Suunto 7 sports smart watch review

Finland’s Suunto is very highly regarded in the specialist sports watch field, and with the Suunto 7 it seems to be aiming to deliver more of an everyday smart watch with better sports credentials than the competition, writes DAVE BULLARD

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I first became a Suunto fan about 15 years ago, when I took one of their brilliant little Mosquito dive watch/computers on a trip to Fiji, so I was very keen to see what the recently upgraded Suunto 7 smart watch would be like.

My first impression was Wow! The graphite-coloured watch with copper bezel and buttons looks fantastic – definitely something I could live with on my wrist.

Then my second impression was also Wow! but in relation to its size. At 1.53cm thick it’s heftier than the usual smartwatch. This may or may not be a bad thing – some people like a watch to announce itself, but others could be turned off by it.

The face is a great size, though – it has a super-sharp, super-bright 3.5cm-diameter screen set in a 5cm-diameter body.

Build quality of the Suunto 7 is also top-rate. The bezel is stainless steel, the glass is the super-strong and scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass from Corning, the case is fibreglass-reinforced polyamide, and the strap is a high-quality silicone. And it’s water-resistant to 50m.

The watch is available in Black Lime, Graphite, All Black, Graphite Copper, Sandstone Rosegold and White Burgundy. My review unit was Graphite Copper, and looked a treat with the black body and copper bezel and buttons.

So, it looks and feels great, but what does it do? Well, it’s almost a case of what doesn’t it do?

What does the Suunto 7 do?

Like most modern smartwatches, you can do everyday things like check and react to your messages, see your calendar, check the weather, play music, pay for stuff using Google Pay, measure your steps and more.

(It’s worth noting here that you can see a notification of an incoming phone call on your watch, but you must use the phone itself to carry out the call.)

But then the Suunto 7 raises the bar, measuring heart rate, calories, speed, altitude and barometer pressure, and it has over 70 sports modes for swimming, running, cycling, training, walking, weight training, circuit training, surfing, horseriding, climbing, paragliding, snowboarding … etc, etc. I’d be very surprised if the activities you do aren’t covered here. (See below for an extensive function list.)

Suunto gives you free local offline maps – downloaded automatically when you’re connected to Wi-Fi and charging – and you can share your exercises on major sport services like Strava, Endomondo and TrainingPeaks.

One of the great things about internet-connected smartwatches is that they can be continually updated with new features and functions. In the intro, I mentioned the Suunto 7 had recently been updated, and among those new features are GPS route navigation, the ability to create your own route, use tracks from other services or select a popular trail, and an always-on watch face so you can see your stats at a glance as you exercise.

To get started, you need to download the WearOS by Google app on your Android phone or iPhone and use it to initiate a short pairing process. Once you follow a tutorial, you’ll need to get the Suunto app as well. The two of them work in combination to give all the watch’s functionality.

All that functionality comes at a cost, though – you have to be prepared to spend some time learning your way around the Google Fit and Suunto Wear apps and the watch’s four physical buttons. I’d suggest working out exactly what you want out of the watch and learning that, then exploring the myriad other tasks it can do.

Suunto obviously recognises the need for instruction, and has a number of tutorials, how-to videos and user guides available. A follow-up email after registration gets you started on the right track, just at a time when you’re probably scratching your head.

On the road

I started using the Suunto 7 during Melbourne’s 112-day hard lockdown during the worst of the COVID pandemic Down Under. We were allowed to exercise outside for an hour a day, so I used the watch to check the heatmaps and see where people were exercising the most. In a normal world, you’d probably use this function to discover new places to train or ride, or find popular starting points at a new location, but in this case I used it to avoid possible virus hotspots.

Activity recording and control are done through a combination of button-presses and screen-taps. You don’t always have to use the screen, either: many on-screen functions are aligned with the physical buttons, making it easier to operate with gloves on, or without having to look at your watch.

You can change the screen views for each sport so you’re seeing your choice of the most relevant data for your needs. Most modes have 2-4 different exercise views, including a map track display for outdoor sports.

