Suunto 5 Peak Review, Summary & Model Comparisons

Today Suunto announced a long-awaited 2022 update to their Suunto 5 model and I’ve had a month of use of the 5 Peak so here is a detailed review of what I found, warts and all.

The Suunto 5 Peak name might confuse you and you might think it’s a slight modification to the Suunto 5 from 2019, it’s not, further on in this review we shall quickly see a significantly re-designed Outdoors/Adventure/Extreme-Sport/Multi-Sport watch that’s visually different from what came before. Impressively, the feature list is very similar to that found on the 9 Peak at twice the price.

The Suunto 5 Peak is a small format adventure/tri watch and everyone seems to love the classier looks but they love the price tag even more.

This is a media watch directly from Suunto, this review is NOT paid for and I buy watches that I use for my training.

With that, let’s go.

I like the Suunto 5 Peak and I’ve had it on my wrist for a month of detailed testing to prepare for this review.

If you are looking for a small format, mini-adventure-cum-multi-sport smartwatch then this could be it. And it could be ‘it’ at a very nice price when you consider the impressive range of features.

What is the Suunto 5 Peak

Suunto Ambit 3 morphed first into the Spartan Trainer, then to the Suunto 5 and now to the 5 Peak. Yet these are 4 different watches for similar price points. The latter three reflect Suunto’s ability to modify another watch from their range to create a tempting, mid-priced offer.

Key Differences

• Water resistance – 30m (vs 100m for Suunto 9 Peak)
• 20 hours GPS recording time (vs 25h for 9 Peak) although reduced GPS usage can deliver an impressive 100-hour battery life in ‘tour’ mode.
• 5 Peak lacks the compass, weather features, blood oxygen & barometric altimeter of the 9 Peak
• Think of the 5 Peak as a cheaper 9 Peak but the lower price tag comes from a non-premium outer casing and three fewer navigational sensors.

Key Similarities

Bearing in mind the limitation of those differences,

• The extensive sports and navigation features are very similar on the 9 Peak and 5 Peak.
• Standard 22m interchangeable straps
• A similar visual look.
• Same menus, same app

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There is nothing totally new to see here. 5 Peak uses Suunto’s existing features, sensors and looks in a new repackaged watch. Thus the Suunto 5 Peak in hardware terms is a Suunto 3 with a few extra sensors and an improved quality face. Yet it is styled like the Suunto 9 Peak and shares almost all of that watch’s software features. Strangely the last Suunto 5 was visually similar to the original Ambit (two models earlier) as both shared a similar antenna, however, that antenna is now integrated into the watch case.

The interesting thing about Suunto’s last two watch releases is that both the 9 Peak and 5 Peak are small format watches, suitable for smaller wrists. Does Suunto plan a larger version of these same watches or have they found a profitable niche targeting smaller-wristed athletes? Hmmm.

Suunto 5 Peak keeps the same Valencell HR sensor of the Suunto 5, albeit with upgraded algorithms. The BLE and GNSS chips are upgraded too, sharing the Sony CXD5605GF chip with the 9 Peak. The rear case and 43mm case size is like the Suunto 3, whereas the face looks like the 9 Peak. OK the case is the same diameter as the 9 Peak but the screen is smaller at 1.2″ vs 1.1″ and the resolution slightly lower at 218px x 218px (vs. 240x20px, 9 Peak).

5 Peak and 9 Peak share the same 22m strap size. The 5 Peak is about half the weight at a featherlight 39g yet a tad thicker at 12.9mm (vs 10.6mm 9 Peak)

Who Will Buy the Suunto 5 Peak?

Suunto 5 Peak offers quite a bit more than the existing Suunto 5 model and offers nearly as much as the 9 Peak at a much lower price

• You will most likely be a keen amateur athlete perhaps also considering a sweet piece of tech to support some mini-adventures you have planned. You’ll be pleased to hear that Suunto’s app is great for route planning and benefits further from good heat maps.
• If you are looking for a watch with a quality 24×7 aesthetic then this fits the bill
• If you are a smaller-wristed person or just prefer the esthetics of a smaller watch case, face and screen then 5 Peak is a good option.
• You are an app-centric person who wants to consume everything either on your wrist or on your smartphone, no more visits to those pesky PC apps, MAC apps or web platforms. Suunto is only a smartphone app and watch.
• You want a lightweight, connected watch to support advanced sports sensors and usage with links to a large range of 3rd party platforms like Strava.
• You want multi-day battery life to give you long periods of stress tracking, sleep tracking and wellness support.

