Reviews and videos

mikekoski490

@TrailEyes Thanks. It was an OK review and the GPS stats are impressive. I dont agree on the lack of features though compared to Garmin/Coros. Most people come to SUUNTO because of its simpler and on task UI as opposed to everything and the kitchen sink. I also dont agree on price - the cost to 1. Make it in Finland and 2. SUUNTO’s dedication to reducing its carbon footprint - are value adds.

dcrainmaker

@altcmd said in Reviews and videos:

I am rather surprised how DCR, DesFit or ChaseTheSummit have no video out yet. There is a review from RunTesters but they too seem to be Garmin fanboys and are not too positive on their experience with the S9PP. So odd that they have a review out but none of the more visible channels. Probably a hold from Suunto?!?

Holy moly, just catching up on all the comments here. I think there’s a lot of tinfoil’ing going on, on why various reviewers haven’t had things up yet. I can promise you, the simple answer from all of us, collectively, is: We’re swamped.

Just a quick recap of the last 6 weeks in my camp alone:

Apple Watch SE V2
Apple Watch Series 8
Apple Watch Ultra
COROS APEX 2
COROS APEX 2 Pro
COROS Pod V2
DJI Action 3
DJI Mavic 3 Classic
Fitbit Sense 2
Fitbit Inspire 3
Google Pixel Watch
GoPro Hero 11 Black
GoPro Hero 11 Mini
Garmin MARQ 2
Garmin Messenger
Suunto 9 Peak Pro
Wahoo ROAM V2
Wahoo KICKR Bike V2
Zwift Hub Trainer

And that’s just all the dedicated reviews or deep-dive previews. That ignores other things like major firmware updates for products from a variety of companies, news stories, and whatever else I’ve forgotten. All while crossing oceans for meetings/product demo’s/etc, now 4 round trips in that same 6-7 weeks. Not to mention actually doing the whole swim/bike/run/hike/etc thing that folks here want. Lastly, that ignores things I’m working on that haven’t been released yet.

My written review is basically set minus dragging some more photos over, waiting on an answer on one thing, but it doesn’t change anything meaningfully. Might drop tonight, maybe tomorrow morning, haven’t quite decided yet. Unsure where I film and fit in a video review this week. We’ll see.

P.S. - I really don’t care about affiliate link availability or such. They make zero impact in my decision making process for a review. In general, my order is simple:

Try to hit the embargo
Failing that, try to get really close to hitting the embargo, but a bit late
Failing that still, then I’ll usually re-order to hit whatever the next product embargo is in my queue, while putting whatever product didn’t get out yet into the queue based on popularity/interest.

dcrainmaker

@dcrainmaker Oh, and one more thing - for almost every one of those line items above, remember that almost all of those have not one, but two things: A full in-depth written review (10,000-20,000), and a full in-depth YouTube review. Some also have beginners guides, secondary videos, etc…

I aim hard to have both video/post, but when time gets tight, I try and deliver on the platform (written or video) that attracts the most attention/interest for that specific product. In the case of Suunto, it’s currently written. Whereas inversely in the case of GoPro/DJI, it’s YouTube.

Cheers!

A Former User

@dcrainmaker thanks. how meaningful are tests straight after introduction from a watch technical pow over lifetime? we all know, that watches are improved over time, also GPS, HR…

Bj Fi

@dcrainmaker thanks for the time to make it over here to reply! Been paying attention to the queue (Instinct Xover and Ignite 3 hitting the air Tue and Wed I assume).

Just one comment from a loyal viewer: the videos are valuable for seeing how the UI works and that’s at least why I was waiting for more videos post resale firmware updates. Des covered this pretty nicely today. Still looking forward to that vid on your end as well!

dcrainmaker

@mountainChris Ultimately, the way I see it, once a company starts shipping a watch, they’re taking consumer’s money in exchange for what they deem as an acceptable product. And thus, that’s typically when I aim for my reviews to be released (and generally on final firmware/hardware).

Sometimes, we see improvements - either in bug fixes, or things like accuracy. Sometimes, we don’t. Usually, we see improvements in bug fixes relatively quickly, which is why I often provide color on whether or not I think a bug is easily fixable or not.

