The Suunto Vertical 2 has an impressive range of features, including GPS, various sensors, and a wide selection of sports modes. After actually starting to use it, I found myself enjoying the process of recording and looking back at my activity data.
At the moment, I mainly use these eight exercise modes.
How I use my Vertical 2
・Motor Sports: Car, motorcycle, public transportation, etc.
・Cycling: Cycling to work and other daily transportation
・Mountaineering: Hiking and mountain activities
・Alpine Skiing: Snowboarding
・Running: Running
・Circuit Training: Strength training and circuit workouts
・Openwater Swimming: Swimming in the sea or lakes
・Walking: Walking for transportation, traveling, and exploring cities
I really like being able to choose different modes depending on my daily life and hobbies.
On the other hand, there are so many sports modes that I also have quite a few that I never use. Having a wide range of choices is great, but it would be even better if users could more easily organize and manage only the modes they actually use.
Another thing I would like to see improved is the notification settings during exercise. I wanted to receive notifications while turning off notification sounds and keeping vibration on. However, this setting can only be configured on the watch, and I had to set it individually for all eight modes.
Being able to customize each mode separately is useful, but a setting such as “Apply this setting to all exercises” would make the setup much easier.
I would also like to see improvements to the way recorded routes can be reviewed afterwards.
For example, after hiking or traveling, I sometimes want to look at my GPS track on a map and analyze things like, “I took the wrong route here,” or “I turned back at this point.” With the current smartphone app, I find it a little difficult to compare and analyze routes and maps in detail.
PC integration would also be a very welcome feature. Being able to view GPS tracks, maps, distance, elevation, speed, heart rate, and other data together on a large screen would make it much easier to get more value from the activity logs I have accumulated.
For the Vertical 3, I hope Suunto will focus not only on hardware performance, but also on making the overall experience smoother, including the app, maps, activity logs, route analysis, and settings.
Even now, I find the Vertical 2 a very interesting product that I want to keep using for a long time. I look forward to seeing further improvements, especially on the software side.