Amoled Burn-in on race

Dušan Ković

During last few years, a saw a lot of S7 users complaining on watch amoled burn-in. I saw sam pictures of completely ruined displays. I have Race incoming for delivery and I am wandering about few things - Did Suunto changed amoled screen on race compared to the S7? Is Race amoled screen going to last longer than S7 or is it going to be toasted in a few years?

danklod

@Dušan-Ković if I don’t wrong SR has mechanism to clear and equalize the pixels so it have to endure a lot more then S7.

pavel.samokha

@Dušan-Ković
IIRC S7 screens were burned in mostly when users had custom watchfaces, which draw too bright and much in AOD mode

Race ofc has newer/larger/brighter display than S7, and there are measures against burn-in and it’s harder for a user to ruin display, but AMOLED is still a technology where it’s possible so we’ll see in upcoming years if users manage to achieve burn-in.

If you’re interested in official statement - I guess you need to read user guide and warranty or contact official customer support.

Jamie BG

@Dušan-Ković
With S7 you could also set it to AOD on all the time; and wear os burn in protection while decent wasn’t always applied to all watch faces and got built into wear os about 6 months to 1 year from its launch and had to manually activate burn in for a lot of 3rd party screens, so S7 wasn’t the only wear os to suffer from burn in. And whlie the number of incidents reported seems high it really isn’t that high compared to overall units distributed.
Garmin had same issue with original venu (their first amoled watch) and issue seems to have mostly gone away, as Venu 2 has reach same length of time as original venus that reported burn in, but there are significantly less reports re venu 2 as all track down to how watch was used (2 years of AOD on, always same watch face).
I really think a lot of it does come down to use. If you set general use to AOD off, if you change watch faces on a semi regular basis (i.e. I always use a weekday one, then swap my weekday one for weekend; if I am in the office I use another, going out I use a different one - formal occasions another and sometimes just swap for a change - this all helps to extend the burn in time.
The reality however is that due to the tech at some point burn in is likely. Though TBH over a similar time period with MIP screen bleed is just as likely. There really isn’t that much of huge difference in the different types of screen expected life span. Should get 4-7 years for most possibly up to 10.

Dušan Ković

Thank you for explanation (all of you), this will be my first amoled watch, so I just want to see some best practices to extend it’s life., I plan to stick with it longer than usual, unless new gear mania strikes again at some point.

Tomas Fejfar

@Dušan-Ković I used the Suunto 7 watch for 4 years. The display is really burnt out quite a bit. I have never used third party watch faces or AOD. The display is simply poor quality. I now have about 2 days of Suunto Race. This display seems brighter and the hardware reacts more quickly to changes in lighting conditions. I believe this display is of better quality and will last for several years.

Dušan Ković

@Tomas-Fejfar That is something that I was looking for. I am hoping that they put better screen inside the Race.

northeast_trekker

@pavel-samokha I never used custom/3rd party watchfaces, only used Suunto ones but the activity home screen and the sundial watch face both burned into the display within 1 year. I agree with what others say and I think that the S7 just had a poor display. Seems like they learned from it for the Race and improved things.

Kajkom

maybe it is worth filing a class action lawsuit against Suunto?

sartoric

@Kajkom
for what purpose?
There was support for under warranty watches. Someone got it replaced, someone got it fixed, afair
Ghosting is a drawback of amoled screen, and Suunto 7 has been discontinued also due to that.

Kajkom

@sartoric
if only because the company consciously introduces a product with a “burn-in” display. There is no information anywhere that after 2-3 years of use, the watch, or rather its display, will need to be replaced, which in my opinion is a deliberate act to the detriment of customers!
Grounds for a lawsuit like nothing else.
I wholeheartedly support the Sunnto company, but let them know that this is not how you treat customers…

Dušan Ković

Just found this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Suunto/s/3s5FJS9pFk

Anyone else has this problem?

pavel.samokha

@Dušan-Ković obviously it’s some broken device which should be replaced, not normal

Tomas Fejfar

@Dušan-Ković I had one and returned it because of two reasons.

burned display (I assumed it was some kind of test sample that doesn’t even include the correct software configuration. I made this conclusion because of the second reason)
Upgrade installation stuck

alt text

Dušan Ković

@Tomas-Fejfar Did you got it from official store or? Is suunto sending test samples with bad display QC?

Kramble

@northeast_trekker Exactly the same for me.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

If in any case you get a watch (new ) with some burn in issue, return it asap to get a new one. We are investigating the cause of this issue. Thank you

Dušan Ković

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos I’m getting mine on Saturday, but as a gift… Not sure if the receipt has been kept. Now I’m really hoping that all is well with screen.

Mff73

@Dušan-Ković
Warranty is still the responsability of the manufacturer, so it should not be an issue to get in contact with Suunto in case you need.

Spree

@Mff73 It is, but without a proof of purchase the warranty will start from manufacturing date and not purchase date, so you often lose a few months of protection without the receipt