Suunto Race Hands-On: First Impression

Suunto Race smartwatch offers numerous advantages. It features top-notch hardware crafted from titanium and sapphire glass, a dual-band GPS chip, an advanced heart sensor, a vibrant 1.43-inch AMOLED screen, a user-friendly control knob, an updated UI UX design, and more. Please refer to the Suunto Race hands-on article below.

Suunto Race Hands-On: First Impression

Design

The Suunto Race watch is a refined and visually appealing model that incorporates design elements from previous generations. The watch has a 49 mm face and 22 mm strap, fitting well on a 17 cm wrist.

The Suunto Race is made from grade 5 titanium in its bezel, back, and strap buckle, which is the highest quality titanium for consumer goods. This choice of material enhances the overall durability and appearance of the watch.

The Suunto Race stands out with its thin bezel and a large screen within the 49 mm body. This design choice offers a sleek and modern look that sets it apart from other GPS watches in the market.

Another advantage of the Suunto Race is the rotate/press button for user interaction. This type of button, commonly found in smartwatches like Apple Watch and Coros, offers better user experience than those with only hard buttons and touch screens. The Suunto Race features a stylish and user-friendly rotate/press button.

The Suunto Race features a new heart sensor cluster that accurately measures various heart data parameters, including HRV. Other brands use plastic to cover the convex design of the heart sensor cluster, instead of glass.

Suunto has cleverly designed the watch with two strap lugs that lift the watch and heart sensor slightly above the contact surface, minimizing the risk of scratches during use.

Suunto designed the Race’s rubber strap with three rows of holes for quick drying after exercise. It also has a quick-release lever for easy removal. The high-quality rubber material used for the strap is odorless and non-irritating, ensuring a comfortable fit.

The Suunto Race watch has a sleek design, advanced features, and thoughtful details that improve functionality and appeal.

Features

The Suunto Race caught my attention with its impressive 1.43-inch AMOLED screen, which is the largest in the world of specialized GPS watches. The screen boasts a sharp resolution of 466 x 466, which stands out as its standout feature. In comparison to the previous Suunto 7 model, the Race’s display is not only bigger and more beautiful but also stands out for its clear and detailed presentation.

The Suunto Race stands out for its fast dual-band GPS chip that acquires and maintains stable signal sampling. This advanced hardware contributes to highly accurate measurements during outdoor sports activities, even in challenging conditions.

Despite its large AMOLED screen, the Suunto Race maintains excellent battery life, lasting up to 12 days in regular smartwatch mode and offering continuous GPS tracking for 40 hours with dual-band GPS or 120 hours with single-band GPS, ensuring prolonged usage even during extended outdoor adventures.

UI & UX

Critics used to bash older Suunto watches for their complex and unnatural interface and software. In response to this feedback, Suunto has completely redesigned its latest model, Suunto Race.

The new watch features improved hardware, including two upper and lower buttons, as well as a rotate/press button. These enhancements make it easier and faster for users to control and interact with the watch. Users can access information fields like Control Panel, Logbooks, and Notifications by scrolling up from the main screen.

Also see: Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Review

To access the list of sports, users simply need to rotate the scroll wheel downward. To make a selection, they can press the scroll wheel, and to go back, they can press the bottom button. The sports icons are visually appealing and displayed sharply on the AMOLED panel. They have implemented display effects to help users easily and beautifully locate their selection.

One of the standout features of the Suunto watch is its inclusion of topographic map data from around the world. Users can choose their desired area and download the relevant data onto the watch for offline use. It’s worth noting that the steel version of the watch has 16GB of internal memory, while our Suunto Race hands-on titanium version offers 32 GB.

Final line

Suunto Race is a premium GPS watch that not only boasts quality materials but also features solid hardware, a sleek interface, and an attractive price point. Priced at $449 for the steel version and $549 for the titanium version, this timepiece is readily available for purchase on both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Moreover, Suunto, known for its competitive pricing and top-notch features, is poised to challenge industry giants such as Garmin and Coros. In fact, it stays true to its model name: RACE.