I Tried the New Suunto Race 2 and It’s Suunto’s Most Impressive Sports Watch Yet

Suunto got a lot of things right with the original Suunto Race sports watch, which offered a durable and attractive design, accurate GPS tracking and offline maps at a good price that undercut its rivals.

The Suunto Race 2 aims to improve on its predecessor with a few key upgrades, including a bigger, brighter AMOLED display, a thinner case and a faster processor.

For those upgrades you do pay an extra $100 for the Suunto Race 2 compared with the original Race, but it’s still considerably cheaper than the Garmin Forerunner 970, its main rival and the best sports watch available, in my opinion.

I’ve only been able to wear the Suunto Race 2 for a couple of days and run twice with it ahead of its launch, but so far the design has impressed and so has its sports tracking, for the most part.

Suunto Race 2: cheat sheet

• More expensive: The Suunto Race 2 is $100 more than the original Suunto Race, costing $499 for the steel model and $599 for the titanium model. However, it’s still cheaper than key rivals including the Garmin Forerunner 970.
• A bigger, brighter display: The Suunto Race 2 is an AMOLED sports watch with a 1.5-inch, 2000-nit display, up from 1.43-inch on the Suunto Race.
• Thinner and lighter: The Suunto Race’s case is just 12.5mm thick, 6% thinner than the Suunto Race, and it weighs in at 76g for the steel model and 65g for the titanium watch, including its silicone strap.
• Faster than ever: Suunto sports watches have been criticized for lag in the past, but a new processor in the Suunto Race 2 aims to create a snappier user experience.
• Long battery life: Despite the large, bright display, the Suunto Race 2 offers up to 18 days of battery life and a mammoth 55 hours of GPS tracking in its most accurate mode (50 hours with the always-on display).
• Offline maps: You can download free maps to the Suunto Race 2 via the Suunto app to use offline, and follow routes with turn-by-turn directions.
• Key rivals: The Garmin Forerunner 970 is the main rival to the Suunto Race 2, also offering a bright AMOLED display, offline maps and impeccable tracking. The Polar Vantage V3 is also a rival, while the Coros Pace Pro offers a cheaper AMOLED alternative.

Suunto Race 2: price and availability

The Suunto Race 2 launched on August 27, 2025 and costs $499 / £429 for the steel version of the watch, and $599 / £529 for the titanium model. It’s a jump in price on the Suunto Race, which is now $399 / £345 for the steel model and $499 / £445 for titanium, but notably cheaper than its main rival the Garmin Forerunner 970, which is $749.99 / £629.99.

Suunto Race 2: specs compared

Suunto Race 2: design and display

The Suunto Race 2 looks great and has a robust feel to it thanks to the metal bezel and steel buttons. The steel model I’m testing comes in black or white, while the titanium is only available in black, with a choice of silicone strap.

It sits comfortably on the wrist thanks to its thin case and doesn’t feel too large, despite the fact it has such a big AMOLED screen. The display is impressive and using the touchscreen to navigate the UI feels snappier than with past models thanks to the new processor.

There are three buttons on the watch, one of which is a digital dial. It takes a little getting used to the controls on the watch but it’s quick and easy to access your sports modes and widgets showing off your health and activity stats.

The Suunto Race 2 uses 22mm straps, and it’s simple to swap out the standard silicone one if you want to — I subbed in a nylon band as it makes the watch feel lighter and more comfortable.

All of the usual sensors are present and correct on the Suunto Race 2, which offers optical heart rate tracking and dual-band GPS, and has a barometric altimeter and pulse oximeter under the hood.

You can connect external sensors like cycling power meters via Bluetooth and the watch has 32GB of storage for maps, though it can’t store music unlike the cheaper Suunto Run.

Suunto Race 2: sports tracking

The Suunto Race 2 has preset sports modes for a wide variety of activities, including a track run mode, but you can’t customize these directly, so if you have certain stats you want to see you need to create your own sports mode.

This is one of a few mildly annoying idiosyncrasies to Suunto’s approach to tracking, which also includes using SuuntoPlus apps you install on the watch via the Suunto phone app to add stats that could simply be part of your data fields in my opinion.

So far I’ve used the watch to track a couple of outdoor runs, including a 16-mile long run, and a yoga session. During the outdoor runs, the GPS accuracy on the Suunto Race 2 has been very good, matching up to a Garmin Fenix 8 and Garmin Forerunner 970 closely for distance and pace stats.

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The heart rate accuracy has still not been perfect though, when compared with my trusty chest strap. On my first run it read way too high for the first part of the route before settling down and matching the strap.

It was better in the second run, but read slightly higher than the strap for most of the second half of the run. It’s early days though, and I’m hoping to see an improvement in the heart rate accuracy compared to the Race and Race S watches, which were often unreliable for me.

Suunto Race 2: smart features and navigation

The Suunto Race 2 offers some basic smart features including mirroring your phone’s notifications and controls for music playback on your phone, but doesn’t have music storage, which is a strange omission given this is available on the cheaper Suunto Run.

It does have some great navigation tools though, including free offline maps you download via the partner app. You can also create routes to follow in the app and sync them to the watch, and along with turn-by-turn directions.

Suunto Race 2: outlook

I’ve enjoyed using the Suunto Race 2 so far and the improved design and display are welcome upgrades on the Suunto Race. The price jump does hurt it, and even though it’s still cheaper than the Forerunner 970, the Garmin offers more sports and smart features, as well as a lighter design with a built-in flashlight.

What Suunto has done a great job of in general in the past couple of years is focusing on providing key features at a good price with its watches. That’s still true with the Race 2, which has a great design, accurate GPS, offline maps and long battery life, but the higher price might now make the Race or Suunto Race S more attractive for those seeking value.