Suunto 9 Peak (review and specs)

Brad_Olwin

@freeheeler said in Suunto 9 Peak (review and specs):

@brad_olwin
that’s nice to know a button lock wouldn’t hurt anyway, would it?
Maybe I get the chance for hands (with gloves) on the S9P

Heavy gloves are an issue for me, I find it difficult to press the buttons……lighter gloves are fine. But if the watch is on the wrist, gloves or no there won’t be accidental presses. The buttons require some force to press and have an audible click.

freeheeler

@brad_olwin
sounds as if they have a nice haptic and hence pressing feedback

chrisc92

@egika just trying to understand “snap to route”, how are the route referenced by the watch ? There are no maps on the watch , I.e. no streets nor trails

chrisc92

@egika just trying to understand “snap to route”, how are the route referenced by the watch ? There are no maps on the watch , I.e. no streets nor trails

DMytro

@chrisc92 route is predefined by you in SA

DMytro

What I’m curious about is whether the altitude data is also being smoothed out by “snap to a route”.

Fenr1r

@chrisc92 With your own loaded route, the watch assumes (within a certain lateral threshold distance) that you are actually on the exact route. Fudging GPS inaccuracy to your preferred ideal. DCR has a pretty good explanation.

markytarky

@brad_olwin I think nobody here hates the product they made. I guess the S9 peak is excellent. Just it’s for women and folks who love small watches. For us, who fall in love with a 50mm bezel, it’s just no way to go. And we can talk about pixels and contrast and resolution, etc. I’m confident that Suunto made the right move. There was no smaller watch in their portfolio. I pray they don’t forget that many of us would like to have the same update, just in a bigger case. Not necesserly tomorrrow or next 6 months, but some day.

Dimitrios Kanellopoulos

@markytarky I hear ya. That’s right what you say.

Frederick Rochette

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos Thanks for your answer I will wait, no problem… not too much

Brad_Olwin

@markytarky Agreed with 2nd part. I would expect the larger screen sizes to continue. I am not a big person so I like smaller screens.

Rob33

@brad_olwin said in Suunto 9 Peak (review and specs):

So I am curious, why do you need 1s GPS fix for 40-50h? Why is Endurance mode not sufficient? I am not asking about tastes but for the facts, what requires you to have 1s GPS fix? I can post tracks on steep mountain trails with switchbacks comparing Endurance vs Performance, they are indeed hard to tell apart.

Well, I tested the mode on an ultra (105 km) I had a gap of over 3 km at the end. And 3 km in the mountains when you’re very tired, it’s not really the same thing …
I therefore prefer the 1s mode where I have very little difference.
Maybe it was a bad day?

Rob33

@brad_olwin Of course, it is more readable, if you say it surely, but we can not say that it has a better resolution

Rob33

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos I agree, but it seems to me that a definition of 240 * 240 is nothing extraordinary today (eg compared to the S7)?
Which certainly doesn’t prevent the S9 peak from being a great watch …

Personally, I think I prefer my very large and very heavy S9B

PS: but I can change my mind …

sky-runner

@brad_olwin said in Suunto 9 Peak (review and specs):

For #1, what is the issue with Endurance mode for you? I have extensively tested this and use it for my Ultras. The tracks are nearly as good as Performance, really not enough to make a difference and the other measurements are the same as Performance (HR and altitude). So what is the issue with extended battery??? I can get at least 50h estimate on the S9P and I love having the smaller watch.

I’ve had a very bad experience with Ambit 3 Peak using GOOD (5 second) battery mode. It was dead simple in theory, but during Western States 100 the watch failed miserably once I went through the first canyon of the race, and believe me that was very frustrating experience during one of the most important races that I’ve ever done. I don’t want to rely on algorithms calculating my position and pace while pinging GPS only once per minute. There is a lot of stuff that can go wrong, and I bet endurance battery modes aren’t as well tested. I don’t want GPS chip to power off and power on again every minute. That is all simple in theory. In practice when it powers on again it may not be able to locate satellites quickly enough considering the kind of terrain we have here in Washington state. I have also tried extended battery modes with S9B and didn’t like that - the track was quite mediocre, and the distance calculation was quite poor. I know other owners of S9B that came to the same conclusion. I don’t know a single person who uses extended battery modes unless they have to do something like a 3 day hike. To me S9B accuracy was already not so great even with 1 sec updates, and I don’t want to compromise that even further.

Furthermore if I use a route and look at a distance to next waypoint (aid station), that would likely require the watch to switch to 1 sec updates, right? Again, more things to go wrong, and I just don’t want to go there.

sky-runner

@bulkan said in Suunto 9 Peak (review and specs):

I can’t think about a watch right for you.

I can’t either. I am using Fenix 6X at the moment, and it is far from ideal. It does a lot of things well, but some of the most important core features all have issues. If I could combine core features of Suunto (GPS accuracy, pace, navigation) with customizability, battery life, screen size, and on-device maps of Fenix 6X, that would be close to ideal to me.

pavel.samokha

Just my two cents, as I see a lot of opinions here.
I think it’s important to have here the following picture

and link

to say that S9P is not a replacement for S9B but two form thee S9 collection now. They will exist and be sold side by side (you remember, that S9B recently got a facelift, right?). That’s up to you decide which one suits you better.

For many Suunto users who already have S9B there is probably no reason to change it for S9P. But it’s not a reason to be disappointed - I honestly think just the opposite - it’s meaning you’ll have more FW updates.
On the other hand - I was also quite skeptical about new design and size. I am okay to wear big watches even though I have small wrists. But now, after some time using it - Oh, I love it.

Regarding the price:
Feature-wise Suunto watches always cost premium to some chinese brands (and I’m talking not only about Coros, but there are others as well, Huami or Huawei are making incredible devices) - it’s up to you if you’re okay to pay that premium for long-lasting made in Europe product focused on outdoor or you’d better go for another brand or you wait for a bargain.

P.S. As usual - all being said is my personal opinion as a customer.

Bulkan

@sky-runner stay with the Garmin. So you won’t have any issues with any Suunto.

surfboomerang

@dimitrios-kanellopoulos said in Suunto 9 Peak (review and specs):

This is a big thank you to all testers that made this happen.

Special thanks to @Saketo-Nemo @isazi @Joaquin @Hecke and @Brad_Olwin (our own guys here )

You guys must have had a lot of fun on this forum, reading all our wildest speculations about a potential new watch and guessing about the phrase “silence of the mind”

I can imagine it’s sometimes hard not to intervene.

Nevertheless, thanks for testing and doing all the hard work guys!

suzzlo

I think this is the best time for being a Spartan user. I have no problem to decide that S9P will be my next one.

Design is incredible
The reviews are promising (even DCR seemed happy)
Improvements compared to Spartan are huge
SA is getting a resilient pace of imrpvements
My Spartan is more that 4 years old

So, thanks Suunto