Changes

From Fellrnr.com, Running tips
Jump to: navigation, search

Suunto Spartan Ultra

250 bytes removed, 15:02, 28 October 2017
m
comment: batch update
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Suunto Spartan Ultra Review}}[[File:Suunto Spartan.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]
The Suunto Spartan is an expensive but beautiful running watch. It has an elegant, simplistic physical design, combined with an effective and intuitive user interface. The materials are not only beautiful to look at, but like the ambit range before, there pleasing to the touch. Unfortunately, this beautiful design is let down by incomplete functionality and a rather hefty price tag. If you buy the Spartan, it should be predominantly because of its looks and feel, rather than its functionality. (This review is based on 1.711.30 56 firmware.)
=Support This Site=
{{BuyAmazon|AZID= B01I05C0LS|AZN=Suunto Spartan Ultra}}
=The Big Questions=
For a [[Best Running Watch| simple evaluation of a GPS watch]], I look at how well it can answer some basic questions. There are many things a runner might look for in a running watch, but I feel these four questions are critical.
* '''How far did I run?''' This is the most basic question, and sadly, the Spartan has pretty good [[GPS Accuracy]]. The level of error will depend on your route, but the Spartan seems to do quite well on varied sections of my torture test. The Spartan has great support for the [[Stryd]] footpod which will provide the best accuracy. * '''How fast am I running?''' Knowing how fast you're running can be a nice to know, or it can be vital for your training or race performance. Because of the nature of GPS, watches that rely on GPS signal alone tend to have serious problems with current pace. Currently the Spartan has no support for the will display of your current [[Pace From A Footpod]] while getting all other data from GPS, something I find is the best option. Suunto will use its internal accelerometer when GPS signal is unavailableWhen paired a [[Stryd]] footpod, but this doesn't really solve the problem. I see the current pace varying considerably from my actual pace during a rundata is vastly better than any GPS watch. * '''Where am I? '''The Spartan has a breadcrumbs -display and the ability to download a course outline, but there's no "off course" warnings or directional information. There's also no "back to start" or ability to navigate though you could manually add the start as a waypoint. The navigation to waypointsworks reasonably well. It does have a true magnetic compass, though I've rarely found that useful in the real world.
* '''What's my cadence? '''[[Cadence]]''' '''is one of the most critical and often overlooked aspects of running. If you get your Cadence right, many other things naturally fall into place. The Spartan will get [[Cadence]] from a [[Footpod]], and it has an internal accelerometer, though I find that's not as accurate. There are no alerts for Cadence (or any other metric.)
For ultramarathon running the battery life of the Spatan Spartan makes it a candidate for shorter races (50 miles/100k). But if you hope to be still moving during the [[Second Dawn]], then you should look elsewhere. (You can charge the Spartan on the run, but I see that as a poor solution to the problem.) See [[Best Running Watch#Watches for Ultrarunning| Watches for Ultrarunning]] for more details.
=Will It Be Nice When It's Finished?=
The Spartan has improved in many areas since it was first released, but it still feels incomplete. The first firmware versions I tested seemed like they were barely ready for beta testing, let alone production release. These early versions of the firmware didn't have even the most basic functionality, such as the ability to customize the displays. It seems like Suunto still have quite some distance to go before the firmware is relatively complete, and this poses a significant risk to purchasers. If Suunto were to abandon updates, as happened to the [[Garmin Epix]], you'd be left with a rather inadequate device. So, will the Spartan be a nice watch when they finally finish the updates? Predicting the future is something of a fool's errand, as nicely described in [https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143125087 The Signal and the Noise], but so far there are no indications that the Spartan will have much to justify its price tag. It is an attractive watch, made from lovely materials, and it has the highest resolution display of any watch I've tested. But beyond that these anesthetics, I don't see any functional aspects that make the Spartan a compelling purchase. There are a number of things that I feel are missing on the Spartan.
* '''Display Customization'''. With the latest firmware, you can do some customization, but it's still limited. You can't customize to add a 7-field display or a graph.
* '''Navigation'''. There's only a primitive display of the course you load, not waypoints, off course notifications, distance to the end, backtrack, etc.
