Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

I went through 3 of these in 6 weeks! When the first one died only after 5 days I contacted Suunto and they told me to buy another battery. That was the worst customer service I've ever encountered. I really needed the functionality of the watch for my deployment to Iraq and Suunto told me they wouldn't help me and that I was on my own. [...] After the third Suunto I went with the Origo instead and have had no problems since. Suunto only cares about profit and cares nothing about their customers. Many Military members purchase Suunto with their own meager salary, so I was really surprised and disillusioned when Suunto told me they didn't care.

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

Ok, Let me start by saying that I have been looking for a watch with these features for quite a while and have been reading up on them. Some of the previous reviews were really positive on this watch, so i took a chance. I was not totally convinced it would work very well/or be too complicated to be useful.

Set up is easy. Everything is menu-driven, and let's face it, it only does a few things.

I teted the compass feature against a real compass and it was dead on right after setup.

The Altimeter/Barometer feature is what confused me at first. to have accurate readings, you need to supply either your current altitude or barometric reading for the area you are in. The manual explains it. Once you supply this information it will track the air pressure and your position above/below sea level. It's pretty cool, but you need to be attentive to it and choose the correct profile for your current situation, or you can use the "auto" setting which I have done, and it seems to work well. At any time you can "set" it to correct itself if you are hiking and know your "exact" altitude.

I took it on a hike yesterday, set it to "altimeter profile" and logged my activity. Afterwards it provided me a visual of my ascent/descent/time/ft per minute/ and a bunch of other stats. I gotta say, it was pretty cool.

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

The Suunto Core does not disappoint - it performs exactly as Suunto claims. Far and away the best altimeter/barometer watch on the market.

I am most impressed by the Automatic Altimeter/Barometer Mode. This feature solves the biggest problem with previous generation alti/baro watches (including the Suunto Vector and similar) by sensing whether changes in absolute pressure should be attributed to elevation change or weather.

Suunto says that the Core accomplishes the automatic alti/baro switch by sensing movement, or lack thereof. What it actually seems to be doing is sensing the rate of change in absolute pressure. If the observed pressure changes faster than could be attributable to ordinary weather, it apparently judges that you are moving and enters altimeter mode. The programmed threshold has worked flawlessly for me thus far. Plus, you can easily override this feature and force the watch into altimeter or barometer mode exclusively.

The digital compass performs as well as any I have seen. I am not a particularly big fan of digital compasses in general, so I always carry a traditional sighting compass as my primary navigation tool, but the Core provides a handy backup.

The alarm and other audible indicators on the Core seem to be louder than previous generation Suunto products, and the audible indicators can be turned off.

The crystal face is also improved over previous generations, and seems highly scratch resistant.

Overall, it seems that Suunto has addressed every critism of previous generation altimeter/barometer watches, and provided a very eligent solution. This watch has very quickly become one of my most trusted gear items. The Core is a worthwhile upgrade to your older altimeter watches - the improvements are that notable.

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

I love the watch features, especially the logging option. However, the rotating dial around the watch face has a very abrasive surface and it has cut through three of my lightweight merino wool tops. The final straw was yesterday when the watch rubbed, very slightly, against my Mini's door while trying to get in, leaving two scratches. I thought about putting the watch under the rear tire and letting the car have some revenge! Instead I stopped on the way home and bought a file. My watch now has a smooth finish and better not eat any more of my clothing. Otherwise, it is going under the tire...

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

I originally bought this for the Altimeter, Compass, and Depth Gauge. I quickly fell in love with the Barometer which has a storm monitor and is always spot on. It also has the ability to give you sunrise and sunset data daily for just about anywhere, really. I go to some far off the beaten path places for work like Montevideo, but have been able to change to the locale for all places I've been. It's also so easy and intuitive to control that I almost didn't even need an instruction manual, unlike some other multifunctions I've had in the past which practically required a Masters Degree to figure out.

