New Suunto Ambit 2R – Exclusive First Look

We at Highly Tuned Athletes were lucky enough to obtain a sneak peak at the unit before

global release in March 2014. There will be 2 versions of the Suunto Ambit 2R at this point in time, an all black unit, and an all white version with a softer silicon strap aimed towards the female market. Both versions will be available with a Heart Rate Monitor (A$399.99 rrp) or without a HRM (A$349.99 rrp). We expect to have stock available as of the 7th of March. Due to anticipated demand, to secure yourself a unit in the first shipment, we suggest you order early to secure a unit via our secure website here.

The Suunto Ambit 2R is aimed at the runner. It is basically an Ambit 2S without the multisport, swimming and cycling integration, but at a more affordable price point and a few grams lighter. All the running features of the Ambit 2S are still there, along with the 50mtr water resistance rating, 8hr GPS recording capability at a 1 second sample rate, and the quality made in Finland build with 2 year warranty. It is also fully usable as a day to day watch with an alarm, countdown timer, stopwatch and even sunrise/sunset information.

Great news is that Suunto have added more features to the Ambit 2R over the current Ambit 2 and Ambit 2S, these will be added to the Ambit 2/S later in the year via a free firmware update.

 Specific improvements with the Suunto Ambit 2R include:

• Scheduled workouts from Movescount with pace and intensity alerting.
• Internal accelerometer integration to provide cadence data from arm movement.
• Auto footpod calibration from GPS.
• Lap summary information now available on the watch at the completion of an activity, which also highlights Autolaps and manual Lap splits.
• Tracking of Personal Bests such as fastest km and mile.
• Simplified procedure for calibrating the internal magnetic compass, which is now only available during an activity under the Exercise menu.

Route navigation is there on the Ambit 2R, with Movescount (Suuntoʼs free on-line portal), providing the ability to upload a route or previously defined way-points. Track-back, the ability to retrace oneʼs current recorded route is available as well.

As a day to day watch the Suunto Ambit 2Rʼs battery will last around 15 days between recharges. With GPS recording enabled there are 3 sample rates. Sampling every second for precise accuracy will give 8hrs of run time, at a 5 sec sample rate -12 hrs, and at a 60sec rate (thatʼs one track-point per minute) – 25hrs, the data however will lose accuracy unless you are traveling in a straight line.

GPS can also be disabled under an exercise profile and a footpod used for pace/distance calculations for 24hrs plus recording. There will be no route or track-back logged, the magnetic 3D compass will work though.

In line with the Ambit family, there is an excellent back-light for night time viewing, also the ability to easily switch from a positive to negative display and visa versa at any time.

Suunto Ambit 2R Software and Apps

Movescount provides the Suunto Ambit 2R the ability for full customisation of up to 8 pages of user defined screens, consisting of 3 main variables per page, plus an additional 4 on the bottom display row. The ability to graph live HR and GPS derived elevation and other variables on the fly is still retained, and a very useful feature to some!

 

Suunto Apps are fully supported on the Ambit 2R, an App is basically like a script with the ability to define your own or manipulate variables, they are generally open source in nature and available to the Movescount community for free. The Apps offer the ability to extend
the functionality of the Ambit over the production firmware releases. Suunto are releasing a bunch of new Apps coinciding with the Ambit 2R release, scheduled for Tue the 25th of February 2014.

 

All features and activity graphing provided by Movescount work with the Suunto Ambit 2R, along with excellent detailed colour coded mapping and full screen satellite underlays by Google in the backend.

  

 

 

Suunto Ambit 2R Build Quality

The Suunto Ambit 2R is a tough little unit, continuing in line with the rest of the Ambit family shipping out of Finland. The watch face is hardened mineral crystal, pretty much scratch resistant, observed through using the Ambit 2S extensively. The watch bands on the Suunto Ambit 2R are comfortable to wear, with a softer silicon band on the white version. Both are built with quality, though can be replaced if the need arises. The bands will be available as a spare part through Highly Tuned Athletes via our web site in the near future.