quadranti suunto 7

Suunto vii

The Suunto seven is a solid outset try as a full-fledged smartwatch, only I'm non convinced going with Article of clothing Bone was the right move. There are software limitations that make the Suunto 7 feel less like a traditional GPS fitness sentry, and the lack of external heart rate sensor support is sure to annoy many Suunto diehards. In one case Suunto fixes a few software bug and maybe drops the cost, I'll recommend the Suunto 7 left and right.

Suunto doesn't have as much clout in the GPS watch space as it used to. Garmin remains the go-to for outdoor fitness watches for most people, while Apple tree, Samsung, and Fitbit have been surpassing the Finnish visitor in the smartwatch realm. The Suunto seven is a bit of an bibelot in the visitor's range. Launched in 2020, information technology was its attempt to entreatment to outdoorsy users and those who all the same want a good smartwatch. Did information technology succeed? Information technology's kind of a mixed bag, but I do similar a lot about the Suunto seven. This is our full review.

Suunto 7 review notes: I used the Suunto vii for over ii weeks, running Wear Bone version 2.thirteen with build number PXDB.200111.001.A2 on the January 1, 2020 security patch. It was paired with my Google Pixel 4 Xl for the elapsing of this review.

Update, Apr 2023: We have updated our Suunto seven review with new pricing details, software and feature updates, new competition, and more than.

Meridian-notch hardware and design

• 1.39-inch AMOLED brandish
  • 454 10 454 pixels, 1,000 nits
• 50mm case
• 24mm quick release straps
• 70g
• 5ATM h2o and dust resistance

• Glass fibre reinforced polyamide casing
  • Stainless steel bezel
• 1GB of RAM
• 4.5GB of user-accessible storage
• NFC
• Wi-Fi only (no LTE)

Fifty-fifty in 2022, the Suunto seven looks more like a GPS sports watch than it does any other Wear Bone lookout man, even including the Milky way Sentry 4 Archetype. It's large — mayhap besides big for a lot of people. The 50mm case is pretty much the max I'd go for my average-sized wrists. Luckily it'due south relatively light at 70g.

The whole thing feels really high quality, though. The polyamide material that makes up the case feels sturdy and comfortable, and the side buttons are clicky and piece of cake to find. And that strap, oh man, that strap. It's great. It didn't get caught on my clothes, and I quite like the texture on the outside. My one complaint is that the strap loop moves around the watch strap a fiddling more I'd like it to.

There are four buttons around the lookout case. The top-left is the home/all apps button, the top-right is the non-programmable Suunto app push, and the other ii are both programmable. Clothing OS really benefits from a rotatable crown, but unfortunately, there isn't one on the Suunto 7.

Our Suunto seven review unit vs the Garmin Fenix 5

The sentinel is this big for ii reasons: for the display and battery. The 1.39-inch AMOLED brandish is fantastic. Colors are great, and the size makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to read notifications.

Suunto surprised the states a little at CES 2020 when information technology claimed two-twenty-four hour period bombardment life for the Suunto vii — not a small feat for an older Wear OS scout. Merely I'k happy to say the claims are legitimate. I often got a solid two days out of the Suunto 7, even when wearing information technology to bed and recording an practise at the gym during the evening. I usually went to bed on the first night with near 65% left in the tank. That's more than can be said for newer Wear OS devices. These numbers are for "normal" smartwatch apply: receiving notifications, using Google Pay, tracking workouts, etc. If you're running the GPS continuously, battery life drops downwards to 12 hours.

All-day battery life and quick performance — Suunto nailed the hardware with the Suunto vii.

Notably, Suunto is actually the get-go Vesture Os watchmaker to utilize the Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100'southward power-saving sports mode. You can read more about that hither, and meet Suunto's Mikko Ahlstrom explain the feature to Android Authorisation during an interview at CES. Speaking of that Qualcomm processor, performance is good. Information technology'south the aforementioned ol' story as all other legacy Wear Bone watches: Google Banana hiccups from time to fourth dimension and the setup procedure is a trivial laggy. Everything else is smooth sailing.

Suunto has been making watches for a long time, and then I'm not surprised the hardware and build is superlative notch.