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

Since i already own a Sunnto Vector - my wife wanted to gift me a dress watch.
Ecodrive and Seiko collection did not impress me.
After much persuasion, my wife accompanied me to the REI Store -
Beauty:
Just one look at the new Sunnto Core and my wife was all sold on it - it looks right out of some futuristic movie - like iRobot or I am Legend - its the iPhone of watches
Brains:
It offers substantial improvements previous Sunnto watches
-> new Mode Button helps a lot by simplifying the navigation - I was able to use Logbook easily unlike Vector where i always had to pull out the pocket guide everytime. The navigation and ergonomics are the biggest improvment
-> View Button flips between different view Screens within each Mode
->Screen is bigger and for every possible button click - highlights the area next to button
-> Time Mode: Adds the Sunrise/Sunset and Dual Time capabilities
-> Alti/Baro Mode: Intelligent flip between the two depending whether you have been stationary or moving. Barometer mode has a cool graph of the changes in pressure
-> Alti/Baro Mode: Storm Warning for rapid drops in pressures
-> Compass Mode - Bearing lock has the nice feature of "Turn Left" , "Turn Right" when you deviate from the set bearing

Overall its a better looking, better ergonomics, and better featured watch than its predecessor Vector

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

This product has far exceed my expectations! And please disregard the first comment about this watch. If you cant set the time then maybe ....
Anyways took it base jumping, climbing and kayaking, and its even taken a decent beating and has kept on ticking ... or displaying lol.
Either way I would recommend this product to any active person, thats even a bit abusive on equipment.
And maybe more pictures should be added for time setting for the couple up above LOL ...

ENJOY LIFE!!

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

I went on a bike ride with this watch and it fell off my hand. I am lucky I did not lose it. Bottom line for me is that I do not need an adventure watch which is not solid and will fall off my hand.

Other than that, I loved the functions, how it looked etc.

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

My wife bought me this Suunto watch for Christmas. At first, I really liked it. The features are great, I had no problem figuring out how to use it, and the compass is very handy when hiking with the Boy Scouts and cross-checking them as they learn their map and compass skills. I work for a Finnish company, and since Finnish-based Suunto consider themselves the world leaders in compass design, I thought they would produce a quality ABC instrument.
But after only three weeks, the battery ran down. I figured OK, must have been a weak factory battery. But then the next battery also lasted only about a month. Same for the battery after that. In addition, the watch would reset itself seemingly at random, often at the most inopportune times. My previous watch was a Seiko, so I guess I got spoiled by a watch that had batteries that lasted for years, not weeks, and was actually reliable for being able to tell the time.
My wife took the watch back to REI (Plano, TX) for an exchange, but the REI person told her some malarkey about how the watch behavior was my fault, because "of course the watch battery won't last if you leave all the features turned on" (what?!!!). This watch was merely telling the time when it kept resetting, I only used the barometer and compass a few times. So she just got a refund instead of an exchange.
Very disapointing, hope Suunto can rectify these problems with their next model.

Comments about Suunto Core Multifunction Watch - Light Green:

I really want this watch to work properly. I don't mind resetting the altitude/barometer mode such that it's accurate and I don't mind the fact that the watch is rather large. To be honest, the watch works quite well in the summer in warm temperatures for a couple months at a time. I'm now on my third Suunto Core[...]. The first watch lasted nearly 2 months before the mode button stopped working entirely and left me stuck with a vague awareness of barometric pressure changes and no ability to look at my other modes. The second watch was great for almost 2 weeks, but then I went camping at 11,200 ft, and when the temperature dropped to 35 degrees, the watch froze and never worked again. I gave Suunto the benefit of the doubt and assumed that I got 2 lemons in a row. My current Core had the same 35 degree limit as the second watch. To be fair, this watch is no longer frozen, but the watch resets itself every other hour or so. I thought it might be a battery issue (Suunto help line suggested this) and I put a new battery in. The problem was solved! ...for 2 hours. Then the watch reset itself.