Suunto Race S in hand: my new running watch, beautifully finished, genuine

The Race S is not a newly launched product from Suunto anymore, but it is one of the company's beautifully designed and wonderfully finished watches. Since Race, Suunto has also reshaped many of its product development philosophies and we no longer see Suunto lines with numbers anymore. Race S is a lighter, more compact version of Race and Suunto Race itself already has a 2nd generation version, but Race S has almost the best hardware of Suunto currently for trail and run road needs....

I hesitated between Race S and many other watch models but in the end I still decided on this one. Open the box and hold it in your hand to see that you made the right choice.

When Suunto launched the Race line, I tried it on. When I measured it, I borrowed it from Mr. Long - the smartwatch mod of Delicate, then tried the Vertical, but both the Race and the Vertical were a bit too much for my needs, they were also heavier, bigger, and bulkier. Then Suunto released Race S and I didn't pay attention until today. Race S has two versions, the steel version weighs about 60g (including wire) and the titanium radiator weighs about 53g, the hardware configuration is exactly the same, only the frame is different, but the price of the titanium version is nearly 2 million higher, I don't think it's worth choosing the steel version.

Suunto's packaging is also special, I find it similar to an Apple Watch. When you open the outer paper box, you will have another box inside, as well as Suunto's typical saying: Advanture starts here!

Race S has many colors for you to choose from. Both men and women can wear it because the size is not too big. I choose the gray version. In fact, if you choose orange, black or gray, it's almost just a different strap. This gray color I find the most beautiful.

Look at the Race S strap, the gray version has hidden patterns like the US military camouflage suits serving in the Middle East or Africa, like grains of sand in the desert, very beautiful.

The Suunto clasp has an engraved logo, and the secondary buckle is made like an Apple Watch or Xiaomi Smart Band, unlike other normal watches.

Suunto's strap is 22mm so you can change the strap very easily. There are many options on Shopee. If you want to make the watch lighter, you can choose to wear a nylon strap. I'm ordering a nylon strap from Suunto, so the goods will arrive for you to see later.

Now comes the watch, a pure black color, very beautiful and masculine. The Race S's frame surface is rough and the logo is placed in a familiar position. The upper half of the Race S's body will be stainless steel, or titanium depending on the version you choose, the lower frame will be Suunto's sturdy reinforced plastic.

Suunto used to be a Finnish brand. Although it changed ownership a few years ago, the soul of Suunto is still in this Nordic country, for example, Race S, is still designed in Finland, only "Made in China".

Compared to the previous Suunto 5,7,9 lines, from Suunto Race, especially Race S, Suunto redesigned the 2.5D beveled OHR heart rate sensor cluster to fit closer to the skin when you exercise, minimizing gaps to avoid too many errors while you play sports.

Race S also uses Suunto's best heart rate sensor system at present, as well as the company's best algorithm. Currently, Race S does not have a successor, so this can still be considered the latest generation. The Suunto Race S also records continuous HRV data during sleep, providing recovery analysis graphs after 14 days of accumulated background data.

Regarding the display screen, Race S has a face size of 45mm, the screen is upgraded to 1.32-inch AMOLED, resolution 466 x 466 pixels, making the pixel density (PPI) on Race S higher than the 49mm (1.43-inch) Race version. Fonts, icons and contour lines on the map appear sharper and smoother. Race S's screen reaches a brightness of about 1,000 nits, using Corning Gorilla Glass with beveled edges to help limit light reflection under strong sunlight.

The Race S's control button cluster is similar to Suunto's recent watch models. Even though it has touch sensors, if you like to use buttons and are used to using buttons, you can still use them. Well, one thing I realized when I wore the Race S was that the Digital Crown cluster of the machine was a bit small, it made it harder for me to scroll. I didn't like this very much. Looking at the Digital Crown cluster of the Coros, it was bigger and easier to navigate.

Race S also does not have a 180-degree rotation feature for you to wear on the right wrist, meaning if you wear it on the right hand, you will have to rotate the Digital Crown cluster to the inside of your arm, using your thumb to control.

The Race S strap is quite thin and when worn on the wrist at a moderate level, it still hugs my hand tightly. My wrist is not large so the face is about 47mm and is suitable. I like Garmin and the Fenix ​​series but they are too big and not suitable to wear.

In the original Race, the steel version was cut to 16 GB and only the titanium version had 32 GB. On Race S, whether you buy the steel or titanium version, you are fully equipped with 32 GB to download free global color offline terrain maps via Wi-Fi. According to Suunto, the topographic map fully displays trails, water areas, high-level contour lines and turn-by-turn navigation without requiring a network or phone connection.

Continuing with GPS navigation, Race S is equipped with GPS with dual-band GNSS chip L1 + L5, inherited intact from expensive flagship lines, simultaneously capturing signals from 4 satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, BEIDOU), maintaining accurate tracklog lines in urban areas with many high-rise buildings or trails under dense trees. Let me test how accurate it is later. In addition, Race S has a built-in altimeter barometer that supports FusedAlti combination technology, a 3D digital compass and a blood oxygen level sensor. Regarding the battery, Race S provides up to 30 hours of use with multi-band GPS positioning, enough for Marathon or off-road runs of 50–70 km. From 40 hours to 120 hours when activating energy saving modes and using normal wear, the battery lasts from 5-9 days.

Currently, after a long time returning to using Suunto, what I see as the most improved thing about the watch's interface is that it supports Vietnamese well, although the UX is not very friendly, as well as there are some small points in the UI/UX that I think Suunto has not done as well as Garmin or especially fashionable smartwatches like Apple Watch and Galaxy Watch, but Suunto is a workout watch, it focuses well on other values.

That's all for now guys, I'll use more time and share with you more later. Well, Race S is easier for me to coordinate with than Suunto Run. I was going to buy Run but I was afraid that Run wouldn't be able to coordinate as many outfits as Race S so I chose Race S hihi. Pictures of Suunto Race S: