Sunto Watches any good?

[Mark300zx]

Like the designs but have heard a couple of flakey reviews of their heart rate montiors, anyone know what their build quality and reliability is like?

[uriel]

I got a Core just last week. I am happy with the watch and don't regret the puchase, but I would advise looking into them a bit before pulling the trigger (unless you consider them cheap enough to take a punt on without too much worry). After I placed my order I came across this forum: http://forums.watchuseek.com/forumdisplay.php?f=23...

There seem to have been quite a lot of reliability problems reported there. I know these things are always exagerated on forums since it's only the ones with problems that post, but there does seem to be quite a few complaints. The upside though is that Suunto seem to be great at customer service and I never came across anyone with a complaint that wasn't rectified with a repair or replacement straight away.

Another issue seems to be battery life. 6-8 months seems to be the most you can reasonably expect from a Core.

I did wonder why they don't have any decent pictures of the watches on the website, just the same CG render that is used by retailers. The strap is pretty appalling I'd say. I know it's not an expensive watch, but it really does feel like an Argos £10 jobbie. And the colour of mine is nothing at all like the colour on the CG picture. The case is also quite plasticky. I mean, it is plastic, but it really feels it. I've replaced my strap with a nato strap, but because of the movable lugs it doesn't sit right, rather it raises up even higher from the wrist.

The other thing with it is that it's very difficult to read the display indoors. The grey displays may be better, but the orange on black lcd is not easy to see. There is a backlight which helps a bit, but when using that I have the battery life issue on my mind!

It sounds like I'm ragging on the watchs (the Core Black/Orange at least), but I am genuinely glad I bought mine. The features are great (sunrise/set, dual time, alitimeter, depth gauge, barometer, storm warning alarm, data logging, temp, compass with bearing pointer). The display does look very cool with the big central display and the configurable lower display. It's a nice talking point, it's relatively inexpensive, the battery is designed to be changed by the user, they're not too common and it may save your life one day.

[CVP]

I've had an x-lander for a few years now. it's taken all I can throw at it and come out fully functional on the other side. Battery approx every 2 years.

IIRC they licence the heart rate monitor stuff from polar who are evry well respected in that field so it should stand the test

Chris

[dubbs]

I've had a Suunto T6 for years - perfect and not skipped a beat ;-)

[Chaffs]

I've had a Stinger and now onto a D9, both have been excellent. The D9 is really good although getting it to synch with your tank does need you to do things in very much the set order, but never had problems with the missus having the same set-up and diving together. I'd certainly recommend them.

[Mr Noble]

I have one of these and have logged 60+ dives with it over 3 or 4 years. Its been excellent and may have even saved my butt once or twice when I was daydreaming.

Can't say I've ever worn it out though, bit on the big side even given the current fashion for crazy big watches!

[cottonfoo]

I also got a Core last week, it's an All Black but I've replaced the strap with a flat black one with black lugs and buckle, looks a lot better. It's the same as the "Core Military" that sailgb make up/sell on, but with the grey digits rather than orange.

I would echo the plasticky feel comments above, but it does everything pretty well. Have checked the compass against another digital compass, and also my GPS, and it's accurate enough. Temp (although it doesn't do tenths of a degree) seems accurate against my other gauges.

Seems to work really well for what I want it for (biking/hiking), and I'm quite pleased with it.

[gareth h]

Is the temp reading accurate when you're wearing the watch? I've just bought a g shock and the manual says you have to take the watch off to check the temp because it is effected by body temperature, if I'd known this I wouldn't have bothered.

[cottonfoo]

gareth h said:

Is the temp reading accurate when you're wearing the watch? I've just bought a g shock and the manual says you have to take the watch off to check the temp because it is effected by body temperature, if I'd known this I wouldn't have bothered.

All watches with a temp sensor need to be removed from the hot thing it's attached to before they'll read anything useful unfortunately.