Suunto Wing review

One brand dominates the bone conduction headphone market: Shokz. However, that cornering hasn’t stopped others from throwing their hats into the ring. Enter: Suunto. The Suunto Wing bone conduction headphones have their sites on the Shokz OpenRun Pro series, but can the underdog win out? Let’s find out in this Suunto Wing review.

What I like about the Suunto Wing

As an outdoor athlete and bike commuter, my favorite thing about the Suunto Wing is their open design. They allow me to remain aware of my environment while enjoying my music. This isn’t unique to the Wing, though. This design is the signature of bone conduction headphones. Little earbud-like pieces sit on your cheekbones, sending vibrations through your, well, bones and into your inner ear. Not only does this design bode well for outdoor runners and cyclists, but it’s also beneficial for those with certain types of hearing aids.

Some brands adorn their bone conduction headphones with reflective hit points for visibility. Suunto goes a step further. These headphones have three LEDs on either side that can emit a red light visible from 30 meters away. I appreciate how Suunto doesn’t force your hand into downloading the app to use this feature. You can turn the LEDs on by holding the “-” button on the headphones.

That said, you do need the app to change the pattern. From there, you may select Constant Light (default), Flashing, and SOS. Will this guarantee that drivers will see you in the night? No, but it’s better than nothing. The app is also necessary to enable Bluetooth multipoint and Head Movement Control. We’ve seen the latter in different earbuds and headphones before. While I don’t find it particularly useful, some will enjoy the hands-free controls.

Suunto took another big swing to set the Wing apart from the competition by including a portable charging pack. This battery pack grants an extra 20 hours of playtime, totaling 30 hours of battery life for the Suunto Wing. It’s neat to have this feature that bridges the gap between wireless earbuds and bone conduction headphones. Perhaps what I enjoy most about the battery bank is that it charges via USB-C, which can’t be said of the Suunto Wing.

Like many flagship bone conduction headphones, the Wing are dust- and water-resistant. Suunto put these headphones through their paces to secure their IP67 rating. The Wing are hermetically sealed off from dust. The Wing can also withstand being submerged in water for up to 30 minutes … as long as they don’t dip deeper than one meter. In my two weeks, I wore the Wing while doing callisthenic exercises with chalked-up hands and tossed them into a bucket of water. They headphones are no worse for the wear.

Unlike other bone conduction headphones, the Suunto Wing support the aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec. When using these with an Android device, you’ll get low-latency audio. This codec support makes the Wing uniquely qualified to be your next pair of mobile gaming or video-streaming headphones.

Microphone quality won’t blow you away but it’s better than most bone conduction headphones. The Suunto Wing do well when speaking from an ideal (quiet) environment. You get minor sound quality degradation when introducing background noise into the equation, but your voice should still come through clearly.

Take a listen for yourself and let us know your thoughts.

Suunto Wing microphone demo (Ideal conditions, non-standardized):

Suunto Wing microphone demo (Windy conditions, non-standardized):

What I don’t like about the Suunto Wing

The Suunto Wing’s fit leaves the headband sloping downward behind my ears, rather than staying parallel with the floor. This droopy fit irritates the spot where my upper ears attach to my head. No matter how much I try to adjust the Wing to hold their weight upright, they always slope down after a few minutes. Fit is subjective, so maybe this will bode well for you. However, I’ve never encountered this discomfort with Shokz’ bone conduction headphones.

Bone conduction headphones and weightlifting exercises go together like water and oil. When I lie on my back to perform a bench press, the bench pushes the headband forward. This displaces the little buds where sound emits off my cheekbones and closer to my eyes. Funny enough, biking with the Wing is a slightly better experience than with Shokz’ bone conduction headphones because of the downward tilt. The fit is an advantage when biking because the Wing don’t come in contact with the helmet.

Once the headphones sit well enough, I have trouble differentiating the volume up/down buttons from one another. This is apparently endemic of bone conduction headphones at large, but the Wing are some of the worst offenders. The buttons are completely flush with the headphones. Often when I wanted to increase the volume, I decreased it, and vice versa.

When I turn the volume up beyond 50% on my phone, the vibrations become very noticeable, distracting even. I’ve experienced this before with some of Shokz’ headphones, but that was back in the day when the company was called AfterShokz. None of the competitors’ current offerings emit vibrations with this much gusto. Going hand in hand with the exaggerated vibrations, the sound quality distorts when pushing past 60% volume on my iPhone 15 Pro. This isn’t a huge knock against the Wing. You don’t buy this kind of headphone for sound quality anyway.

Suunto uses a magnetic 2-pin connector for charging, which is a nuisance. It’s somewhat forgivable because Suunto includes a battery pack with USB-C charging. Still, it would be nice to have headphones that support a universal standard, especially at this price. Likewise, if I’m paying one dollar shy of $200, I’d prefer not to have the company logo blazoned on both sides of my head.

Suunto Wing specs

Should you buy the Suunto Wing?

The Suunto Wing could be a great alternative to the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2 if they were more affordable. Sadly, that’s not the case. The Suunto Wing are $20 more than Shokz’ current flagship. Given how the Suunto Wing are working out some kinks that Shokz’ headphones had generations ago, it’s hard to justify the Wing.

Of course, if you love the LED light feature and portable battery holster, the Wing could be the perfect headphones for you. For most of us, though, any of Shokz’ headphones and a couple reflective hit bands will do the trick for an outdoor run.

If you’ve gotten this far and like the idea of bone conduction headphones but the fit doesn’t appeal to you, check out some of our favorite open earbuds. Open earbuds are a niche category that is here for the long term.

Similar to bone conduction headphones, open earbuds promote environmental awareness. Open earbuds go about this differently, and they give you a more traditional earbud-like design and fit. Listeners who want something compact should investigate the Sony LinkeBuds Open ($199.99 at Amazon). People who demand a more secure fit that looks stylish too, may like the Nothing Ear (Open) ($149 at Amazon).

Frequently asked questions about open earbuds