Worst watch I have ever owned..., and that includes fossil

By G Ranked #536 - Altimeters April 21, 2009

I dont know where to begin with this watch... I bought this watch specifically for my 5 month patagonia/antarctica trip. Just so people dont think I was cold turkey on this, I had previously read about how you have to recalibrate the watch somewhat often before i bought the watch.

So my trip started with a month long trip on a russian ice breaker. I calibrated the compass with the ships compass, and that includes changing the inclination. The compass was always different than what the boats direction was just a couple hours after calibration and inclination adjustments. In fact, one time I did not change it for 2 days. After these 2 days, the watch was almost 180 degrees off of where the boat was heading.

So the compass didnt work... big deal right? 1 month into the watch's life, the "master button", which controls all of the toggling through the alt, comp, and time suddenly stops working. All of the other buttons on the watch work, except for the master button. Luckily, it is stuck on the altimeter function, and i can scroll through the other options so i can get it too altimeter with a small clock on the screen. This serves as my watch for the next month... (2/5 months done, 3 to go with this malfunctioning watch).

The altimeter would change altitude by hundreds of meters while sitting at camp, and without the weather/temperatures changing. One day, it was reading 500ft alt... and approx 2 hours later it said 1700ft.

OK, so all I care about now is that the watch continues to function so that i can tell the time. About 2.5 months into the watch's life, the battery dies. Now the watch is a complete failure. Luckily, I am in a town where there are watch batteries available. So i attempt to take off the back of the watch to get at the battery. The casing was really stuck on there, and it starts to strip the metal indentation to unscrew the backing. I could not get the back off because the metal casing was made of extremely soft metal....... If it was not $25 to ship this watch back to the states from argentina, i would have shipped it back immediately. I ended up buying a used womens watch (made in china) for $2 to get me through the rest of trip.

I really did take care of this watch, and it was not exposed to water (did not fall in a stream or anything), and i did not drop it ever.

Luckily, BC.com is one of the best outdoor companies, because they took the watch back with no questions asked. I just hope nobody makes the mistake of buying this terrible watch.

View Details: Suunto Core Altimeter Watch

Helpful Votes: 0 Yes