* '''Interval Timers'''. I'm not a fan of using timers for interval training, but it's something I'd expect on watches that are far cheaper than the Spartan.
* '''Where's my phone?''' I've come to appreciate the Garmin "Where's My Phone?" feature that buzzes the phone to help you find it. It's one of the most useful bits of having a watch connected to the phone.
* '''Stability'''. This is becoming less of a problem, and I'm not seeing a problem with existing functionality becoming broken with the latest release.
|}
=Going For A Run=
To start a run, you simply select the exercise mode, wait for the Spartan to acquire a satellite lock and a link to any sensors and then hit start. If you've synced your Spartan in the last few days, then it should acquire a satellite lock quite quickly. For my accuracy tests I always give a watch at least 5 minutes so that it can download the real satellite position information (ephemeris) rather than having it rely on the predictions it downloads during the sync. The current firmware will show when a heart rate monitor or other sensor (like [[Stryd]] is connected, but there's no indication of the connection status for a Footpod. The Spartan display is remarkably crisp, and they put more data on the screen than other watches which can sometimes make it a little tricky to read. Like most watch displays, you sometimes have to tweak the angle so the light hits it right for optimum clarity. The Spartan has a built in the monitor, but remember this is measuring the temperature quite close to your body so it's likely to be a little inaccurate. When you finished your run, the Spartan will give a nice list of summary statistics, plus a screen of listing some averages for each lap (assuming you recorded some laps of course.) Suunto make use of heart rate analysis from Firstbeat<span style='color:#FF0000'>. This means that included in the usual summary metrics are the recovery time in hours, the Peak Training Effect (PTE, a measure of workout intensity), and even an EPOC value (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption.) EPOC is an estimate of training impact, based around the elevated metabolic rate following exercise</span>.
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|- valign="top"
|}
=Navigation=
The Spartan will show a breadcrumbs trail of where you've run, which can be useful for backtracking. You can also load a course into the Spartan and follow it on your run. Creating a course on the Moves Count website is fairly straightforward and intuitive, and they include a an elevation profile of the route. The Spartan makes good use of color on its map display, making it fairly easy to understand and the touch display is well used, with pinch-to-zoom or tap to zoom to an overview and back. While you can add waypoints to a course, the Spartan doesn't currently allow you to navigate to them. It won't tell you when you're are off course, or how far it is to the end, or anything else you might expect if you've used a Garmin. All you get is the course outline on the display. Nor does You can add waypoints and the Spartan will allow for you to navigate to them, including a direction arrow and distance to the point. There's no preloaded maps, something that I'd like to see in a watch this expensive. If you want preloaded maps, then your best bet is the [[Garmin Fenix 5X]] (expensive), or either the [[Leikr]] or the [[Garmin Epix]]. Sadly, I'm (not convinced that either of those watches are being well supported by the manufacturer, so buyer beware).
[[File:Spartan-Map.jpg|center|thumb|x300px|]]
=Sensors=
The Spartan works with the various Bluetooth heart rate monitors I tried, including the Polar H7, [[Wahoo TICKR Run]], and Suunto's own heart rate monitor. I found the heart rate monitor that is optionally packaged as with the Spartan worked fine, though I've generally used the Wahoo as I can get the heart rate data on any Ant+ watches I'm also using. The Spartan is unique in supporting the [[Stryd]] footpod, a [[Running Sensors| Running Sensor]] that will transmit "Running Power." It's nice to see these new Running Sensors supported as first-class devices, but there's no support for calibration, so the Spartan won't work with other Footpods. The Spartan has an internal accelerometer that will give a reading for [[Cadence]] without a [[Footpod]], and I'd say this is broadly adequate but far from perfect. One annoyance is that the Cadence from Stryd is twice that from the internal accelerometer, and the Stryd Cadence data seems to be rather noisy. I tested the Spartan with the Polar Stride Sensor and the Adidas footpod and they transmitted pace and cadence information. However, there's no facility for calibration of a Footpod which limits the ability to use these devices. (In theory, the Stryd Footpod is accurate enough that it doesn't require calibration.)
