Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin

[francescobaldi]

Time by time I come here to see if there are news about the integration of a full support of the ambit family in the suunto app have made some steps forward.
all I find are complainings about the ridicolous suunto politic to make their products oblolete deliberately.

I still have some hope that something will change but my main thoughts are that this will be my last suunto watch.
Great job Suunto, just not to make the little effort to copy few code lines from one app to another.
Great job, continue not to listen your customers

[Bulkan]

@francescobaldi said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

Time by time I come here to see if there are news about the integration of a full support of the ambit family in the suunto app have made some steps forward.
all I find are complainings about the ridicolous suunto politic to make their products oblolete deliberately.

That’s called the bias confirmation. There are so much things going on in this community, take a look.

I still have some hope that something will change but my main thoughts are that this will be my last suunto watch.

The statement about the digital transition is not clear? I understand the position of an A3P owner but the watch is plenty funcional.

Great job Suunto, just not to make the little effort to copy few code lines from one app to another.

Looks like pretty simple to code. I don’t think this affirmation helps to get where you want Suunto to be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just trying to say that the disappointment you have and these kind of posts aren’t the best way to get Ambit supported as max as possible in Suunto to App.

Great job, continue not to listen your customers

Did you take the surveys? I think Suunto listen but the decision aren’t made of what costumers say, at least 100%, there is feedback from what I’ve seen The new features weren’t asked by the users and there you have climb, loops…

[harmonmonic]

@André-Faria said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

This comment on DCRainmaker sums it all for me:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/01/suunto-announces-decommission-plans-for-movescount-platform-impacting-some-watches.html#comment-3061899 garmin customer service phone number

For a while we all supported Suunto because they are more stable than Garmin, even if with less features (from ambit 2 onwards). I think newer models are “as bad” as garmins are, so if suunto tells me to drop a 500eur watch to the bin, guess I will choose something else. Garmin may not be the best, but at least you can take out their data and change sports modes on the watch.
Quoting from DCrainmaker "Of course, the biggest issue here is how to handle the Ambit 1/2 units. One of the most overlooked aspects of the Garmin device world is the non-reliance for virtually all of their devices on a web-based service to access your recorded workouts. You can simply plug in your watch to your computer and offload it via USB like any other file or with local desktop software that exports to your computer (even a Garmin Forerunner 305 from 13 years ago!) . "
Hope suunto gets their identity and their focus sorted. For me this is the Nokia story repeated, they had good keypad feature phones, business models, ok the trend was touch, they simply didn’t do it right, and that is what is happening with suunto, even with some models less sophisticated, if they were stable we would buy it. When my ambit 2 sapphire dies I would buy a ambit 3 sapphire new if it was supported at 100%.
Those “techology moves fast” guys…just tell me what newer suunto watches have that Ambit 3 don’t? If you talk about fenix 5x yes…it has, but newer suuntos guess not.
Again, better suunto think again and see where they were and where they want to move. I think they are thinking that “apple watches” alike will be a mine of gold, but with the quality of suunto apps I guess it will fail in a hurry.
Hope I am wrong and that this all this shift turns the brand into something even better “Suunto…replacing luck”.
In the meanwhile I also bought a Garmin, but an etrex 30x. It will take me a while to switch to a Fenix…but…if things go on this way, it would be the only route I believe…or an amazfit stratos (considering it is 1/5th of the price).

Thanks for this.Very informative

[A Former User]

@harmonmonic said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

@André-Faria said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

This comment on DCRainmaker sums it all for me:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/01/suunto-announces-decommission-plans-for-movescount-platform-impacting-some-watches.html#comment-3061899 garmin customer service phone number

For a while we all supported Suunto because they are more stable than Garmin, even if with less features (from ambit 2 onwards). I think newer models are “as bad” as garmins are, so if suunto tells me to drop a 500eur watch to the bin, guess I will choose something else. Garmin may not be the best, but at least you can take out their data and change sports modes on the watch.
Quoting from DCrainmaker "Of course, the biggest issue here is how to handle the Ambit 1/2 units. One of the most overlooked aspects of the Garmin device world is the non-reliance for virtually all of their devices on a web-based service to access your recorded workouts. You can simply plug in your watch to your computer and offload it via USB like any other file or with local desktop software that exports to your computer (even a Garmin Forerunner 305 from 13 years ago!) . "
Hope suunto gets their identity and their focus sorted. For me this is the Nokia story repeated, they had good keypad feature phones, business models, ok the trend was touch, they simply didn’t do it right, and that is what is happening with suunto, even with some models less sophisticated, if they were stable we would buy it. When my ambit 2 sapphire dies I would buy a ambit 3 sapphire new if it was supported at 100%.
Those “techology moves fast” guys…just tell me what newer suunto watches have that Ambit 3 don’t? If you talk about fenix 5x yes…it has, but newer suuntos guess not.
Again, better suunto think again and see where they were and where they want to move. I think they are thinking that “apple watches” alike will be a mine of gold, but with the quality of suunto apps I guess it will fail in a hurry.
Hope I am wrong and that this all this shift turns the brand into something even better “Suunto…replacing luck”.
In the meanwhile I also bought a Garmin, but an etrex 30x. It will take me a while to switch to a Fenix…but…if things go on this way, it would be the only route I believe…or an amazfit stratos (considering it is 1/5th of the price).

