to the watch. The last update was April 2021 and I strongly believe Suunto have dropped the S7
I hope there will be a successor, but alas it may come too late for me
Suunto 7 Graphite Copper
Suunto App Beta (Android - Pixel 6 Pro) -
@flypg said in S7 Navigation Issues:
But I still expect some firmware and SWA update(s), if this doesn’t happen, it doesn’t make sense for me to buy a new Android Wear successor from Suunto again, yes maybe another model and resign the Android Wear capability
I second that!!
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@olymay as long as you don’t mind not having ability to initiate texts/calls - and of course if you can afford it - Epix 2. Really what the S7 needed to be.
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@jamie-bg said in S7 Navigation Issues:
@olymay as long as you don’t mind not having ability to initiate texts/calls - and of course if you can afford it - Epix 2. Really what the S7 needed to be.
I’ve never actually used the S7 to initiate a text or call, although the ability to reply to texts and WhatsApp has been handy (especially with the intelligent Google auto reply suggestions!).
The main thing I think I will miss it Google Pay, as Garmin Pay does not support my bank (I know there are work arounds but I’m not keen on having yet another system in my name) so going back to my phone isn’t an issue (first world problems right!).Money isn’t an issue as long as I get what I pay for.
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@olymay - My bank isn’t supported by Garmin pay either, so I use Curve (digital card service) - hasn’t cost me anything and works fine - even get points etc on my card usage - its purely a pass through.
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@jamie-bg said in S7 Navigation Issues:
@olymay - My bank isn’t supported by Garmin pay either, so I use Curve (digital card service) - hasn’t cost me anything and works fine - even get points etc on my card usage - its purely a pass through.
Yeah, I looked in to that and it does look good. It’s yet anohter system to use though.
And I use Monzo for my banking and I like the way everything is categorised and organised in there, especially with my virtual cards. I would lose that with Curve.
like I said, using my phone is no biggie. -
@olymay not really. Assuming Monzo can take curve - its a pure pass through. I never look at my curve account as it passes the costs straight through to my main bank - even get payee details - its like there isn’t even a curve card there. And it gives bonus protection as an additional layer were my credit card curve details ever to be stripped - just have to cancel it.
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@jamie-bg said in S7 Navigation Issues:
@olymay not really. Assuming Monzo can take curve - its a pure pass through. I never look at my curve account as it passes the costs straight through to my main bank - even get payee details - its like there isn’t even a curve card there. And it gives bonus protection as an additional layer were my credit card curve details ever to be stripped - just have to cancel it.
I might have another look at it then. I’m still unsure about having another layer for financial transactions.
One of the benefits of Google Pay is that it uses a virtual account for all transactions, so f details are ever stolen then it’s not a real account and cannot be used.
