Suunto Vertical 2 Review: Catching Up to the Pack

Welcome, AMOLED! Strong tracking and mapping support. Solid artillery life.

Limited diagnostic acceptable with iPhones versus Android. Training insights request to beryllium amended presented. A small excessively big. Unreliable slumber and bosom complaint tracking.

The Suunto Vertical 2 is simply a fittingness tracker that’s going to delight a batch of Suunto’s loyal fans. It’s besides going to propulsion successful immoderate caller ones, particularly those that can’t tummy the outgo of an alternative, similar Garmin’s Fenix 8 Pro.

Those fans feared the worst erstwhile Suunto’s genitor institution Amer Sports was acquired by Chinese exertion institution Lieshing successful 2022. The archetypal Vertical was the archetypal large motorboat nether that caller ownership. I tested it, and fixed my erstwhile experiences with watches similar the Suunto 9 and Suunto 7, I kept my expectations low. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a Suunto with immoderate unexpected plan charm. It had offline maps and delivered some an awesome GPS and artillery performance, portion undercutting the contention connected price.

Strong launches continued with the Suunto Race and Suunto Run ($199), but the Vertical that brought Suunto backmost into the speech of a fittingness tracker worthy of some your wealth and wrist space. The Vertical 2 has a large battery, a ton of sports modes, and yet made the hardware and bundle upgrades to bring the Vertical successful enactment with outdoor watches from Apple, Garmin, and Coros. The updates person paid off, but Suunto present has to contend with the information that there's conscionable a batch of contention successful this peculiar marketplace category.

Flashy and Colorful

The Suunto Vertical 2 is hefty, but it's manageable. Like the erstwhile Vertical, the Vertical 2 comes with either a stainless alloy oregon titanium people 5 bezel. Both are hardy, but the main quality is the weight. The titanium is lighter, astatine 3.07 oz versus 2.61 oz for the steel. To enactment that value into context, the Apple Watch Ultra 3 weighs conscionable implicit 2 oz. This isn’t a ticker you hide is there.

It’s ever pleasing to spot an array of carnal buttons, and you get sizable ones too. You’re not going to miss these wide level ones adjacent erstwhile picking the gait up. The silicone strap has a bully agelong to it and portion the fastener clasp is simply a spot awkward to get into place, this ticker does not budge.

Suunto has jumped connected the flashlight trend, with an LED airy portion sat connected the beforehand of the case. You tin set brightness levels and there’s SOS and alert modes to emit a precise noticeable pulsating airy pattern. This is simply a airy I recovered utile rooting astir indoors arsenic good arsenic connected nighttime outings.

The biggest alteration is the instauration of a 1.5-inch, 466 x 466 AMOLED display. This replaces the dull, albeit precise visible, memory-in-pixel (MIP) display. Suunto besides ditched the star charging that did necessitate spending a important magnitude of clip extracurricular to reap its artillery benefits.

Adding AMOLED screens to outdoor watches has been contentious. The older MIP displays are conscionable much power-efficient. The Vertical 2 is down by astir 10 days from the older Vertical for what Suunto calls regular use.

Still, adjacent if you're putting its tracking and mapping features to use, you're not going to beryllium reaching for the charger each fewer days. After 2 hours of tracking successful optimal GPS mode, the artillery lone dropped by 2 to 3 percent. The artillery driblet extracurricular of tracking is besides tiny and the standby show is fantabulous arsenic well.

Software Updates

A much streamlined acceptable of smartwatch features helps reserve artillery for erstwhile it truly matters. Unfortunately, I astir apt got amended artillery beingness due to the fact that you don't get telephone notifications oregon responses if it's paired to an iPhone alternatively of an Android. There's besides nary onboard euphony player, but you bash get a beauteous slick acceptable of euphony playback controls that are accessible during tracking.

However, Suunto doesn't shortchange you erstwhile it comes to sports modes. There’s implicit 100, with halfway ones dedicated to running, cycling, and swimming. You tin spell escaped diving, rapidly entree a integer compass, oregon cheque tempest alerts. There’s plentifulness here, you conscionable mightiness request to walk immoderate clip getting to cognize what this ticker is genuinely susceptible of.

This is simply a ticker with multiband positioning technology, joining the galore different watches that are starting to driblet the aged single-band setups, though you tin inactive opt for single-band present to conserve battery. The archetypal Vertical was a bully showcase for multiband enactment and however it tin boost positioning accuracy adjacent gangly buildings oregon traipsing done heavy built up wooded areas. It’s inactive large connected the Vertical 2.

The offline maps and navigation tools you person astatine your disposal are a batch nicer to usage connected the caller colour screen. The mapping refresh complaint isn’t arsenic jarring arsenic it tin beryllium connected different outdoor watches, portion the bundle sitting beneath the touchscreen runs overmuch smoother than it did connected its predecessor. While it doesn’t lucifer Garmin for the level of mapping modes and settings, it’s inactive much than capable. I was capable to usage it to get backmost location and rapidly load up routes to follow.

You bash person to driblet the ticker backmost connected the charger if you privation to load much maps, however. I made a travel to Spain and near the charger, reasoning that the artillery beingness was fine. Then I had to marque bash with simpler navigation enactment portion abroad.

Suunto says you should present bask improved bosom complaint tracking from the optical-based PPG sensor connected the lawsuit back. I conflict to get reliable bosom complaint information from large watches similar this. I’ve been wearing it for each of my workouts alongside a bosom complaint show thorax strap and recovered that some the mean and maximum bosom complaint readings from the Vertical 2 varied importantly during little aggravated workouts.

If you privation to usage the Vertical 2 arsenic a grooming tool, you tin travel Suunto's proprietary grooming plans, and the ticker is besides compatible with apps similar TrainingPeaks. There’s immoderate beauteous modular insights to usher you into making amended decisions astir grooming measurement oregon days to train, with betterment proposal seemingly successful tune with however I was feeling.

The occupation is that the information successful the Suunto app and connected the ticker isn’t precise engaging oregon each that glanceable. This is simply a ticker level that inactive feels a spot stuck successful the desktop age.

The biggest compliment I tin springiness the Suunto Vertical 2 is that I wasn’t hopeless to instrumentality it off. What made the quality was the massively improved software, the coagulated tracking and reliable artillery performance. The colour surface helped arsenic well. It’s a large upgrade connected the Vertical.

My main contented is that successful summation to the Run, Suunto has different precise akin watch. That’s the Suunto Race 2 ($499). It has a akin diagnostic set, tin present an arsenic large show and costs a akin amount, though you volition miss retired connected the flashlight and amended artillery life. I’m not definite Suunto needs some of these watches.

Garmin does inactive person the much implicit escapade smartwatch successful the Fenix 8, on with amended bundle and amended artillery life. It costs a batch much than the Vertical 2 though. If you privation thing that tin screen everything from diving to multiday hikes, this is worthy considering. Suunto whitethorn beryllium connected a blistery streak.