Suunto Core Wrist-Top Computer Watch

by Suunto

Product Features

• Wrist-top computer watch with altimeter, barometer, compass, and weather indicator
• Altimeter displays current elevation, shows ascent or descent, and records session
• Intelligent storm alarm senses drops in air pressure and notifies you of approaching storms
• Barometer helps you predict changing conditions; built-in weather trend indicator
• Aluminum black finish; accurately measures depth to 30 feet; weighs 2.26 ounces; 2-year warranty

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Building on the success of the venerable Suunto Vector, the Suunto Core keeps you informed of conditions while you hike, bike, or camp, making it a terrific companion for outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes. What can the Suunto Core do for you? For starters, it can sense an approaching squall even when the sky looks clear. This intelligent Storm Alarm--one of several intelligent features designed to keep you safe and secure--is activated by a rapid drop in air pressure over a three-hour period. Once the Core senses the change, the Storm Alarm sounds and flashes, letting you know that something unpleasant is fast approaching. The built-in altimeter, meanwhile, displays your current elevation, shows how much you've climbed or descended, and records your entire session for later analysis. Accurate to within 30,000 feet, the altimeter is an extremely valuable tool for mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and wilderness travel. Add in such features as a barometer, a digital thermometer, a weather trend indicator, and a digital compass and you have a terrific wrist-top computer for almost all your outdoor needs.

The altimeter contributes to your excursion in several ways. If you're standing on or near an obvious geographic feature, such as a ridge, trail, or creek, the altimeter can alert you to your current elevation and help you find your position on a topographic map. Similarly, if you plan on climbing a slope to a certain elevation and then traversing, the Core can help you stay on course. And as a bonus, the Suunto Core includes a unique start-from-zero function, so you don't have to enter a reference altitude. Instead, with the single push of a button, the altimeter will begin tracking your ascent and descent.

The Core also includes a barometer, which measures and records air pressure to help you predict changing conditions--from sunny skies to hair-bending electrical storms. The barometer helps you decide whether to bring a soft shell or rain shell jacket when the skies look ominous, or even when to high-tail it back to the car. In general, low pressure brings inclement weather, while high pressure brings stability and clear skies. If you've arrived at camp and notice the pressure starting to plunge, it's probably a good idea to secure the tent and crawl in. Likewise, if you were on a climb, it would be prudent to find shelter and retreat. Even at home, the Suunto Core barometer can look beyond office walls, skyscrapers, and nearby hills to help you plan for upcoming activities.

If you want a weather forecast that extends out a few hours, you can turn to the built-in weather trend indicator. The indicator shows the barometric history for the last three and six hours, helping you predict the weather with amazing accuracy. What's more, the watch doesn't give you a regional forecast posted earlier in the day, but rather the most current information about the weather directly overhead. And no outdoor watch is worth its salt without a digital compass, a great tool for keeping track of your direction while skiing, hiking, or exploring a new city. You can set and follow a bearing with a traditional rotating bezel, or simply point the top of the watch toward your intended destination and lock it in.

Additional features include several traditional watch functions, including dual times, a date display, and an alarm; predicted times for sunrise and sunset to help you maximize your daylight hours; an automatic Alti/Baro mode that senses movement or lack thereof and switches between the altimeter and barometer accordingly; a depth meter that provides accurate water depth readings to 30 feet; and the ability to function in English, German, French, and Spanish. The Suunto Core carries a two-year warranty.

The Suunto Core watch includes an altimeter, barometer, compass, and weather indicator.

The watch is compatible with several different straps (sold separately).

