Customer Reviews

Suunto t4c Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness Trainer Watch (Black Frost)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have had my t4c for just 3 weeks, but I already love it. I am a veteran runner, used to wearing a GPS watch to track speed and distance, but this is my first HRM. It not only tells me my real-time heart rate, average and peak HR, but it has a nifty "training effect" function. I do not believe this to be "wildly inaccurate" as another reviewer has said. It will give a 1.0 to 5.0 numerical value for the difficulty of your workout. It shows a countdown to the next level, as well. When it tells me I have achieved, say, a TE level of 4.2 and it's 6 minutes until I reach the next level, I can of course increase or decrease this time by slowing down or speeding up, changing my level of exertion -- is this the "bouncing around" the other reviewer saw? But this is simply measuring the changed effect of a changed pace! At a steady pace, it counts steadily to the next level of Training Effect.

I wanted a heart-rate monitor because, in the depths of winter, I'll switch from running my rural dirt roads to the YMCA's treadmills; I was hoping that HR would offer a way to correlate my indoor workouts with my outside ones, since treadmills are different from running in the great outdoors. The t4c's training effect is a built-in answer to my need!

The manual is not so clear as to make everything easy. Oh, you'll be able to take your t4c out of the box and set it up easily; even I could do that. Going back and adjusting the settings was a bit more of a head-scratcher. The manual seemed to skip a step or two, as if it were all obvious. To the manual-writer it is; to me, though, it has required a few trips down button-pushing blind alleys to get where I want to go. But that's a small price to pay for the overall joy of this gem.

The fabric chest strap is quite comfortable; I don't even notice it. Both the watch and the strap have consumer-replaceable batteries (which I hope not to change for a long time yet!), which is better than sending the device away to Polar when the battery dies.

I wear it all day as my main watch. In the 3 weeks I've had it (while I wait for the plastic shield) it has suffered no scratches. I may not even apply the plastic thing! I would definitely recommend the Suunto to anyone looking for a quality HR monitor watch.

The only minor complaint I have is that the thing is set up for HR zones as straight percentages of max HR. You'd think the Suomi folks at Suunto could go with their fellow Finn, Karvonen, and allow one to calculate zones based on his method: as a percentage of HR range between resting HR and max HR. Well, the work-around is to set the zones to percentages that match your Karvonen numbers; you just have to do the math.

I have had my T4c for 4 weeks now. On the plus side:
* the heart rate monitor functions better than Polar or Timex, especially early in a workout. With Polar and Timex I'd usually get wild values until I had warmed up (i.e. pouring sweat). Suunto seems to do a better job.
* I enjoy the Coach. Not sure if I will attain my goals but it has so far really nailed the intense/moderate/rest periods well.
* definitely okay for an every day watch.

The negatives though are definitely things Suunto could fix:
* the manual is bizarre, clearly missing steps. Figuring this thing out was tough.
* in heart rate mode you can lock the buttons which is necessary as the stop/start is very easy to push. BUT you cannot lock the device while showing heart rate AND training effect prediction. Um... why not? It's the only setting like that.
* the face gets scratched. I have managed a few very deep grooves in 3 weeks with normal living. Definitely will be needing a solution here.

SO I bought this watch, in need of a heart rate monitor and since I already owned a Suunto watch I thought I would love this one too. I LOVE IT! It's comfortable, it's easy to use once you figure out all the little applications, it's a good size for women. I'm still finding cool little things out about the watch. I suggest you buy the wireless PC Pod too and it will also log your RPMs if you buy a bike pod or even distance if you buy a GPS pod or foot pod. The PC pod will log all your workouts on your PC. I am about to purchase that. The coach on the watch give you the option to follow it but it does not punish you if you don't. The training effect is confusing at first but when you log your workouts it gives you a range to categorize each workout. I love this watch/ HRM and would recommend it to active women who are into gadgets.

I loved the look, feel, and the features this heart rate monitor provides, and I so wanted to keep it. However, if you use it while you move your arms around other than a stationary position you will lose your HR and therefore not have an accurate picture of your workout. I replaced the batteries in both the belt and the watch, paired the belt to the watch but it continued to lose the HR if my wrist went behind my back or over my head. I even returned it and bought it from a different store hoping to correct the problem. Both watches experienced the same situation. In desperately wanting to keep it, I researched and found this to be a common problem with Suunto. I have been a long time Polar user, but HATE the look of every single one of them, so I really was looking for the same quality. Unfortunately,Suunto isn't the one. Oh and the battery dies once a month even with it shut off in between uses.

I use this watch daily. The TE program is great and has aided me in my training. Uses: running and cycling, everyday wear. Only problem I have had with the watch is the face scratches easily--bought a ZAGG face shield and this has eliminated the problem.

This vendor did an excellent job of taking care of me with the watch I purchased. We had a few hiccups and they were deal with promptly and professionally via email. I couldn't have had a better transaction and I would definitley buy from them again.

This is a great Heart Rate Monitor (HRM). I initially got this to help with my running but ended up using this for whenever I'm doing any active exercise such as playing football/soccer, etc. I've found it to be really informative and the logs can be kept for future reference. What surprised me from reading various reviews of different HRM was the fact that a number of them require some "warming up" before accurate readings occurred. I found that when putting my HRM belt over my chest and switching the watch to read the belt, it picked up my heartbeat within seconds and accurately so.

In addition to the accurate readings and logging capability it has a coach/trainer that determines a workout schedule for you in a given week. I've not yet tried it out but it seems really easy to use and rather useful.

I'm not sure how the batteries last but I switch it off in between sessions to pro-long battery life. The only downside to this part is that you're not able to save logs in between sessions.

A couple of things I'd like to note though are that the text next to the buttons are tiny to the point where you'd have to refer to the manual to know what you're doing initially, or if you prefer to play around with it by trial and error, can just press away. If you really want to make full use of the watch and its many features, you have to read the manual. If you're going to use the basics, stick with a lower model like t1c. This is just a small gripe as once you've used this a number of times, navigating the menus is second nature.

Secondly, I find the buttons tiny and difficult to press if you're running and there's not much in terms of audio feedback (or rather not very loud) to know that you've pressed it if you're running around. I also tend to do more of my running at night so visibility of the watch and stats tends to be difficult to read, but then that's going to be the case with any HRM. The light works well enough for it's purpose.

Overall I would recommend this HRM and my concerns for it are minor issues that can be overcome with regular use or using it during the day.

Garbage. Sent back 2 of these and all were returned with the same problem. The HR monitor doesn't work, or best works sporadically. Terrible menu design and the manual is worthless. A $20 Casio digital watch is much easier to set and work functions. It's like government workers designed it on a Friday afternoon before a holiday weekend. You can buy mine for $60. I haven't sold it on Craigslist just because I would have the same kind of feeling a guy might have after spending a 3 day weekend in a $2 Thailand brothel without a condom, and then coming home and sleeping with his wife.

Any of the Garmin products function better. I have the 305 and 310XT. Both are a bit bulky but have solid performance and user friendly menus.

I have had the watch for a little more than a month now. I would say it is a very large step up from my Polar RS100. However I have a few complaints:
1. The backlight only works some of the time.
2. The screen scratches very easily

Other than that the watch is awesome.

this watch is excellent but mine works really bad, i bought it 3 weeks ago and never works on calories burned.. for example, I did 40 min of a hard spinning class and the watch said that I burned 30kcal at 84% average,,, poor watch... if you can buy a polar! i realized that a lot of users have severals problems with T series, pls find differents forum on the web and see them....