Ambit3 Vertical in 2024 - and beyond?
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As my S9P is on the way to Suunto Support I reactivated my good old Ambit3 Vertical. It was some kind of underdog and not really often seen.
But now is the time to shine! The Ambit3 is supported by the Suunto App partly, connecting was easy after saying goodbye to the S9P. Also the first impression after 24h use with a half hour run was good:
Fast GPS and HR (Belt) fix - faster than S9P!
Good Readability in the sun
Accurate GPS
VO2Max looks plausible
Recovery Test is a nice feature
Battery still at 90%
Watch menu navigation is faster and easier than S9PThe not so good
Size and Weight are noticable
OHR is much more comfortable then the belt
VO2Max is recorded, but not as VO2MAX. Its a separate field “Leistung” (Power). I guess it wasn’t licensed at the time
Ascent and Descent are wrong: Lowest point 234m, highest 248m - Ascent 12m. HmmmmBut for everybody who has no problem with bigger watches and a HR belt this two (or three) generation old watch is still absolutly usable. I really like the responsive user interface. If the S9P maybe will not recover I think about keeping it a little longer…
What is your experience using old generation watches compared with new?
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@VoiGAS I am still using the Ambit 3 Peak (Sapphire edition) and frankly don’t feel the need to upgrade to something new yet. I have already changed the battery twice and as long as the watch does not abandon me
or there is no way to find new batteries, I keep using it. Of course, the new watches (I mean any brand) have many new and wonderful functions, but I also see many problems and I still prefer to stick to minimal but working functions: what is missing is not missing! Perfect GPS, wonderful barometer even in high winds, impressive HR thanks to the Suunto strap, altitude profile. I have yet to find a situation where my Ambit fails miserably. And yep, the Ambit reminds me of the old dear Suunto 
!So yes, it is still perfectly usable today and still keeps me entertained running in the mountains. Races (no pun intended
) included. -
@ferns Good to know, sometimes older devices are still good enough today. In my case the Ambit3 Vertical showed very plausible ascent values on the second run - so everything is good
But also my Gear Aquisition Syndrom keeps me excited reading about the Race S and Ocean. Lets see how long I can keep it under control… -
@VoiGAS said in Ambit3 Vertical in 2024 - and beyond?:
@ferns In my case the Ambit3 Vertical showed very plausible ascent values on the second run - so everything is good
If you have not already done so, try soaking it in warm water for 30 minutes and shaking it every 10 minutes while keeping it submerged. I had a similar problem and fortunately solved it. I hope it works for you as well.
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@ferns Thank you, I tried it. But I think the problem is how the Ambit Ascent works. I kept looking at the ascent during the run today and it looks like you need at least 3m difference to trigger the ascent to increase. So if you have a very wavy track the ascent will be wrong. But as the watches name is “Vertical” and it works quite good with hill running thats not a big deal.
So still everything good and the battery is at 40% after one week with 3 trainings. Not bad for such an old watch. Just wish it would be a little smaller and lighter, but its still okay -
@VoiGAS my fault sorry, I just remembered that the Vertical does not have the barometer…
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@ferns it has a barometer and I cleaned the holes in front of it. Is the Ambit3 Peak more sensitive regarding ascent?
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@VoiGAS In my environment I only have trails with long slopes so I have never tried in cases like yours. I will do it and eventually let you know.
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@VoiGAS said in Ambit3 Vertical in 2024 - and beyond?:
Is the Ambit3 Peak more sensitive regarding ascent?
Yesterday I had a recovery run, so I took the opportunity to try a 15km run uphill and downhill (on the chart max - min altitude was ~40m along the route, sorry the best I could do). In the end I accumulated ~120m and that seems a reasonable amount. I tried to pay attention to the barometer and saw that from time to time it changed even by 1m and sometimes it stayed the same for no apparent reason and suddenly jumped by 3/4m. Hard to say.
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@ferns Thank you for testing!
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Update on the Ambit3 performance - I hope some people are still interested in this old watch:
- battery is now empty after about 14 days with 5 hours training (Yes, I know… ) and four recovery tests. Thats really good
- The watch has good functions that are not working without movescount: Routes, POIs, apps and zones. Thats really bad
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Some things like the fast GPS fix, recovery test with HR belt and configurable displays are even better than on current watches in my opinion. But without proper app support the watches possibilities are very restricted…
Race S
Ambit3 Vertical - battery is now empty after about 14 days with 5 hours training (Yes, I know…
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I still haven’t put down my Suunto Traverse Alpha!
They have exactly the features I need and not one extra. I need (love) durability and simplicity. I don’t need a hundred features and an update to them every month. I just put the watch on in the morning and use it. I’m so sorry they don’t have a successor yet, and not even an alternative among other watch brands. I would love it if Suunto would upgrade them!
