Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro Watch

The Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro is a great multisport GPS watch for daily outdoor use, as well as for a normal day in the office.
Gorgeous Touchscreen display and navigation of the watch is very intuitive. Really like the different sport modes, barometric altitude, the navigation function and it syncs beautifully to the Suunto movescount app.

I would love to give the Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro Watch a 5 star review. However I will give it 4 stars because of a significant flaw in the button and software makeup for pack driven sports which I will explain and hopefully can be updated by Suunto with a software update.



I have used the Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro watch for ski touring, ski mountaineering, alpine and ice climbing, rock climbing (gym and outdoor), trail running, backpacking and hiking, and mountain athlete training (MTI). The fitness tracking is more accurate with more options than any product on the market. It even does a pretty accurate job matching treadmill speed with its speed calculation for running.



The Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro watch is by far the best sport watch on the market. It has like 200 different sport modes to choose from: climbing, mountaineering, ski touring, alpine skiing, Crossfit, weight training, team sports from softball to soccer and hockey, stretching and yoga and unexpected sports like SUP and roller skating and bowling. The calorie burn seems to be by far the most accurate of any product on the market without question.



Buttons: If you are doing a sport that requires a pack that is frequently coming on and off, such as backcountry skiing, rock climbing with a pack, backpacking, or ski mountaineering, the straps on your pack are going to hit the top button, and with just one tap, pause the sport tracking (asking if you want to pause or resume). If you are wearing gloves for backcountry skiing and/or alpine climbing you will not know this has happened until you go to check progress and see the tracking has been totally shut off. You have now lost much or nearly all of your track. This means the “back” down climbing function is out the window because it hasn’t been tracking you. I have had ski touring and alpine tracks lost to this design flaw. It seems like a simple software fix, i.e. require a double or triple tap to end tracking, have a prompt requiring additional input from the user “Are you sure you wish to end or pause tracking?” If I am ready to stop tracking I am normally in the car or off the mountain and this would be a huge improvement and with that change I would not hesitate to give the Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro watch an enthusiastic 5 stars without reservation. Until then though….



Battery Life: The issue with the sport modes is battery life. If you are doing a 19hr day with an alpine start you can’t use the sport modes, you will run out of battery. This isn’t surprising because this watch is doing a whole heck of a lot.

Manual: This leads me to the user manual. It doesn’t tell you much other than how to turn the watch on, build a profile, download the phone app and sync the two. There should be detailed directions available. Where are they? See question above – can I track my route without a sport mode and in turn save battery but still have the down climb function in a white out?



Instant Heart Rate: One of the things I like with a Fitbit is my ability to check my HR at any time throughout the day. This functionality is really not present in the Suunto Spartan Sport HR Baro watch. You can’t just change the screen when not in a sport mode and see your current BPM. This was fixed in the latest software update.



App: The app is great and gives really cool videos of what you did for mountain objectives in great detail. It also logs and tracks all your “moves” so you can keep track off all of your training.



Durability: I've raked it over rocks and hit it on ice axes and still has no major damage or scratches.



Conclusion: Despite the flaws for sports with a pack it is still by far the best product on the market in its class. If Suunto fixes the pack sports button issues, it will be an enthusiastic 5 stars and is already heads above the rest.

This is a great watch for outdoor use or as a daily driver. I've used it as my primary daily watch for the last 4 months and It works well. I upgraded from a Suunto Traverse mostly for the wrist heart rate monitor. The wrist heart rate sometimes spikes unexpectedly usually during the beginning of an activity but usually only for a few seconds. I have also found that the wrist hr doesn't work very accurately when doing activities that heavily involve your arms (rock climbing, or weight lifting). However you can still use the chest strap heart rate if you need to for those types of situations. The other slight downside vs the Traverse is battery life whereas I could get over a week of usage with my Traverse I find that I have to charge this watch every 4-5 days. That said in every other way this is a huge improvement over the Traverse. The sync with my phone is more reliable, It keeps track of my training load and allows me to view that information on my watch. I can adjust most of the watching settings on the watch. I find the GPS to be much quicker and more accurate. The user interface is reasonably quick and readable. Aside from a few excusable quirks (which Suunto seems dedicated to improving with every update) the user interface works really well. In addition to functioning well the watch looks great. I got the Amber version and have gotten numerous compliments on how it looks. It also seems to be holding up against scratches better than the Traverse although I did get a screen protector which I'm sure helps. I recommend this watch to anyone that wants a top of the line sports watch.

I was asked to review the Suunto Spartan Sport Wrist HR Baro Watch last month by Backcountry and honestly when I got the request I was a bit skeptical after researching it. I generally have shied away from watches with so many features. I already own the Suunto Ambit3 Run Watch and it's about as big of a watch as my little wrist can handle.

My skepticism quickly diminished after using the watch on some trail runs and hikes. Overall I love the watch. It's really comfortable to wear while trail running or hiking and all indications are it's very durable. I also wore it on mountain bike rides and overall it did well, sometimes a little bouncy on the technical sections.

I'm an elevation gain junky so I love the barometric altimeter. I do recommend the watch be calibrated to your home elevation as out of the box the watch was off by a few hundred feet.

Overall the battery life was as expected. I did have one mountain bike ride where the battery ran out of juice quicker than expected and oddly when I plugged the watch in to charge it, it immediately shot up to 27%. If I see this again I plan to reach out to Suunto support.

My favorite features:

* Easy to use.

* There are a plethora of ways to configure the watch to your personal taste in Movescount (Suunto's online platform) for each type of activity you plan to use the watch for. There's even an elevation gain graph.

