The Suunto Race S is a new AMOLED sports watch that brings most of the features of the Sutton Race to a smaller, cheaper watch that also sports a new HR sensor. On paper the Suunto Race S looks excellent, not least because of it’s relatively low £325 / $349 price. Mike and Nick have been out for some first runs with the watch; here’s their early take on it ahead of our full review in a few weeks.
Check out our review of the Suunto Race:
JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
00:00 – Intro
00:11 – Design & Key Stats
02:09 – First Impressions
12:10 – Early Verdict
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Hello and welcome to run testers my name Is Nick and this is our first look Review at the sunto race [Music] S sunto race s is a new addition to Sun's range and it is designed to be a Smaller version of the sunto race the AMOLED sports watch that came out last Year it's also a cheaper version of the Watch it's costing just £325 or $349 which is a really good price given The array of features you're getting Here in includes features like color Maps and dualband GPS as you got on the Sunto race but it's a smaller and Lighter watch than the sunto race it's Got a 45 mm case versus a 49 mm case the Screen is smaller too at 1.32 in and it Has Gorilla Glass on the screen rather Than sapphire crystal which you get on The sunto race there's also only a steel Version of the watch for the kind of Bezel and back whereas with the sunto Race there is a more expensive titanium Option but one advantage you do have With the new watch is the new Optical Heart rate sensor on the cinto races Which promises to be more accurate it's Got more LEDs and that kind of thing and We didn't really see fantastic results With the sunto race on heart rate Accuracy so hopefully there'll be an Improvement here with the sunto race S As I mentioned you've got dual band GPS
Which was very good for us on the sunto Rest you've got 32 GB of storage for all Those maps and stuff you want to Download to the watch it's waterproof to 50 m as opposed to 100 with the sunto Race and there are some other Interesting new features that will all Come to the sunto race as well the most Exciting of which is probably the climb Guidance feature which looks on paper to Be a similar feature to to garmin's clim Pro which will analyze the climbs on a Route you load onto the watch and help Guide you through them individually on The Run by showing how much elevation You have left and that kind of thing There's also a snappier user interface Some more watch face customization and Other little updates like that the Battery obviously takes a hit as it is a Smaller watch it says it will last up to 30 hours in the performance training Mode which has the multiband GPS enabled You got 50 hours from the Sun race in That setting you can get 40 hours of GPS Training if you're just using a regular GPS though sunto say it will last up to 5 days with the ORS on screen and abled But that's if you're not doing any Training at all so that will probably Come down and they suggest it will last Up to 7 days if you have the raise to Wake enabled on the watch even if you Are training for an hour a
[Music] Day so I was very excited by the sunto Race s when I saw it announced I really Liked the sunto race all around it Really nailed the key features I like in The sports watch especially uh the Accuracy of the Dual Band tracking I Thought it had quite a nice design a Hardy design and it was a very good Price this is an even better price the Sunto race s and you have lost some of Those Hardy design features like the Sapphire ch And the titanium option but it is still A nice looking watch a comfortable watch It's probably a bit more toned down Compared to the sunto race which has This really nice kind of beveled uh Bezel on the watch but I've enjoyed Wearing it so far over the past kind of Three or 4 days it's been comfortable It's very lightweight on the wrist and It still feels like a sturdy bit of kit That you isn't going to break apart just Because it hasn't got that titanium Bezel or Sapphire screen the screen is Also still really clear it's big enough Nice and bright and easy to read in all Conditions the buttons all work pretty Well not a huge fan of the color of band I'm testing but there are lots of bands You can pair with it and it's just a Regular 22 mm strap so setting up the Watch the map's downloaded fairly
Quickly and nice and easily to the watch I haven't had a chance to test out the Climb guidance yet I have done one short Bit of navigation of a small route but I Am looking forward to testing that out In the future but when it comes to what I've seen so far across the three runs I've done I've done a kind of easy to Steady run I've taken it to the track Done some navigating with it in the city In London where GPS was a bit trickier And I've gone into the forest with it Today so far the accur has been a bit up And down actually for me the sunto race As I mentioned has really good GPS Actually right up there comparable with Garmin's dual band tracking as amongst The best on the market expected the same From the sunto race s and it's best been No okay so far so today it was really Good it was bang on with the Garmin Running through the forest that kind of Thing had no concerns with it at all in The city yesterday it was a little bit More sketchy and actually running on the Track it really went wild and added a Load of extra distance to my run by Taking just to biger loop around the Track now it's not really a big problem On the track GPS but this is why other Big watch brands like Garmin chorus and Even Apple have got a track run mode Which gives you very accurate results on The track didn't really get that with
