The Suunto Race 2 is a tough Garmin Forerunner 570 rival for focused runners

The Suunto Race 2 is exactly as advertised: a quality mid-range running watch. It mitigates some key complaints I had with the first Suunto Race, with absurdly good battery life and a training feature that I wish my Garmin Forerunners had.

When I reviewed the Suunto Race last year, I said it was "near the finish line" as a solid mid-range running watch, but the HR results were mediocre, and the GPS data had odd issues with zig-zagging data that added extra distance to every mile.

I've taken the Suunto Race 2 out enough to know that its battery life isn't a facade, the accuracy has improved significantly, and the ZoneSense tool fixes a complaint I've had with Garmin's training load data for some time. If you're looking for a Garmin watch alternative, consider starting here.

Targeting different kinds of runners

The Suunto Race 2 starts at $50 less than the $549 Garmin Forerunner 570 but offers five extra days of battery life or 40 hours of extra dual-band GPS tracking, doubled water resistance, offline maps, sapphire glass, and the same 2,000 nits of brightness.

Garmin's cost cuts and price-locked features make Suunto's watch look more impressive. Even if you get the $599 titanium version I'm testing, it still doesn't feel overpriced.

The Race 2 isn't nearly as well-rounded as the Forerunner 570, to be fair. You don't get a mic, speaker, flashlight, ECGs, music storage, or contactless payments, and Garmin offers native workout plans while Suunto relies on TrainingPeaks.

Garmin will always beat its fitness watch rivals for software smarts, but charges a premium for better hardware, and not every athlete is willing to pay Fenix 8 prices for great battery life.

Maybe you need a watch like the Forerunner 970, with extra benefits like workout suggestions and better battery life. But the Suunto Race 2 works better for runners who already have training guidance and want the best running essentials, not extras.

How the Suunto Race 2 has improved

Unfortunately, medical issues have kept me from running with the Race 2 as much as I'd like. However, I've completed enough workouts to be confident that things have improved for both HR and GPS accuracy.

Across five runs, hikes, and walks, the Race 2 has either matched or fallen 1 bpm short of my COROS HRM armband or Garmin HRM-200 chest strap. The longer the activity, the more likely it'll average slightly lower, but it's not as bad as on the first Race, which was often low by 2–4 bpm and struggled more with anaerobic workouts.

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The Race 2 lags behind my HR strap, like most optical sensors, but eventually catches up to match my real results.

While I couldn't do a proper track workout, I pushed myself into anaerobic range, and the Race 2 easily kept pace. Overall, the Race 2 is more than reliable enough to deliver accurate training load data.

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As for the Race 2's dual-band GPS accuracy, the Race 2 (blue line) mostly stuck to the trail across 13 miles. I compared it against the Venu X1 (orange), which only has all-systems GNSS, and the Race 2 ended up tracking 100m extra after 13.1 miles — not a major difference, and both results looked reliable.

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The Race 2 still had moments where I zig-zagged a few feet in either direction, mostly due to tree cover. Rest assured, the problem was significantly worse on the first Race, both for frequency and side-to-side movement.

The third screenshot shows how the Race 2 sometimes lost me, then had me cutting across obstacles once it reacquired me. Other times, my line stays straight but parallel to my actual location, off the trail or in the street, although I've seen this happen with other dual-band GPS watches.

The main point is that the Race 2 lasts about 50 hours with this level of competent accuracy, longer than most Garmin watches last in GPS-only mode. I can finish these two-hour runs and only lose about 4–5% battery, while the Forerunner 970 would lose 10%. That's darn impressive, considering how much energy the vivid Race 2 display must use.

A nuanced training load tool I want

Garmin and Suunto categorize your runs based on how long you spend in specific HR zones, such as low aerobic, high aerobic, and anaerobic. It helps runners balance their training, but I find it frustrating how they lump each run's training load into one category.

For example, if I spend five miles in low aerobic, then two miles at an anaerobic sprint, the overall HR average will categorize it as high aerobic, which isn't accurate.

I want granular data on how long I've spent in different zones and what that means for my fitness. So I went into the SuuntoPlus app store and downloaded ZoneSense to do just that. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this tool needed a chest strap for HRV insights that the Race 2's optical sensor can't deliver.

I'll test ZoneSense properly for the review once my health is in the clear, but the concept is what I'm looking for, so I know when I typically switch to anaerobic at race pace. Or I can intentionally up my intensity after X minutes of low-aerobic endurance building.

I do wish ZoneSense didn't need a chest strap, but I find it very cool that Suunto has a SuuntoPlus app store full of unique integrations and alternative training tools like this. It makes the Race 2 feel less insular than other fitness watches.