Suunto GPS Accuracy Improvements –
Suunto has introduced a new GPS accuracy fix for the Sony chip in their current models with firmware version 2:13:18
- Suunto 9 – firmware
- Suunto 5 – firmware
It’s unclear if this is part of the response to the recent problems with the Sony chips at year-end that were most visible in the Garmin community or if this is indeed a specific GPS improvement fix.
If you notice any improvements please let me know below.
There are some additions to the Suunto 7 (Wear OS)
Staged release starting from January 11, 2021. Nothing too big.
Navigation improvements:
• Route direction: Highlights the route ahead, helping you to anticipate the upcoming turns and know which direction to take
• Show custom waypoint names
• At waypoint notification
Last Updated on 24 January 2026 by the5krunner
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tfk is the founder and author of the5krunner, an independent endurance sports technology publication. With 20 years of hands-on testing of GPS watches and wearables, and competing in triathlons at an international age-group level, tfk provides in-depth expert analysis of fitness technology for serious athletes and endurance sport competitors. ID
What is the battery life ,looking for one over 24hrs.
https://the5krunner.com/2018/06/05/suunto-9/
yep, you get battery life modes that will cover over 100 hours on the suunto 9
External HRM will bump the “Best” GPS setting up to almost 30 hours.
Same can be done using custom battery mode options to allow display to timeout during exercise (woken up by any button press).
sure?
sometimes running the BLE connection to an external hrm can use more juice than the internal juice to run the ohrm
For the S9 at least, quite sure
But yes – you are right for some others.
What is wrong with suunto no new watches just 1-2 in 3 years only some updates are they going bankrupt used to be one of the best companies?
Suunto is part of Amer Corp most of which was bought by Anta (2019, a Chinese company).
Who knows what happened to their finances this year but I would bet that Anta still has considerable funds to invest.
I would imagine there will be new products this year (no intel)
Yes, they are already dead but still don’t know it. So much resources wasted to play the garmin card. I bet if they released an Ambit4 with solar, maps from Tom-Tom or similar, with the well-known accuracy of A3P, no wearOS bs, they may come back to life. But with watches like S3, 5 or 7, I’m pretty sure they’re done. Sorry. RIP, Suunto.
I think there is still some life left in them.
S7 is pretty good. market leading…just market-leading in a small sector!
S9 is good but has great competition
S7 is the most beautiful watch out there. But battery life’s a joke. S9B is old now. I’d rather bought a Vertix, Apex Pro, Grit X or Vantage V2, for example. Not to mention the Movescount fiasco. If Suunto want to live they should realize that their bread&butter is pleasing Ambit crowd, however they call the A3P successor.
S7 would be the perfect watch for me if battery life wasn’t that bad. I’m still waiting for an S7.2 with Qualcomm 4100 inside. Something like Ticwatch Pro 3 but with the great Suunto apps.
Hopefully they present something new by end of January after winter sale. Wrong time if you need a new watch right now 🙁
What kind of watch are you planning to buy?
I’ve absolutely no idea 😕
S7 is a wholly new market for suunto.
as you say, focussing on their historic core market may work better (IDK)
I see nothing bad in trying another markets like S3/5/7. But serious for sport/mountain there are only A3P(2014) and S9B(2018). Both are way to old. It’s about time Suunto goes back to their roots. I’m not very hopeful, though.
Although I love my ambit 3, I am not sure if it sold more than S9B…
Neither am I but I like both watches. Very curious whether they’ll release a second gen of S9B or some kind of a successor to A3P. Seems to me that their efforts are focused on S7.
After the update on my S9B, I’m having a significant accuracy issues when running trails. The loss of accuracy seems to be related to increased reliance on accelerometer measurements possibly. I’ve tried a soft reset and also ensured the AGPS data is updated. The positioning is okay, but it seems as though the sample rate is higher than the past and that the extra points may be derived from the IMU. Does anyone know what was changed in the Sony firmware?