The exercise summaries are excellent, giving data on everything from distance, speed and calories to heart rates, altitude and ascent time. You can see your speed, heart rate and altitude on an interactive map, just like the pros.

Suunto specifies a battery life of up to 48 hours in daily use and up to 12 hours in juice-hungry GPS tracking mode. In my use I got about a day and a half of use, with some exercise tracking each day, so got into the habit of charging it overnight … as you would do with most smartwatches.

The bottom line

Suunto really has created a great all-rounder of a sports-come-smart watch with the Suunto 7 – it has the best sports credentials of any smartwatch we’ve seen. Wear it as your everyday watch or thrash it while mountain-biking or mountain-climbing – it’ll pretty much do it all. Just be prepared to spend time getting to know each other. The $599 price is good for a watch of this quality and ability – it’s the same as the recommended retail price of a base-level Apple Watch Series 6 or a Samsung Galaxy Watch.

Suunto 7 price

RRP $599

www.suunto.com/en-au/

Suunto 7 activity and sports functions

(Most popular activities)

Swimming

• Pool swim pace and distance
• Openwater swim pace and distance 
• Records heart rate in swimming       
• Swimming time by pool length, lap, total     
• Swimming stroke rate, count and type         
• Stroke efficiency (SWOLF)     
• Automatic intervals   
• Interval lap table        

Running

• Running pace 
• Suunto FusedSpeed (combines GPS and wrist acceleration sensor readings for measuring running speed more accurately)      
• Average & lap pace in real time        
• Lap comparisons        

Cycling

• Cycling speed 
• Average speed in real time    
• Real-time lap table with avg HR and avg speed        

24/7 activity tracking

• Calories burned         
• Activity targets           
• Activity history           
• Calorie burn rate and heart rate during daily activities        
• Daily minimum heart rate tracking   
• Step counter

Training

• Heart rate measured from wrist       
• Heart rate in beats per minute          
• Records heart rate in swimming       
• Heart rate graph in real time 
• Real-time average heart rate
• Calories          
• Peak Training Effect   
• Recovery time
• Personal heart rate zones      
• Cadence-based speed and distance  
• GPS speed and distance        
• Chrono
• Autolaps         
• Manual laps   
• Analysis of pace, speed graphs and tracks on the map        
• Logbook with exercise details
• Exercise summary with lap details    
• Training logbook for long term overviews    
• Training-based recovery time
• Recovery time daily view

GPS tracking & navigation

• Breadcrumb trail in real time
• Satellite systems – GPS, GLONASS, QZSS, BEIDOU
• GPS recording rate – Best, Good
• Free offline outdoor maps on watch 
• Heatmaps on watch for 15 sports     
• Heatmaps to browse and navigate during exercises
• GPS track analysis      
• Track logging, viewing and sharing   
• Waypoint and visual route navigation          
• Zoom levels in navigation      
• Auto zoom based on route shape     
• Route planning with heatmaps (in Suunto app)
• Personal route library synced to watch        

Altimeter

• Barometric altitude   
• GPS altitude   
• Combined GPS and barometric altitude (FusedAlti) 
• Altitude in daily mode
• Total ascent/descent 
• Vertical speed
• Log recording rate: 1s
• Resolution: 1m
• Range: -500m – 9999m

Weather

• Weather info via Google Weather
• Sunrise/sunset times via Google Play
• Storm alarm via Google Play
• Sea level pressure via Google Play
• Temperature via Google Play
• Temperature display range via Google Play
• Temperature resolution via Google Play
• Pressure resolution   
• Altitude graph shown in exercise summary

Suunto 7 specifications

Weight: 70g

Bezel: Stainless Steel

Watch case: Reinforced Polyamid

Strap materials: 24mm Strap (available in assorted silicon, leather and textile

Navigation: GPS, Glonass, Galileo

Battery Life: Up to 12 hours in GPS tracking mode or up to 48 hours in daily use*

Water resistance: 50 meters

Operating system: Wear OS by Google

Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100 Platform

Phone support:  iOS and Android

* Actual battery life may vary considerably depending on settings, applications, and many other factors.