ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Suunto Vertical 2 is out there now for $599, or $699 with titanium casing.
- Apart from the vivid 1.5-inch AMOLED show, it has a really lengthy battery life and sports activities an LED flashlight.
- The watch is simply obtainable in a single 48.6 mm diameter dimension, the flashlight controls are restricted, and securing the pin on the band will be robust.
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Lots of the superior sports activities watches I check appear to be going extra towards the “sensible assistant” route, with hands-free communication, fee options. However others are doubling down on well being and health monitoring, like Polar and Suunto, two manufacturers which have made a few of my favourite smartwatches I’ve examined within the final two years.
The brand new Suunto Vertical 2 is one among them — constructing upon the options of the Race 2 with an built-in LED flashlight, vibrant AMOLED touchscreen show, and improved battery life.
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Earlier this yr I had the chance to check the Suunto Race 2 and located it to be the most effective sports activities watches obtainable at this time. For $100 extra, the brand new Suunto Vertical 2 offers a extra rugged construct and a few further enhancements. Along with the additional price, the Vertical 2 measures in at 1 mm thicker than the Race 2 whereas sustaining the identical 86 gram weight for the chrome steel mannequin.
One design distinction I am not an enormous fan of is the swap of the middle proper button’s rotating dial to a button. I loved scrolling via my knowledge with the dial on the Race 2, and with the brand new button on the Vertical 2 I discovered myself swiping up and down the touchscreen extra usually.
If you end up in the midst of an exercise, swiping on the show could also be simpler than spinning a small dial, so it is solely a minor annoyance, however nonetheless vital to say.
Ever since Garmin launched a sports activities watch with an LED flashlight, I’ve worn a Garmin on one wrist nearly on daily basis. I discover myself utilizing the LED flashlight nearly every day for a wide range of functions, and it has turn out to be a will need to have characteristic for my watches.
We noticed Amazfit launch the T-Rex 3 Pro with a LED flashlight, and now Suunto joins the social gathering. Sadly, Suunto must do a bit extra work on the utility, since activating the LED flashlight ends in a default brightness of fifty%.
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Display screen swipes or button presses are wanted to modify the flashlight from 50% to 75%, 100%, 25%, crimson mild, SOS mode, respiratory white mild, or crimson alert mild. There are not any choices to set a default mild mode and no approach to allow sure modes for varied exercises, comparable to respiratory white mild mode when operating to assist make others conscious of your presence as you run. Provided that the {hardware} and fundamental features are simply fantastic, a easy software program replace would go far to enhance the characteristic.
It isn’t clear to me what battery magic Suunto is performing, however even with the always-on show and the best location monitoring accuracy, the Vertical 2 ought to final for as much as 65 hours. For comparability, the equally sized 47mm Garmin Fenix 8 Professional with the identical degree of location monitoring accuracy and at all times on show has a reported battery lifetime of simply 23 hours.
The Fenix 8 Professional gives fairly a bit extra connectivity and can be priced twice as a lot because the Suunto Vertical 2. Thus, in case you are in search of a sports activities watch with an AMOLED show and lengthy battery life the Vertical 2 is ideal for you.
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Suunto skilled questionable coronary heart fee accuracy prior to now, however that was mounted with the most recent sensor within the Race 2 and fortunately that very same sensor is within the Vertical 2. Coronary heart fee accuracy has confirmed to match carefully with my arm and chest mounted sensors, and the Vertical 2 moreover helps connections to these exterior sensors if you happen to desire to make use of them as a substitute.
The mannequin I used to be despatched for testing contains the Pine Inexperienced watch band, seen above. I like the colour of the band, however notice it is in all probability not for everyone. Additionally, the pin that you just insert into the opening on the buckle is hard to insert, and I did not get pleasure from pushing so arduous down into the underside of my wrist to safe the strap.
As a substitute, I bought a Suunto cloth band since I discover these varieties of bands far more snug to put on at evening whereas monitoring sleep and whereas understanding.
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The Suunto Vertical 2 helps the SuuntoPlus app retailer, however the majority of apps are utilities for various sports activities, watch faces, and associate collections fairly than apps such as you see on Garmin, Apple, or Google smartwatches. It additionally helps fundamental smartphone notifications and in case you have a related Android, you possibly can reply to messages.
One factor to notice throughout my analysis interval is that there’s a difficulty with the Suunto smartwatch app connecting to the Suunto Vertical 2 on the brand new iPhone 17 fashions. Suunto has a discover that it’s working to resolve the difficulty, however I merely used my Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 to check the Vertical 2 for this assessment and that was a seamless expertise.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Primarily based on my years of utilizing the LED flashlight on Garmin watches, it is a no-brainer for me to pay the additional $100 to get the flashlight on the Vertical 2. I used it every day throughout my assessment regardless of the work wanted to make the flashlight utility extra environment friendly for normal utilization.
The battery life can be excellent, and given how lengthy the watch retains going, it is one of many few with an AMOLED show I am snug enabling the always-on show. Suunto continues to impress and along with nice {hardware}, gives a fantastic app with plenty of teaching, steering, and detailed monitoring to fulfill these targeted on bettering their efficiency.
