This comparison is a very important one especially if you intend to get yourself a Suunto smartwatch. Suunto is one of the biggest names as far as fitness and health tracking is concerned. The release of Suunto 7 – a Wear OS smartwatch powered by the Snapdragon 3100 chip looks like a move from the proprietary platform that powers other Suunto smartwatches, but only time will tell with the release of newer Suunto watches. The Suunto 7 being a Wear OS smartwatch is smarter and comes with smart features like music storage, Google pay, Google voice assistant, and tonnes of watch faces, but then it lacks many of Suunto’s in-house fitness features that are present in other Suunto smartwatches. In this post, we compare the Suunto 5 vs 7 vs 9 specifications, features, and prices to find out which of these three is the right investment for you.
Suunto 5 vs 7 vs 9: Specifications Compared
| Product Info |
 Suunto 5 Full Specifications, Features and Price |
 Suunto 7 Full Specifications, Features and Price |
 Suunto 9 Full Specifications, Features and Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $149.60 | $398.06 | $400.38 |
| ABOUT DEVICE | ABOUT DEVICE | ABOUT DEVICE | ABOUT DEVICE |
| Device name | Suunto 5 | Suunto 7 | Suunto 9 |
| Device type | Fitness/Sport smartwatch | Fitness/Sport smartwatch | Fitness/Sport smartwatch |
| Gender | Men | Men | Men |
| Release date | May, 2019 | January, 2020 | June, 2018 |
| Predecessor | Suunto 3 | — | — |
| Successor | Suunto 7 | — | Suunto 9 Baro |
| Versions | — | — | — |
| BODY | BODY | BODY | BODY |
| Dimension | 46 x 46 x 14.6 mm | 50 x 24 x 15.3 mm | 50 x 50 x 16.8 mm |
| Weight | 66g | 70g | 72g |
| Shape | Circular | Circular | Circular |
| Case material | Glass Fiber, Polycarbonate | Glass Fiber, Polyamide | Glass Fiber, Polyamide |
| Strap material | Silicone | Silicone | Silicone |
| Bezel material | Stainless steel | Stainless steel | Stainless steel |
| Strap size | 22 mm | 24mm | 24mm |
| Interchangeable strap | 22 mm | 24mm, Yes | 24mm, Yes |
| Screen protection | Mineral Crystal | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Sapphire glass |
| Water resistance | Yes, 5ATM | Yes, 5ATM | 10 ATM |
| Durability test | — | — | — |
| Swim-proof | Yes, recommended | Yes, recommended | Yes, recommended |
| Color | Black, Burgundy, Graphite/copper, White | Black/lime, Graphite/copper, Rose-gold | Black |
| DISPLAY | DISPLAY | DISPLAY | DISPLAY |
| Display size | 1.3 inches | 1.39 inch | 1.4 inches |
| Display type | Active Matrix LCD | 1000nit, AMOLED | Active Matrix LCD |
| Display resolution | 218 x 218 px | 454 x 454 px | 320 x 300 px |
| Pixel density | — | — | — |
| Always on | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom watch face | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Input type | 5 Physical buttons | 4 Physical buttons, Touchscreen | 3 Physical buttons, Touchscreen |
| CONNECTIVITY | CONNECTIVITY | CONNECTIVITY | CONNECTIVITY |
| Bluetooth | Yes, Bluetooth v4.2 LE | Yes, Bluetooth v4.2 LE | Yes, Bluetooth v4.2 LE |
| Bluetooth calling | No | No | No |
| GPS | BEIDOU, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS, QZSS | BEIDOU, GLONASS, GPS, QZSS | BEIDOU, Galileo, GLONASS, GPS, QZSS |
| NFC | No | Yes | No |
| Wi-Fi | No | Yes | No |
| MEMORY | MEMORY | MEMORY | MEMORY |
| RAM | — | — | — |
| ROM | — | 8GB | — |
| Memory card slot | No | No | No |
| CELLULAR CONNECTIVITY | CELLULAR CONNECTIVITY | CELLULAR CONNECTIVITY | CELLULAR CONNECTIVITY |
| Technology | None | None | None |
| SIM type | None | None | None |
| Band | — | — | — |
| NOTIFICATIONS | NOTIFICATIONS | NOTIFICATIONS | NOTIFICATIONS |
| SMS alert | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Calls alert | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Email alert | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Event reminder | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Third-party apps alert | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reply to Notifications | - | - | - |
| MEDIA | MEDIA | MEDIA | MEDIA |
| Audio | — | mp3/mp4 | — |
| Bluetooth music | No | Yes | No |
| Loudspeaker | No | No | No |
| Microphone | No | Yes | No |
| Camera | No | No | No |
