Ambit2 - spell it out for me...

[freeheeler]

@petmic
I would wish an Ambit4 Peak Sapphire for my next birthday

Totally agree and support your comment!

[Jouko Tyni]

We do have a separate insight team having NPS surveys and what not to collect user needs and feedback. This forum is just one source and planned originally to be used for the application beta phase. We decided to not kill this when the closed beta ended and I think this forum is still on it’s way to be nice tool for us and our users.

In my eyes one issue we see here is that we are quite slow on showing any changes that comes from the feedback we get. having the feedback to show in the end product is not as easy as one may think. I come from technical background like coding and Test Automation CI etc and it has been quite big eye opener to work with the marketing and other stakeholders to see how little I understand about those areas and reasoning behind product decisions…

What comes to market shares, my understanding is that Suunto has never been big, even it has been in top3 with Garmin and Polar. Ambit was our hit product and one could say it was first of a kind. I still adore my Ambit3 in races and my runs but S9 has replaced it as daily watch and casual activity tracker. But atm is lacks some Outdoor features I’d like to have in my hikes, mainly POI related stuff. And I come from Finland where the Suunto brand knowledge is the best in the world.

I share the worry about Ambit/Traverse users destiny and can assure they are not forgotten and I am personally fighting to get full support in Suunto app since Movescount is not improved anymore. This is not only because I’ve started my Suunto career with Ambit2 testing about 7 years ago. It’s because I believe it deserves and needs the supports as the devices are still great for years to come,

[Mi_chael]

@Jouko-from-Suunto

You said it all !!!

Thanks

[jthomi]

@Jouko-from-Suunto Thanks for your post here Jouko!

I also think this forum here is a great place and tool for Suunto and us users.

And I hope it will stay, to provide help for any new and existing user. I think we are on a very good way here with the development of this forum, many new users and proud owners of Suunto watches can find help here very easily and everyone can share valuable knowledge here.

[Brad_Olwin]

@Jouko-from-Suunto Thanks!

[paul870]

@Jouko-from-Suunto thanks for the details.
I too love my Ambit 3, i actually prefer to race with the Ambit rather than my Spartan, its the simplicity that makes it great.
I would love to migrate to the 9 but sadly this whole situation with the lack of web interface has done for that at the moment, how i can create / manage various routes on a tiny mobile phone is well… beyond me.
I have played about with other websites but the effort / time required to sort this is just far too great for me, the simplicity of setting a route / POI in MC then just appearing in the watch was a very BIG+ now sadly I feel Suunto’s time is passing us by… unless something happens pretty soon…

NO Ambit support / NO web interface = NO way forward.

[lohtse]

@paul870 said in Ambit2 - spell it out for me...:

@Jouko-from-Suunto thanks for the details.
I too love my Ambit 3, i actually prefer to race with the Ambit rather than my Spartan, its the simplicity that makes it great.
I would love to migrate to the 9 but sadly this whole situation with the lack of web interface has done for that at the moment, how i can create / manage various routes on a tiny mobile phone is well… beyond me.
I have played about with other websites but the effort / time required to sort this is just far too great for me, the simplicity of setting a route / POI in MC then just appearing in the watch was a very BIG+ now sadly I feel Suunto’s time is passing us by… unless something happens pretty soon…

NO Ambit support / NO web interface = NO way forward.

Pretty much my thoughs too… Such a shame a great device will be ruined by the very company that brought them to being…

[jthomi]

@lohtse I don’t own an Ambit, I made the jump from owning a T6D combined with a GPS Trail Pod for years to the Suunto Spartan Sport. But I totally understand what you are saying here and your frustration. I really Suunto will address that in the May update.

[Mi_chael]

@

What is the May update?
It’s Suunto app update or watch fw update?

[jthomi]

@Mi_chael Suunto is talking about some updates happening in Mai, see here:

https://forum.suunto.com/topic/2382/april-transition-update

Guess you have already seen it. No further news since that one.

[A Former User]

Guess this is the news for ambit 2 users… A discount code on the S9:
Screenshot_2019-10-28-15-23-35-107_com.google.android.gm.png

[freeheeler]

@André-Faria
how much?
My wife owns an a3r but she doesn’t like the chest strap.
The values she looks at for her half marathon/marathon trainings are pace, time, distance and hr…
I’m thinking about giving her a Suunto 5 as I am veeery happy with my Suunto 9 Baro.
…yes… SA is not yet where I want it and I miss a big screen version… but I don’t regret the step forward (knowing improvements to come)

[A Former User]

@TELE-HO Suunto 9 @299eur and suunto 9 baro @419eur.
Guess it is the same price or near other European stores.

[freeheeler]

@André-Faria
more or less, yes.
I’ve heard sometimes that electronics in Switzerland are cheaper than in EU

[A Former User]

@TELE-HO said in Ambit2 - spell it out for me...:

@André-Faria
more or less, yes.
I’ve heard sometimes that electronics in Switzerland are cheaper than in EU

I checked again in the stores in Portugal and they are expensive than this.
If anyone needs the codes let me know by PM, I won’t use it.