Specifications

• Finish: Aluminum black
• Real-time vertical cumulative value: Yes
• Temperature compensation: Yes
• Total ascent/descent: Yes
• User-removable logbook files: Yes
• Automatic Alti/Baro switch: Yes
• Automatic 7-day Alti/Baro memory: Yes
• Resolution: 1 meter
• Recording intervals: 1 second, 5 second, 30 seconds, 60 seconds
• Altitude range: 1,600 to 29,500 feet
• Difference measurement: Yes
• Log graph: Yes
• Logbook function: Yes
• Countdown timer: Yes
• Stopwatch: Yes
• Guided calibration: Yes
• Heading in degrees: Yes
• Declination setting: Yes
• Cardinal directions: Yes
• Bearing tracking: Yes
• North-South indicator: North indicator
• Languages: English, German, French, and Spanish
• Depth meter: Yes, to 30 feet
• Rotating bezel: Yes
• Time: 12/24 hours
• Sunrise/sunset times: Yes
• Calendar clock: Yes
• Dual time: Yes
• Daily alarms: 1
• Alarm snooze: Yes
• Weather memory: 7 days
• Weather alarm: Yes
• Trend indicator and graph: Yes
• Temperature range: -5 to 140 degrees F
• Sea level pressure: Yes
• Barometer range: 300 to 1,100 mbar
• Low battery warning: Yes
• Water resistance: 100 feet
• Backlight option: Yes
• Weight: 2.26 ounces
• Warranty: 2 years

Product Description

The award-winning Suunto Core is a sophisticated outdoor instrument that gathers a range of data to help you navigate your way through the wilder parts of the world. The altimeter features a range up to 9000m (29500 ft) and sports an altitude difference measurement that allows you to track your progress in terms of altitude climbed. The log recorder stores all your movements in altitude between the start and stop times, so you can find out how much you climbed, the duration of ascents and descents, average ascent and descent speed and more. Suunto Core displays the current sea level pressure as a detailed graph, showing recording of the last 24 hours with a recording interval of 30 minutes. The storm alarm notifies you of a sudden drop in air pressure, which may be related to worsening weather conditions. Suunto Core senses your movement or lack thereof, switching between altimeter and barometer accordingly. A drop in air pressure while you’re sleeping under the stars will be recorded for what it really is: a change in barometric pressure, not altitude. The digital compass displays the cardinal or half-cardinal point and the North. The declination adjustment function allows you to correct the difference between the true North and magnetic North. The Suunto Core provides current and maximum depth reached during your snorkeling dive. The maximum depth of the device is 10m (328 ft). Watch functions include time, dual time, date, alarm, sports chronograph, countdown timer and predicted times for sunrise and sunset for over 400 locations worldwide. Also features a digital thermometer. Menu-based user interface in English, German, French and Spanish. 2 year warranty.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0013NAH7O
• Item model number: SUUN1
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (191 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #698 in Sports & Outdoors (See Top 100 in Sports & Outdoors)
  • #1 in Sports & Outdoors > Accessories > Electronics & Gadgets > Altimeters

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

357 of 359 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice show-off watch, yet very functional - Black/Yellow - Please Rate!, October 9, 2009

By 

jcgoobee "jcgoobee" (Sunnyvale, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Suunto Core Wrist-Top Computer Watch (Sports)

Have had this watch a little over a week, and decided to write an review for it.

Just a brief comparison between two top-notch ABC watches: - the Core, and the Casio Pathfinder PAW-1500 Titanium, which I purchase a little over three weeks ago as well. I would say, the cosmetic design, the wealth of functions, the ABC accuracy, and the graphical display of the Core, is better than the Pathfinder. However, the built material, the readability, and the push button feel, is not as good as the Pathfinder.

The display is in reverse format, meaning the background is in black, and the alpha-numeric letters are in silver-white. Adjusting the contrast in the Suunto hidden menu does help, but of course, still not as clear as the normal black letter on white background. No fault of Suunto, but just the way the design is. The buttons are responsive and easy to press. To navigate through the menus, the "Mode" button and the "View" button have to be pushed in different combination to get what you want. It might seem confusing at first, but once you understand the logical layout, it's fairly easy to remember. Give yourself a couple of days to get used to it.

Compliments: Extremely accurate ABC. I compare their readings with the actual ABC instruments. The accuracy is incredible and beats the Casio Pathfinder in the dust! The storm alarms reacts to the air pressure change accurately as well. The electronic compass is awesome. Once you set the course, the bearing indicator would display an arrow and directional words (left and right), to guide you to the correct course, which is a great feature. User installable batteries which is great to save a lot of money down the road.

