Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.

[GiPFELKiND]

@fv4500 how long you use your watch until this bubbles are coming?

[fv4500]

@GiPFELKiND I wear the watch basically 24/7 (except for charging 20min once a week). Aprox 5 activities per week (including running, hiking, treadmill…), 45min each since I got my 9PP this September. The rest of the watch looks “just unboxed”. Maybe my sweat is like Alien’s xenomorph’s blood…

[fv4500]

@Elipsus yeah… I know I should, but it’s hard for me to swallow that I’ll loose the watch for so long… I use the HR strap anyways so I just wanted to leverage the impact of just accepting this. Will see…

[fv4500]

@GiPFELKiND that’s in fact a much better question than I thought: what’s really the point of sending the watch, waiting for a month, hopefully getting it back repaired, only to find out that bubbles are coming up again after just a few weeks… We need to see if there is an actual change in the coating process during manufacturing that makes it more durable.

[Elipsus]

@fv4500 I can’t agree more, I had to sent back my watch for 3 weeks in August and it really caused me troubles on my trainings, and I will have to send it back soon.
Do you plan on doing a winter break maybe ? for me i’m going to send it back in January since i know i’m not going to run/train as hard

[fv4500]

@Elipsus Haven’t decided yet… first I would like to understand the impact on readings’ quality if I just keep the watch as it is, and then I would like to have a certain reassurance that there have been improvements in the manufacturing process such that sending the watch makes it worth it and no bubbles come up again. Maybe I’m hoping too high.

[Tieutieu]

@fv4500 said in Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.:

@Elipsus Haven’t decided yet… first I would like to understand the impact on readings’ quality if I just keep the watch as it is, and then I would like to have a certain reassurance that there have been improvements in the manufacturing process such that sending the watch makes it worth it and no bubbles come up again. Maybe I’m hoping too high.

As it is a known and obvious hardware default, I would not hesitate to sent it for replacement, while your watch is still covered by warranty ; but I understand you don’t want to leave your watch.
Don’t know how long it really takes, but few years ago the barometric sensor replacement of my A3p was quit fast.
If you don’t have a spare watch (I still keep my S9b), you may perhaps exceptionnaly consider using SA to directly record your training ?

[fv4500]

@Tieutieu thanks for the suggestion! Yep, that’s something I consider: tracking the most relevant training sessions using the Suunto App + HR strap. Anyway I know I should be sending it for repair…

[GiPFELKiND]

@fv4500 since May this bubbles Problem is known and suunto had not given any official Statement because of this!? Really???

[Tieutieu]

@GiPFELKiND said in Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.:

@fv4500 since May this bubbles Problem is known and suunto had not given any official Statement because of this!? Really???

@GiPFELKiND : it is not like a “security” problem…When talking about cars, health devices, climbing ropes or carabiners…off course an official statement and return campaign is needed…
It always concerns “specfic” models or series.

We are talking about something that is erratic, and problably concerns few models of few series (and certainly not all series). Unless I’m sure Suunto would have asked for complet series return for replacement.

Except some OHR issues, I don’t remember that anybody talked about unusable watches or ones that exploded !

So the “if you are concerned, contact SAV for replacement” seems quite enough, isn’t it ??

[sartoric]

@GiPFELKiND
what do you expect ?
I mean, it’s clearly a defective batch and you got it fixed if you contact support.
What should Suunto do more than that ?

[fv4500]

@sartoric said in Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.:

I mean, it’s clearly a defective batch and you got it fixed if you contact support.

You made an important point here: do we get it actually fixed? Because, if you send it once and then it’s solved forever and ever, that’s worth the month of waiting, otherwise… Would be great to understand if we’re talking about a defective batch from a reliable coating process or, otherwise, it’s the process not actually reliable? Soooorry, I’m going too technical .

[ChrisA]

@fv4500 I may be completely wrong, but since there seem to be some people who (repeatedly?) had this peeling problem, while others had none -> may this have something to do with those useres skin/sweat in combination with a sensitive material used in Suunto’s coating? There seem to be people who have more corrosive sweat than others…

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/974027/

[fv4500]

@ChrisA yep, probably there’s part of this in the issue, but there has to be something clearly wrong in that only after 3 months of very light use of the watch the coating starts to peel off.
By the way: anybody knows if Suunto replaces just the back cover of the watch or the whole thing? Is water tightness (IP rating) guaranteed in full as a brand new watch would?
Thanks!

[Tieutieu]

@fv4500 it will depend on what they do the moment they’ll receive your watch, but be sure that even they only replace some parts, your watch will have the same characteristics than a new one !

My few experiences with support (2 baro sensor replacement on A3P) have always been great.

[Elipsus]

@fv4500 They replace the whole back (my S/N changed when i sent mine for replacement), and they re-certify the waterproofness, written in the repair form.
It looks like that’s the difference between a simple “IP rating” (that looks to be more or less only valid when the device is brand new, and they don’t test each devices before shipping), and “ATM rating” where each device is tested and certified (but don’t quote me on that)

And yes , there is something clearly wrong in the design, my replacement sensor is already bubbling like hell (watch ordered in May 2023, repaired in August 2023).
And they have “exceptionally high” repair delays, that are “exceptional” since June (yeah, basically they are not doing anything to address this “exceptional” problem)

@Tieutieu said in Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.:

My few experiences with support (2 baro sensor replacement on A3P) have always been great.

My only experience was pretty bad, lack of communication, incorrect announced repair estimate (in the first email they said 5 days), dismissive CS agent, etc…
The only good thing for them is that the delivery guy went to fetch my package directly at my door and was shipped to the repair center in less than 24 hours

[Tieutieu]

@Elipsus my experiences with support where 4 years ago and it was perfect (in France). But I can see it has probably changed, at least past months.
Sorry for you that you had the issue twice (that said, many A3P had barometric sensor failures like mine ; I guess the time we get perfects watches is not here yet)

[fv4500]

@Elipsus thanks for the details, I didn’t knew the difference between the two.
If yours was repaired and is already bubbling since August 2023, then it’s clear that the coating process is the same and no improvement is actually implemented. They just replace the faulty back cover with the another of the same (most probably gonnabe-faulty). Sad… Probably makes sense to use the warranty just at the end before it expires.

[A Former User]

@fv4500 Hi everybody, mine was shipped in August, new SN. It hasn’t had that issue since and I’ve used it really a lot.

[AntoniusGaius]

@AntoniusGaius @AntoniusGaius OK folks, so as I promised I made some comparison of HR accuracy of my new sensor on 9Peak Pro and Ambit 3 Peak with Suunto Smart sensor. It is on 10K run. In last third is visible that the values are almost identical. It was after some adjustment of the watch strap on my wrist. After this I stopped control both watch and only run nicely . Before this are some differences visible but nothing terrible. Mostly in the moments I manipulated with my sleeve to look on the watch to compare values with second ones (it was -1 degree C) So in general I must say that measurement seems to be really accurate at the moment. Very tiny bubbles are present but it is actually not spreading and it is not in reading zone so it does not affect the accuracy. I’m satisfied with this results and it is for my purposes sufficient enough. I will probably use the strap only for run trainings to better control the HR zones and have better understanding what my old body does during it