exercise is serious and efficient sungto photoelectric heart rate watch
At the beginning of 2017, SUUNTO finally launched its first optical heart rate sports watch—the SUUNTO SPARTAN SPORT WHR. This not only enriched its product line but also kept up with the trend. The gradual replacement of traditional heart rate straps by optical heart rate monitoring cannot be ignored.
Currently, the SUUNTO SPARTAN SPORT WHR is available in three colors: black, sky blue, and cherry blossom pink (princess pink).
Next, I will take you through the experience of the black version of the Spartan optical heart rate watch.
1. Video Unboxing
The packaging is very simple, with nothing superfluous. At first glance, it feels quite large, with a dial diameter of 48mm and a weight of 75g, which is hard to ignore compared to the usual 20g or so of wristbands (the bong3HR weighs about 15g).
2. Watch Details
The dial mirror is made of scratch-resistant mineral crystal material, second only to sapphire. Below it is a colorful touch screen.
The long strap of the watch is about 13.5mm, the short strap is 10.5mm, and the thickness is about 3mm. Made of silicone material, it easily attracts dust and has slightly poor breathability. It cannot be laid flat at 180 degrees. Although it is not a quick-release strap, it can still be removed.
The charging contacts on the back of the watch and the magnetic USB charger can be used with any USB charging device.
From the side, the watch can be divided into two parts, both made of stainless steel. The bezel around the screen is slightly smooth and glossy black, while the main body of the middle frame has a fine matte texture and is the same color as the strap.
The watch has only three buttons with stainless steel caps, evenly distributed on the right side. These work with the touch screen to achieve up, confirm, and down operations.
The back of the watch features a protruding optical heart rate monitoring sensor. It uses optical heart rate monitoring technology created by Valencell, a leading innovator in wearable biometric data sensor technology (GARMIN also uses Valencell's heart rate monitoring technology).
Unlike other heart rate monitoring sensors, Valencell's sensor includes an additional yellow LED light, which can better penetrate the skin to monitor blood flow, increasing the accuracy of heart rate monitoring for individuals with darker skin tones.
The SUUNTO logo on the watch buckle.
3. Watch Operation Experience
When using the watch for the first time, follow the manual or quick start guide to long-press the 'up button' to wake up the watch and complete the initial setup according to the on-screen guide.
Swiping up or down, or left or right on the touch screen can switch between different interfaces and menus, as well as return to the previous level or exit. Combining this with the three physical buttons makes operation more convenient and quick.
The watch supports more than 80 types of sports recording methods. Obviously, most sports are not needed by most people. For sports that do not primarily use GPS recording, after selecting the sport, the watch defaults to not turning on GPS but only heart rate monitoring, such as weight training, which I understand as gym workouts.
I personally pay more attention to the watch face design. An excellent watch face design can add a lot to the watch. The Spartan optical heart rate watch offers six default watch faces and nine colors. In actual experience, the watch face in standby mode and the watch face after waking up are different. For example, the three-eye watch face only displays the hour hand, minute hand, and scale in standby mode. After activation, it becomes a true three-eye design. Although there are nine colors to choose from, the colors only apply to certain elements and do not change the entire watch face. This design compromise is made to improve battery life.
The watch can also record daily steps, similar to the step counting function of regular wristbands. You can view the recent 7 days of exercise status, including steps and other exercise data, through the watch face. Compared to other fitness wristbands, the SUUNTO watch cannot monitor sleep data or sync steps to WeChat or QQ platforms. However, we use the SUUNTO watch for other more professional functions.
The SUUNTO watch can measure real-time heart rate and display the heart rate within ten minutes in the form of a graph.
To demonstrate the status of various sports interfaces using running as an example, first select the sport, such as running. Two icons will appear at the top of the screen: an arrow indicating GPS and a heart indicating heart rate monitoring. A gray flashing icon indicates that it is searching for a signal, and it turns green when the signal is captured, allowing you to start exercising. Speaking of satellite search speed, I personally feel it is okay, turning green within half a minute. At the starting point of this year's Lanzhou Marathon, the satellite search could not find a signal. Later, I learned from the news that a strong magnetic field interference was set up to prevent unofficial drones, affecting the satellite search before the start.
