We test the Suunto 5 watch
Today we test the Suunto 5 that the Finnish brand launched in the middle of this year. It is a watch with great features; GPS, integrated optical heart rate monitor and multisport mid-range, colour screen and long battery life.
1. Design
It has a robust design, with metal bezel, mineral glass and a ceramic appendix to which the Finnish house has had us accustomed to date and that serves as an antenna (giving great precision and battery management). It is a watch with finishes that denote quality.
Regarding the dimensions, we are facing a 46 mm dial, somewhat smaller than that of its big brother, the Suunto 9, which has a 50 mm dial. This point is interesting to take into account if we have a particularly small wrist.
The only handicap that we could highlight is the excessive bezel between the diameter of the device, and the diameter of the useful screen, something that the market in general is embracing as a trend: minimizing screen frames.
2. Technical specifications
It is worth noting that the device is lightweight despite using a robust construction and quality materials: It weighs only 66 grams! The screen isn’t touch-sensitive, which we didn’t miss, and the colours aren’t particularly vivid, although in bright daylight the screen looks great. Likewise, it has a great resistance working at -10ºC and up to 50ºC and being submersible up to 50 meters deep.
It is worth mentioning the great autonomy of the Suunto 5. It offers different modes of battery management: the automatic mode “performance”, in which we have the full potential at its maximum performance (worth the redundancy) getting a life of about 20 hours of activity with GPS activated. On the other hand, the automatic mode “endurance”, sacrifices some accuracy in the recording of track data in favour of the battery, getting about 40 hours of life. Additionally, it has a custom mode in which we can enable and disable certain parameters and determine the accuracy of the track as we see fit.
It has several sensors: GPS antennas (GLONASS, Galileo and QZSS), accelerometer and optical pulse sensor. It should be noted that it does not have a compass or barometer. We must emphasize the power of it and the precision that the Finnish brand offers in its products.
It also has the ability to sync with major platforms such as Strava, Training Peaks, Endomondo, Runtastic, Relieve, etc. and Suunto App; beyond sending data to third party applications, the Suunto App allows us to view and manage our activities.
3. Day-to-day monitoring
The Suunto 5 takes all the new features introduced by the Suunto 3 and that means: step counting, 24/7 heart rate tracking, calories, sleep quality evaluated by a note, as well as how stressful the day has been.
Additionally, and here is where Suunto stands out (although not prominently) from the competition, the device tells us the battery that remains to our body, i.e., tells us as we have rested after X training, or stressful day up and down, the available resources that remain to our body.
4. Smart Watch
It offers notifications from our mobile device (without clipping the messages) as well as the notification of incoming calls. In addition, it can warn us of sunrise and sunset, set an alarm clock, specify the dial that we like, as well as timer and stopwatch functions.
5. Sport functions
Suunto focuses its efforts on what we think is the most important thing in a GPS/sports watch. We have more than 80 different sport profiles, from the typical cycling, running, gym, all of them with their respective variables: Indoor, Outdoor, basic, series, open water swimming… and, on the other hand, other more specific profiles such as rowing, horse riding, skiing and, as you can imagine, a long etcetera up to those more than 80 specific profiles for each of our needs.
In the same vein, it should be noted that we can customise the modes, choosing to be able to see up to 7 fields per screen, and not only this, but useful heart rate and altitude graphs, record of series/intervals, and so on.
Regarding the functionalities related to training, the Suunto 5 allows us to set goals for distance, time or, on the other hand, intensity (by heart rate), pace, speed or power. It should be said that we still miss the ability to add advanced training plans, as we can only time intervals in an automated way.
Additionally, once the activity is finished, we will also see graphs about the progression of the session, such as heart rate graphs, altimetry, bar graphs representing the heart rate zones… As well as metrics such as pace, distance, recovery time, among others.
6. Conclusion
Finally, as it could not be otherwise, we can make a summary of what we liked the most and what the Finnish brand could improve.
Positive
- Wide variety of sport profiles.
- Power and precision of the device, as well as great battery management.
- Premium finishes: mineral crystal, metal bezel, interchangeable and resistant straps.
- Compatibility with data collection devices via Bluetooth.
- Simplicity of interfacing the device, as well as the implementation of training plans.
- New App, which gives the device a more than acceptable usability.
To be improved on
- Despite being competitively priced, other watches in the segment offer certain advantages such as music, enhanced triathlon profiles, applications.
- Accuracy of the optical sensor acceptable, not standing out from other watches in the segment.
- Limited Smart Watch functions.
- Small screen and wide bezel with respect to the case they are mounted, as it could make better use of the available space.
Find all Suunto devices at Deporvillage!
