Several readers have asked why I use the Spartan Ultra as my primary watch. After having written a few months ago the first impressions with the Suunto Spartan Ultra and later what is failing in the launch of the Suunto Spartan, it seemed a bit unfair to me not to speak again in depth about this watch. After the initial problems, things have changed a lot in these almost nine months on the market.
The firmware update 1.8.26 released to the public on March 30, 2017 meant, from my point of view, putting Suunto back in the top of the best watches in its segment. In my particular case as an athlete, after this update the watch complies with absolutely everything I need to train and compete. As of this update, all the new features that come will be welcome, but there is no longer any limitation that prevents me from not wearing the watch in any of my workouts.
Below I will detail why I use the Suunto Spartan Ultra Stealth for training, competition and as a day-to-day watch at the time of writing this post.
Screen
The Spartan (both the Ultra and the rest of the variants) has the best screen on the market to date. There is no discussion possible. It can be configured in multiple ways, being able to display from 1 to 7 fields per screen. Those of us who, apart from running, do road bikes, and only want to have a single watch instead of the combination watch for running + cyclocomputer for the bike, the possibility of having 7 fields on the screen is something very welcome. Garmin allows you to do something similar but through third-party applications in the Garmin IQ store and on a lower resolution screen. Polar and TomTom do not allow having more than 4 or 3 fields per screen respectively.
In addition, the template used to show 4 fields per screen seems very successful to me, since one field is clearly highlighted as the most important. In my training and during competitions the most important data is the heart rate. When placing it in the 4-field template, I always choose the most prominent position. Being in the center and with a larger font, it is the first thing you see if you take a quick look.
Also comment regarding the screen that there is the “Standby” lighting option that makes the clock constantly illuminated in a very soft way and with a very insignificant battery consumption. This means that indoors and at night, the Spartan perfectly sees what is on the screen. It may seem silly, but the reality is that this option is not implemented by any other manufacturer, and indoors, these types of watches look very bad, since the type of technology used has been optimized to work outdoors.
GPS accuracy
After the firmware update that Suunto did to correct an initial error that occurred in certain situations, in the precision tests that I have carried out, both the distance and the tracks drawn are very, very good. This part is essential for me, as I have always commented on my blog. I can say that for a user as demanding as me, the Spartans are practically on the same level as the Ambit3. You can check my ranking of watches by GPS accuracy here.
interval training
The interval training that the Suunto Spartan currently has is simple but practical. The possibilities are much less than those that, for example, incorporate the Ambit3 family. However, these workouts can be configured from the watch itself, which for many is a great advantage. You can only do training of the type Warm-up + X repetitions of a work phase (time/distance) and a recovery phase + Cool-down. This type of training is just what I do. I don’t need to create more complex workouts, but I understand that many other users do. In the future it is expected that there will be an advanced training planner similar to the Ambit3 line, but it is to be confirmed by Suunto if this is the case and when it will be released. Back in the day I created a post showing how this feature is used.
Navigation
Another strong point of the Spartan is navigation, mainly due to the size of the screen and the way it has been implemented. The way to create or upload routes on the Movescount website is from my point of view the easiest of all manufacturers. Garmin, for example, does not allow GPX files to be uploaded to their website to be able to transfer them to their watches, but instead requires having to connect the watch to the computer and do it through Basecamp software or on various devices by copying and pasting the GPX file into a folder ( usually hidden) inside the watch. The Spartan also allows you to navigate to a POI, being able to see the difference in elevation between your current location and the POI.
There are other types of subtleties such as that if two different parts of the same track are shown on the screen, the part of the route closest to the point of origin is always shown in lighter blue color and the part closest to the point of origin is always shown in darker blue. destination.
The other great strength of the Spartan in terms of navigation is the height profile. Having a screen with such a resolution and being fully used by the height profile graph is a great success, which from my point of view makes this feature better than the option that Garmin or Suunto chose for the Ambit3/ family Traverse: only use the central part of the screen. The height profile is not only useful to know the irregularities of the terrain but it is also useful to know visually what we still have left on the route. The navigation in the height profile is capable of detecting if we are doing the route in one direction or the other automatically.
As with interval training, I wrote a post a few weeks ago talking more in depth about how to use this feature.
Movescount web
The Suunto website seems to me the best to analyze my training. It is super easy to extract grouped data and see the trend of these. As an example, this simple summary of the activities I have done in a month.
And a little more specifically, how my FTP (based on 20 minute power measurement) is improving during this start of the road bike season.
Although the aesthetics have changed a bit, I also wrote back in the day how I do the analysis of a running activity in movescount and what the various indicators that are stored mean.
Weight and comfort
I use the Stealth variant of the Spartan Ultra, which, having a titanium bezel, makes the total weight drop a few grams. This, together with the shape and size of the watch, and the use of silicone straps make it seem to me to be a very comfortable watch. As an example, the Garmin Fenix 5 seems to me an uncomfortable watch due to its high weight. Although the Fenix 5 is smaller, it doesn’t fit as well on my wrist as the Spartan does. I understand this is totally subjective, but this post is talking about “why do I use the Spartan Ultra?” 😉
Bluetooth antenna range
It sounds silly, but having tested so many watches, the Spartan has the best bluetooth range. This means that you receive notifications even when you have the mobile in other rooms of the house. With other watches, especially with the Garmin Fenix 5, I have had disconnection problems since the mobile is no longer in the range of 3 or 4 meters, if there is something in between.
Aesthetics
Something totally subjective, but in my case it is also very important, for example, to be able to wear the watch on a day-to-day basis, both to go to the office and for informal meetings with friends. Be careful, there are more and more “beautiful” watches on the market, since sports watch manufacturers have realized that customers demand to be able to use their watch at all times. Without going any further, I also consider the Garmin Fenix 5 to be a watch that has a very careful aesthetic.
What makes the Spartan Ultra not even better?
Well, so far I’ve talked about what makes you wear every day. However, this does not need the clock to be perfect, far from it. There are a lot of features that I would like to see working on my Spartan. Some I think will come, others only time will tell.
- Faster and more reliable synchronization with the movescount mobile app
- Being able to see the battery level of the sensors and alert when it is low
- Vibration in notifications stronger
- Navigating to a journal route
- Temperature indicator outside of an activity
- Being able to see the time of sunrise and sunset
- Time in heart rate zones in activity summary
- Notification Center to view currently active notifications on mobile
- Strava live segments
- Watchfaces in light background mode and dark text
- a higher battery time
- Alerts for distance, heart rate limits and nutrition
- countdown timer
- Being able to choose the color of any of the fields on the screen
- Outer ring that marks the heart rate zone
- Being able to zoom in on the height profile (suggested by @Cristobal)
To end
Having prematurely launched the Spartan on the market, Suunto has turned to make it the product that it should have been from the beginning. Whoever buys the watch at this time, I am convinced that they will have a very different experience than those of us who bought the Spartan at its launch. Unfortunately for the manufacturer, early adopters have been sorely disappointed in the brand and may have lost them forever.
Many kilometers to all!
Are you thinking of buying…
If you are thinking of buying a Suunto Spartan on Amazon because of the guarantees and the service it offers, you may want to buy it using the link below. If you buy this or another product on Amazon using this link, at no cost to you, you make Amazon buy me a beer 😉
