Suunto 9 Peak Hands-On: 11 New Things To Know!

In many ways, the Suunto 9 Peak is unlike anything Suunto has ever introduced before. Yet in other ways, it’s everything like everything Suunto has before it. Some differences are glaringly obvious, like the sleek new watch design – throwing away the often chunky Suunto exterior style, while somehow feeling distinctly Suunto. While other differences are only seen after a run: Absolutely perfect GPS tracks. So perfect that you’d think they might be fake.

And, in a way, they kinda are. But, mostly in a good way. Potentially the most innovative thing to hit GPS watches in years, Suunto’s new ‘Snap to Route’ functionality will keep not just your GPS tracks perfectly aligned to your plan route, but also ensure that your pacing and distance data matches that of the course, especially useful for urban/city races with poor GPS signals. As I’ll explain later in the post, while this technology isn’t without its caveats, I’ve gotta believe it’s something that would be hugely beneficial to large numbers of marathon runners – especially for races like the NYC Marathon or similar.

Beyond that and visible hardware changes, the Suunto 9 Peak also includes fast charging, a blood oxygen sensor, a new optical heart rate sensor, and wireless firmware updates (no more desktop computer required). Plus a handful of other smaller software tweaks. Sure, it’s not a vastly new watch when it comes to features. But the original Suunto 9 has seen various firmware updates along the way itself, including a new Tour mode that was introduced back in March, and of course consistent app updates to the Suunto smartphone app – to the point where it’s getting viable to use (compared to the now-retired Movescount).

In this video I’ll dive into my first week using the watch and all the new features.