Thanks for this.Very informative

Don’t forget that with the recent news, the reallity is different, ambits are now “supported”.
And at least within one more year we will have movescount and movescount app working.

[jsuarez]

@André-Faria The statement says 2021. That could vaguely refer to both 1 Jan and 31 Dec.

[Fenr1r]

@jsuarez said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

@André-Faria The statement says 2021. That could vaguely refer to both 1 Jan and 31 Dec.

And any date inbetween. Suspense!

[A Former User]

@Fenr1r said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

@jsuarez said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

@André-Faria The statement says 2021. That could vaguely refer to both 1 Jan and 31 Dec.

And any date inbetween. Suspense!

It is to add some heart beats! More calories burned!

[Fenr1r]

@André-Faria said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

It is to add some heart beats! More calories burned!

Nicely spun.

[jsuarez]

They could’ve said until the next decade. That would have been Hitchcock-like suspense…

[diakosmos]

I couldn’t agree with the premise of this thread (Hello, Garmin!) more.

I loved my Ambit2. I was planning to buy a replacement. I was also checking out a new Suunto dive watch. All of my many compasses are Suunto. Great products.

My Ambit2 has data on where I lost my GoPro on my recent helicopter skiing trip, though. I was hoping I could at least access that data.

Oh wait, you don’t let me access my data directly, do you, Suunto? So, I can’t figure out where I dropped my GoPro after all. I thought when I plunked down a big wad of $$$ that I actually owned my watch. Nope! Turns out, Suunto still owned it.

I get why you’re moving to mobile, but I don’t care a flip about social media, or ‘likes,’ and I bought this watch to get away from smartphones, not to get closer to them. Technically, there is no reason you couldn’t go on indefinitely letting me just use MovesCount. And don’t give me a baloney answer that that’s not really possible. I code for a living, ok, and I’m good enough at it to pay for a pretty expensive sports habit. Of course it’s possible. You could even just have kept MovesCount going, with no updates, until its users gradually dwindled away in numbers, just like your profits will be dwindling away in the future quarters, I expect.

Suunto, you don’t want to go the open-source route; you want the proprietary route. You want the Apple route.

But Suunto, you’re no Apple.

And that’s a good thing, really. The world already has one too many Apples as it is.

Instead of Apple, you are - or rather, used to be - a company known for making top-notch high-quality outdoor routefinding gear like the 60-yo Suunto compass that I’m holding in my hand right now. I inherited it from my father; still works fantastic, just as well as the day it was built.

But it was built by another company, a company that no longer exists, a company that doesn’t stand by its products like its founder did.

Very sad.

[pavel.samokha]

@diakosmos it looks like you don’t seek for help, but rather wanna make a statement, but you can access all the data from your Ambit 2 after Movescount sync stopped working. If you don’t know how, please tell what exactly is your problem.

[Soojong Moon]

@diakosmos Among your opinions, I think we have to admit that the mobile platform is inevitable. These days, MZ generations are mainly using mobile phone for everything and many of them even don’t use laptop anymore.

EVERYTHING would be always better if we can do everything. But, when the resources are limited, we have to focus more on core areas.

I respect your complaints, but if there is any small amount of resources, I believe that Suunto must improve the Suunto App first.

[A Former User]

@diakosmos said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

My Ambit2 has data on where I lost my GoPro on my recent helicopter skiing trip, though. I was hoping I could at least access that data.

Oh wait, you don’t let me access my data directly, do you, Suunto? So, I can’t figure out where I dropped my GoPro after all. I thought when I plunked down a big wad of $$$ that I actually owned my watch. Nope! Turns out, Suunto still owned it.

