Beacons Way Ultra with Suunto Race S

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Beacons Way Ultra with Suunto Race S

By Tracy Purnell

Published on September 24, 2024 5 min read

Having a reliable smart watch is extremely important to me, its an essential part of my kit. I recently used the Suunto Race S in the GB Ultras Beacons way 100km. This route follows the long distance footpath through the centre of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park, with 3451 metres of ascent.

Your own personal coach… on your wrist!

The Suunto app has fantastic features, its like having your own personal coach. You can build your own structured workouts and get the guidance on your watch.

This was my second attempt at a GB Ultras Beacons Way Event. My first attempt was in 2018 when I
attempted the 100 mile course, with 6143 meters of elevation. I had only started trail running that year and reaching 61 miles I felt was a great achievement, but on reflection it was probably too soon to take on such a large distance. I had been running for less than a year and starting at the age of forty meant that recovery took longer.

I originally started running to raise money for my local mountain rescue team and celebrate turning forty.
I decided to set myself a challenge of running a 40 mile route. Running gives me so much energy,
confidence and makes me feel so happy! Running is great! I have surprised myself over the past few years of what I have achieved not only physically but mentally. I have thought a lot more about my nutrition and fuelling my body correctly. It is certainly good for the mind, body and soul.

Read More about The Beacons Way

Tracy’s Suunto Race S Review

The Suunto Race S has to be the best GPS smart watch I have owned so far. I am still finding new
features and short cuts to make this watch so easy to use.

I was slightly concerned how the Suunto Race S battery would hold out over 22 hours, however the battery power management was very reassuring. Upon starting your activity you can select your battery mode, this will give you the amount of hours the battery is expected to last in the particular mode selected. You will also get notified when the battery is running low at 20% and 10%.

The Suunto Race S smart watch has a smart, sporty appearance with a compact and light weight body,
don’t let this fool you into thinking it is not packed with the most useful features.

The face is not big and bulky, which I used to find a problem with other watches. It is comfortable to wear
to during activities, during the working day and bedtime. When wearing long sleeve tops, jumpers and coats, it does not get stuck around the cuffs, which would drive me insane with my other smart watch.

The strap is comfortable and does not cause you to sweat. I like the snap to secure with the pin at the end of the strap. There are a choice of straps in the Suunto collection, which can be purchased on the Suunto website. Different colours, designs and materials to suit everyone. The straps are so easy to change, but extremely secure when wearing.

The touch screen is very responsive, even when hands are cold or sweaty on a run. There is an option to
use the side buttons and a rotating crown button that can be turned to scroll up or down through the
menus. Crisp, clear and colourful display with excellent response time to command, also a choice of
different colourful faces.

The wireless charger plate I feel is much better than having to plug a lead to your watch. When on a multi
day event, should your watch need charging it is useful to just pop under the watch on your wrist. I am so
heavy handed and have damaged a lot of tech gadget charging ports over the years. The Race S sits
comfortably on its charging plate and charges in such a short time, I mean in minutes!

Not only does the Suunto Race S monitor you 24/7 while wearing the watch, there are so many sports
activities to choose from and many choices to customise each one. The short cuts available to your regular activities makes selecting the right activity quick and easy to use.

The heart rate monitor, GPS and the steps calculated seems accurate. I enjoyed customising the watch to my personal preference. Makes your watch feel more personal to you. The wake up alarms in the morning, the do not disturb feature which can be set to your sleep patterns, the blank screen until you turn your wrist to look at your watch, I love all these features.

The navigation is fantastic and when used in conjunction with an activity its accuracy is spot on. Offline
maps can be downloaded to your watch, so no need to take your phone, your watch can navigate you.
The navigation can be customised in so many ways, the audio guided navigation is so useful when out on
a long distance event. Routes can be created in the Suunto app and uploaded to the watch.

I spend a lot of my time in the mountains, so I love the feature of navigating a route that gives you the
altitude information. Bearing navigation is also a useful feature to have. You can use this feature stand
alone as a compass or together with a paper map. Points of interest can be added at anytime when out on an adventure. Saving trig pillar locations sounds good to me.

There are so many choices when it comes to the widgets, there is certainly something for everyone. The added bonus of an emergency torch!

The Suunto app has fantastic features, its like having your own personal coach. You can build your own
structured workouts and get the guidance on your watch. You can download pre made training plans for
all types of activities. I love the 3D fly through map that is generated once you have record an activity. This along with other recorded activity data and the option to add photographs is a great way to look back on your saved activities, to compare and improve your training.

If you have found Tracy’s Suunto Race S Review useful and you want to find out more read all of the OS Test The Best Suunto Race S Adventure Reviews from our OS Champions

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By Tracy Purnell

Tracy Purnell – OS Champion

Meet OS Champion Tracy Purnell – dog lover, trail runner and Brecon Beacons National Park Ambassador.