Fettle and health tracking

The Suunto 7 is in the same ballpark equally other mid-range multisport watches of its era, and tin can even concur its own confronting newer products. Information technology has built-in GPS (with GLONASS, QZSS, and Beidou), an optical heart rate sensor, and a barometric altimeter. It can track over seventy sport modes, including running (outdoor, interval, race, trail, and more), hiking, pool and open h2o swimming, and many other niche activities. There'due south a catch-all "unspecified activity" for outdoor and indoor sports, too. There'south no triathlon style here though, probable considering the bombardment wouldn't be able to last that long.

The Suunto 7 excels during outdoor activities. That'due south because it supports offline outdoor maps, so y'all can still come across where you're going even if y'all can't get a connectedness. They're pretty detailed also, with terrain info, trails, and contour lines if you're using these maps for hiking or trail running. Just open the Suunto smartwatch app, click offline maps, and select which twoscore-mile area you'd like to download. These offline maps automatically update when the 7 is charging and connected to Wi-Fi, and so you always should exist up to date. This makes the Suunto vii i of the best devices for day adventuring.

If this is your starting time experience with a Suunto watch, boy are you in for a treat with Heatmaps. Suunto Heatmaps show heavily traveled areas frequented by other Suunto users. The maps expect really nice — they all have a dark background, with orange and yellow accents designating the well-nigh popular running paths.

See the paradigm higher up. The vivid yellow path is a popular running road near my house, and the darker orange lines are paths taken semi-often. This might non be all that useful for a residential area in my instance, but you lot could see the do good if yous're going trail running or hiking. The goal is to stay safe, so Heatmaps arrive pretty piece of cake to stick to well-traveled paths. As well, colors alter depending on which activity you choose.

These Heatmaps are available for 15 full activities, including running, swimming, and hiking. Heatmaps are available during exercises, but Suunto besides included an awesome Heatmaps watch confront for the Suunto vii that motorcar-updates based on your location. Information technology's literally one of my favorite watch faces I've ever used. You lot can zoom out or in on your current location and set information technology to any one of the 15 Heatmaps you like.

I found the Suunto vii'south GPS to be quite accurate, at least compared to my Garmin Forerunner 245 Music and Fenix five. On a long outdoor walk, all three of these devices were able to stick to my path pretty accurately, even when I went under a bridge.

Unlike other Suunto watches, the Suunto 7 isn't compatible with external heart rate sensors. Considering most other Suunto watches are, it'due south unfortunate the Suunto vii is left out. Suunto knows this is important to certain users. The visitor said it'southward able to add this feature with a software update if need exist, so it all depends on how people react to the omission this time effectually.

To examination the onboard center rate sensor, I went on a four-mile treadmill run wearing the Suunto seven, Garmin Forerunner 245 Music, and Wahoo Tickr X chest strap.

From height to lesser: Suunto 7, Garmin Precursor 245 Music, Wahoo Tickr 10

I came away impressed with the Suunto 7 heart rate sensor. All 3 of the devices were quick to pick upwardly on trends throughout my treadmill run. In fact, I think the Suunto 7 performed better than the Forerunner 245 during the first six minutes or so. It was able to choice up on the slight dip at around the 5-minute mark, while the Forerunner didn't.

All three devices picked up on the driblet downwards to ~140bpm at 23 minutes, and all three rose up once more a few minutes later. I was a bit concerned nearly the HR sensor accuracy when I learned that Suunto was going with a unlike supplier for the Suunto 7, but those concerns have been laid to rest.

My Suunto 7 review unit is a final retail model, though I did run into 1 consequence with the heart rate sensor during my testing. I went for a run with the watch on the solar day information technology arrived, and the middle charge per unit sensor just didn't record anything. (And yep, I turned it on in the Google Fit settings beforehand.) A unproblematic soft reboot fixed the upshot, only I'grand even so not certain what was going on there.I've allow Suunto know about the issue.

And finally, sleep tracking. Suunto added native sleep tracking to the device and the Suunto app in 2021, which ways there's no need to install a tertiary-party app.

The Suunto app, and some frustrations

Permit's first talk about the elephant in the room. The Suunto 7 launched with and however runs on Wear Os 2, not Wear OS iii, as the likes of the Pixel Scout, Galaxy Watch five, and Fossil Gen 6 now flaunt. As nosotros've seen with some devices, this isn't necessarily a bad affair. Article of clothing OS 2 all the same has access to Assistant and other smart features, while the Sunnto vii proves that information technology makes for a competent risk watch platform despite its age.

