Article by Reed Breuer
Suunto Wing 2 ($179)
Introduction
Built for training and outdoor adventures, the Wing 2 features a lightweight frame made of titanium and silicone that stays comfortably in place even during intense movement and handles sweat, dust, and rain with ease thanks to a water and dustproof design.
Sound quality is improved with the latest Suunto bone conduction technology and noise-cancelling mics, providing an excellent listening experience with the safety of open-ear sound.
Initial impressions:
Reed: Let me begin by taking you back to 2018. I’m not a headphones guy. Sure, I liked music but I never felt the need to run with music. I ran to the rhythm of my breathing and didn’t think about much while on a run. Insert a knee injury and now I’m on the bike for the summer. I lived in Sacramento where we have a 30 mile-long bike trail with no cars to look out for. Music became my friend despite the normal qualms of headphones. Do you thread the cord through your bike jersey so it doesn’t flop around? Do you keep your phone in a bag strapped to the top tube? Do the earbuds go over the helmet straps or under? You’re probably thinking…dude, just get Bluetooth headphones.
Well here’s the other issue I had - my inner ears don’t seem to match, and one of my ears really doesn’t want earbuds to stay in it. The secondary issue is that after about an hour my ears are in pain and I can’t stand the earbuds any longer.
Fast forward a couple months and I’m now working in my local running store, and back to running. We sell Bluetooth headphones, but they’re not just bluetooth, they’re “bone conducting”. Known at the time as Aftershokz (now just Shokz), these headphones were life changing for me. No cord, nothing in my ears. Impossible to lose, no ear pain, no problem.
In the 7 years since that discovery, I’ve used some iteration of Shokz headphones close to every day and have spent thousands of hours wearing them. I’m on my third or fourth set and have bought them as gifts many times to share my delight with others. In those years I’ve started to see copycat designs pop up here and there, but none that caught my eye until 2024 when I saw that Suunto made a similar product, the Wing.
I received my Wing 2 about two weeks ago and I’ve used them exactly as I’ve used my Shokz. At first, it seems there’s little difference between the various Shokz models I own and these Wing 2s. This isn’t meant to be solely a comparison review, but with my thousands of hours of use, it’s hard to avoid comparison. I’d estimate that in 12 days I’ve worn them for 30-40 hours already, listening primarily to podcasts and only switching to music when I’m caught up on my podcasts.
Fit: If you’ve worn the Shokz Openrun or Openrun Pro 1 or 2, the Wing 2 basically fits the same way. The Shokz have a “mini” option but at this point the Suunto just has one standard size that’s definitely one-size-fits-most.
If you have a smaller head, you’ll end up with the cross-piece extending away from your head/neck more and they might fit less securely. You’d have to have a pretty large head for these to be too small. There’s a reason Eliud Kipchoge had a Shokz partnership and not Ryan Crouser, the shot putter It’s worth noting that in the years I spent working at a running store where we sold Shokz products, I’d estimate we sold 70-75% in the standard size and 25-30% in the mini. I doubt any men bought the mini for themselves, and of the female customers probably 50-60% chose the mini. It’s a bit disappointing to not have a smaller option given how many people might prefer it, but this is still a new venture for Suunto so I’d imagine that keeping the number of products tight makes it easier for retailers to stock your product.
As for how they feel on your head, you feel a light amount of pressure where the speakers sit, and you feel a little weight on the top of your ear where the band rests. The band never touches my neck or the back of my head unless I’m leaning against the back of a chair.
I should emphasize that both the Wing and all of the Shokz I’ve worn are very comfortable, which is why I wear them so many hours a day. They’re such a part of my head that I forgot to remove them before retaking my drivers license photo, which I used as a selling point many times. I can wear them comfortably with sunglasses and a hat, and I’ve worn them with a helmet and sunglasses too (which still works but you have to figure out how best to layer them).
Function:
I’m not really a snob about audio. I can tell the difference between good and bad sound quality, but I’m happy with good and am not seeking great. It helps that I mostly listen to podcasts, where it really doesn’t impact the experience much to have great sound. While listening to music I thought the sound quality was absolutely fine.
With the Suunto app, you can choose between two audio settings - one for light exercise and another for louder environments such as when biking where there is increased extraneous wind noise cancellation in effect.
The default for my set was the quieter mode. I was pretty shocked with how quiet they were until I discovered the sound modes with the app. I immediately reset the mode to the outdoor mode and I’ve had no complaints since. I’d personally never switch to the indoor mode because it’s much easier just to turn down the volume that it would be to go into the app to make the change.
The volume range doesn’t seem to go up to louder levels with either the Suunto or the Shokz I’ve used. That’s either a limitation of the bone-conduction design, or you could see it as a safety feature. One of the selling points of bone-conduction is that your ears are unblocked and you can hear your surroundings. I’ll admit that at reasonable volumes I can hear my surroundings somewhat, but you wouldn’t hear somebody speaking gently to you from another room.
You can hear much of what you’d consider a major threat - a car honking, an engine revving, brakes squealing. You’d hear somebody yelling “on your left!” You might not hear the footsteps of another runner overtaking you on the road. You might not hear the beeps of an electric vehicle backing out of a driveway.
With that all being said - you can still hear more than you would wearing other types of headphones, but don’t expect to hear everything. For me, the value of the open-ear design is the comfort and the inability for them to fall out. And no more ear wax to clean out!
Beyond the basics:
At this point you might have an idea if this type of headset is for you. But what about the minutia? Let’s dive in.
