Suunto just dropped it’s newest flagship and it packs a ton into a smaller package. And it’s for people like me, who prefer a smaller display.

The Race 3S packs up to 38 hours of dual-band GPS, a 2,000-nit AMOLED display, and free worldwide offline maps into a 56 gram watch. Comparatively, the Garmin Fenix 9 is 62 grams.

This is the follow-up to the Race S, and it fixes the thing we disliked most about the Race S. That is was great idea, but I wanted more battery, a brighter screen, and tougher glass.

This new watch gives us most of that, but damn man, Are you sitting down. Because it costs $250 more.

Battery: Eight More Hours

The number that sticks out most is that 38.

That’s how long the Race 3S runs in dual-band GPS mode, an 8 hour improvement from 30 hours on the Race S.

Turn the always-on display on and you still get 32.

For anyone who has ever done a 50K or 360 miles in Kansas gravel, the Race 3S theoretically allows you to relax and not watch, the watch. Then there is smartwatch mode too and Suunto says you’ll get up to 12 days of everyday wear.

The Build is Lighter and Tougher

The Race 3S weighs 56 grams with the silicone strap and 38 grams for the watch body alone. Suunto compares that to two gels, which made us laugh. At least they know their audience.

And like I said, the 46 mm case is sized for smaller wrists and is just 1 mm smaller than the Coros Pace 4 Pro.

The bigger change is the materials. The Race 3S gets a titanium bezel and a sapphire crystal lens.

Looking through Reddit, people complained the Race S’s Gorilla Glass scratched easily. Sapphire is definitely where every watch maker is going these days so no worries there.

Inside, there’s a new Apollo 510 processor for faster menus and map response, plus an upgraded optical heart rate module with six LEDs and four photodetectors under curved sensor glass.

Suunto says it holds accuracy through arm swing, sweat, and cold. But wrist is still wildly inaccurate so our advice would be to pair a Suunto heart rate belt and that ZoneSense reads intensity from your body’s response.

Suunto AI Coach: Useful Idea, Unproven Concept

The Race 3S is the debut platform for Suunto AI Coach, a conversational coach inside the Suunto app.

You ask questions about your training and it answers with charts, tables, and maps, then offers next steps. When you want to act, it builds structured workouts, training plans, and routes that you can save and sync to your watch.

On paper, it sounds like a handy feature but I’ve talked about AI coaching before and literally, everyone puts it in their press release these days. But does it work? Do athletes actually use any of them?

Ask what your last block looked like, get an answer in context, and have a workout land on your wrist. But does it consider your fatigue the last two weeks, or is it like Runna and just taking nothing into account?

Anyone who buys and pairs a Race 3S gets three months of AI Coach free, as long as they activate through the Suunto app by December 31, 2026.

Suunto hasn’t said what happens after the trial but our guess is that there will be a subscription, because leaks have suggested so, which would criminal when the device is already, $599.

A Swiss Army Trail Toolkit

The display is a 1.32-inch LTPS Hybrid AMOLED at 466 × 466 resolution that reaches 2,000 nits. Suunto says that’s more than three times as bright as the Race S. If you’ve ever squinted at a watch above treeline at noon, or tried to read pace on a 4 a.m. start, you know this improvement helps.

Free worldwide offline maps now include contour lines and place names. They download straight to the watch, run entirely on board, and come with no subscription. It’s the feature a lot of trail runners and off grid cyclists will like, because a map you pay a monthly fee to use is a map you stop using. Suunto also says positioning performance is better through forests, canyon walls, and switchbacks, which is exactly where watches tend to wander.

Climb Guidance shows what the trail does next, climb or descent, updated in real time, so you can save your legs before the hill instead of after it.

Race Planner is the other headline tool. It builds a pacing plan from the route, the weather, and your goal, with real-time guidance on race day. Note the asterisk, though. Suunto says Race Planner is planned for a future app and firmware update, and timing may change.

Offline music on the 64 GB of storage is also coming by over-the-air update after launch. But obviously, don’t purchase for things that aren’t available.

Race 3S vs. Race S: What Actually Changed

The Race S was the compact version of Suunto’s flagship, and the Race 3S is its direct successor.

Suunto hasn’t said the Race S is going away, so expect it to hang around at a discount but as always, we need to do a side-by-side comparison.

	Race S	Race 3S
GPS battery, dual-band	Up to 30 h	Up to 38 h
Display Brightness	Under a third of the 3S (per Suunto)	2,000 nits
Weight (with strap)	About 60 g	56 g
Materials	Gorilla Glass	Sapphire crystal
AI Coach	No	Yes (3 months free)
Price (US)	Currently $279	$599

Look. The economy sucks and right now, but the price jump is big. The hardware is a lot nicer, so you need to think about what really matters to you. You’re paying for sapphire, a brighter screen, and eight more hours of battery life. And it’s still massively cheaper than the Garmin flagships and competes with Coros’ best.

Who It’s Really For

This is for the runner with a smaller wrist who got tired of a flagship-class watch built for someone else’s arm.

If you run trails, do long days in the mountains, or race ultras and marathons where battery anxiety is a real thing, the Race 3S gives you the most room Suunto has offered in this size. The free offline maps and the sapphire lens make it an easy fit for anyone who actually gets their watch dirty.

It’s also for the Race S owner who loved the size but ran into the limits: battery on a big day, a dim screen in the sun, a lens that scratches.

It’s less for the road runner who mostly wants clean pace and heart rate, or anyone chasing the lowest price. The Race S will likely get cheaper, and the larger Race 2 is still around. And if your whole interest is AI Coach, wait to see what it costs after the free three months.

Price and Availability

The Suunto Race 3S costs $599 and is available October 15 in EMEA and China, and October 29 in North America and Asia-Pacific.

You can buy it from Suunto directly and it comes in three colorways, including Black. You can read more about Suunto AI Coach on Suunto’s site.

Our Thoughts

If you’re coming from the Race S which launched in mid-2024, this seems like a worthy upgrade. The hardware upgrades are nice, bigger battery life is always nice and the free maps are useful if you’re going to be going long offline activities.

We do hate that there isn’t a ton of information on AI Coach, and if its worth your time or if they’ll screw you with a subscription once the free trial ends.

More to come but we’re hoping to test it out. Suunto puts out good products so we’ll see.