The brand Suunto is racing to make waves in the GPS watch and headphones wearable technology categories with its introduction of the Suunto Race ($449/$549) GPS running watch and the Suunto Wing ($199) wireless, open-ear headphones. Both were announced by the brand today, and are set to release for purchase on October 17, 2023.
Meet the Suunto Race GPS Running Watch
The Suunto Race is the latest GPS running watch from the Finnish brand and the second major release this year, following the Suunto Vertical in May, 2023. Both offer very strong battery life, on par with Garmin and Coros, but the Race has several Suunto first-ever features, including an AMOLED display, heart rate variability (HRV) monitoring, and a digital crown to scroll through features and, most excitingly, to zoom in/zoom out on the map screen.
With all of these upgrades, the watch even comes in at a lower price point than the Suunto Vertical. The titanium version of the Suunto Race is $549 and the stainless-steel version is $449, compared to the Vertical’s $839 (titanium) and $629 (stainless steel). The Suunto Race reverts to classic Suunto styling, with a massive 1.43-inch (3.63 centimeters) display.
A front view of the new Suunto Race. Photo: iRunFar/Craig Randall
The single most exciting feature of the Suunto Race is the stunning AMOLED display. This notably more battery-intensive look will still last for up to 40 hours using full, dual band, GNSS accuracy. The display has a couple ways of conserving battery, including shutting off entirely during non-activity usage, and dimming during an activity — except when your wrist turns to look at the screen, where it will fully brighten again. It’s a shock to the senses to have a Suunto with a screen that is this exceptionally bright and clear; for years Garmin has offered several watches with AMOLED, which set a high bar, but is equaled by the Suunto Race’s resolution.
The same new offline mapping that was introduced in the Suunto Vertical comes over to the Suunto Race, but with one major difference: the digital crown. Where on the Vertical you must frustratingly click many times to zoom in/zoom out or move around the screen, with the digital crown the Suunto Race quickly pans all over and zooms in and out with just a twist of the crown. This is a huge time-saver, particularly when you want to limit exposure to your fingers when navigating in cold weather. Worldwide maps are available for free in the Suunto App, and will sync to your watch over Wi-Fi in about 15 minutes.
A back view of the new Suunto Race. Photo: iRunFar/Craig Randall
Heart rate variability is a standard feature of health and activity tracking devices like WHOOP, but as part of a sophisticated GPS running watch, it becomes much more instructive as a training and racing readiness tool than what those other simple wearables can offer. The Suunto Race will begin building a heart rate variability profile for the user after several days of heart rate monitoring during rest, activity, and sleep using its optical heart rate sensor. The watch can then offer advice and historical input for your future goals, using built-in notifications as well as add-ons from the brand’s free SuuntoPlus Guides store.
Suunto Enters the Headphones Space with the Suunto Wing
Parent company Amer Sports sold the Suunto brand to headphone company Leisheng Technology in 2022. With the support of this major player in the headphones space, Suunto has also launched a new set of bone-conducting headphones called the Suunto Wing. The company has said that the open-ear design is driven by the need for safety while in use; the common earbud style headphone simply is too prone to masking sound, be it in traffic or while sharing trails. The Wing’s safety focus is augmented by built-in LED lights which flash on the temple sides, but not at the rear of your head. These headphones are comfortable and have a claimed weight of just 1.2 ounces (34 grams) and have a rather bold appearance in their lava red version. They are also being offered in all black.
The new Suunto Wing headphones in lava red. Photo: Suunto
