Overall a good buy

By coleslaw9 March 31, 2008

I use this for backcountry K-9 search and rescue and overall I am happy! Mind a few things however:

1. It is small and light. It isn't heavy and is in fact much lighter/smaller than the Garmin model and easier to use, but if you are in a cave or under heavy dense trees/plant life, you may lose GPS reception. Just like any GPS, you need a sky (literally) to triangulate your signal to. If it is in a heavy forest, etc. reception will be poor...JUST LIKE ANY GPS, but mind that I have used this in many extreme conditions from heavy snow and sleet to average "days in the park" and have only had a signal issue once (so did my Garmin 60 CSX).

2. Battery does well(despite a previous post...he is a moron, don't read his rating). The big thing is to be sure you charge it before you go and to remind yourself that the more you use the light, the more the GPS "updates", etc, the more battery you use (just like a normal GPS). I can go for almost a week between charges in GPS mode.The big thing to remember is that when you sleep at night or not using the watch, turn the GPS portion off.

3. Due to the watch's small size and antenna design, GPS connection at the very first "lock" can take a few. Be sure the watch is in 1 secs mode. It works well, but again, amount of open sky, available satellites, and other factors will play into this, but if you follow the given directions included in the watch, you will be fine.

4. Water. It can be submerged to 30M. Awesome feature if you decide to take in a lake for a swim. I recommend you do NOT press buttons while submerged...just to be safe.

5. Google Earth, and many other TOPOs can be used!!! Unlike the "other" models, this one can utilize many mapping programs to make your life easier and wallet happy due to not having to buy excessive software.

6. MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!!!
Be sure to remember to use this as a secondary device and not as a replacement for a main GPS and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS carry a map and compass. Electronics do and have failed...don't let it happen to you!!!!!!1

View Details: Suunto X9i GPS Watch

Helpful Votes: 0 Yes