In that location's no word on if the Suunto seven will receive an update to Wear OS iii, but considering Suunto would need to create a new smartwatch app for its but Wear Bone device, it might not be worth information technology to the house.

Speaking of smartwatch apps, the Suunto smartwatch app remains a highlight. Click the top-correct push button to launch it. You'll meet a map of your current location (or a Heatmap if you then cull), a "offset activeness" slider, practise and map options, and more than. It's well designed and easy to navigate, and definitely made me experience like I was using a more traditional GPS fitness watch.

At launch, you needed two fettle apps to use the Suunto seven effectively: Google Fit and the Suunto app. The latter recorded workouts, while the former kept track of daily activity metrics, like steps, calories, and sleep. Thankfully, this is no longer the example. You tin can all the same choose to use Google Fit to rails daily metrics, but the Suunto app tin now keep tabs on those stats too. Information technology makes more than sense to apply a single app in this instance instead of fragmenting fettle information across multiple platforms. Notably, you could however view daily activity details on the Suunto vii itself. These changes largely but touch the Suunto app itself.

When you practise use the Suunto smartphone app, it's a great experience. It's easy to employ and you don't need to go excavation for things like you sometimes do with Garmin'south app. Information technology of course features Suunto's Heatmaps and lets you import or create new running or hiking routes right in the app.

Value and the contest

Suunto 7

Suunto vii

Durable, high-finish design • Solid operation • Accurate GPS tracking

Suunto got a lot of things right with the Suunto vii, merely does it still hold up in 2022?

Fifty-fifty in 2022, the Suunto vii looks more like a GPS sports watch than it does any other Wear OS picket, fifty-fifty including the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. It'due south big — maybe too big for a lot of people. The 50mm case is pretty much the max I'd become for my average-sized wrists. Luckily it's relatively light at 70g.

Information technology'due south awkward recommending alternatives for the Suunto 7 in 2023. The lookout man is now three years former, running older software. Information technology remains Suunto's only Vesture OS sentinel, and can be bought from Amazon and Suunto.com for $399 in five color options: All Blackness, Black Lime (our review unit), Graphite Copper, Sandstone Rose Gold, and White Burgundy. That is a $100 driblet from its launch price, but it remains pricey compared to the current competition.

This is very much a Garmin Venu 2 ($299.99 at Amazon) and Vivoactive iv ($176.47 at Amazon) competitor, and those devices are regularly on sale for $300. Realistically, I'd cull the Garmin alternative every time if it's between the Suunto 7 and the Venu range.

As for competing Wearable Os watches, the Samsung Milky way Lookout 5 ($219 at Amazon) runs on Wear Bone 3, packs a host of exclusive fitness and wellness features, and comes with the promise of long-term software support. Information technology'due south also much cheaper, making it the obvious selection. If yous want a more rugged advent and better bombardment life, the Milky way Spotter 5 Pro ($449.99 at Amazon) is arguably the truer competitor of the Suunto 7.

Suunto 7 review: The verdict

The Suunto 7 is a tough sell. It has its positives, from its first-class build quality, keen conditioning features, and solid companion app, simply it lacks a host of features compared to its contemporaries. This problem is even more glaring considering its price.

Certain, if you've got the cash and none of those negatives turn you away, I remember you'll be really happy with the Suunto 7. I know I am, but I as well never use a heart rate sensor chest strap outside of reviewing devices, and I similar certain Habiliment OS features. That said, the Suunto vii likely won't see an upgrade to Wear OS 3, and so what you come across is likely what y'all'll get in the hereafter. Considering this, and its rivals' relatively forgiving pricing structures, you'll probably be better served past a multisport smartwatch or a more than feature-full Article of clothing OS 3 device.

Yous'll have to make some sacrifices if you lot want the best of both worlds. The best of both worlds doesn't exist correct now.

Outside of the Apple Lookout, no 1 has nailed the fitness watch-smartwatch philharmonic quite notwithstanding. If y'all can find it at a cut price and don't mind its flaws, the Suunto seven may exist worth a look.

Source: https://www.androidauthority.com/suunto-7-review-1080495/

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