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|- valign="top"
|[[File:Suunto HRM-back.jpg|center|thumb|x300px|The connectors for the Suunto are different to the Polar which other companies have also adopted.]]
|}
==Stryd==
The Spartan is unusual in supporting the [[Stryd]] footpod natively, a [[Running Sensors| Running Sensor]] that will transmit "Running Power." It's nice to see these new Running Sensors supported as first-class devices as it provides more insight into the power estimate than from a Garmin watch. The Spartan will display average power for the run, average power for the interval, average power for the lap, maximum power for the lap (great for [[High Intensity Interval Training]]), maximum power for the run, average power for 3 seconds, 10 seconds, and 30 seconds.
=Activity Tracking=
Like most modern running watches, the Spartan will act as an activity tracker by counting steps. This seems to be something of an afterthought with the Spartan as the standard display does not show your step of progress unless you press the middle button. The Spartan step counting seems to be reasonably in line with the other devices that I've tested. There's always some variation in the precise account, as different watches will detect or ignore small steps, especially if you doing something like cooking and moving around the kitchen rather than striding down the path on a walk. The target number of steps for the day is set on the Spartan, not the web site, which is a little confusing. There is no facility for tracking sleep, something that's routinely seen in far cheaper devices. The Spartan will track recovery time based on the [[Firstbeat]] algorithms , something I've found of extremely limited value. The sleep tracking seems worse than Garmin watches, though I don't have a gold standard to compare against to provide an objective evaluation.{| class<gallery widths="wikitable" style300px heights="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"|- valign300px class="topcenter">|[[File:Spartan-StepsDay.jpg|none|thumb|x300px|A rather uninspiring display of total steps.]]|[[File:Spartan-StepWeek.jpg|none|thumb|x300px|This weekly view of steps could have been great, but the tops are truncated at about 1.5x goal.]]|- valign="top"|[[File:Spartan-Recovery.jpg|none|thumb|x300px|Recovery hours tracking.]]|[[File:Spartan-Summary.jpg|none|thumb|x300px|Summary of recent training.]]|}</gallery>
=Syncing The Spartan=
You can either sink sync the Spartan using a USB cable to a computer, or over Bluetooth to the smart phone app. I found that syncing to the smart phone app has been a little patchy, and I generally rely on the PC app, though this has improved with newer releases.
[[File:Spartan Cable.jpg|center|thumb|300px|The Spartan cable uses magnets rather than a clip to attach to the watch, and is far less fiddly than some devices, and far smaller than the vast cradles that Epson uses.]]
Syncing the Spartan will upload your workouts to their website, download information to speed up satellite lock (SGEE or Server Generated Extended Ephemeris), and to download any configuration changes you've made on the website.
=Smartphone App=
The Suunto Moves Count smart phone app for the Spartan is rather limited, and like the watch itself feels incomplete. The most obvious functional deficiency is that you can't configure the Spartan from the app; you have to go to the website. When I compare this to the Garmin app, this feels like a prototype. If you have your Spartan connected to your smartphone, you will get notifications for things like incoming texts and anything else that you have a phone notification for. You can disable the notifications while keeping your Spartan and phone linked.