As for the design… steel, titanium, sapphire crystal. Leave the features as they are. No touchscreen, maybe just bigger! Instead of a thorn lock strap, put a more durable screw lock. And most importantly, a more powerful battery! One to two weeks of battery life is not much.Suunto!.. Please revive the Suunto Traverse Alpha!
Thank you very much!Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
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@VoiGAS said in Ambit3 Vertical in 2024 - and beyond?:
Some things like the fast GPS fix, recovery test with HR belt and configurable displays are even better than on current watches in my opinion. But without proper app support the watches possibilities are very restricted…
As you mentioned recovery test I just checked the manual and found https://www.suunto.com/en-gb/Support/Product-support/suunto_ambit3_peak/suunto_ambit3_peak/features/recovery/ – wow, that is cool, I did not know that! How could Suunto drop this? Okay, both the quick and sleep test are described as being „powered by FirstBeat“ and thus come with licensing costs per watch as I understood from this forum. But Suunto had this HRV functionality and discontinued it after the Ambit series? I remember that Polar had an orthostatic test when I was researching and I did not notice anything similar on Suunto‘s side. I also assumed that I should go for a Spartan and not for an Ambit because newer = better.
I really struggle to understand the product strategy because I (wrongly) assume that one should never cut back on functionality in the top-of-the-line product. A similar comment is made with regards to the Suunto Ocean in https://forum.suunto.com/post/149859 …
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@Mauerwegler I guess Suunto is seeing the “Ressources” functionality as a replacement. But it needs the Wrist HR always on, the old recovery test is something that can be done without HR on and with a belt - which should give better results.
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technology has advanced!
No need to use a decade old algorithm as we now have TSB and HRV measured during your sleep.
The static recovery test is a measurement done at one point - noone knows what your body has done an hour before etc.
It is just outdated. Technology advances and we will soon see innovative new acitivity metrics in our Suuntos
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@Egika said in Ambit3 Vertical in 2024 - and beyond?:
technology has advanced!
No need to use a decade old algorithm as we now have TSB and HRV measured during your sleep.If technology has advanced, how come that the recovery section in the manual of the S9 (that was a top-of-the-line product with optical HR) is so much shorter than in the Ambit manual? That was my point. I agree with you that we don’t need it now anymore in 2024, but there was a feature loss over several watch generations: Spartan Ultra and S9B up to S9P. Only S9PP and newer have HRV automatically measured over night.
The static recovery test is a measurement done at one point - noone knows what your body has done an hour before etc.
That is why Polar suggested that one should do the test straight after waking up. Again, I agree that measuring during sleep is better, so starting with the S9PP the situation has improved compared to the Ambit series.
It is just outdated. Technology advances and we will soon see innovative new acitivity metrics in our Suuntos
I‘ll keep my eyes open. Thanks for the indication!
Vertical All Black
Spartan Ultra Stealth Ti (with Polar H10 or Suunto Smart Sensor)
Vector
iOS Suunto App (beta) -
Another thing: On the Ambit3 I could press the View button to see my ascent and altitude. On the 9 Peak I wanted to figure out the current altitude during a run and had no success
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@Mauerwegler Would be great to have the 24h monitoring with OHR plus the HR Belt test on demand. At least in the app.
Today I compared both, in the morning 100% vs 91%, after an exhausting run 31% vs 11% (Ambit3 vs 9P). From my feeling its something in between, but the difference is quite high. So I think I will stay with the 9P for consistency… -
@Mauerwegler said in Ambit3 Vertical in 2024 - and beyond?:
That is why Polar suggested that one should do the test straight after waking up
…and that seems the suggested way to go. There is an interesting article by Marco Atlini on the subject. That said, I would like Suunto watches to be able to provide an instantaneous HRV measurement as well.
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@VoiGAS said in Ambit3 Vertical in 2024 - and beyond?:
Update on the Ambit3 performance - I hope some people are still interested in this old watch:
- battery is now empty after about 14 days with 5 hours training (Yes, I know… ) and four recovery tests. Thats really good
- The watch has good functions that are not working without movescount: Routes, POIs, apps and zones. Thats really bad ️
Some things like the fast GPS fix, recovery test with HR belt and configurable displays are even better than on current watches in my opinion. But without proper app support the watches possibilities are very restricted…
Regarding POIs and Routes I found out that it is possible when you sync Suuntolink with the App - nice! For Apps and Zones it doesn’t seem to work this way, but better than nothing I suppose
- battery is now empty after about 14 days with 5 hours training (Yes, I know…