During exercise recording, switching between different interfaces allows you to see different information, such as pace per kilometer and heart rate, heart rate curve, and route track.
4. Performance Test
The Spartan optical heart rate watch is waterproof up to 100 meters, making it suitable for swimming. It is also suitable for outdoor water activities in the hot summer.
Charging efficiency: It takes about 3 hours to fully charge from a low battery warning (using a 2A current output). This time feels moderate, neither fast nor slow.
Battery life: From a full charge to a low battery warning, it lasted 4 days and 5 hours, including a cumulative running distance of 48km and a duration of 301 minutes. On June 11, I ran the Lanzhou Marathon, which took 4 hours and 45 minutes, consuming nearly 50% of the battery. This battery life performance is not strained in daily use and matches the official claim of 'up to 8 hours in training mode.' However, for popular ultramarathons or 100km trail runs, the battery may not be sufficient.
5. APP (Movescount Android Version)
To make the most of the watch, the official APP and website are essential, but mastering it is not simple. There is a lot to explore. This time, I will briefly introduce the APP.
After successfully pairing the watch with Bluetooth, you can sync the watch data to the APP. Once connected to the watch, you can also use the APP to set up the watch, such as enabling notification reminders.
To enable notification reminders, the APP must always run in the background, and Bluetooth must be kept on.
SuuntoMovie is a well-known feature of SUUNTO. This feature allows you to create a video from a GPS track, making it very interesting after post-production.
The codoon APP can also sync data from the SUUNTO watch. After opening codoon, go to the personal interface, click on equipment, then add equipment, select connect smart hardware, and finally choose SUUNTO. Enter your SUUNTO account and password to sync the data from the SUUNTO running watch. The prerequisite is that the data in the SUUNTO running watch has already been synced to the SUUNTO APP. All these synchronization operations must be connected to the internet.
6. Data Analysis
How is the heart rate monitoring data of the Spartan optical heart rate watch? Let's compare it with the data from the SUUNTO heart rate strap (SUUNTO heart rate watch VS SUUNTO Aimbit3R heart rate strap version).
This is a set of 10km running data. At the beginning of the run, the heart rate strap monitoring data showed a significant deviation, a phenomenon many people have encountered, possibly due to insufficient warm-up or other reasons. Excluding this part of the error, the heart rate monitoring value of the optical heart rate watch is slightly higher by 2-3 bpm. At the 50-minute mark, I stopped the watch, causing the heart rate value to be empty during this period, while the heart rate strap continued to record.
This is a set of 6km running data. At the beginning of the run, the heart rate strap still showed a higher recording. The average heart rate differed by 1 bpm, with both recording 153 bpm at the 5km mark. Overall, the data difference between the two is not significant.
This is a set of 10km with a relatively fast pace. The data fluctuation between the two is relatively large. The optical heart rate watch reached a maximum of 192, while the heart rate strap was 183.
Considering that the watch is worn on the wrist, the arm swing during running may cause the watch to shake, potentially leading to inaccurate heart rate data recording. The faster the speed, the greater the impact on the data.
Ultimately, data serves the body and is for our reference. During exercise, we should listen to our body's signals and adjust our exercise state reasonably. Protecting ourselves is the most important thing.
7. Summary
The Spartan optical heart rate watch is SUUNTO's response to market trends. SUUNTO may inherently believe that optical heart rate monitoring is not as accurate and reliable as heart rate strap monitoring. This sentiment can be read in its manual and official Weibo. However, facing a vast market, SUUNTO compromised and launched this first-generation optical heart rate product.
Nowadays, big data is a hot topic. With SUUNTO's profound technology and heritage, it also has its highlights. Heat maps, group functions, training plans, and SuuntoMovie are all features that attract users.
From the design style of the SUUNTO Spartan, it exudes Nordic simplicity and seriousness, with no flashy interfaces or interactions, leaving only purity.
As I write this, a phrase comes to mind, so I'll end with it: Let everything follow your heart.