Sports watches have grown ever more advanced over the last decade. Astronomical battery lives; highly accurate sensors for heart rate, altitude, and GPS; detailed mapping functionality; smart features that use algorithms to tell you how well you鈥檙e sleeping, how long you need to recover, how much fuel you need to consume 鈥 you name it, and you can probably find a fitness watch that does it. Unfortunately, all that fancy technology comes with one significant trade-off: bulk.听
The more sophisticated sport watches have gotten, the bigger they鈥檝e gotten. For some, this just means it鈥檚 harder to fit your watch underneath a jacket sleeve鈥攁 minor annoyance. For anyone with small wrists, it鈥檚 a much bigger problem.听
Personally, I fall into the latter camp. I have spent years ratcheting watch straps to the point of near circulation loss just to get giant, silver-dollar-size听bezels to sit flush against my wrist. So when Suunto announced its new ($569), the lightest and thinnest model the Finnish听brand has ever debuted, I jumped at the chance to test it out.听
It landed on my desk a week ago. Out of the box, I immediately noticed the difference between this watch and pretty much every other advanced sports tracker on the market. It weighs 2.2 ounces, on par with Garmin鈥檚 smallest Fenix watch. But it comes in a ($699) that weighs just 1.8 ounces. It鈥檚 also thinner鈥攋ust over ten听millimeters top to bottom鈥攁nd boasts a sleek silhouette that looks more like a smartwatch than a clunky wrist computer.听
Still, it offers听most of the same features Suunto users have come to expect: GPS and Glonass听satellite connectivity, 24/7 optical heart rate, barometric and GPS altimeter, built-in interval training, mapping, sleep tracking, recovery tracking, and a long list of customizable sport modes. It lasts 14 days on a charge in regular watch mode, and anywhere from 25 to 170 hours in GPS mode, depending on the tracking frequency you select.听
So far听I鈥檝e used it for three runs and two strength sessions, and two full days of work. I鈥檒l be continuing to test it out over the next month. Stay tuned for a more in-depth review.听