When the Suunto 9 Peak GPS multi-sport watch releases this month, it will do so 37% thinner and 36% lighter than the previous version. The new Garmin Descent Mk2S has also completely slimmed down an outward appearance. But casings and overall size are the only things shrinking in the world of GPS watches, as overall sales continue to grow and companies such as Suunto, Polar and Garmin debut new looks packed with increased features. 

All across the outdoor industry, trail and outdoor usage and equipment sales have surged during the pandemic. The GPS watch, often a multi-sport watch built with smartwatch capability, has given watch makers a massive bump in both potential customers and sales numbers. To both diversify offerings to reach this larger audience and embrace the interest, new watches have come online to better combine fresh technology and customer desires. 

The Suunto 9 Peak is just one example. “We had been hearing for a long time that people loved our watches, loved the battery, the durability, but the watch was just too big, especially for women,” says Karolina Tiuraniemi, Suunto global marketing manager. “We wanted to make something smaller and inclusive that would fit all genders, but at the same time it really needed to be an incredible product for the longest and most extreme outdoor sports. We didn’t want to make any compromises with it.”

The story is similar at Garmin, where the new Descent Mk2S, designed as a dive watch that doubles as a multi-sport watch, reduced in size to accommodate smaller wrists and more consumers. “The pandemic in general forced many people to get outside who maybe hadn’t ever been or hadn’t been recently,” says Audra Ratfliff, Garmin outdoor marketing manager. “They created huge growth and need for our products within outdoor, especially for our watches.” 

Tiuraniemi says that the overall sports watch market has grown from 15.6 million units sold in 2019 to 16.9 million units in 2020 and an expected 17.8 million units in 2021. For Suunto, they saw growth in usage, as tracked via their app, across the board in 2020 compared to 2019, with a 34% increase in trekking, a 29% increase in cycling and mountain biking, a 28% jump in mountaineering and a 22% boost in hiking. 

Matt Powell, The NPD Group senior industry advisor for sports, says sales of GPS watches grew 64% for the rolling 12 months that ended in April. 

Sander Werring, Polar CEO, says the outdoor segment has shown steady growth for the company. And two spring 2021 launches—the Ignite 2 and Vantage M2—add multi-sport watches to the Polar lineup that offer an entry into the market for consumers. 

Along with the Descent model, Garmin has launched the new Enduro watch for the “ultra-athlete” needing what Ratliff calls “best-in-class battery life.” With a growing market in outdoor adventure, Garmin branches off the Enduro design from the brand’s long-standing Fenix watch to create options for those athletes needing a watch that can last days and days. To improve the longevity of the battery, Garmin has embraced solar charging, using the watch’s glass to invite the sun’s charge. “We’ve always had great battery life, which is very important to us, but solar charging lets customers go even farther in their outdoor activities without the worry of needing to charge their device,” Ratliff says. 

Smaller watches, though, only tell part of the story. Markus Kemetter, product manager for Suunto’s 9 Peak, says dropping the size also increases the functionality if you don’t limit the ability. The 9 Peak features an updated Nordic aesthetic for Finland-based Suunto, as all along they had “side by side projects looking how to get stuff to fit in” while updating the style. The 9 Peak slightly reduced the battery, but otherwise has all the same features as previously and added in a few extras. “It is so super compressed you couldn’t fit a need in there,” Kemetter says about the inner workings. “It is really optimized and a beauty in terms of mechanical design.” 

The Suunto 9 Peak features up to 170 hours of GPS recording capacity, more than 80 sport modes, wrist-based heart rate monitoring, in-depth weather insights, on-watch navigation, blood-oxygen level measurements and 100% battery charge in one hour. As more people move outside, such concepts as heat maps, navigation and 3D maps become even more important. Suunto boasts its on-watch heat maps for 20 different sports globally so “you can look where people are doing sports or where they are not doing sports.” 

The GPS nature of the watches speaks to the true outdoor adventurer, enabling routing and tracking for adventurers. But the urban explorers have upgrades in the 9 Peak, with Kemetter saying the “snap to route” feature gives a more accurate GPS tracking on city streets.

From GPS tracking to battery life to blood-oxygen sensors to manage high-altitude adventures, Kemetter says “consumers demand more accuracy.” That accuracy will continue to update too, with Suunto now pushing updates directly to the watch. 

The recent launch of the Polar Grit X has proven a key product for the brand, offering multiple sizes of a trail-focused watch with improved battery life featuring turn-by-turn navigation, the ability to show upcoming hills and elevations, weather information and nutrition and liquid needs during long sessions. The Grit X has up to 40 hours of battery life with full GPS and tracking and up to 100 hours with power save options that still tracks route and heart rate. 

The first company to offer a heart-rate monitor, Polar continues to focus on training metrics with running and trail running key sports for the Finland-based brand. Mountain biking and hiking also prove important. Moving forward, Werring says aesthetics will prove important while designing watches and features for the “trends of the more diverse adventurer.” 

Watch makers all have their own apps to help users track rides, runs and treks, but also seamlessly connect to third-party networks, whether Strava, Training Peaks or others. “We are aiming to bring together all the best possible services for our customers,” Kemetter says. 

Adding new activities remains a staple of the growth. Kansas-based Garmin has seen an increase in marine use, as well as the traditional outdoor activities, but has added surfing, cross-country skiing and new mountain biking grit and flow measurements for more information for descents and flat areas. 

The new Enduro tracks VO2 max, adjusting based on trail conditions, has real-time information on upcoming climb gradients and distance, provides recovery information and gives those mountain biking-specific “grit” scores. The Descent Mk2S is dive ready with loaded features for all aspects of diving, but also has wellness tracking, smart features—even including pregnancy tracking and sleep—and includes sports apps for everything from surf to mountain bike. 

“The more users that are now getting outdoors give us a bigger base and escalates us with even more feedback,” Ratliff says. “The more people getting outside, whether or not they are using a Garmin, the more opportunity we have.”