If you can afford the notably more expensive 9 Peak then the extra you get is a newer optical HR sensor (SpO2), touchscreen, higher quality materials and more serious adventure sensors (barometric altimeter, magnetic compass)

Q: Should I upgrade from my Suunto 5?

A: Yes but only if you want a different ‘look’. It is a better watch with a few more features, different hardware and, in my opinion, a sleeker more modern aesthetic but insufficient features to warrant an upgrade on that basis alone.

Design Thoughts

I like how Suunto have moved their sports watches forward over the last few years. I like the look and feel of the hardware shell and the software does the job in a fairly logical and sensible way.

The screen lets it down for me and that hasn’t really moved on so much recently. It needs to be bigger and more readable.

My experience with the Suunto 5 Peak for this review was based on pre-release software and that’s a little slow at times. That said, it’s probably no slower than my top-end Garmin Fenix 6 Pro .

General usage

Suunto’s recent changes to their smartphone app have now settled down nicely. There’s no longer a web interface, it’s just your watch, the app and any links you have to 3rd party services like Strava or Komoot. The 5 Peak works well alongside the app as it syncs reliably and Suunto are now confident enough in that connection to allow silent firmware updates directly from the app to the watch.

In the Box

The clean-looking & compact box contains an old-style Suunto charging clamp, the Suunto 5 Peak watch and pieces of paper you will never read.

Special Uses: Connected Health, Activity Tracking, Sleep, Fitness, Physiology Insights & Recovery

The Suunto 5 Peak is a smartwatch so you get all the basic connected features like notifications and 24×7 HR.

Suunto  Peak covers the super-basics with steps & calories but there is much more advanced physiology support as the watch develops a good grasp of your training loads, VO2max, sleep, sleep HR and recovery times and uses HRV feedback for 24×7 readiness states like Garmin’s Body Battery. Along similar lines, this data is mirrored on the app where there is more scope to glean deeper insights – for example, with larger format graphs.

Whilst Garmin’s physiology features are extensive, they are also somewhat complex & unwieldy in places. Contrast that to Suunto. Suunto mostly incorporates widely useful and key metrics for good-to-recreational level athletes, for example, readiness to train from an HRV-stress perspective as well as readiness-to-train from a CTL/ATL perspective. Those metrics are not as complex as the acronyms sound and there are also super-simple physiological numbers like ‘recovery time’ in hours. As you ramp up your training, these kinds of insights become crucial. If you don’t quite know what to do with those pieces of data, simply uses Suunto’s adaptive training guidance which tells you the best type of training to do ‘today’.

More Info: Suunto’s Training Load

Suunto’s platform is easily extended to link to your favourite apps.

Special Features: Suunto Plus

Suunto Plus offers a range of ‘apps’ and you can add one of these to your workout before you start. These include insights into fat/carb burn, weather & Strava Relative Effort. More recently, Suunto introduced 3 new types of special apps that automatically detect and record repeated efforts – hills, loops and intervals.

Climb – Hill training

The CLIMB ‘app’ works for extended or repeated climbing activities. So, as two examples, this covers a runner performing fast, repeated hill reps as well as a climber trekking up a series of long hills. The display and recording of each climb as a lap is automated and the trigger is 10m of continuous ascent, once that kicks in you get to see the climb-specific metrics like ‘vertical metres’ and ‘% grade’. It might also be worth adding that you can also show Grade Adjusted Pace (Suunto call it normalized, graded pace NGP), vertical speed (m/hr) and vertical metres.

Loop – Lap timer

The definition of a ‘loop’ is somewhat nebulous, which is great as it will cover laps of a running track, repeats of a piste when XC skiing or bike laps of your local park. The loop is defined from the point where you manually press LAP and is then automatically triggered later by proximity to that point, I’m guessing the GPS sensitivity is something like +/-5m.

The LOOPS are treated exactly like traditionally triggered LAPS. So there is a LOOP summary displayed at the end of each LOOP, it’s shown for 20-seconds after which the LOOP screen shows your progress through the current lap. LOOPS are summarised at the end of your MOVE and LOOPS are shown on the Suunto app when you sync your data. I would LOVE AND USE this feature on my Wahoo Element or Garmin when cycling but only Polar has something similar.

Sprint – Running pace | Cycling power

The ‘Sprint’ app identifies harder efforts during the workouts while running or cycling and further includes functionality to allow for WARMUP/COOLDOWN. A SPRINT is triggered when either pace or power increases by 25% and then this works in the same way as LOOPS to introduce the various elements of displaying and recording the sprints.

