Suunto 9 Picasso Edition

[Brad_Olwin]

@zhang965 Well, it is clear that the S/N and satellite numbers are poor, that explains the poor tracks. Not sure what you can do about that but no watch would be any better with the satellite number and S/N you have.

[freeheeler]

@Brad_Olwin
but why is the phone’s track so much better? Cell location does not do it so much better, does it?

[surfboomerang]

@TELE-HO power and location in device I think

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

From what I see you start with very little satelites the bare minimum and due to the location I assume it wont improve.

[sartoric]

@TELE-HO
Basically … antenna

[halajos]

@Dimitrios-Kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

From what I see you start with very little satelites the bare minimum and due to the location I assume it wont improve.

It would be nice if the GPS icon on the activity pre-start screen changed its color (yellow/green) according to the GPS signal quality to let the user decide to wait a bit longer or just start.

[Jamie BG]

@TELE-HO usually your phone not only takes GPS but also uses cell tower triangulation and wifi signals to improve its location tracking. By using these multiple sources it can get an even better fix.

[Brad_Olwin]

@TELE-HO said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

@Brad_Olwin
but why is the phone’s track so much better? Cell location does not do it so much better, does it?

Yes, the cell phone can use towers and any WiFi networks for aiding in location data. The phone likely had a much better fix at start.

My tracks are almost always very good. I am in a fairly rural area, run mostly on trails and I am often above tree line. My GPS conditions are ideal for the watches and I don’t see these issues. Tall buildings, dense forest and deep canyons are much more challenging.

[Fenr1r]

@Brad_Olwin said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

Tall buildings, dense forest and deep canyons are much more challenging.

Yes, indeed. Simultaneous tracks:

Google Earth measured distance: 3.71km

A3P (light blue): 5.48
SSU (yellow): 4.42
A20 (dark blue): 3.99
i5+Vr (green): 2.96 [Phone + Wireless Data ON]
i7+Vr (red): 3.64(5.17*) [GPS only, Airplane mode, SIM removed]

*1.53km of weird westward freakout (5 trkpts) between initial fix and common start.
Both watches on top of pack. Clearly neither happy about it.

[zhang965]

Another test, s9b vs my phone
3.29km vs 3.7km

[Prenj]

@zhang965 said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

another sad story, the same day, same exercise, left is recorded with suunto app on my phone and right is recorded with suunto9baro.

the distance is 3.3km vs 2.6km…

Huh, this one’s really embarrassing. Makes me wonder if smaller phone models if they improve battery life could make sport watches completely obsolete in the future… They already have better tracks in some situations, have larger (in some cases better) screen, can be easily customized, can be used for many other things and they do all this with prices comparable to watch prices. Why shouldn’t one just strap the phone to wrist and have a “sport watch” with huge screen?

[freeheeler]

@Prenj
because Suunto does not make money with phones? And because I want a sapphire glass and an ultradurable device …unless you have a caterpillar phone it is not ultradurable

[isazi]

@TELE-HO also, while at times phones do get better tracks, at times they do not. I have been hiking (as recently as this summer) with friends using phones, and actually before my first Garmin Fenix 2 I was also using my phone to record hikes.

[4nders]

A bit OT perhaps. Wouldnt it be good if the S9 watches could use the phones gps like the S3? When i do open-water swims and my phone is with me in my buoy, it probably has better gps reception than my watch.

[Prenj]

@TELE-HO said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

@Prenj
because Suunto does not make money with phones? And because I want a sapphire glass and an ultradurable device …unless you have a caterpillar phone it is not ultradurable

Sapphire glass is nice, but I own a Suunto without it for 2 years and have zero scratches on it. It’s true that phones, with their larger screens are much more fragile and would really benefit with more durable glass, but still I think it’s just not worth it. These days we replace our phones very often. And sport watches industry is heading in this direction as it seems. So having ultra durable watches is no longer a thing when you will most likely, whether you like it or not, have to get another watch before you destroy it, because manufacturer is going to do it for you if you don’t.

I have been using phone with OruxMaps for shorter hikes and I got to say that experience is not that bad at all. Having a decent web platform in addition to the app would be a killer combination. Smaller phone model that could be easily strapped to the wrist, with battery life of at least 20 hours always on display and GPS would be acceptable to me for hiking. For some usage cases it probably wouldn’t, but still, the gap is shrinking.

[A Former User]

@Prenj said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

@TELE-HO said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

@Prenj
because Suunto does not make money with phones? And because I want a sapphire glass and an ultradurable device …unless you have a caterpillar phone it is not ultradurable

Sapphire glass is nice, but I own a Suunto without it for 2 years and have zero scratches on it. It’s true that phones, with their larger screens are much more fragile and would really benefit with more durable glass, but still I think it’s just not worth it. These days we replace our phones very often. And sport watches industry is heading in this direction as it seems. So having ultra durable watches is no longer a thing when you will most likely, whether you like it or not, have to get another watch before you destroy it, because manufacturer is going to do it for you if you don’t.

I have been using phone with OruxMaps for shorter hikes and I got to say that experience is not that bad at all. Having a decent web platform in addition to the app would be a killer combination. Smaller phone model that could be easily strapped to the wrist, with battery life of at least 20 hours always on display and GPS would be acceptable to me for hiking. For some usage cases it probably wouldn’t, but still, the gap is shrinking.

Sorry for the off topic
20h?on which phone? I am curious. I find oruxmaps a real Swiss army knife app.
Currently regarding gps I think the Etrex series (non touch) are among the long lasting devices in terms of battery life (about 15-20h).

[Prenj]

@André-Faria
Still not available. But batteries are getting better and phones can accommodate larger capacities than watch. They have larger displays for sure, but smaller devices could soon get much better battery life if industry finds it profitable to sell such devices. Lately devices were getting mostly bigger, but there is some hope, apple is bringing back smaller iphones.

And sorry for OT

[zhang965]

@Prenj said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

@André-Faria
Still not available. But batteries are getting better and phones can accommodate larger capacities than watch. They have larger displays for sure, but smaller devices could soon get much better battery life if industry finds it profitable to sell such devices. Lately devices were getting mostly bigger, but there is some hope, apple is bringing back smaller iphones.

And sorry for OT

Don’t worry, OT is welcome.

I’ll just charge you later, 5 euros per word.

[Jamie BG]

@Brad_Olwin - its quite interesting as played around a bit with the new google fit update (before rolling it back for the strength training) and noticed that it got a hard fix super fast. Tracking was about on par as suunto 7.

Had a wobble yesterday on suunto 7, but first time I have seen a point way of course, and do the same/similar routes virtually every day, and when comparing them you generally always get virtually one line. Yesterday however there was a big spike that went no where, so suspect it must have lost connection or something happened to put it way off. But no issues today.

[freeheeler]

@Prenj said in Suunto 9 Picasso Edition:

So having ultra durable watches is no longer a thing when you will most likely, whether you like it or not, have to get another watch before you destroy it, because manufacturer is going to do it for you if you don’t.

I bet I destroy a watch that is less durable than S9B before Suunto does.
And I don’t want a phone on my wrist. Even when the screen is smaller than 4 inches… I would need a wrist phone and a phone phone then. Imagine how comfy it is to wear a wrist phone for skiing…