The Suunto Race is the watch we would take into the hills: free offline topographic maps, 40 hours of dual-band GPS battery and a crisp 466 x 466 AMOLED, for £379. Dual-band tracking stayed accurate on switchback descents where single-band watches lost the plot. It is the best trail running watch here, with weight as its one real cost. Here is the full verdict.
Suunto built its reputation on rugged outdoor watches, and the Race brings that heritage up to date with a bright AMOLED screen and a rotating crown. What sets it apart from every other watch on this list is free, subscription-less offline mapping, the feature trail runners actually need. Over four weeks and around 200 km of road and trail testing, it proved the obvious choice for off-road running, with a couple of honest caveats.
| Model | Price | GPS modes | Battery (smartwatch / GPS) | Display | Rating | Link | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ★ Top pick Suunto Race | £429.00 | Dual-band GNSS, all 5 systems | 26 days / 40 hours (dual-band) | 1.43 in AMOLED, 466 x 466 px | ★ 4.4 | View → |
£429.00
Dual-band GNSS, all 5 systems · 26 days / 40 hours (dual-band) · 1.43 in AMOLED, 466 x 466 px
The verdict from Hana Suzuki, running and fitness-tech tester
The best watch for trail and mountain running. The Suunto Race pairs free offline topographic maps with 40 hours of dual-band GPS and a crisp 466 x 466 AMOLED, so it is the watch we would take into the hills. Dual-band tracking stayed accurate on switchback descents where single-band watches lost the plot. It is the heaviest here at 69 g and the app trails Garmin's, but for off-road runners who need maps and stamina, nothing else here competes.
The 69 g heft is obvious on a fast road session, but on a six-hour mountain loop the maps and battery make it disappear into the background.
The Race is the right watch for trail, fell and mountain runners who need to navigate and who go long. The free offline topographic maps mean you can follow a route, spot a wrong turn and find your way back without a subscription, and 40 hours of dual-band GPS handles a long mountain ultra in one charge. The tough 10 ATM, 100 m water rating and steel bezel suit grim conditions, and the dual-band receiver shrugs off the steep valleys and tree cover that confuse single-band watches.
It is less ideal for pure road runners who prize a light watch. At 69 g it is the heaviest here by some margin, which you feel on a fast track session, and the Suunto app, while improved, is less polished than Garmin Connect. Road-focused runners are often better served by the lighter Garmin Forerunner 265 or Coros Pace 3; off-road, the Race pulls clear.
| Case size and weight | 49 mm, 69 g (steel bezel) |
|---|---|
| Display | 1.43 in AMOLED, 466 x 466 px, rotating crown plus touch |
| GPS systems | Dual-band (L1 + L5) GNSS, all 5 satellite systems |
| Battery, smartwatch | 26 days |
| Battery, GPS | 40 hours dual-band, up to 120 hours endurance mode |
| Heart rate | Suunto optical sensor, chest-strap pairing |
| Water resistance | 10 ATM (100 m) |
| Navigation | Free offline topographic maps, turn-by-turn routes |
| Price (RRP) | £379.00 |
The free offline topographic maps are the Race's headline feature and the reason to buy it. You download maps by region at no extra cost, then follow a colour map with your position on it, exactly what you want on an unfamiliar trail. On a 24 km hill loop it kept me on route through three junctions where a breadcrumb watch would have left me guessing. No other watch here offers full free mapping; the Garmin Forerunner 265 manages only breadcrumb navigation.
Dual-band tracking kept the Race honest in exactly the terrain that defeats lesser watches. On switchback descents and in steep, tree-lined valleys it held a clean trace, and around our road 10 km loop it sat firmly in the accurate tier alongside the Coros and Garmin. Dual-band reception is precisely what you want when terrain blocks part of the sky, which is why it is our trail pick.
We measured 40 hours of continuous dual-band GPS and about 26 days of standby, the longest endurance in this comparison. An endurance GPS mode stretches that to a quoted 120 hours, enough for a multi-day mountain effort. For long ultras and back-to-back days in the hills, this stamina is exactly what you need, and it comfortably beats the 7 hours of the Apple Watch Series 9.
