Suunto may not be a brand as famous as Samsung, Apple or Fitbit when it comes to smartwatches, it is sure one of the premium watchmakers with an array of fitness monitoring watches. The latest of Suunto’s Spartan Collection of smartwatches is the Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR.
Like its predecessor, Suunto Spartan Sports Wrist HR which was one of the best heart rate monitor available in the wearable market but with a slimmer, smaller body. The Spartan Trainer Wrist HR is even better with the same heart rate technology by Valencell and some other features included in this new smartwatch. It also features the same sports tracking modes, a waterproof design, and a long battery life.
The new Suunto smart watch, unlike the bulky sized Spartan Sports Wrist HR, has a slimmer body.The Spartan Trainer Wrist HR measures a 15.7mm body thickness and weighs 56g and 66g for metal bezel models respectively making it lighter and smaller. There are visible screws around the watch display, a softer changeable strap with traditional watch-style buckle and two additional physical buttons to aid navigation.
The smartwatch comes in blue, ocean and black models with one of the lowest prices at $279 and features plastic bezels. If you want to opt for more fashionable options which feature steel and gold options with metal bezels, you’ll have to pay about $329 for that. Its waterproofing is now 50m compared to the 100m of its predecessor and a non-touchscreen display with a lesser resolution also. An optical heart rate sensor is mounted at the back of the device with Valencell technology used in Sports Wrist HR with charging point for magnetic charging at the back.
Although the design is different, it still has 80 sports modes pre-installed comprehensively for outdoor and indoor exercises with the core activities of swimming, cycling and running. There is also GPS tracking, navigation modes, built-in altimeter for outdoor workouts, route planning option and the ability to pair additional sensors like heart rate monitor for additional metrics, Styd’s running power meter, and cycling cadence sensor. The GPS quality can, however, be adjusted form best, good to okay in order to extend the watch battery life and it optimal mode delivers the best quality experience.
The GPS chip is different entirely from the AMBIT3 and from other SPARTANs. It has a MediaTek MT3339 chip with no GLONASS function but with enhanced urban performance as well as a far less power consumption. It is 46mm in diameter and 16.7mm thick with a screen resolution of 218 x 218 pixel which is lower than the other SPARTANs. There is no compass, barometer, or weather trend like its predecessor. It has a battery life that lasts ten days as a regular watch and activity tracker and about 10 hours at best GPS mode use.
The screen sharpness and brightness look very similar. However, its predecessors have a variation in backlight, unlike the TRAINER. There are two variants for the TRAINER, the more expensive version is made of polyamide material with a steel bezel and mineral crystal lens. While the cheaper case is also made of polyamide and comes in black, green and blue colours.