However, for accuracy, it’s anyone’s guess. That comes down to many factors that’s very hard to predict. A manufacturer could be at the end of the ability of that component, and thus, more time won’t really solve it. Whereas other times, it’s a brand new component - and more time will usually make things better. I often add historical data here, and notables about the components in question.

Ultimately though, I’ve long held to the line that once a product is released, that’s the book we judge it by - good or bad. We can check again down the road, but companies should learn to release products when they’re ready. For the most part, Suunto usually does that actually.

A Former User

@dcrainmaker thanks, yes you are right. When products got shipped, improvements should be felt by customer from previous watch. Having a greatly improvable watch in the beginning with flaws is extremely customer dissatisfactioning for spending money and could lead to sending it back. Just to rely on SW improvements is thin ice when it is too shaky at the beginning. So thanks for sharing, good pow, great videos!

mikekoski490

@dcrainmaker Thanks so much for your clarification for the SUUNTO crowd here. I have been reading your reviews for a long time, and they absolutely help me make informed decisions, and Im sure everyone appreciates the time it takes for you to provide this so thank you. I was kinda wondering about your list of reviews once I saw the updates from Coros last few weeks, then minimally Garmin and Polar this week. I had no idea the review list was so much longer. Cheers.

TrailEyes

@mikekoski490 I actually don’t disagree with DesFit’s assessment of the cost. While there are perks (such as Finnish build and carbon offsets, as you mentioned) that Des didn’t highlight that do add value, I feel that the S9PP is about $100 too much. I felt the same about the regular 9P too last year, and it takes awhile for Suunto to put some of these on sale (conversely, Coros never does sales, and Garmin’s sales are meager, at best).

I think Suunto’s strengths would shine a lot better value-wise and stack up more readily at a price point just a bit lower than where they come in at now. While Coros’ latest offerings seem to have disappointed a lot of people, Garmin has had it’s most interesting year in a long time, and I think a bit more strategic pricing would draw lots of new people to the 9PP.

Bj Fi

@TrailEyes kinda have to agree with you here. And Des also replied to a comment that despite acknowledging that the compliance-choices playing a part in the pricing (i.e. total manufacturing cost maybe being higher than eg. in China), he still seems to feel the contents of the watch aren’t really meeting the price point.

But I’d also concur with some of the other comments in the video that the app features were slightly neglected in the review.

dulko79

dcrainmaker’s review is up.

Bj Fi

…and it’s in-depth to say the least.

altcmd

@dcrainmaker Great to hear. So, basically, different brands, different flavours to launches. Perhaps more so on Suunto’s court that the PR on this seems different to other competitors where the product and reviews look to be hitting on lauch dates. Not that anyone is expecting it to be but somehow that’s how they have become in recent years.

dcrainmaker

@altcmd Suunto splits their launches into two chunks (and has for as many years as I can remember):

A) Announcement
B) Retail availability

Usually, they’re separated by about two weeks. Some companies do it that way, some do it the other way (everything in one shot). Apple, Google, and Fitbit does it like Suunto (separated by 8-10 days usually), Whereas most other fitness companies do it with the single-day announce/available (Garmin/COROS/Polar/GoPro/DJI/Wahoo/etc…).

Marketing peeps/companies prefer the dual-approach, because they think they get two hits worth of attention. Some media sites prefer the dual approach if they get two meaningful waves as well. For example, it works for Apple because…Apple. But it doesn’t tend to work as well for Fitbit.

My personal preference is just one bam, simply because I can focus on a product and then move on to the next fire. For companies that aren’t named Apple, my observation is that the double-tap system doesn’t tend to work out as well, as people like me get distracted with something else that has an embargo, and then have to make a judgement call on which thing to focus on for the 2nd date. Versus tying media people to a single review embargo date/time tends to work best at managing to herd cats. This is especially true for any tech site between mid-August and late November.

Again, just my personal observations/preferences.

Spree

Not sure if this review, for the German able among us (that’s not me :D) has already been posted => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtB6pvUQOk4

Brad_Olwin

Gear Loop review