Complaints: The directional rotation ring is difficult to turn. If you have finger nails, you'll need to use them, if you bite your finger nails, good luck. The alarm is a bit soft and hard to hear sometimes. The same problem as the Pathfinder. I wish they can make it louder. The wrist strap looks and feels cheap. The illuminator is a bit dim too.

Tips: This watch has earned a lot of bad reps due to poor quality control in its manufacturer plant in China. It's been tons of complaints and reported problem. After doing some research, it appears that Suunto has finally fixed the hardware and software bugs. When you order the watch, make sure the serial number stars from "918xxxxxx" onward. Mine is "924" and so far so good. You should email the seller, to make sure they send you the updated version as noted above, then your new watch won't spend most of its life going back and forth in the delivery trucks.

Follow up review (please read and rate):

It's been nearly a month I have been wearing this watch, thought I should provide more feedback to help those who are interested in this watch.

I have worn this watch to a two-weeks trip to Eastern Europe. I used all ABC functions intensively, especially the altimeter log and compass functions. To begin with, all readings are extremely accurate as it has always been. The only inaccuracy is its barometer when worn on the wrist, which is understandable due to the body temperature influence. The watch functioned flawlessly during the extreme weather, ranging from 1 degree in Celcius (outdoor), all the way up to warmer than 40 degrees Celcius (I wore it to the hotspring pool for hours). I have also used the daily alarm twice a day, illumination for 3 times a night in average, and the battery is still kicking like a champ. Many reported the battery died out after a month or so even with light use, it appears that Suunto has fixed this major flaw. Yet, it's been just a month of intensive use so I can't say for sure. Even if I have to replace the battery every 6 months, I think it's still worth is as the battery costs less than a couple of dollars to replace. So, my conclusion is: The Core has reclaimed its reputation in my book. I have no doubt that it will continue to perform well. Just make sure that you buy the one with the latest firmware (serial number after:92xxxxxx SW: 1.1.0 HW: 3A. Please rate and comment if you find this helpful

72 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty watch. Overcomplicated user interface., January 8, 2010

By 

Edom (santa rosa, ca) - See all my reviews

I've had many Casio ABC watches, so I'm biased. For this review, I had Casio PAW-1300t and Suunto Core (green version - latest batch) which are used interchangeable or together for a period of about 2 months.


1. The looks - the watch is big, but very conservatively designed. No weird plastic extrusions, just a simple watch with a big screen. It looks nice and professional. Casio looks a little more gimmicky, but Casio is still a solid looking watch (not like the older ABC casio watches that looked like spaceships)

2. The screen - it's nice to have a big matrix screen. Although, it may seem like a square pixel matrix, some of the pixels are actually taller than others - It's confusing for the graphs (if one tall-rectangular pixel is added is it greater difference than a reqular square pixel). Considering that there are 3 patches of matrix screens, I wish Suunto would try to do more with them (more combined data screens). There are 2 rows of tall rectangular pixels. Casio has a very small matrix screen for the graphs, but the rest of the screen is regular 7 segment digital display. It doesn't look as spiffy, but it does the job.

3. UI (user interface) - the menu system is organized like a tree. So you go inside menus to get to more menus, and then you have to back out to get back. It's a blessing and a nightmare - items are somewhat organized, but it's a hassle to get to some simple setting that's burried 3 menus deep.

3a. One big gripe with user interface: is that the barometer and altimeter are the same mode Suunto (which actually makes sense, given that both values are derived from the same pressure sensor). However, there's NO quick way to switch from one to the other. If you watch is in barometer mode, all you're going to get is barometer, if you want to change it to altimeter (or vice versa), you have to go into deep into the settings menus, find it, and change it. There's an automatic mode, but it's a gimmick, it tries to guess which mode it should be in (I prefer a more direct approach - I want to see what I want to see, not want it "thinks" I should see)

4. Clock Precision - the clock precision is outright terrible! It's a good 3-5 seconds a day. I've had cheap quartz watches that lose 5 seconds in a month. I'm no precision freak, but having my watch be off by a minute at the end of a month is unacceptable (if you're used to mechanical watches, this is not a problem :)