Caveat: Using GPS causes a 5-10 second delay to identify the effort both when starting and ending the effort – for shorter efforts this notably reduces the usefulness. However, with a footpod or power meter, the delay is shorter. This delay is similar to that on Polar watches and is required to exclude false surges from being recorded as a Sprint

Live Snap-to-Route

The live Snap-to-Route is a novel feature that I’m not sure needed to be invented. That said, innovation always needs applauding and I have to concede that there are some valuable uses for this interesting addition to the Suunto stable. So, having just contradicted myself, yes it needed inventing!!! 🙂

Live Snap-to-Route is intended to be used in scenarios like urban races where a) you can download the route before you start off and b) where the GPS is likely to be impaired. At the start of the race or workout, you load up a course in the sports profile’s navigation menu, instead of using the normal ‘Routes’ option you choose ‘Snap to Route’.

To be clear: This feature will be mostly used when you know the route eg in a race. The pre-loaded route file is used to improve the accuracy of the speed/distance metrics.

When you are in the race/workout you will still get all the regular off-route type messaging and you can switch across to the navigation screen, however, that’s not quite the point here.

The Snap to Route feature changes the behaviour of the watch and how it interprets the GPS signal. Instead of determining your positional changes ie to work out speed and distance, instead, the prime focus of Snap to Route is to work out where you are on the route. As you progress along the route the determination of true distance should be better when taken from the route file rather than from GPS. It’s a bit weird to explain.

To cut to the chase, the live Snap-to-Route does appear to give improvements to the accuracy of instant pace although not always. We know that instant pace is always pretty much wrong from GPS in all but the very best GPS reception conditions. You could get very creative with this feature and plan all of your runs and rides so that you always follow a course…or buy a footpod like Stryd.

The algorithms stop if you deviate from the course too much and naturally they will be affected by a series of incorrect GPS readings but it should give fairly decent speed/distance numbers. When you re-join a course the algorithm kicks in again…clever stuff.

If you are the kind of urban runner that wants a perfect Strava record of your route in Manhattan or London or Paris then Snap-to-Route will give you the aesthetics you desire…people like me will have to put up with Strava maps full of squiggles! Hey, each to their own.

Take Out: Some urban racers and highly organised runners will think this is brilliant. I certainly do think Snap-to-Run is super-innovative but will never use it.

Key Uses: Navigation & The Extremes

Suunto’s pedigree is the outdoors and they have historically produced watches for that market. It’s their job! As the name PEAK implies, this watch is built for the outdoors. The shell feels durable and is certainly very light.

Here are some screens from the app to give you a flavour of heatmaps, POIs and route creation.

Suunto covers most of the bases for everyday adventures. The Suunto 5 Peak is a ‘companion on the wrist’ and provides key route guidance and some environmental feedback. The only major downsides here are that the Suunto 5 Peak might be considered small for some and there are no onboard maps. Perhaps you get around the lack of maps by using a paper map or the Suunto app on your smartphone, depending on the kind of navigation you need to do.

When the going gets tough it’s probably a Garmin, Suunto or Coros you’d feel more comfortable with on your wrist.

Key Uses: Sports, Swim, Bike & Run

The Suunto 5 Peak shares the same sports features as previous models and that means you have a comprehensive & wide-reaching set of sports features that will be perfect fo more than 95% of you reading this.

If you are a predominantly single-sport athlete then the Suunto 5 will probably have all you need with the ability to display appropriate metrics and pull some of them from a range of 3rd party sensors like power meters and chest straps. Recreational multisports are nicely covered but if you are training for Age Group triathlon glory then you’ll always buy a Garmin – if you are training for fun, enjoyment or a challenge then Suunto is a good option.

Special Uses: Partner Platforms

There are a large number of linkups with 3rd party sports services where you can share your stats with friends via Strava or impress them with a full Re-Live video of your route.

Special Uses: Native Running Power & Cycling Power Support

One interesting feature that a high-end Polar or Suunto watch shares is the native support for running with power (Stryd) meaning that running power is enmeshed with the zones, alerts and other features of the watch to the same extent that HR or speed is. Garmin does NOT have native running power.

Suunto 5 Peak GPS and oHR Accuracy Review

It’s easy to sum up the GPS and heart rate performance of the Suunto 5 Peak – both need TLC.

The following 10 workouts show a mixed bag of performances from the 5 Peak. Many are fine but a few are certainly not fine and Valencell need to tweak the new HR algorithms a bit more.

