Garmin Fenix 7 too expensive? Check out the super light Suunto 5 Peak instead

If your pockets aren't deep enough for the new Garmin Fenix 7, the Suunto 5 Peak is an alternative that's well worth considering. The 5 Peak is an updated version of 2019's Suunto 5, with a streamlined design that's 41% lighter than its predecessor.

There are also some new training tools at your disposal, including a 'burner' feature that estimates grams of fat and carbohydrates used during your workout.

The Suunto 5 Peak has a modest price tag of $321 / £259 / AU$495 (less than half the price of the base-spec Fenix 7), and is available to pre-order now from Suunto with shipping due to start on February 1.

Unlike many running watches in this price bracket, the Suunto 5 Peak allows you to create your own routes, or find ones nearby based on heatmaps in the Suunto app. These heatmaps are presented in 3D, so you can easily see the elevation when preparing for your next run or ride.

For multi-day events, Suunto has also developed a new Tour mode that provides up to four days of continuous GPS tracking.

Depth perception

It's not all good news, though – It's interesting to note that while the original Suunto 5 was water resistant to 50 meters, the Peak is only rated to 30 meters. Typically watches with this rating aren't recommended for swimming, but the Suunto 5 Peak has a full set of tools for tracking pool and open water workouts.

There's still no touchscreen, and the watch's lens is still made of polyamide rather than Gorilla Glass or sapphire crystal, so it may be more susceptible to scratches than a typical watch from Garmin or Polar (a problem we experienced when testing the original Suunto 5).

We're hoping to put the new Suunto to the test soon to see how it compares to other watches in this price band, and to its predecessor. 

• The best cheap running watches