5. Instrument precision - pretty good. Many claim Suunto is better than Casio as far as accuracy/precision goes; I've had them side by side for a 2 months, and I don't see a difference. Barometer and altimeter are usually within the smallest measureable unit of each other (read: insignificant difference), and very close readings to the local weather station. Compasses show in the same direction. The compass on Suunto has failed me once; on a hike, it started twitching +/- 60deg (120-or-so degrees of total variance), I have not had that happen with the casio. Maybe I stepped into a magnetic anamoly - either way, I didn't like it. In general the Suunto's compass seemed twitchier than the Casio's (more needle jumping). Temperature is a useless sensor, my guess is that they only bother putting that sensor in, because the sensor is so cheap. However it works well in the water, but in air, it simply shows the temperature of the watch (which is greatly effected by your body temperature). You can take it off, and leave it for 10 minutes (if you've read this far, I'm sure you know the drill).

6. Features - Suunto doesn't dissapoint. The added benefit of Depth meter is very nice, even though it measure only to 10m (snorkeling only). The range of the pressure sensor is amazing (depth meter/altimeter/barometer are all run from the same pressure sensor). The data logging is very good; a little complicated, but very complete. The logs have the time and the measurement recorded at the desired frequency (casio, for example, only records the totals: ascend, descend, max, min; whereas suunto is a true logging device, and records actual altimeter data, every period). The sunrise/sunset display is very usefull (Casio doesn't have that). The storm alarm feature is a gimmick, it goes off in a seemingly random fashion - I don't know what algorithm they use to figure a coming storm, but it's obviously WRONG - as I had my watch go off on sunny days with no rains approaching.

At the end I chose Casio PAW1300T. As an everyday watch, it's just better built and better equipped, and it is smaller (much thinner). It's much more accurate (even without atomic connectivity), and on top of that, it gets automatically updated (to the second) every night. It's solar powered, so it doesn't need to be opened every 6 months (great concern for water-proofness in Suuntos). The modes are less cluttered(you still need a manual to learn the watch), and it looks more durable. Barometer and Altimeter have their own dedicated buttons (unlike the combined alti-baro mode on Suunto). I can't say Suunto is a bad watch, but it just didn't work for me. Casio is just as good at showing barometric trends (to predict weather). Suunto data logging is better than Casio's, but that's not saying much. If I need to log a hike to review it later, a GPS does a much better job (absolute 3d position on earth), so a simple altitude log produced by Suunto is too simplistic anyway. And as far as pacing yourself during a hike, the casio's log works just as well, without the added complications. It all came down to usability - what seems like a couple of button presses on Casio turns into a menu-down-down-enter-on-back-back-back kind of search on Suunto.

71 of 75 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Core Wonder, January 14, 2008

By 

K. Siegrist "G. Siegrist" (APO, AE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

The watch works great for me. I would advise not to read to much into the other reviewers who have said bad things about the watch. Heads up guys when the weather changes and you return to a ref point; say home after coming down from the mountain the watch may show a different alt. if the pressure and temps have changed a lot. , thats the way it works as pressure changes so to will your base alt setting. unless you have the GPS version :) I suggest people read the book before talking and sounding silly. The Core is a great add on to my collection. I have the GPS version as well. This watch is a bit slimmer and not so G.I. joe looking. Good for on the trail or down town.

UPDATE: The watch has started acting up only after 8 months of daily light use. The mode buttons work some days and not others. The TL and BL
mode buttons all of a sudden stop working. I'm guessing the alignment with the pins you push and the contact pad inside the watch get miss matched. Really? For 200 + dollar watch and I cant get the simple stop watch to work. If I flick it with my finger it realigns back up and them I'm able to use the buttons. Just yesterday I got on the tread mill to start my Cross Fit work out and started to sprint; I hit the start button again and again and again, &*(^% guess Ill use the free clock on the wall. Suunto has to do better than this before I buy another watch from them. Can't belive I'm looking at G-Shocks now!! Oh and the cover on my GPS watch has come off as well. Not looking good Suunto!! ONE STAR NOW

2115|R11X77OA5BA18M;2115|RJK9XGOMQXC4O;2115|R3GR55Y1LUAQHS;