You don’t have acess on movescount? also you can send message to suunto to export all data…

[MiniForklift]

I actually can’t believe so many people are complaining about their watch not lasting 5 years or more. Maybe I’m in the minority or maybe I’m somewhat of a gear junkie, but usually when something new and worthy of trying out is released I’m interested. If I am honest my S9B is the only watch I have owned on multiple occasions (I’ve owned a few of the different models and sold them along the way to fund new offerings from COROS plus a few crappy Garmin’s). I’m now back to the S9B gold edition and hands down it’s the best of the bunch for me at least; watches are absolutely subjective, and with that being said I don’t think people should shoot a brand down unless they have compared it to many of the others out there

FWIW I’d be quite surprised if I still have my S9B on my wrist as my main training/racing watch in 2026; by then I’ll likely be wearing a newer model and hopefully it will be from Suunto. The Ambit3 seems like a blast from the past, I must have owned that one a decade ago. I’d be happy if it were still telling the time today let alone recording workouts

[freeheeler]

@miniforklift
nothing to add!

[A Former User]

@miniforklift said in Goodbye Suunto, hello Garmin:

I actually can’t believe so many people are complaining about their watch not lasting 5 years or more. Maybe I’m in the minority or maybe I’m somewhat of a gear junkie, but usually when something new and worthy of trying out is released I’m interested. If I am honest my S9B is the only watch I have owned on multiple occasions (I’ve owned a few of the different models and sold them along the way to fund new offerings from COROS plus a few crappy Garmin’s). I’m now back to the S9B gold edition and hands down it’s the best of the bunch for me at least; watches are absolutely subjective, and with that being said I don’t think people should shoot a brand down unless they have compared it to many of the others out there

FWIW I’d be quite surprised if I still have my S9B on my wrist as my main training/racing watch in 2026; by then I’ll likely be wearing a newer model and hopefully it will be from Suunto. The Ambit3 seems like a blast from the past, I must have owned that one a decade ago. I’d be happy if it were still telling the time today let alone recording workouts

It is one way of seeing things.
I am the opposite. I prefer to “pay more” and be sure in some years the unit is fully functional with some support than having always to upgrade/buy new.
By the time I choose the ambit 2 for example if covered all the needs at the time and some future ones (navigation and support for power meters for example). Only some years later I used them.
If by the time the core features served me, probably they will serve me in the future. Only if my needs changed a lot, or the new feature is a game changer.
Regarding your statement about the ambits, I guess the fact that suunto still sells them helps

[freeheeler]

@andré-faria
I’m happy when products are built to last, but I am also willing to try new features if I see a benefit.
It’s about a good balance between saving recourses vs. keeping up with technology

[diakosmos]

@pavel-samokha Great, (1) how do I get the data off, (2) what format is it in, and (3) what libraries/utilities to read/edit it, assuming it’s binary?

And (4), if this is so easy, why don’t you put info on how to do this top, front and center on the MovesCount website? Seems like a pretty obvious thing to do.

[pavel.samokha]

@diakosmos
I believe everything is described here https://www.suunto.com/Support/faq-articles/transition/how-do-i-use-the-suunto-services-with-ambit2/

[diakosmos]

@PAVEL.SAMOKHA Thank you for that information.

Everything I had read gave me the impression that it was impossible, without some kind of hack, to use the data from my Ambit on Suunto App. Of course, I was tired from over-training, but it seems like I wasn’t really off-base there:

I just found a nice post by DC Rainmaker that explained that, in fact, that was the plan up until a few months ago.

Good of you to backtrack on your original plan to, as I see it, effectively brick my Ambit, but it wasn’t clear to me.

Consider this passage from your website: "Which Suunto products are compatible with Suunto app?
All mobile-connected Suunto products including Suunto 9, Suunto 7, Suunto 5, Suunto 3 (Fitness), Suunto Spartan, Suunto Ambit3, Suunto Traverse and Traverse Alpha Collection watches as well as Suunto EON Steel, EON Core and D5 dive computers are compatible with Suunto app. "

I would naively read that as indicating that my Ambit is not in fact compatible with Suunto app. So now, you are saying it actually IS compatible after all; I just have to install SuuntoLink. Yay! Nice.

So why not have something that pops up on MovesCount to tell me, “hey dummy, you need to install SuuntoLink?”

In the meantime, this AM, I (1) figured out where the *.sml files from my Ambit were on my computer, (2) converted them to *.gpx format, using ambit2gpx (after editing the print() statements to use up-to-date python form), (3) uploaded and plotted my tracks on Google Maps as detailed here..

Oh, and (4) bought an $800 Garmin Enduro.

Turns out (1), (2) and (3) weren’t really necessary after all, but don’t you think you could have put a banner at the top of MovesCount making it clear how to do this?