The sunto races just relying on GPS and Then the first run it also measured a Bit long compared to the Garmin but Didn't really see any major errors in The GPS track so I'm pretty sure it's Going to be fine on GPS accuracy because The sun race was so good but hopefully We'll see that come out in the runs in The coming days heart rate accuracy was Not good at all on the sunto race for me Though and I was really looking forward To this new sensor especially as I'm Testing it in pretty warm conditions Where I'd expect the optical heart Accuracy to be pretty good this is also A smaller lighter watch than the sunto Race so I thought that would help with Accuracy as often I find heavier watches Move around round on my wrist a little Bit on the Run first run with the watch It was pretty good had an early wobble But after that matched up quite well to A polar h10 chest strap but the last two Runs I've done with the watch have had Really bad Optical heart R accuracy I Did that track session with intervals And it just missed all the intervals Compared to a chest strap and then today Just on an easy run I think it probably Locked onto my Cadence but basically Red's too high for the entire run so More testing to come I'm hoping there'll Be some improvement and Optical heart Accuracy but yeah it still hasn't really
Been borne out for me yet it's been Pretty much as inaccurate as the sun Race so far but like I say more testing To come on that the battery light has Been a bit short of what sunto estimate For me as well so after three and a bit Days of use I'm down now to 12% so I Probably have to charge it tonight to Use for a run again tomorrow and I've Run for an hour in each of those three Days I've done some indoor workouts as Well and yeah it's draining pretty Quickly for watch of this size with have A bright outed screen you know I have Had the always on screen on enabled in That time and during workouts you know It's not amazing but it's okay but Slightly more alarming as how fast it's Draining during my runs like at the Moment I'm losing about 5 or 6% uh Battery per hour that's with the most Accurate GPS mode enabled and the or on Screen enabled but you know there Doesn't equ to anything like 30 hours And with the sunto race I found it it Was in line with suto estimates in terms Of the battery had very good battery Life during activities this is obviously The first time I've charged a watch and Used it so sometimes it takes a couple Of battery Cycles to kind of warm up and Give you the numbers that sunto suggests So again hoping to see an improvement on That front with extended testing but
It's certainly draining a lot faster Than the sunto race as you'd expect but The fact it's draining faster than sunto Suggest the race s should is a bit Surprising because the race was so good In that performance mode and then There's still a few kind of classic Sunto annoyances like I really don't Like the fact I have to create my own Running mode to get the stats I want Into a run instead of just modifying or You know customizing the stats that are In the running mode on the watch I just Think that's a real waste of time and a Bit of a faf the fact you still have to Use sunto guide to get structured Workouts onto the watch again is a Little bit annoying that one less so it Should be a native feature really with Sports tracking that you just have a Structured workout and you just select That within your running mode and and Off you go but the actual workout Builder in the app is quite easy to use Now and I didn't really have a problem Following the workout it's just there's A few little idiosyncrasies to the way Suto goes about things that I'm not Always a fan of so I've had dto races For a couple of days now I've done a Couple of runs with it I have had it on My wrist outside of running as well too So getting a good sense of what it's Like to live with I would say overall
It's been very good I think the look of It is very much in keeping with the Cinto race I quite like the smaller Screen in it doesn't feel too small for Me it's very similar in stature to Something like the Garmin venue 3 Obiously are some changes here between This and the race I think the key things For me obviously the the level of Protection you're getting on the screen From scratches so it's gorilla glass as Opposed to sapphire crystal so if you Want something a bit more rugged then You're going to get that on the sun race This is thinner than the sun race which I quite like I like the kind of Thickness overall thickness of this Watch I think it feels a little bit Nicer for me and obious you are not Getting the titanium option that you do Get on the cin race which I really like And I do prefer generally the titanium Kind a look and feel of um watches that Use that material in the bezel and you Don't get that here on the cin RAC this Is not a poor watch for it it doesn't Feel a heavy watch just because it is a Smaller um case ultimately but that is Something to keep in mind here obviously You are getting that color screen it's a Smaller screen but it's the same Resolution so those pixels are kind of Packed in a little bit more Tighter and Actually I think generally that does
