Well, I tried the Race.. and I think I’m selling the Vertical
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@Brad_Olwin Today I spent some time in higher altitude and not a lot of snow. Still no issues with screen visibility for me.
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Hello everyone…
My old Spartan suddenly passed away so I immediately have to buy a new watch. So I go for Vertical all black Steel.
But then I realized -yes I am not following market very often- there is an option which is Suunto Race with amoled…
By the way, in my country, this two option has nearly same price. I mean, you buy Vertical all black Steel with same price of Race titanium…
So price is no pros/cons
I told dealer that could I replace Vertical with Race and he accepted. Thats why I am completely indecisive… I need your helps and experiences…
Of course I have to explain my usage style I think.
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I am in triathlon. So I run, bike and swim. I sometimes 4 hour training in a day (longest ones). I do my trainings sometimes in dark, sometimes sunrise, sometimes under the sun. I was charging my old Spartan in 3 or 4 days… Of course I am not using it as a day or sleep tracker…
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I want to use my New watch also as a day and sleep tracker. So it is going to be my wrist 7/24 with hearth rate tracker active and etc…
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I dont have an experience with a new crown button of Race, of course… but I like sweeping screens while in training. I think it’s easiest way. But I heard that it is impossible in Race. By the way, I always wear gloves in winters, without covering the watch. So I dont know if is it issue, because I heard that using Race with gloves not good experience…
So, can you share your ideas and experience, with my type user , which one should I go…
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@Sezer-Yiğit I used the Race in winter mostly for cross country skiing. These are my opinions…
Even in bright sunlight and snow the display was perfectly readable. Not as good as the Vertical, but for me absolutely fine. In changing lightning conditions, like in a forrest (sun/shadows), I think the Race is better. When biking, as long as you don’t raise your wrist, the display is very hard to read (off angle). So here is the Vertical better. For everything else the display of the Race is as good or even better than the Vertical. The wrist gesture to activate the screen is responsive, never had a problem with it.
Gloves: It depends on the gloves. The gloves I use for cross country skiing tend to press the buttons (also on the Vertical), so I always need to lock the screen. Funny thing: only the buttons are pressed, not the crown. Thinner gloves are no problem.
Crown: During workout the crown mostly behaves like a normal center button. You press it to cycle through the data screens. I think only on the map screen you can rotate it to change the zoom level. Personally I prefer a normal button.
Battery: In my usage battery life was never an issue (1 to 5 hours per day GPS, about 10 to 15 hours training per week, display always on, sleep tracking, 24/7 HR). I always forget when I charged the watch for the last time (about once a week).
I would say, if you prefer AMOLED, take the Race. The titanium model feels also a lot lighter than the Vertical steel model.
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@wmichi Thank you very much for your answer that includes valuable experience.
I wish Race’s screen can touchable during exercises… I would like to go for Race but just that crown… I hope it’s durable…
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@Sezer-Yiğit I have the Race since release and the crown works and feels like on day one. Others have noticed, that eventually the crown has lost a bit of the tactile feedback when pressing it. I don’t have that, but I don’t swim (maybe that’s the reason?).
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@Sezer-Yiğit, if you ever plan to mount your watch on your bike handlebars, you should strongly consider staying with the Vertical. The MIP transflective display is super readable and without draining battery, the brighter the sun the better it gets, whereas Race’s AMOLED display is the opposite, and if Suunto provides always-on backlight in a future update (watch is on handlebars, can’t “rase to wake”), it will be draining battery.
Other than that, I think then it’s a matter of weight, as Race titanium is lighter than Vertical steel.
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@mlakis thank you very much for your answer. İn fact I am using my watch in my wrist right now.
İn Vertical, when i raise my wrist up, it comes little bit more bright, then when I touch the screen, it gives out all of brighteness… I think Race makes screen dark, and when you raise it up, it gives all the brighteness. I Wonder, can you set up the Race, for giving enlightened and brighr screen all the time during activity?
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@Sezer-Yiğit, when outside in bright conditions, the Vertical does not needs to light up the backlight at all, whereas the Race as an AMOLED display watch, always lights up its LEDs and consumes battery.
There have been requests for the Race to stay always on a bright state for reasons shown here
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@mlakis thank you very much for valuable information.
That’s sure Vertical does not need to brightened up İn day light conditions. İt is a big advantage I think. I mean you dont have to think about anything in day or night conditions.
It is ok to screen go bright itself when you raise up your twist because of it is amoled… But I just cant understand that no option for arrenge this function?? Ok I am not mounting my watch anywhere on bike, But it is stable on my wrist when I am on aerobars, and I just want to read it without turn my wrist or shake my arm. It can be dangerous on the other hand. Am I wrong?
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@Sezer-Yiğit, I cycle (road bike) and have the Vertical on my wrist. I hope I will find time to DIY a handlebar mount, there has been one very decent DIY mount posted on another thread.
Yes, it’s a lot more difficult to sight the watch compared to a cycle computer or a watch mounted on the handlebars, especially when there’s traffic on the road.
Another thing to note is that Race may be a better watch than Vertical when mounted on bicycle handlebars if you cycle mostly at night, but still, on Vertical you can have the backlight always on. Not sure how much battery this option drains, if someone can give a hint in comparison to always-on AMOLED display it could help to draw conclusions.
Also @Brad_Olwin has stated something about the Race brightness functionality on the thread I referred on my previous reply.
