The SUUNTO Spartan watch series, falls nowhere short of operating as any athlete’s dream watch! The reason, is simple; it does it all!
We’ve also learned that SUUNTO recently launched a Heart Rate monitor version of the Spartan. This makes things even more convenient for its user, as everything that you need is all built into one small wrist device.
However, in this review, we are going to be looking at the Spartan Sport and Ultra models. Particularly, how they can improve your training or racing, on and off the bike!
Features that benefit for days…
The first thing we looked at, was user interface. A good sport watch, has a good interface. The Spartan sets the bar for good!
The touchscreen factor stood out to us the most, as it made scrolling through the watch widgets a breeze, even when riding! Then, you also have the option to sync the watch to your smart phone with SUUNTO’s Movescount App. However, we only used this feature when we wanted to save a workout, or were in too much of a hurry to look at our phone, for notifications.
The special bike mount, that you can purchase separately from the watches, is quite unique in its design. It simply clips over your handle-bars and the watch straps over it, to fasten it to the bars.
Moving on, to the widget features of the Spartan; GPS Tracking was spot-on! We could see exactly where we were and where we were headed.
What makes the Spartan an all-time, everyday watch is the Step and Calorie indicator. These two features provide great insight to your daily activities, and help you adjust your diet according to the info provided from the watch. Really impressive stuff!
The Spartan makes training great again!
The cherry on top, is actually training with the Spartan. With over 80 different sport modes, you’re bound to find the right one and then receive all the relative training stats according to the sport type. For cycling it gave us our speed, distance, heart rate, altitude, GPS, and other really helpful metrics, like average speed and average heart rate. This allows you to concentrate on training in intervals, where you can keep your heart rate at a certain level, and then reflect on it to see how your fitness improves.
After training or racing sessions, the Spartan also calculates your recovery time based on your PTE level. This gave us a very good indication of when we should’ve got back on the bike. Plus, it’s a good thing to use to see if you’re pushing yourself too hard, or not!
Stats are everything in today’s world of fitness. They help you train and perform better, because you are able to physically see how you train. That’s the reason why we’d recommend the Spartan as any athlete’s dream sport watch!
Sport vs Ultra
While these two amazing watches, come from the same company; they have significantly different character traits. Some for the better…
Spartan Sport Experience:
- Feels more compact and lighter.
- 3 grams lighter than the Ultra.
- Has a 16-hour battery life in training mode.
- In normal watch mode battery can last up to 2 weeks.
- We personally find it great for racing.
- Very simple to use, especially when on the bike.
Spartan Ultra Experience:
- Feels slightly bulkier on your wrist.
- Has a brilliant sapphire glass for extreme conditions.
- Really informative, Barometric altitude.
- Runs for 26-hours in training mode.
- Over 2-week battery time in normal watch mode.
Verdict:
To conclude this review; we enjoyed both the Spartan Sport and Spartan Ultra. However, for cycling’s sport demands, we strongly recommend the Sport over the Ultra. While the Ultra will definitely attract the eyes of tech lovers; the Sport will look to influence the market of more sporty people.
SUUNTO Spartan Sport: from R5999
SUUNTO Spartan Ultra: from R9599