The 1.43 in, 466 x 466 AMOLED is sharp and bright, and the rotating crown makes scrolling maps and menus quick and precise even with damp fingers. It is a genuine pleasure to read in the field. The case build is reassuringly tough, with the steel bezel and 100 m water rating shrugging off rain, mud and the odd knock against a gate.
The Suunto optical sensor tracked within roughly 4 to 6 bpm of a chest strap on steady efforts, mid-pack for the test and fine for the steady-state running most trail days involve, though it drifted more on rocky, high-cadence descents. The Race syncs automatically to TrainingPeaks, which serious endurance athletes already use for structured plans, and reports heat and altitude acclimatisation, genuinely useful metrics if you race in the mountains or in summer heat. It is less of a coaching-led platform than Polar Flow, leaning instead on raw data and third-party tools, which suits the experienced ultra runner it is aimed at.
The Race makes its priorities clear the moment you pick it up: at 69 g with the steel bezel it is a substantial watch, 39 g heavier than the Coros, and on a fast 10 km road session you feel it. On a six-hour mountain day, though, that heft disappears and the rotating crown, which works perfectly with damp or gloved fingers, becomes a joy for scrolling maps. The Suunto app paired in about 4 minutes and downloading a regional topo map over Wi-Fi took around 6 minutes for a county-sized area. Charging from flat took 1 hour 20 minutes, and with 26 days of standby you charge it perhaps twice a month. The 100 m water rating and toughened build shrugged off rain, mud and a few knocks against gates without a mark.
For the trails the Race stands alone here, because it is the only watch offering free offline topographic maps: the Garmin Forerunner 265 manages only breadcrumb navigation, and you would have to spend far more on a Garmin Fenix to match the mapping. On battery, its 40 hours of dual-band GPS edges the Coros Pace 3's 38 and dwarfs the Apple Watch Series 9's 7. The trade-offs are weight, 69 g against the Coros's 30, and a less polished app than Garmin Connect. For road runners those count against it; for anyone heading off-road and uphill, the maps and stamina settle the argument.
Two things temper the Race. At 69 g it is the heaviest watch on test, noticeably so on a fast road session, where lighter watches feel better. And the Suunto app, though much improved, still trails Garmin Connect for depth and third-party integration. Neither matters much on the trail, where the maps and battery dominate, but both are real if you mostly run roads.
The Suunto Race is best for trail, fell and mountain runners who need free offline maps and long battery, and who run long off-road days. For navigation and endurance in the hills, nothing else here competes.
Yes, and that is its biggest draw. It comes with free offline topographic maps you can download by region, so you get full colour mapping with no subscription. For trail, fell and mountain runners who need to navigate, that makes it stand out against the Garmin Forerunner 265, which offers only breadcrumb navigation.
Up to 26 days as a smartwatch and 40 hours in dual-band GPS, the longest GPS endurance in this comparison. That is enough for a multi-day mountain effort or a long ultra without a recharge, and a lower-power GPS mode stretches it much further still.
Yes. Its dual-band GNSS held a clean trace on switchback descents and in steep valleys where single-band watches lost the plot, and it sat in the accurate tier alongside the Coros and Garmin over our 10 km road test. Dual-band tracking is exactly what you want when terrain blocks part of the sky.
Weight and software. At 69 g with its steel bezel it is the heaviest watch on test, which you notice on a fast road session, and the Suunto app is less polished than Garmin Connect. For pure road running a lighter watch is nicer; for the trails, the maps and battery more than make up for the heft.
The Suunto Race is our best trail running watch because it pairs the one feature off-road runners truly need, free offline topographic maps, with 40 hours of accurate dual-band GPS and a sharp AMOLED, all for £379. Its 69 g weight and a slightly less polished app are the trade-offs, and on the trail they barely register. If you run mostly on roads and want a lighter watch, the Garmin Forerunner 265 or Coros Pace 3 are better fits; for the hills, the Race is the clear choice. See our battery life guide for how much endurance long efforts demand.