[freeheeler]

@André-Faria
my portuguese is not very good… actually stops after bom dia and obrigado…
but my understanding is that suunto offers to ambit and ambit2 users a discount to upgrade older watches before they shut down MC.
hence my recent thinking that MC will stay alive seems to be outdated… the good assumption out of this is that ambit3 is more likely to be better integrated into SA.

[A Former User]

@TELE-HO said in Ambit2 - spell it out for me...:

@André-Faria
my portuguese is not very good… actually stops after bom dia and obrigado…
but my understanding is that suunto offers to ambit and ambit2 users a discount to upgrade older watches before they shut down MC.
hence my recent thinking that MC will stay alive seems to be outdated… the good assumption out of this is that ambit3 is more likely to be better integrated into SA.

Well, when I traded my Ambit 2 Sapphire for an Ambit 3 Sapphire that was my thinking.
In my head. Having an app only, and making it work with cable operated devices for everyone would be very very dificult.
Suunto never did it with movescount mobile, never had an offline software for pc for the ambit line, so I think they would just ditch this watches, offer a good discount and that’s it.
Although me and others don’t like it, it is better than nothing.
That was why I trated my Ambit 2 Sapphire for an Ambit 3 Sapphire, a very low cost move (About 40eur I guess) and for something that works everytime and covers all my needs.

[freeheeler]

@André-Faria
I also bought (a new) A3PS only in June and will keep it.
I also upgraded to a nice S9B out of interest

[BKtoo]

@TELE-HO what is your user experience with the two watches?

[freeheeler]

@KnutB
you risk a long essay about pros and cons
but I try to make it short and highlight what’s important to me.
In general, they are two different watches and while A3PS is a stable, reliable and tough watch, there are some things that need some love from Suunto team in the S9B. The S9B works reliable for me, don’t get me wrong:

here’s what I see…
phone/pc software:
A3PS in combination with MC is convenient to use at the desktop, MC app is basically only good for spontaneous setup and else only to sync without a cable.
On the other hand S9B, I would be quite disappointed to use it only in combo with my phone. I appreciate all functionality of SA without the desktop. I will mainly use it with the phone but want to have the opportunity to look at activities on a big screen. But there are still some (not a lot) things missing for me in SA like ascent summaries, crop and merge of activities and analyzing the parameters by selecting zones on x axis e. g. to analyze one specific ascent. (I hope this will come!)

gps accuracy:
it is not veeery important to me even I appreciate better accuracy when it’s there. A3PS is a bit better (where I have tested it). I did not test indeepth galileo or glonass effects. The fact that S9B is galileo and glonass ready is a big plus and I request to use the 3 systems individually without gps!
In the S9 pros and cons thread I posted the result of a direct comparison of the watches recordings and noticed that S9B has a more nervouse recording. Might be better for faster activities. On slower activities it could be a disadvantage.

display:
I was a bit afraid of a color display, but it is very good to read on the S9B in a lot of angles, while the A3PS is slightley worse to read but good over a wider range of angles. In lowlight it’s still good to see.

baro/ascent calculation:
with my main activities the ascent calculation is pretty precise. during my comparison test on rollinglish terrain I noticed that S9B calculates less ascent meters than A3PS. Question here is: which one is right? Gut feeling: A3PS. But S9B might improve with a new FW update. And with my normal activities (one or two bigger climbs) this has a small effect.

heartrate:
I like the OHR alot even I did not think that I would ever use it. I mainly use the chest strap for better accuracy and less battery consumption. But for some activities I don’t want to wear the chest strap, eg hiking, and I live on the compromise that (for me and my watch wearing style) the results are not always perfect.
A3PS is missing this feature of course.
What I like even more is the zones ring on the outer ring of the screen with the indicator in every parameter screen that shows me in which of my HR zones I am at the moment. So I can see that even when I am in the ascent values screen…

screens/parameters:
up to 7 in S9B and 3 in A3PS… it reduces the pressing and fiddling on the watch during the activity.

apps:
I thought I would miss ambit apps… until now, I don’t miss them to be honest.
My most important app was to change m/min ascent rate into m/h. But this can be selected by default in S9B

battery:
I bought the A3PS because of very good battery life. S9B is even better.

wrist strap:
A3PS gives me the impression with the screwed fixation it is indestructible. S9B with the quick release gives a less robust feeling… who knows, it’s just a feeling

In general I have a very good impression of S9B even there is room for improvement on small details for handling and some slightly bigger room for improvement on the gps accuracy and total ascent calculation for rolling terrain.
I see more things that need to be solved on SA side. For me and for the moment it’s fine as some of the missing things can be done with Strava and Elevate extend… of course having everything out of one hand is much appreciated!

sorry, it became a bit longer but I did not cover all topics… if you have any questions, just let me know. If you give me some time I can even test something between A3PS and S9B.

edit:
route planning and sync to the watch is very easy with the SA and S9B… who knows, in case A3PS will be completely supported with SA it will be a big step forward. You can go on a short weekend trip, without laptop, lookup some trails, do a quick planning on the phone, sync to the watch and start biking or running