* Better accuracy for elevation while on the trail as compared to my other watches.

* Love the breadcrumb feature. It's easy to get turned around in the mountains and this feature will ensure you get back on track.

* On the home screen I can see how many hours of sunlight there are and what the moon phase is. A small thing, but I found it cool.

* Ability to put the watch in Airplane mode.

* The touchscreen is easy to use and fairly intuitive.

* In the few times I called Suunto support I found them to be very helpful.

* Syncs easily with Movecount on my phone.

* The web version of Movescount syncs easily to Strava and TrainingPeaks.

Things that need improvement:

* I have had mixed success with the wrist HR. Sometimes it works ok and others not. A few times when checking my heart rate by hand it was off up to 20 beats p/minute. My veins have been through copious amounts of chemotherapy and are shot, so this could be related to the inaccuracy.

* I wished the product came with a manual, as I had to go online to get the manual to learn all the features of the watch. A quick start guide explaining how to calibrate the elevation would have been nice as well.

* Phone sync issue. Make sure when you sync to your phone the watch is on the main screen and not in settings as this will cause the sync to fail.

This was my first experience with a watch this advanced and now I'm hooked on the Spartan Sport Wrist Baro Watch and look forward to using it when I head to the mountains.

The picture is from a stellar weekend of trail running in Fruita. You can't see the watch as it 's on the same arm I'm holding the phone in.

For so many years I have been hesitant to wear a watch for backcountry skiing and canyoneering because their discomfort and lack of functionality just didn't make sense to me. I had tried a few different brands / options and wasn't happy, but that all changed when I picked up the Suunto Spartan Sport. I've literally been blown away and in my opinion this is hands down the best watch on the market!

First off, the watch is super comfortable and despite it's size, I don't notice it on. Other watches always seemed to either slide down and prohibit my wrist from bending, or squeeze too tight and cut off circulation. This one is as comfortable and unnoticeable as they come.

Functionally, I have used it for Backcountry Skiing, Canyoneering, Running, as well as everyday use and it's been perfect. One aspect that has been great is the updated settings for all of the different sports you may use this for. From Swimming, to backcountry skiing, to trekking, it is already setup to give you the readings you need. Elevation, distance, heart rate, elevation gain / lost, speed, etc... It's also nice because it's replaced the fitbit for everyday use as it tracks your heartrate and steps during the day. It can also track your sleep. I haven't found anything it lacks as of yet.

It is also worth noting that the barometric altimeter and GPS-based altitude is super accurate. I've checked it with my garmin GPS and it's literally spot on and better than other watches either I or my ski partners have used. The HR monitor is also very accurate. I've checked it counting several times and it's always right on.

The watch also syncs with both my phone and the new Suunto Movescount app that allows me to go back and analyze my previous ascents / descents. If you go to the App store, the app does have some negative reviews, but for analyzing past events which is what I need. It's also been great that the watch shows text messages and alerts from other apps like facebook and instagram so I don't have to pull out my phone while on the trail unless it is urgent. And if you're one of those ones like me who hates pairing devices to your phone, rest assured because this one took all of 30 seconds to do and was super simple.

For cons of the watch, the only thing I would say is that if you are using it in full tracking mode (meaning HR, altimeter and GPS) it doesn't hold battery for as long as I'd love. I generally get 1.5 days out of it in full tracking. If I'm simply monitoring my steps and using it at work or for short workouts, it lasts days (not sure exactly how long as I charge it every few days).

So overall, I believe it's worth spending the extra coin to get the accuracy and dependability of the barometric altimeter and GPS-based altitude as there is nothing else out there that compares. Thanks Suunto for making the perfect watch!

The pic is a shot of the watch in BC Skiing Mode after a quick jog up suicide chute on 5/30/18.

I was given this item to review by Backcountry, but the opinions are my own based on my experience. Any comparisons are made to the Suunto Ambit3 Peak which I've been using for a few years. Some key features that I was most stoked about Sport Baro watch were the wrist heart rate monitor, touch screen, the barometric \gps altimeter and the upgraded navigation features. Uploading routes still has to be done with Movescount website but is easy to do once you have GPX tracks you want to follow.

Since most of the activities I do are in the mountains getting accurate GPS tracking and altimeter readings are important.



Pros: The fit is an improvement over the Ambit3's bulky body. Touchscreen and seemingly faster processing. Wrist HR means no more chest strap! Simple features and very user friendly. Changing sports during the same Move is very simple. The Breadcrumb feature helps with navigation so much. I love how customizable the settings are. Sport modes can be changed on the watch.



Cons: Requires hard reset if the battery goes fully dead (Hold top button for 12 seconds after charging). The Sport Baro has a shorter battery life, can be changed with customizing the settings. HR works best when on the inside of the wrist which makes it hard to read while biking. The HR has flashing lights which can be distracting in the dark.



All in all this The Spartan is awesome! The 24\7 heart rate and sleep tracking means I never take it off. Its not best suited for HR tracking while running or biking as it bounces around a bit. If you're looking for a watch that does it all though, this is it.

I bought this watch in order to better track my training for a triathlon. Not only does it track running, biking, and swimming, but it also does a great job tracking my trail runs among many other activities. I continue to be surprised by the various features this watch has, I especially like the suunto movescount app for phone and computer.

I bought this as an upgrade to my Suunto Core Crush and have loved it thus far. The screen is much more user friendly and with the touch screen very easy to navigate between all the functions. I have yet to learn everything with it yet, but am stoked about tracking all my workouts on it. Definitely worth the money