| Radio | No | No | No |
| SENSORS | SENSORS | SENSORS | SENSORS |
| Sensor(s) | — | — | — |
| ACTIVITY TRACKING | ACTIVITY TRACKING | ACTIVITY TRACKING | ACTIVITY TRACKING |
| Blood oxygen | No | No | No |
| Blood Pressure | No | No | No |
| Calories | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Distance | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ECG tracking | No | No | No |
| Heart rate monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sleep tracking | Yes | No (third-party app) | Yes |
| Steps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Floors climbed | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Stress | Yes | No | Yes |
| Fall detection | No | No | No |
| Menstrual cycle | No | No | No |
| VO2 Max | Yes | No | Yes |
| Swim-tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Underwater heart rate tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| On-screen workout | No | No | No |
| Sport modes | 80+ | 70+ | 80+ |
| BATTERY | BATTERY | BATTERY | BATTERY |
| Battery type | non-removable Lithium-polymer | non-removable Lithium-polymer | non-removable Lithium-polymer |
| Battery capacity | — | — | — |
| Battery life | GPS: 20hrs, Regular: 7 days, Standby mode: 14 days | GPS tracking: 12hrs, Regular: 2 days+, Watch only: 40days | GPS tracking: 25/50/120hr, Regular: 7 days, Standby mode: 14 days |
| Charging type | Charging dock | Charging dock | Charging dock |
| Charging time | 2hrs | 2hrs | 2hrs |
| Solar charging | No | No | No |
| PLATFORM | PLATFORM | PLATFORM | PLATFORM |
| Chipset | — | Snapdragon 3100 | — |
| CPU | — | — | — |
| GPU | — | — | — |
| Operating system | Proprietary OS | Wear OS | Proprietary OS |
| MISC | MISC | MISC | MISC |
| Companion app | Suunto App | Suunto App | Suunto App |
| Compatibility | Android, iOS | Android, iOS | Android, iOS |
| Payment system | None | Google Pay | None |
| Voice command | No | Yes, Google Assistant | No |
| Find my phone | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Box content | Charger, Manual, Straps, Suunto 5 | Charger, Manual, Straps, Suunto 7 | Charger, Manual, Straps, Suunto 9 |
Suunto 5 vs 7 vs 9: The Differences
From the tables above, you can see that Suunto 7 is a smarter smartwatch. It comes with 8GB of music storage that allows you to store your favorite tracks and as well stream with popular streaming services like Spotify.
Similarly, Suunto 7 has a better display, with AMOLED that’s more colorful and brighter than Matrix LCD used on the other two. An ambient light sensor is also present in Sunnto 7 but not in Suunto 5 and 9. This automatically regulates the brightness of the display.
Furthermore, you get more access to tonnes of watch faces from both Suunto and the Google Play store, unlike the Suunto 5 and 9 which have only watch faces from Suunto. There’s also Google Pay that allows you to make a payment on the go directly from the Suunto 7.
However, Suunto 5 and 9 are more comprehensive activity trackers. Each of these two will track your VO2 max., and stress as well as features multisport sport modes, the Suunto 7 lacks these fitness tracking features. Although, you may have to use a third-party app to be able to measure VO2 Max. and stress with the Suunto 7.
You should also note, that the Suunto 7 features a barometer that gives you more accurate altitude information, unlike the other two that rely on GPS which reacts quite slowly to altitude changes. Moreover, the Suunto 7 features FusedAltiTM that combines the accurate and fast reacting profile of barometric and uses GPS altitude to set the altitude reference for a profile.
The Suunto 5 and 9 both have longer battery life that will see each of these two last longer than the Suunto 7, this makes any of these two a great choice if you intend to track long-term activities.
Which is Better?
In all, each of these three is an outstanding smartwatch, but the Suunto 7 is a smarter smartwatch, while the Suunto 5 and 9 are more comprehensive activity trackers. The Suunto 7 featuring microphone, music storage, music streaming, Google Pay and Google Assistant (thanks to Wear OS) improves your productive life significantly, but I’ll go with the Suunto 9 as far as fitness tracking is concerned.
