The Suunto Race 3S is out, and its battery came in shorter than the leak promised. Suunto quotes up to 38 hours of dual-band GPS tracking, Gadgets & Wearables reported, against the 45 hours in the material that surfaced two weeks ago. That's still eight hours more than the Race S gets.
Suunto switched to a silicon-carbon battery and says it holds 46% more than the Race S battery, in a watch that's barely changed size. The Race 3S measures 46 x 46 x 11.4mm and weighs 56 grams with the strap. The titanium Race S is 45mm and 53 grams, so the new one is a touch bigger and three grams heavier.
Most of the rest of the leak held up. The October 15 date was right. The 1.32-inch AMOLED keeps its 466 x 466 resolution, but peak brightness goes from 600 to 2,000 nits, which matters when you're reading a map in full sun. Sapphire replaces Gorilla Glass. The bezel and case back are titanium, and water resistance stays at 5 ATM. Storage doubles from 32GB to 64GB. The colors are Titanium Orchid, Titanium Feather and Titanium Black.
Inside, the Apollo 510 chip replaces the Apollo 4 Plus, and Suunto says menus and maps load faster. The optical heart rate sensor now has six LEDs and four photodiodes. The Race S has four and two.
Offline music, new to the Race line, won't work until a software update arrives after launch. You'll load MP3 or WAV files onto the watch and play them through Bluetooth headphones, so you can leave your phone at home on a run. Race Planner waits for an update too. It takes a course's elevation profile, the expected weather and your goal and works out a pacing plan, then shows during the race whether you're ahead or behind. Suunto hasn't given a date for either.
The new Suunto AI Coach does work from day one, and it costs money after a while. It reads your training load, recovery, sleep and HRV, answers questions about your progress, and builds workouts, running plans and routes you can send to the watch. Activate a Race 3S before December 31, 2026 and you get three months free. After that it's a paid subscription. The regular training analysis and the existing Suunto app features stay free. Other compatible Suunto watches are due to get the coach in early 2027.
Australia has the first listing, at A$999, with stock expected from October 29. Suunto hasn't put out a US or European price. The leak had $499 in the US and about €499 in Europe. The bigger Race 3 wasn't part of today's launch.
A Race S owner doesn't need to rush, since the Race S still has dual-band GPS, free offline maps and most of the same training features. The Race 3S earns its price if you want the brighter screen, the extra battery and music without a phone, but check your local price on Suunto's site first, and don't count on music or race pacing on the day it arrives.