Changes

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>.

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).

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 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, such as 30-second average power. 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. I tested the Spartan with the Polar Stride Sensor and the Adidas footpod and they transmitted pace and cadence information.

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>

You can either 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.

{| 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>

[[File:Suunto Heatmap.jpg|center|thumb|500px|]]