{| class<gallery widths="wikitable" style300px heights="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"|- valign300px class="topcenter">|[[File:MovesCountApp (1).png|none|thumb|250px|The initial screen gives some rather underwhelming information. There is the amount of time you've spent in each sport, which if your runner doesn't tell you too much.]]|- valign="top"|[[File:MovesCountApp (5).png|none|thumb|250px|Scrolling down you see a list of each exercise, showing the time and distance. You'll notice the distance is in kilometers even though I've specified miles as my units.]]|- valign="top"|[[File:MovesCountApp (4).png|none|thumb|250px|If you select a specific workout you'll get a few more details on the first screen. This seems like rather poor use of screen real estate to me.]]|- valign="top"|[[File:MovesCountApp (2).png|none|thumb|250px|You can view some graphs of your workout, but this is not as sophisticated as the website.]]|- valign="top"|[[File:MovesCountApp (3).png|none|thumb|250px|One rather cool aspect to the app is the map display that shows where people have run and uploaded their workouts. I suspect this will be a great way of finding places to run in new locations.]]|- valign="top"|[[File:MovesCount Movie.png|none|thumb|250px|The app has the ability to create a virtual movie of your run, showing your position as a dot with a trail marking your route, while a virtual camera flies over the terrain. I'm not sure how useful this is, but it's certainly an entertaining novelty.]]|}</gallery>
=Moves Count Web Site=
I know of runners that find the Garman site more intuitive and richer in functionality than the Suunto, but I'm the opposite. I find the Move Account website to be reasonably intuitive and rich in functionality. The Suunto website exposes some interesting information from the Spartan, and provides some good analysis options. Below is the overview page from the website. I rather like the top calendar view, that shows each workout along with a vertical line indicating the duration. This gives a nice summary of your recent training, and it should give you a sense of the ratio of training to rest. The middle section shows how much time you spent in each sport, which is much use if you just run. It also includes a cross of how you felt after each workout, something you said on the Spartan after each workout. It's possible that this may be a useful tool to prevent [[Overtraining]], but I suspect it's a little too simplistic. On the right of the middle section is how long you've spent in each heart rate zone, which is another nice feature providing some high-level insight into training. At the bottom of the page is the list of workouts, which I've truncated to save space. Clicking on a workout take you to the detail page which will look at next.
[[File:MovesCountWeb-Compare.png|center|thumb|500px|]]
Probably the coolest feature of the Moves Count website is one that makes it worth using for any runner, regardless of the type of watch they use. The heat map display shown below highlights where runners have recorded their work, giving a wonderful overview of the most popular running locations in any given area. The limitation of course is that it only represents data uploaded from Suunto devices, and there's not much data for less populated areas. Nonetheless, this is a great resource when you're looking for a new running route, or visiting a strange city.
[[File:Suunto Heatmap.jpg|center|thumb|500px|]]
=Battery Life=
Suunto claim 18 hours of battery life, but I only got 17 hours in my testing. That's enough for most runners, but if you're into Ultramarathons, I'd suggest looking elsewhere. The Spartan can extend its battery life by reducing GPS accuracy, but even then, it's only 26 hours.
==SGEE and Accuracy==
There are some suggestions online that syncing the Spartan before you run will improve GPS accuracy. The idea is that the sync will update the cache of satellite information (SGEE), which in turn will improve accuracy. This satellite information is a prediction of the GPS Ephemeris data, which gives information needed to use a satellite's signal for calculating the watch's position. Because it takes about 30 seconds to get a satellite's Ephemeris, having it preloaded reduces the time to get a usable location (Time To First Fix, TTFF.) This predicted Ephemeris data is not typically used to improve accuracy, but [http://www.telit.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Telit_Jupiter_SGEE_InstantFix_5_App_Note_r1.pdf a publication from Telit] suggests otherwise for the chipset used in the Spartan. The document is rather ambiguous, but I interpret it to mean that for the time between the watch getting an initial fix using the SGEE data and getting the true Ephemeris from the satellite the accuracy will be compromised. Given this should only be for a minute or so at the start of a run, this shouldn't have a practical impact. It's possible the situation may reoccur mid-run as satellites drop below the horizon and others rise up, as the watch will use SGEE data until the new satellites Ephemeris has been downloaded. To test how this worked in practice I did a few runs with the SGEE data expired (>7 days since the last sync) and I found that the GPS accuracy was not impaired. If anything, the accuracy might have been better without SGEE data, but I didn't collect enough data for statistical analysis. Of course, it's possible that slightly stale, but usable SGEE data might cause a problem. To test that I'd need to wait for a few days between syncing and gathering data, and repeat that for every run, which would take ages.
=Heart Rate Variability=
The Spartan will record [[Heart Rate Variability]] (HRV) and export it in either FIT or XLS format. This can be processed in [https://runalyze.com Runalzye] or other similar software. There's no real-time display of HRV, but that functionality is pretty rare.
[[File:Spartan HRV.jpg|center|thumb|700px|HRV from the Spartan in RUNALYZE]]
=Comparison Table=
{{:Best Running Watch-table}}

Navigation menu