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@mlakis said in Well, I tried the Race.. and I think I’m selling the Vertical:
Yes, it’s a lot more difficult to sight the watch compared to a cycle computer or a watch mounted on the handlebars, especially when there’s traffic on the road.
Is this about Vertical? I mean yes you are right, it is hard to read the watch -I think any watch- while biking but also I just take a quick look while biking without raise or turn my arm. So this action much more easy with Vertical I think. İsn’t it?
@mlakis said in Well, I tried the Race.. and I think I’m selling the Vertical:
when mounted on bicycle handlebars if you cycle mostly at night,
Thats good point… I just wonder that, when Race stable, or while wrist Down, is Race completely unreadable (completely dark) or does it give out dusky, loess screen?
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@Sezer-Yiğit, probably yes, in such a case Vertical might be better.
As for the Race when not “fully waked” I can’t say anything as I don’t own one.
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I am thinking about switch from 9 Baro to Vertical or Race. I like the size of Suunto 9, weight doesn’t matter for me but I have the impression Race is for sportsmen and Vertical for adventurers. And the main difference is the screen. @mlakis said it’s much better to have Vertical in case you use it on handlebars on your bike.
The thing is - I’m a sportsman, I focus on running, bouldering (where I take my watches off), cycling, swimming, CX skiing, hiking… like whatever sport I come across. So I’d think Race is for me. I don’t use 24/7 monitoring. (not sure whether this point matters) But I like “durable watches” and use my Suunto 9 during cycling on handlebars all the time. Would I miss any functionality if I would go for Vertical or shall I consider Race model?Suunto 9 Baro
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@Mazel Race on the handlebars is not that great IMHO
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@Sezer-Yiğit After reading your answers, I think the Vertical is the better watch for you. While biking (road and MTB), with Vertical I only needed to tilt my wrist a little bit to see something on the display. With the Race more movement is required. Most of the times tilting the wrist is not enough and the screen stays dark/dimmed. Only when you raise the wirst the display always lights up. And this can be for sure a security problem. Little story: A couple of weeks ago I was cross country skiing and went down a fast downhill. I tried to read my speed on the watch in downhill squat, but in this position I find it very hard to activate the display (had always on mode on). Tried it a couple of times until I lost balance in a slight turn and went off track. Lucky me there was no tree in my way. With 60 km/h this would have ended in hospital.
As I am writing this, I start to miss my Vertical
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@Mazel I hope my infos are up to date. I think on Vertical there are no sleep stages and it cannot identify naps. Also threshold heart rate/pace is missing in the progress widget. And instead of the crown there’s a button. I think that’s it.
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@Sezer-Yiğit If you have always on enabled, when your wirst is down, the display is dimmed to conserve battery life. With always on disabled, it’s completely off.
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@isazi Having a battery drained after every longer ride seems kinda bad for me.
@wmichi I’ve seen some reviews, where technical specs were off (like material), but I think the build quality of Vertical should be “better”, right? On the other hand people are saying “I’d take my Race for the evening dinner” but do not say this about Vertical. I still incline to Verical, but I don’t think about myself as a person who would go for such an extreme sports to justify buying them. -
@Mazel said in Well, I tried the Race.. and I think I’m selling the Vertical:
@isazi Having a battery drained after every longer ride seems kinda bad for me.
Not sure what I have to do with this
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@wmichi said in Well, I tried the Race.. and I think I’m selling the Vertical:
@Sezer-Yiğit If you have always on enabled, when your wirst is down, the display is dimmed to conserve battery life. With always on disabled, it’s completely off.
Thank you… Is this situations happens in sport activity mod? I mean during exercises…I think because of it’s amoled, when display dimmed, it is hard to read it most of conditions… right? And when it is completely off, -also there is no touch screen- you have to press the buttons, right?
@wmichi said in Well, I tried the Race.. and I think I’m selling the Vertical:
@Sezer-Yiğit After reading your answers, I think the Vertical is the better watch for you. While biking (road and MTB), with Vertical I only needed to tilt my wrist a little bit to see something on the display. With the Race more movement is required. Most of the times tilting the wrist is not enough and the screen stays dark/dimmed. Only when you raise the wirst the display always lights up. And this can be for sure a security problem. Little story: A couple of weeks ago I was cross country skiing and went down a fast downhill. I tried to read my speed on the watch in downhill squat, but in this position I find it very hard to activate the display (had always on mode on). Tried it a couple of times until I lost balance in a slight turn and went off track. Lucky me there was no tree in my way. With 60 km/h this would have ended in hospital.
As I am writing this, I start to miss my Vertical
Woww… I hope you get well soon, and you are ok. That experience is priceless… I am just talking about this… thanks a lot…
As a conclusion, I think I will go on with Vertical.
I will note the reason for people who same decisive situation with me…
First, screen… yes amoled seems amazing, but I bought watch for sport activity and the most important part of it, I should read it in every -but every- condition when I am quickly take a look. Or at least, I can set the screen settings for this purpose. If i was just running, I can go with the Race, but I also biking and swimming…
And the crown button… Maybe I was going to love that, I don’t know… but I will walk same way I walked before and not take a risk, buttons are ok… and I read some complains about crown button in forum and I like to use watch for years. I dont want to give a chance to a possible problem. . but most important one, I like touch screen during exercises… so I dont want to taje a risk of “new using style” and it is only possible with Vertical.