Make for a better General experience a Little bit sharper bit more accurate bit More ible and brighter I think in General um I think the main thing for me Really is the responsiveness of that Touch screen I think it has been a Little bit better for me on the sunto Race as compared to the sunto race I Still don't think it is as smooth as Using the um software on the Vantage 33 Or the 4 965 all those kind of color AMOLED displays on the Garmin and polar Watches but I do think it's good enough But I do it's just a little bit a little Bit of that lag that I wish was a little Bit smoother overall but generally Absolutely fine in terms of the design Um the strap I mean straps been fine I Me I don't love the way s is going to Been blazing on the strap I quite like The color and it's something a little Bit more brighter and Bolder so overall Design has been fine for me going down Inze in terms of that K size not having That um Titanium option hasn't um made It a worser um kind of watch for me so As mentioned I've done a couple of runs With the cin Ray so far my first was a Track session so good opportunity to get A look at the heart rate monitor and the Accuracy well I would say with the Cente Race it wasn't perfect um wasn't the Worst Defender that I've used but Ultimately like most watches that we say
Grab a heart rate monitor chest strap an External heart rate monitor and you know If you trust or want that data to base Your training around then that's the Route you should take now I was wearing The ging for a 965 pair to heart rate Monitor chest trp to compare data um That was quite an intense kind of track Session didn't take long to see that While maybe the graphs maybe appear to Be telling the same story the kind of Max heart rate reading some of the Readings in general weren't very good so Yeah wasn't a kind of great turnout um Kind of heart rate monitoring on that Kind of first run and I did a kind of 10k run up tempo run slightly hotter Conditions um again using against the 4965 and that kind of dual band mode um And what I saw is from a GPS performance Point of view I'm seeing kind of more of The good stuff that I saw on the sun Race think cino's approach uh and Execution of dual band kind of GPS we're Seeing in most watches now is up there With the best so it's good to see that Things like average pace the distance Tracking kind of the splits what I would Expect to see was very similar to the 4965 again looking at the heart rate Monitor um kind of data from uh that run Again I had issues there wasn't Fantastic I think it may be locked onto My cence at some point the max reading
Just were too high just didn't really Kind of add up so yeah I inan har Monitoring data if you that's something You're looking for here then I'm not Seeing good stuff in it so far I think Really talk about here battery life now Um in that kind of 10k run I saw a drop Off of 4% um a drop off of 5% on the Garin both in that kind of dual band Mode which does drain the battery a Little bit more but obviously it does Seem to maybe drain a little bit more Compared to the sunto race which I think You know that was one of its key kind of You know positive um featur was that you Know the battery drop off in that dual B Mode definitely was better or you know Was less than what it was you know Against other watches I think what's More concerning is that the general Battery kind of performance so far is Outside of running is I not concerning But I think it's quite more noticeable Outside of kind of tracking I've noticed That when I've used it or taken it to Bed to track sleep the battery drop Seems a bit more severe um for me Overnight so I think that would be Something to keep in mind here Particularly when cinto is kind to Making particular promises about what Kind of battery life you're going to get Here and that is without having the Screen always on I generally kind of
