For those who often find themselves leaning toward HIIT training or endurance runs/rides, the Suunto Race 2 is your cardio companion. Its dual-frequency GPS tracks your pace even in crowded cities or tree-covered trails, and the sapphire crystal and titanium build can take a beating in or out of the gym.
While we love it for its cardio tracking, that’s not its only capability. “In the world of fitness watches, Suunto has made a name for itself for making effective yet affordable trackers,” says Thorp. “There is a wealth of different sport modes and workout tools available.”
The long battery life is also worth noting—you’ll get around 55 hours in full GPS mode or about 22 days in daily use. The AMOLED display makes workout times and heart-rate zones clear with just a glance, which is helpful when you’re deep into an interval session and too breathless to try to push a button for answers.
Suunto also offers recovery insights, HRV trends, structured workouts, over 115 sport modes, and race tools (like Coach AI) in one dashboard—another perk for cardio lovers. And the offline maps are great if you take your cardio to remote trails, whether that’s cycling the backcountry or running up in the mountains for elevation training.
A few notes on size and price though: The Race is a bit bulky on small wrists, and pricier than many lifestyle-forward models. But if cardio training is your thing, its durability, accuracy, and pacing data put it neck-and-neck with Garmin.