Here are some results from GPS accuracy testing and most of my testing was with the firmware fix for GPS that will be in the retail version.

1 – Run – Easy GPS, Suburban

Apple Watch 7 blue (best), Suunto (yellow) 2nd, Garmin Fenix 6 Pro (worst)

2 – Run – Easy Gps, suburban & open riverside

Apple Watch 7 (blue, best), Suunto 5 (pink) and Coros Pace 2 (green) about the same, Garmin Fenix 6 PRO (orange, worst)

3. Run – 10-mile formal test route

I’ve run this route with just about every GPS sports watch ever. The Suunto 5 Peak was below average. Compared to the original Suunto 5 (blue) which uses the same Sony chip the difference is stark. Perhaps that external antenna on the original Suunto 5 and Ambit 3 was one of the reasons they gave awesome GPS tracks? (yep!).

4. Ride – Surrey Hills, Wooded and open, out and back

All devices were generally OK but the 5 Peak had a few moments of madness where it was poor (pink)

5. Ride – Richmond Park, open parkland, easy GPS

Perfect, apart from this one section (yellow)

6. Run – Thames Riverside, under trees, tricky GPS

This used older firmware omitting a subsequent GPS fix. Suunto 5 (pink) cuts corners and can’t stay on track (representative image)

7. Run – Kingston, urban, very tricky GPS

This used older firmware omitting a subsequent GPS fix. Suunto 5 (pink) had difficulties in hard urban conditions, AW7 was good.

Product Options – Cases, Straps & Prices

Price: Eu299/$329

From: Here

There are 4 widely available colours with 3 more at specialist retailers, all come at an RRP of Eu299/$329

As time passes, Suunto tends to introduce the ability to swap out case components to further customise the watch colours or, perhaps, bundles that include a chest strap.

Suunto 5 Peak Specifications vs Suunto 9 Peak vs Suunto 5

Here are the Suunto 5 Peak specifications taken directly from Suunto.com. A couple of the ones that don’t look right I’ve put a ‘?’ by. Also here is the Suunto 9 Peak vs Suunto 5 vs Suunto 5 Peak comparison. I’ve highlighted in bold some of the more noteworthy differences.

Suunto 5 Peak Review – Take Out

The Suunto 5 Peak continues a subtle shift in their products’ direction, started by the 9 Peak – smaller watches and a sleeker 24×7 design are definitely appealing to non-traditional Suunto demographics.

Suunto has a loyal, core following and this watch will also appeal to older Suunto Ambit-era owners as a sensible upgrade but not to most existing Suunto 5 owners.

When playing the most-features-comparison-game Suunto, Coros, Polar and others will always lose to Garmin despite, perhaps, being able to beat Garmin on the usability of those features in some circumstances. But the reality is that the majority of Suunto buyers don’t spend half their lives at Everest base camp…some do…most don’t. So the Suunto feature set is easily more than adequate for their customers’ needs…your needs. Indeed, at its chosen price level, the Suunto 5 Peak is a great value triathlon & adventure watch.

Suunto 5 Peak represents GREAT VALUE for a weekend adventurer or a new triathlete. The bonus is the 24×7 aesthetic.

Then we come to the app which has undergone numerous changes and enhancements in recent years. Despite my misgivings from 2019, the Suunto app is now generally ‘good’ and contains some cool stuff. Again, it doesn’t do everything but, certainly, neither does Garmin Connect. However, the app is focused on delivering many popular and useful sporting/navigational insights, it sets the balance right between ease of use and the number of features. The caveat here is that many people just buy all the features they can afford on a just-in-case basis.

One area for criticism is the watch software. Several individual features are missing on a small scale but the overall offering is certainly WAY more than merely competent. Maps on the watch are the big omission and maps do have a part to play in putting some kinds of navigation into context but watch-based maps are perhaps otherwise slightly over-egged in their usefulness on small watch screens. That said links to other specialist platforms like Komoot more than compensate for these omissions.

Suunto watches also have a ‘certain style‘ and it’s a style that I personally like. But you pay for what you get and the sleek-looking 5 Peak doesn’t share the quality materials of its 9 Peak sibling and it also lacks the full range of pro-level outdoor sensors – fused barometric altimeter, magnetic compass, latest SpO2 heart rate sensor.

I finish this review with the hope that the Suunto 5 Pea will deservedly boost the company’s success and profile over the next few years.

Price on Jan 20, 2022: Eu299/$329

From: Here