52 | AustrAliAn triAthlete
Product Tested:
Suunto Spartan
Sport Wrist hr and
Garmin fenix 5Stech talk
R Oad test
actually already had the Garmin Connect
App on my phone and found no issues
adding a new watch to the App). However,
I did find initially, that syncing the Garmin
to the App to upload my training data took
a little longer at the start, compared to the
Suunto, but that resolved itself pretty
quickly. What’s more, both Garmin
Connect and Movescount are integrated
into Strava. So, no matter which watch
you choose, you can still challenge your
mates to that Strava segment!oTher feATUreS of
BoTh WATcheS WorTh
NoTING INcLUDe:
• Water resistance up to 100m
• They are both multisport, and you can
choose from about 80 sports profiles,
including SUPing
• Long battery life – the battery in both
watches seemed to last for days
• Basic smart features – the Garmin also
has weathzer and calendar features,
which the Suunto doesn’t
• Navigational features
• The ability to create training plans or
training routes on each App, which can
be downloaded to the watch (for both
the Garmin and the Suunto)
• Activity tracking (step counter)
• Stopwatch
• Alarm
• CompassThe coST:• Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR
$699
• Garmin Fenix 5S
$ 799The latest offerings in multisport
watches, the Garmin and the Suunto are
both top of their class. While the Garmin
appears to be the superior of the two
(particularly for triathletes), Suunto still
has some cool features. So, whichever
brand you choose, you will get a high-
quality multisport watch. But personally,
given the extra functions and capabilities
of the Garmin – I’d choose the Garmin.as desired, showing you your HR trend over
the previous five minutes. Both watches
measure HR in training. Knowing HR
trends (including HR trends at rest) is
useful to help detect any potential issues
such as illness. This makes the Garmin the
stand out in this case.
Another difference between the
watches worth mentioning is the ability of
the watches to sync and save collected
data with their respective Apps – Garmin
Connect and Movescount. The Garmin
saves collected data on Garmin Connect,
including the 24-hour HR, and resting and
average resting HR. Unfortunately, Suunto
only saves training data on Movescount
and doesn’t save the HR trends at rest.
This again, makes the Garmin the standout.
With the plethora of gadgets and App’s
available on the market to measure and
monitor your training data, you’d be hard
pressed to find a triathlete who isn’t
number-obsessed. “Have you seen my
latest ride on Strava,” sound familiar?
Both Garmin and Suunto have come to
the party when it comes to data collecting
with easy to use App’s that sync with their
respective watches, enabling better data
interpretation, along with an assortment
of other functions and capabilities.
However, Garmin Connect appears to be
the stand out here with a lot more
information being available to the athlete,
including HR, stress scores, training load,
VO2 max, training effect, time in training
zones, calories in/out and more. While the
Suunto App, Movescount does seem a
little more basic in comparison - it has a
cool heat map feature, which Garmin
Connect doesn’t have. The heat map
shows you popular training spots (for say,
swim, bike and run) in your area. This is
great if you want to train with others. It’s
also great if you want to avoid people.
Another cool feature on the
Movescount App is the ‘Suunto Movie’ (as
far as I can tell, you can only watch this on
your phone). Once you’ve uploaded your
workout to the App you can watch a
movie of your workout – a movie tracking
the map where you ran or rode.
Throughout the movie you’ll see the title
of the workout (bike/run etc.), the date,
duration, the location, how many stops
you made (great information for your
coach - just because you paused your
watch doesn’t mean you didn’t stop. Ha!),
your fastest time and peak heart rate.
What’s more, you can share your Suunto
Movie on your socials for your friends and
family to see. Along with the heat map,
this was probably my favourite feature on
the Movescount App.
I found both Garmin Connect and
Movescount easy to use – I had no issue
downloading both Apps onto my iPhone (I