Suunto SHRM2 heart rate monitor — a new Whoop competitor?

Gadgets and Wearables spotted a Suunto product with the model code SHRM2, described as a Bluetooth heart rate monitor. A good find. Here is what else can be pieced together with some more research.

The SHRM2 appears alongside a second Suunto filing for the Core 2 outdoor watch, a coin-cell-powered Fenix-class device. Two unconventional Suunto launches in the same window is itself worth noting.

For the avoidance of doubt, this is not the same as the Sports Tracker HRM2 already on Suunto’s website. That product is a legacy chest strap from the early 2010s, built to pair with the Sports Tracker phone app.

The clues

A Nordic Semiconductor developer thread from several months ago points to firmware work on the SHRM2, built around a current-generation Bluetooth chip that fits anything from a chest strap to a smart ring. The chip has extensive capabilities, including precision finding and smart home interoperability. Suunto will use this chip.

Separately, the EU radio equipment law changed on 1 August 2025. Any new heart rate monitor sold in Europe now requires authenticated pairing, secure boot and signed firmware. The existing Suunto Smart Heart Rate Belt would not clear that bar today, so SHRM2 is being re-engineered from the ground up, regardless of its form.

Three scenarios

Three scenarios fit the facts we know so far.

Scenario one: legal refresh of the existing chest strap

Same product, current silicon, mandatory security uplift.

The rationale here is that components in the existing HRM have reached the end of life, and replacing them would trigger recertification, which, under current law, would require a broader security and connectivity rebuild.

• Pros: lowest market cost, maintains a key accessory, and delivers a broadly like-for-like replacement.
• Cons: Suunto marketing has nothing to lead with, no upgrade story, a category that has moved on with Polar H10, Garmin HRM 600 and Wahoo TRACKR.

Scenario two: an updated chest strap

Add a rechargeable battery, running gait metrics, multi-device BLE pairing and finder network support, and the result is a largely me-too product with a hint of uniqueness on the Find My side.

• Pros: competitive parity at the top of the strap category, a real product story, and a stronger Suunto Coach ecosystem.
• Cons: higher engineering cost, still chasing Garmin, the strap audience continues to shrink.

Scenario three: an optical arm band

Suunto enters territory held by Polar Verity Sense, Wahoo TICKR FIT, and increasingly Whoop, Polar LOOP 2, Amazfit Helio Strap, and, of course, the rumoured Garmin CIRQA.

• Pros: reaches athletes who refuse a chest strap, opens continuous wear and recovery data, fits naturally with Find My or Find Hub, and brings non-watch customers into the Suunto app.
• Cons: new category, strong incumbents, optical accuracy is hard, marketing alongside wrist HR claims is delicate.

The most interesting answer

The arm band and continuous wear segment is where Whoop has built a subscription business from nothing, where Polar has held a quiet share for years, and where Suunto has been conspicuously absent. SHRM2, as a Whoop competitor, could be worth the effort, whereas all other options feel commercially weak.

The arm-band category is also where Garmin’s Q1 2026 earnings call signalled a new-category product, with CIRQA the leading candidate. Suunto, Garmin and Whoop targeting the same form factor in the same window would mark the most contested wearable category of 2026.

Strap or arm band, SHRM2 is the first interesting Suunto accessory in years. If it turns up on the bicep, it becomes one of the more important launches of 2026.

If the SHRM2 ships as an armband alongside the coin-cell Core 2, Suunto will have launched two of the most distinctive wearable products of 2026 within a single window. The Core 2 analysis is here: Suunto Core 2: A Garmin Fenix With a 2-Year Battery?

More: Gadgets & Wearables

Last Updated on 2 May 2026 by the5krunner

the5krunner

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