To begin, the buttons of the Wing mirror the layout of the Shokz I’ve used. Stop/play is on the left bud, and power plus volume control is on the right side but along the band behind your ear.
The Wing 2 has two charging ports - one is USB-C with a rubber dust/sweat guard and the other is a magnetic proprietary port that connects to a feature I’ve yet to mention - the powerbank. We finally have some differentiation - you can charge your Wing 2 normally with a USB-C, OR you can set them in the included powerbank that you can bring with you for an additional charge when you can’t plug into an outlet.
For a big day (or days) out, charge both the powerbank and the headphones to get up to 36 hours of use. Suunto claims the initial charge lasts 12 hours and the powerbank will supply an additional 24 hours of charge. The powerbank is small enough to carry with you on your adventures although I wouldn’t want to carry the weight in a race.
I haven’t yet tested the battery to compare against Suunto’s claims although I have little reason to doubt it. For reference, the Shokz Openrun Pro 2 I have claims 10 hours while the Wing 2 claims 12 (up 2 hours from Wing 1). Neither seems to lose much charge when idle.
The Suunto does seem to turn itself off after an hour or two idle whereas the Shokz will remain on and connected until they run out of charge, which would take days or weeks while idle.
Suunto has added additional safety features with the introduction of red lights on the exterior of the set. To be honest I haven’t fussed around with the settings for the lights much, and I have no idea if or when they flash while I’m wearing them. Suunto says “These lights react to your movement — pulsing with your running cadence or flashing when you check for traffic — for an extra layer of safety”. They do flash when I nudge the headphone or pick them up, indicating that some type of accelerometer is triggering the flash.
The design is intended to allow you to start or stop your music by just nodding your head. As a consumer I would have just disabled that immediately, but as a reviewer I turned it on to test while writing this review.
One gripe is that when I logged into the app after a couple weeks of not needing to, I had to re-pair the headphones to the app. The headphones were already paired to my smartphone and I was literally using them at the time, yet the app didn’t acknowledge the connection. Not a great step to have to potentially re-pair before altering any settings or checking the battery percentage.
While I do not have a Suunto watch the Wing 2 can receive voice feedback from the watch.
LED Lights:
It’s hard to judge if this is at all useful, which is normal of any safety device. I originally set the setting to sync with my cadence while running, and I do often run in the dark before work so this really does seem useful. I don’t yet know exactly how much this reduces the battery life, but I’d be willing to leave it on permanently even if I only do 15% of my runs in the dark.
You can disable the lights in the Suunto app or you can cycle between modes by holding the “-” button for 3 seconds. Other LED options are constant flashing (SOS), static (constant red light), cadence sync, and “turn & brake” which is designed to flash when a cyclist turns their head to the side to check traffic or when suddenly braking.
Sound Mode:
My guess is that they only created “normal mode” to bolster the battery claims, because it’s really quiet and arguably useless. “Outdoor” mode is what you should use unless you’re only making indoor phone calls in a quiet office setting.
Head movement control: Nod twice to answer a call, shake your head to the side twice to reject a call or skip a song. Gonna be honest - the button on the left bud already performs these functions (press once to answer a call, press twice to skip a song or jump ahead 15 seconds to skip a podcast ad). I have no plans to use this feature as it’s easy enough to use the button. You can enable or disable these functions either in the app or by holding the left bud button and the “-” for 3 seconds.
Neck mobility assessment: Did not test.
Jump assessment: Did not test.
Dual device connection:
You can be connected to two devices at once. Pretty cool actually - it’s been annoying in the past having to turn off my phone bluetooth or disconnecting from my phone before trying to reconnect to my laptop.
Conclusion:
Suunto has taken the idea of bone-conduction headphones and tried to tailor them even more to runners and cyclists.
The powerbank is a great addition (and isn’t required for normal use…in case you misplace it).
The flashing lights could be useful but I don’t really see much added value. Blinking red lights are great to alert traffic of your presence when running or walking in the dark, but anybody doing that regularly should already be wearing reflective or blinking devices and I certainly wouldn’t advise to only rely on the headphones as a beacon.
As for the neck mobility and jumping assessment…I’m not sure how reliable these assessments could be and you might not want to take medical advice from your headphones. Admittedly I have not yet tested these features.
At $179, where does the Wing 2 sit in the market?
At the same MSRP as Shokz Openrun Pro, there are differences that I think would set these options apart. If sound quality is your primary consideration, the Openrun Pro is likely the better option. If the dual-device connectivity would be useful regularly, that’s a big plus for the Wing. I haven’t been able to do a side by side battery test yet, but I’d give the nod to the Wing especially if you use the powerbank. If you’re a regular night-runner, the ability to have static or flashing red lights is another layer of safety that in certain circumstances could save your life! Priced equally to the OpenRun Pro, I think the price is competitive and offers fantastic value.
Suunto
Reed, 32 years old from Auburn, CA. Reed began running at age 18 and did the classic track/cross country route through college. After college he ran a couple road marathons and started racing on trails in 2017. He moved from Sacramento to Auburn in 2023 to live closer to the historic Western States 100 course and he primarily trains and races on trails from 50k to 100mi. He has run a 15:28 5k and 2:28 marathon and is locally competitive in races of any surface or distance. He previously worked at a local running shoe store and is starting a coaching business on the side (capital-endurance.com). He is a closeted heel-striker and over-pronator with a very low-volume foot.
Samples were provided at no charge for review purposes. No compensation was provided by brands for writing this article. RoadTrail Run does have affiliate partnerships and may earn commission on products purchased via shopping links in this article. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content. The opinions herein are entirely the authors'.
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