Ambit 3 Vertical - Display Fades with temperature increase

[Ale R]

Hi Community,

I love my Suunto, I’ve had it for ages and it helps me to track my health and to support my healthy habits. Recently, I have mentioned that my display starting to fade with temperature increase. It happens after maybe 15 minutes of running, running in sunny weather or if it’s above 20 at home it’s impossible to see anyhting. It’s a gradual fade so nothing to do with contrast/brightness settings. The thing that works is bizarre and I think Sunnto misses Finland big time, the display gets back to normal when I put it into a freezer.

Have anyone experienced it? Is it a thermostat issue? is it a battery issue? is it a display issue?

I really don’t want to part with the watch as I love how rugged it is and the battery life is awesome so if anyone could share their experience and positive outcome, I would be very grateful.

This sort of how it looks, not my vid, but I feel the pain:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfqRIDjZmZc

[A Former User]

@ale-r sorry to hear you have issues with your watch. I had some different issue with mine, I used to turn up the contrast a bit for better seeing experience and in colder weather I got brownish spots on the display during the activity, but after I finished and wait for a while they disappeared. Since I reset the contrast back to default 50%, those brown spots aren’t showing up anymore or at least I can’t spot them.
Maybe these issues are related to the display technology, but I would contact Suunto in your case and ask at least their opinion.
Good luck.

[cosme.costa]

@ale-r I had an Ambit 3 Vertical that had this issue. But I bought it in Amazon so they returned me the money and I bought a Spartan Ultra (adding some €).

The issue happened to me twice, and I read in some review online, that some A3 Vertical had this issue and it was recognized by Suunto, that if you contact support they check if your serial number could be affected they exchange the watch. I am talking from memory, this was around 4 years ago.

[Ale R]

Thanks guys, spent some time with support, advised to send them the watch as they need to analyse the issue to provide the verdict. Quite cut off from the world here in NZ, so could be looong time without them.

[Ale R]

So I just received my watch from Honk Kong repair centre. It’s basically a new unit, with my original straps. Paid 89 usd.

Dear suunto, I really appreciate the time, turnover and the response. This truly makes me fall for you as a company as I love my watch. While I was waiting, I have also bought fenix 6, but tbh, ambit feels way more comfortable on the wrist, despite being quite old.

Thank you for your incredible service and communications.

[Ale R]

[Ale R]

And if you are wondering why Ambit is more comfortable than Fenix, these are the reasons. Check out wrist profiles:
Ambit 3

Fenix 6

[A Former User]

@ale-r Suunto service is cool, I had an Ambit 1 in repair to change the battery and they also changed the bezel (completely damaged) without charging me an extra euro.

[Ale R]

@g-q yeah, I was really surprised in many ways. Definitely the company to stick with!

[A Former User]

@ale-r in the past I had an Ambit3 Run with the GPS bump on one side (just like the Peak) and, at least for me, it wasn’t as comfortable as the Vertical. At some point I’ve changed the strap on the Vertical to a more traditional, amber silicon one from a Suunto Traverse and it was more pleasant on hiking than the original one, however ended up switching back to original strap as it is more comfortable for running as it sits more tightly on my wrist.

[Ale R]

@andrasveres yeah, that’s how I feel as well. It could be more comfortable to swim as well.

[wakarimasen]

@ale-r said in Ambit 3 Vertical - Display Fades with temperature increase:

That looks very pretty!