Suunto targets marathon runners with new Run 2 watch and advanced hardware set

Suunto launches the specialised Run 2 watch and Smart Heart Rate Belt 2, aiming to boost race-day performance with enhanced navigation, accuracy, and training tools, marking a bold move upmarket in the sports watch segment.

Suunto has used the start of the autumn marathon block to push a more specialised running hardware line, launching the Run 2 watch alongside the Smart Heart Rate Belt 2 on 8 September. According to Suunto’s launch material, pre-orders opened immediately and global availability is due from 15 September, with the watch offered in 4GB and 64GB versions. The Finnish brand is positioning the pair not as general-purpose smartwatches, but as tools for pacing, recovery and race execution in the final weeks before a marathon.

The company’s emphasis is on live training decisions rather than broad lifestyle functions. Suunto says the 35g Run 2 combines a 2,000-nit AMOLED display, roughly 10 days of battery life, a redesigned 12-channel wrist heart-rate sensor and dual-band GNSS, while adding free offline world maps. It has also built in features with overt marathon language: EnergySense to show current effort against remaining capacity, Live Finish Prediction to translate pace into an estimated finishing time, and a Training Zone view that brings training load, HRV, sleep and recovery together. Marathon Mode and Ghost Runner are intended to keep a target pace visible on race day.

The companion chest strap fills in the part wrist sensors still struggle with most: high-confidence heart-rate data during harder efforts. Suunto describes the Smart Heart Rate Belt 2 as an ECG chest strap, and says it can broadcast to as many as three devices at once, allowing a watch, cycle computer and phone to receive the same live reading. With compatible Suunto watches it also adds running-form metrics and workout memory. Weeks before launch, FCC documents cited by Notebookcheck had already identified the belt as model SHRM2, with Bluetooth Low Energy, a replaceable CR2032 battery and 30-metre water resistance, suggesting Suunto was refreshing a long-standing accessory rather than inventing a new category.

Independent early testing indicates the core sports hardware may be the strongest part of the package. In a launch-day review, Tom’s Guide’s Nick Harris-Fry said the Run 2 performed well over two weeks of daily use, praising its GPS accuracy, battery life and design. He reported that multi-band GPS tracked closely with devices including the Garmin Fenix 9 Pro and Coros Pace 4, and said the optical heart-rate sensor matched a chest strap closely, including during interval sessions. The review also noted features not heavily stressed in the launch material, including an altimeter, barometer, compass and blood-oxygen sensor, while saying the larger-storage model makes more sense for runners who want both music and a broad map library on the watch.

The same review, however, also pointed to limits that matter in a category dominated by Garmin and increasingly competitive Coros devices. Harris-Fry wrote that the software “can be confusing” and that several bugs appeared during testing. He also said the watch overcounted steps, sleep tracking was inaccurate on many nights and Suunto’s smart features remained “well behind those of Garmin”. He judged the training analysis powerful but not especially accessible, and said the watch’s value proposition had weakened because the launch price had moved up sharply from the original Run. In his comparison, the Run 2 sits below the Suunto Race 2 in the company’s range, while discounted older models such as the Race S may still appeal to price-sensitive buyers.

Much of the hardware had already leaked through regulatory filings. Notebookcheck reported in July that FCC material included product images and retail packaging, showing a round watch with relatively wide bezels, a slightly raised case edge for impact protection, a digital crown and two extra buttons on the right side. The packaging also suggested support for both iPhone and Android handsets. The same filing pointed to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 5 and dual-band GPS, but no LTE modem and no NFC chip, meaning the watch arrives without built-in payments or cellular connectivity.

The paper trail was not entirely straightforward. WearableFans reported in late July that two unreleased Suunto “Outdoor Watch” entries, OW261 and OW265, had appeared in Singapore’s IMDA database as low-power radio equipment with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and initially linked them to a future Race 3 line. The5krunner later said that reading was mistaken, arguing that an FCC retail label confirmed OW261 as the Run 2 instead. It suggested OW265 and OW266 were the more likely codes for the still-unannounced Race 3 family. That matters because it shows Suunto separating its lighter, run-first device from its higher-tier Race branch even while both were moving through the same certification cycle.

Commercially, the launch also shows Suunto pushing the Run line further upmarket. Suunto’s APAC announcement lists recommended pricing of AUD599 for the 4GB Run 2, AUD699 for the 64GB model and AUD249 for the Smart Heart Rate Belt 2, with colours including All Black, Feather Gold and Aloe Green. Tom’s Guide reported UK pricing of £265 and £299 for the two watch variants. For runners comparing devices this season, the early picture is clear enough: Suunto appears to have strengthened accuracy, navigation and race-focused tools, but still has work to do on software clarity and everyday tracking polish.