Suunto has today launched their new sports watch, the Race 2, designed for trail running but useful for everything. Alongside the new watch, Wing 2 open-ear bone conduction headphones that fit and work seamlessly with the Race 2 have been announced.
The Race 2 has been redesigned for improved wearability, functionality, and “future scalability.”
With a 1.5-inch AMOLED display and 466×466 resolution, you will be greeted with a bright, colourful display. As you would hope for in a sports watch designed for outdoor use, it can be easily viewed outdoors in bright sunlight. The new Suunto Race 2 has a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and also supports LTPO for low power use when required.
The watch includes an Always-On Display (AOD) function, allowing you to view your stats and other data at all times, without using too much battery power. The size of the display is bigger than that of other equivalent watches, and with its small bezels, it offers a much more immersive display while helping you to perform at your best.
According to Suunto, the Race 2 offers up to 55 hours of usage with it at its full functionality: “Performance mode, full GPS accuracy using dual-band GNSS.” Personally, I have been able to use the Race 2 with full GPS functionality for two runs – not very long though, as I’m not built for endurance these days – and just everyday sleep and general body stat tracking for a week.
The watch currently has 23% battery life left, which is incredibly impressive – especially considering there is always a higher battery use in the first few days of getting a new gadget while you test out all the new features and features of the operating system.
The build quality of the Suunto Race 2 is premium and robust, with sapphire glass over the display, making it scratch-resistant. The bezel is equally robust thanks to its availability in either 316L stainless steel or ultra-light Grade 5 titanium. Both of these are paired with a stainless steel crown and buttons, which feel solid and long-lasting.
The crown is your primary mode of navigating the operating system (aside from touch, but there are some things the button is best suited for), with the button able to be pressed to select an option and turned for scrolling through various options. The operating system can be used entirely using touch but some of the options require selections close to the edge of the display, where it is more difficult to touch – this is where the crown and its press function come in handy.
The case of the watch is 13.9mm at its thickest. This is comparable to that of other smartwatches on the market today. On my wrist, the Suunto Race 2 felt neither thick nor thin but actually comfortable, which I determined to be more a result of the band than the watch case itself.
The Suunto Race 2 features a new and improved optical heart rate sensor, providing more accurate data for both workouts and rest. It offers continuous heart rate tracking along with real-time high heart rate alerts, helping you to avoid overtraining, to train smarter and maximise your performance.
To aid you in your fitness journey, the Suunto Race 2 pairs and partners with more than 300 other apps and devices, such as Strava, Adidas Running, MapMyRun, Runkeeper, TrainingPeaks, and more. This allows you to sync your activities across platforms, import or export routes and share workouts to keep your training data wherever you want.
Fitness functionality
The Race 2 comes preloaded with over 115 sports modes covering a host of sports from running and cycling to gym workouts and triathlons. For those who want more control, you can customise sports modes to fine-tune your training – select your sport, choose the data you want to track and create a personalised workout experience.
The data collected is designed to be useful for everyone, from novices to enthusiasts and elite athletes, delivering sport-specific metrics to “train smarter, perform better and avoid injury.”
While the watch comes fully equipped with enough to keep even the fussiest athletes happy, there is more. Using the SuuntoPlus Store, you can download even more training tools “from real-time weather information to custom sports modes and unique data views tailored to your needs.”
The store allows you to add functionality to your watch, although many of the available functions include different stopwatches, watch faces, and device companions. There are also various training programs you can use to get the best out of your performance, along with relaxing ‘workouts’ and more. If you really want to get the most out of your watch and have specific sports in mind, then you should look in the SuuntoPlus Store for more.
One feature that suits me greatly is the ability to create my own interval workouts. You can tailor it to whatever time or distance you prefer, personalising your workout in a way that I love and use all the time.
The Great Outdoors
For those who love training in the great outdoors (not just normal outdoors but off-in-the-wilderness-outdoors), there is the ability to store offline maps and climb guidance on the watch. I was easily able to download maps for my entire state, even though I rarely exercise outside my own suburb.
The map data includes full topographic detail, allowing you to know exactly where you are at any time. You can easily plan routes using this data, and even import routes from others to help you pace yourself up or down hills and conserve energy.
Training Zone and the app
As with most of these apps and devices designed for athletes, the Suunto app is incredibly detailed.
The Suunto app starts on the homepage dashboard, where an overview of the data collected by the watch is displayed. This data includes heart rate, duration of exercise this week, a map of your exercising, sleep recorded, steps and more. This layout and data displayed can be customised by adding or removing data and changing the layout. The data acquired had a similar accuracy to that on my Whoop 5.0 MG band with sleep and recovery closely mirroring each other.
To view your device-specific options, you tap on the watch icon on the homepage/dashboard. It is here where you see all your guides, apps, watch faces and more. You do not adjust detailed watch data from the app – this must be done on the watch. The app does allow you to customise the widgets shown on the watch, but not features like brightness, DND, and more.
The Suunto Wing 2 is Suunto’s next generation of bone-conduction headphones, offering up to 12 hours of continuous playback in a single charge. They come equipped with a power bank that can provide another 24 hours of playback, allowing for extended periodic use over several long days of outdoor adventure without having to recharge.
While the Wing 2 keeps the ears open to your environment, it delivers music while still allowing for safety in all environments. The frame of the headphones is composed of titanium and silicone, resulting in a lightweight, strong and secure headphone.
The Wing 2 is able to connect directly to your new Race 2 watch, providing real-time voice feedback on pace, heart rate and other key metrics. The headphones can be controlled using head gestures with simple head movements, allowing for quick adjustments without having to touch your phone or watch.
The headphones include smart LED safety lights that can be customised using the app to improve safety in low-light conditions. Fully waterproof and dustproof, the Wing 2 can be used safely in any weather and environmental conditions.
We will take a closer look at these headphones and compare them to other top brands in the coming weeks — stay tuned for that.
The Suunto Race 2 will be available starting September 16, 2025:
The Suunto Wing 2 headphones will also be available from September 16, 2025 at AU 9 / NZ 9.
These new Suunto products can be purchased at suunto.com, the Suunto Amazon store, and select retail partners across Australia.
Scott is our resident open technology expert. If you can mod it, or want to use it your way, Scott has probably done it. From Laptops to phones, headphones and game consoles, he’s played with it and wants to see the next generation.
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