Rely on the race to awake I'm willing to Kind of do that that's how I kind of Initially first testing before I move to The always on display kind of testing so That's kind of what I'm seeing so Definitely some good and not so good so Far in my initial couple of runs I would Say good GPS performance um heart rate Monitoring not fantastic um battery life Maybe kind of you know in line with Other watches but maybe not as strong Performing as the sunin race um so yeah Definitely some good and bad points so Far in my initial [Music] Testing so some initial thoughts on the Sun race s is that I think the key thing For me that stands out is you are Getting a lot of the features from the Sun race for a lot less money and if you Look at that price and you look at it up Against what else you can get in terms Of an AM Kind of multisports watch from Garmin And also Polar Polar doesn't really have Something at this price point I think The closest thing you're going to get is The ignite 3 which I don't think really Kind of matches what you get here on the Sun race s and you look at Garmin then You are kind of probably looking um you Know the Garmin for 265 is more Expensive you're going down to things Like the Vivo active5 um and it kind of
Sits between there so actually again There isn't really a watch that really Kind of matches it in terms of features In terms of that price so from that Point of view I think you know cinto a Bit like the cinto race has got a a very Aggressively priced watch here that Could probably give you a lot of Experience from more expensive watches From from the Garmin um kind of range And also from po as well too and what I'm seeing from the performance so far Is generally pretty good I think the key Things for me being that kind of GPS Performance is still very much intact The Amad display the software in general Feels very similar to the race which you Know is different to the polar and gin Watches but it feel like it works well On the cinto and if you think of the Level of features in terms of Mapping and a navigation support you Know what you're getting here in terms Of the kind of the number of features Generally a good Smartwatch experience But not fantastic very much in keeping With something like polar then I think You're getting pretty good value for Money for multi sports watch here um you Know what I really want to see kind of Longer term testing once you had a bit More time is what's that battery going To do over time is it going to really Kind of deliver the good battery life
That you want from an amade kind a Multisports watch or a multiple watch in General um is the software going to stay You know the execution of it is it going To be intuitive is it going to be easy To get on all these kind of things I Think really are going to dictate Whether spending a little bit you know Less than the competition is going to be Worth it if you're getting that Performance and the execution of all Those features but I think from a value Point of view there you know soon got Something here that you gin and you know Polo don't really rival I think you know And you can probably say the same thing About you know cross doesn't have an AMOLED watch in its in its kind of Collection so it's really about what Looking what polar and Garmin and if That is something that you're looking For there isn't really a watch that kind Of sits at this price that really Matches it you're probably going to pay A little bit more on the Garment side Again same with the polar watch to get Something that's pretty much on par with Your getting on the Cente Ray say so Definitely feels like a good feature set A good what in terms of price point what I really want to see longterm and before Really getting a good sense of whether This one you should buy is whether that Performance is there whether that
Software holds up and whether that Battery life ultimately is good enough To make it one to recommend but Definitely some positive um first Experiences with the cinto r s so far Early V is not a spectacular first Impression given how excited they was For the watch because I really did like The suto race this seems like a really Fantastic value watch and if it starts To improve I think on GPS accuracy Accuracy and Battery drainage you know Moves more in line with What sunto Suggests then I'll be back to being Really excited obviously this is very Early days I've only done three runs With the watch and hopefully things will Turn around quite quickly but yeah bit Disappointed in the heart rate actually In particular because I was testing it In pretty good conditions for optical Heart rate and actually when I test Choros or Garmin watches in those Conditions or polar watches I usually Find that they're fairly accurate on the Optical Heart Ray accuracy but this just Completely missed the boat on the last Two workouts so hoping for an Improvement there and it is very early Days the package looks really good on Paper the was certainly exceptional Because you know this is coming a lot Cheaper than not just the 965 I've been Testing against it from Garmin but
Actually the 4Runner 265 and other you Know much lower end Garmin watches that Don't have features like maps on paper The features look really good here I Like the way sunto is going about trying To correct things that we've been Annoyed about for a while and I do think They're improving in all the key areas So I'm hoping that those few kind of Early kinks are ironed out and I start To see the kind of GPS accuracy I saw From the sunto race and indeed just like Uptaking battery life during activities That's our first look at the sun race s Let us know what you think in the Comments below please do like subscribe Ring the little bell and we'll see you Next time
