Suunto

9 Baro Sport Watch

The only watch I own

The Suunto 9 Baro GPS watch is the most intuitive GPS unit I have ever used; it offers incredible activity customizations which allow you to track what you want, when you want. With an easy pairing process, the watch can sync up with your phone via the Suunto app, which allows for even easier access to the watch features, and control of the device. My favorite feature is the altimeter, which allows me to customize a training feature for my climbing. The durable wristband, water resistant capabilities, and comfortable fit give this watch an independence that allows for focus on your performance, rather than that of the device. I highly recommend this watch for anyone with fitness goals inside or outside, in a variety of conditions.

I really wanted to love it

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

I've been a Garmin girl for 10+ years but for some reason I made the switch and I totally regret it. I've had nothing but issues with this watch. I really wanted to track my elevation gain and loss during runs/hikes but a recent run I did in the city said I did 900+ feet of climbing... And I've never had issues ever syncing my runs with Strava with my Garmin but of course there is a 21 mile run on my Suunto watch that I can't for the life of me get onto Strava. I was really excited about all the different sport modes and the ability to see my elevation gain during my runs but so far I'm totally unimpressed by this watch and the Suunto software.

Almost 5 stars

Familiarity:

I've used it several times

I?ve had it for 30 days now... Battery life is as good or better than they claim Love the look Functions on watch and app are super easy to use Love all of the sports modes. Accurate GPS tracking I know this is not a smart watch but, I just wish it had 2 smart features. Music & a Digital wallet. I wear it every day and love it, but if it just had those 2 features it would be perfect.

Love/Hate Relationship

Familiarity:

I've put it through the wringer

I bought the Sunnto 9 Baro this year, primarily for navigation during backpacking trips, as I really didn't want to get lost, and its long lasting battery and the modes that allow it to go forever. The battery, just in its default mode, seems to last about 4 days for me, which is fantastic. Throw it in one of its performance modes while you're using its GPS, and it'll last forever. It terms of battery life, the Sunnto 9 Baro performs fantastically. In terms of GPS tracking, it's okay. The accuracy is questionable. I've hit the same trail multiple times, and it appears to be changing its length each time? It's generally different by at most a tenth of a mile each time, but for the same trail and route, it should be the same, and it isn't. It is recommended to use the Suunto App on your phone to optimize the GPS, which I did countless times, but still, there's always variation in distance. You also have to wait a bit before actually using the watch on an exercise like hiking for the GPS to kick in and kind of be accurate. Sometimes this is seconds long, and sometimes it is minutes long, and it is rather annoying to hold up everyone as your sitting there waiting for your watch to be good to go. If you don't wait, your tracking will be wildly off, especially if you have the same start and end point. The GPS affects navigation of course, and on this end, it's again, okay. You have to input routes into the watch, which you can create manually using the Suunto App or download them from All Trails, like I did, and send them to the Suunto App. I did have my watch desync with my phone once, and upon that occurring, it nuked all the routes in the watch, which made me extremely angry, so just be aware that that can occur. However, once you have a route in the watch via the Suunto App, it works fairly well, depending on how good your route is and how accurate the GPS tracking is at the moment. I had a backpacking trip where it was spot on, and it was good to know how much further it was to our destination, and the elevation increase ahead of us. When it works, it works great. It will also warn you when you go off track. On another backpacking trip, I had this going off all the time when I was on the right trail and not really doing anything wild. That could be a combination of the GPS tracking being off and the route I had in the watch not being incredibly accurate, but it was extremely annoying for the thing to be buzzing that I was off track when I wasn't. You're at the mercy of the route you put into the thing, but if you've already used the watch on that trail, you can reuse what it tracked as a route for better accuracy. In terms of actually navigating not using a route, it's a joke. You can save GPS coordinates of certain things, called POIs, but if you want to navigate to them, all you get is an arrow pointing in the direction of the POI. When I moved my watch into an orientation to actually see the screen and in front of me, this arrow would always be pointing in a wildly wrong direction. Also, it doesn't have maps, so you're in the black void of space, trying to figure out how to get to the POI. Garmin watches do have maps, but also cost twice as much. The last thing I'll mention is durability, which is pretty solid. This is a massive watch, and I'm not use to a watch this big, and I've banged it on the edges of everything. I would recommend getting the titanium version, but it's held up really well. I've also swam with it, and jumped into a lake with it, and it has came out like nothing happened. Great waterproofing. It also has sapphire glass, because if it didn't, it would be a joke and I would mock Suunto for not having it there, like Garmin using Gorilla glass on some of its watches because they live in fantasy land. It also has a touch screen that works great and is very nice to have. GPS watches aren't perfectly accurate yet, but the Suunto 9 Baro did good enough this year, and over time I've learned to love it.

Accurate and reliable watch

Size Bought:

normal

Height:

5' 10"

Weight:

160

Suunto 9 baro did a great job for the past 12 months and I've put it through 2200KMs on the trails in the Pacific North West. Always reliable, accurate and works well with the navigation breadcrumb feature. Battery life is the most impressive part of the watch. After running 50k/7hours on the trails it still has 70% battery life left.