Pros/Cons of Suunto 9 BARO * ONLY * be fair and polite!

suzzlo

@johann-fuehrer I could close it for you… if its what you want… and I don’t think is that you want

sealion.hr

Have been using S9B in last 6 months. I am doing following sports: running (half marathon), crosstraining, trail running, hiking in mountains, stand up paddling. Thus consider myself average active hobby athlete. My first watch was Ambit1 then Spartan HR baro and finally S9B.
Neutral:

people often complain on HR monitor on watch. For me it is clear that with present technology watch HR is only an emergency rescue when not having external one. I always happily use my Scosche Rhythm24

Pros:

as 50 yrs old I really appreciate large 50mm screen
readability in light is excellent (SSWHRB also)
sapphire glass (reason I changed from SSWHRB were battery life and sapphire as mineral glass could be easily scratched which happened to me)
excellent support for Stryd (unlike Garmin)
accuracy is top
does not have million bells and whistles BUT has all it takes to do the sports (unlike Garmin, but you pay for it hefty price tag). Old wisdom: less is more
have titanium version and appreciate large buttons (some folks do not). During activity I always confidently know which button I pressed (unlike SSWHRB)

Cons:

readability at dusk/night when running. Pushing middle button activates light but immediately switches screen. Would prefer just turning light on and then with next press-switching the screen
would be a nice touch to have countdown tones when doing interval training (recently sent proposal to Suunto)
no customisable watch face. Example: when going into sea for fun (no activity) would like to have temperature on watch face.
Now you have to scroll through menu to get it (not so easy). Seeing temperature activates also HR monitor which is totally useless in that situation
I am angry on Suunto for not giving all capabilities of S5 to S9 as a flagship watch. I understand it is meant for different target groups BUT one day I might decide to go for some new S?? and give S9B to my wife or son for example. They need S5 features but they are not present at S9 ( Suunto thinks I should work only to buy their watches). Buy giving these features, Suunto and I would have a win-win situation
Takeaway: I am a very happy S9B user and recommend the watch.

freeheeler

@morskilav
I like the Titanium’s design, too.
let’s see what suunto wants to tell us in October…

Saketo Nemo

@morskilav
I am not sure that the functions of S5 will not be brought to S9. Someone on the forum has hinted at the opposite. So I think your wife will be happy

countdown tones in interval training: nice to have !

temperature: all the temperature sensors take a long time (about 10m in swimming pool) to settle on the current temperature. Try it out or go to see a temperature graph of a swim.
The greater the time, the greater the delta temperature between the current one, perceived by the watch, to the real one, of the water. I don’t know how useful what you say can be: you should be in the water really a lot to get a correct figure. And if you risk giving an incorrect data, better not give it. That’s why I never look at the temperature in watch mode from my s9baro.

Òscar-gg

@morskilav Fully agree with all the pros and cons you mentioned. I would add the possibility to add a tone when navigating and following a track to inform to switch direction

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@morskilav Hey little tips here.

For the little without switching screen hold a tiny bit the middle button.

Regarding the S5 vs S9 features everyone agrees with you but but but who knows (and I stop talking here as my NDA will be activated)

Saketo Nemo

@Òscar-gg
You said well, possibility. I wouldn’t want them, for example. I prefer alarms for off tracks, rather than alarms to keep me constantly on track. too exhausting

Òscar-gg

@Saketo-Nemo This could be as an option you could switch on or off depending your needs

sealion.hr

@Saketo-Nemo I know this, thetefore when in the sea I wait some 10mins for the sensor to settle. I can easily see temperature going down but I believe it is understanable for most of people. I have also Suunto d6i and when doing freedive there is a temperature fisplayed and a similar behavior to S9B sensor.
Still I believe it would be a good feature to be able to put it to the watch face

suzzlo

@morskilav why is so important temperature for swim?
(A total ignorant in scuba diving subjects here)

Egika

@suzzlo nobody said it is so important. It would just be nice to have it… me too.

sealion.hr

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos yes, but somehow I find it fiddly when running

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@morskilav agreed its a “hack” rather a good behavour. However, just saying it out loud, I enable the backlight via options for night running.

sealion.hr

@suzzlo I did not mean it is important but would be nice to have. I live at the sea, I am often going to sea and want to convey the message to other people what is the temperature. Certainly I can live without it but having temperature sensor onboard makes pitty not to use it

suzzlo

@morskilav @Egika just asked, because maybe I was missing something…

johann.fuehrer

@suzzlo said in Pros/Cons of Suunto 9 BARO * ONLY * be fair and polite!:

@johann-fuehrer I could close it for you… if its what you want… and I don’t think is that you want

You’re right: NO! I don’t want it !!

“Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh - Stay’in alive”

freeheeler

hey guys and ladies that come from ambit and are happy with s9b now:
how did you get rid of your ambit apps addiction? didn’t you use the apps at all? or did s9b display values that made apps not required for you anymore?
or are there apps (hence values) that you miss now?

DavorP

@TELE-HO
I am not a former Ambit (Apps) user and do not have an S9 (SSU user) but would love to have a current hill gradient as a field in sports watch mode. I miss that value…

freeheeler

@DavorP
yes that’s something I used to use last year on the road bike but removed it for the sake of (for me) more important apps (5 apps is the limit).
but I would appreciate to use it if it becomes standard in s9b

halajos

@TELE-HO said in Pros/Cons of Suunto 9 BARO * ONLY * be fair and polite!:

hey guys and ladies that come from ambit and are happy with s9b now:
how did you get rid of your ambit apps addiction? didn’t you use the apps at all? or did s9b display values that made apps not required for you anymore?
or are there apps (hence values) that you miss now?

I don’t have an S9B, but an SSU. On my A3P, which I still have, I used apps to have appropriate downhill stats for alpine ski, and also for HR-based recovery during interval runs. The SSU provides the skiing data fields out of the box, but HR-based recovery is only possible with the Ambit apps.