Suunto Vertical 2 In-Depth Review: AMOLED, Battery Life, and GPS Accuracy Tested

Display and Design Changes

• 💡 The Suunto Vertical 2 makes a significant shift from the original's memory-pixel display to an AMOLED display, a gamble for an ultra-endurance focused watch.
• 🎨 While AMOLED offers brighter colors and better contrast, the reviewer notes potential issues with automatic brightness indoors and its impact on circadian rhythms.
• 📏 The design remains familiar with an industrial look, but incorporates refined beveled edges from the Race 2, maintaining a large 49mm case size and significant weight (74g titanium, 87g stainless steel).
• 🛡️ Built like a tank with a sapphire lens, the watch is durable, though some minor wear is noted on the bezel edges.

Performance and Battery Life

• ⚡ A new, faster processor, carried over from the Race 2, significantly improves interface responsiveness, addressing a key complaint from previous models.
• 🔋 Despite the AMOLED display, the Vertical 2 boasts impressive battery life, achieving weeks on a single charge even with always-on display and sleep tracking.
• 🔋 Outdoor battery life claims range from 60 to 250 hours, with the reviewer nearly achieving the 60-hour mark in high-accuracy multiband mode with always-on display.
• 🔌 The charger has been improved with a new magnetic cable, making charging more secure and user-friendly.

User Interface and New Features

• 🔘 Unlike the Race 2, the Vertical 2 retains the three-button interface, lacking a dedicated rotating dial, which the reviewer finds less intuitive for navigation compared to the Race 2's interface.
• 🔦 A major hardware upgrade is the built-in LED flashlight, offering multiple modes (brightness, red, SOS, breathwork, flashing) and proving highly useful in various situations.
• 🛠️ Software updates have streamlined the flashlight interface, allowing for immediate return to the watch face after turning it off.

Health and Training Metrics

• ❤️ The watch tracks standard health metrics including heart rate, blood oxygen, steps, calories, sleep stages, and introduces a 'Resources' metric for energy levels.
• 📈 Advanced metrics like Recovery Index, Training Load (TSS), Chronic Training Load, and Acute Training Load are provided, based on TrainingPeaks concepts.
• 🏃‍♂️ Performance metrics include running V02 Max and a race time predictor, though the predictor is noted as being overly ambitious for the reviewer's current training volume.

Mapping, GPS, and Heart Rate Accuracy

• 🗺️ Offline topographic maps offer context for location, but are not fully routable; users can load predefined routes for navigation.
• 🧭 The map redrawing and compass responsiveness are exceptionally fast.
• 🛰️ GPS accuracy is consistently solid across various activities and terrains, with elevation accuracy also performing very well.
• 🩺 Heart rate accuracy, a previous weakness for Suunto, has seen improvements with a new sensor and software updates. While results varied, especially during outdoor cycling and running, the post-update performance showed significant gains, though larger/heavier watches may still experience wrist movement inaccuracies.
• 🏃‍♀️ Post-update, running accuracy improved, addressing cadence lock issues seen previously, though peak sprints were sometimes missed.
• 💪 Weight training and HIIT accuracy also improved post-update, with only minor exceptions.