Suunto t3 Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness Trainer Watch (Black Polished)

by Suunto

Product Features

• Versatile heart rate monitor watch in contemporary polished black color
• Displays current heart rate, average heart rate, and calories burned
• Training Effect function measures how hard your body is working
• Includes Suunto heart rate belt; dual-time, date, and alarm functions
• Interference-free digital ANT transmission; water-resistant to 100 feet; 2-year warranty

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

You're sweating, your heart is racing, and all your hard work is starting to pay off. What's your next move? If you're smart, you'll take the guesswork out of your training with the Suunto t3 heart rate monitor watch. Bundled with a Suunto heart rate belt, the t3 lets you accurately monitor your real-time heart rate, average heart rate, and calorie consumption. The watch also tracks your real-time Training Effect, a quick and accurate measurement of how hard your body is working at any given moment. By knowing your Training Effect, you'll enjoy a more intimate understanding of your body's workout "sweet spot," an essential tidbit if you want to achieve your targets without setting yourself back by under- or over-training.

The Training Effect works intuitively: The watch first notes the info from your personal fitness profile, and then analyzes your physiological progress and translates the data into a simple one-to-five scale. For example, if you want to improve your aerobic fitness at a moderate tempo, you should exercise until your TE meter reads between 3.0 and 3.9, two to four times per week. To improve your aerobic condition more rapidly--but without the risk of over-training--you should push yourself harder once or twice per week, so your TE meter reads 4.0 to 4.9, with a few recovery sessions in the TE 1.0 to 2.0 range. The Training Effect is relative to each individual. While a novice runner might achieve a TE of 4.0 on a four-mile jog, a professional runner might have to complete an uphill marathon to get the same reading. In other words, both runners will have to exercise hard to achieve a TE of 4.0.

The Suunto t3 also offers interference-free digital ANT transmission, making it easy to pair your heart rate monitor with the HR belt and an optional Suunto training pod. Training pods are small units that attach to such items as a running shoe or a bike to calculate your speed and distance while you exercise. Pods are ideal for athletes who aren't satisfied with half-hearted training efforts, but really want to monitor their training routines down to the last detail. Finally, the t3 includes a training logbook that compiles your progress and personal stats. You can even conduct a more thorough analysis of your workouts by using the Suunto Training Manager Lite software.

Specifications:

• Color: Polished black
• Stopwatch: Yes
• Max number of split times in memory: 50
• Timers (interval and warm-up): Yes
• Average heart rate: Real time
• Training effect: Real time
• Calories: Real time
• ANT digital coded signal: Yes
• Memory capacity: 15 logs
• HR limits and HR zones: Yes
• Suunto heart rate belt: Yes
• Suunto comfort belt: Compatible, sold separately
• Suunto memory belt: Compatible, sold separately
• Water resistance: 100 feet
• Selectable metric/imperial units: Yes
• Menu-based user interface: Yes
• Dot-matrix display: Yes
• Backlight type: Electro-luminescent display
• User-replaceable strap: Yes
• Software: Suunto Training Manager Lite
• Low battery warning: Yes
• User-replaceable battery: Yes
• Button lock: Yes
• Compatible with pods: Yes
• Watch: 12/24 hour
• Calendar clock: Yes
• Dual time: Yes
• Daily alarms: 1

Manufacturer's Warranty
Two-year warranty

About Suunto
Suunto was founded in 1936 by outdoors man and a keen orienteering enthusiast, Tuomas Vohlonen, who had long been bothered by a problem: the inaccuracy of traditional dry compasses and their lack of steady needle operation. Being an engineer with an inventive turn of mind, he discovered and patented the production method for a much steadier needle, better readings, and a new level of accuracy. By 1950 the company was exporting compasses to over 50 countries around the world, including Canada and the United States. In 1952, Helsinki was hosting the Olympic Games, and the torches carried to light the Olympic flame were Suunto products. The next step was improving the stability and accuracy of marine compasses. The first marine compass, the Suunto K-12, was launched onto the market in 1953. In 1957, Suunto started manufacturing hypsometers, which measure the height of trees.

In the 1960s, the compass range grew further and Suunto introduced its first diving compass--initiated by the divers themselves. A British sports diver attached a Suunto compass to his wrist and found that the device also worked underwater. Thanks to his feedback and initiatives, the new business category was found. Suunto's exports and business grew steadily and Suunto then focused on combining its strength in precision mechanics with new skills in electronics. Accuracy, reliability, and ruggedness have been Suunto's key values from the very beginning of the company history.

Today, Suunto is a leading designer and manufacturer of sports instruments for training, diving, mountaineering, hiking, skiing, sailing, and golf. True to its roots, Suunto is today the world's biggest compass manufacturer. Prized for their design, accuracy and dependability, Suunto sports instruments combine the aesthetics and functionality of watches with sport-specific computers that help athletes at all levels analyze and improve performance. Headquartered in Vantaa, Finland, Suunto employs more than 500 people worldwide and distributes its products to nearly 60 countries. The company is a subsidiary of Helsinki-based Amer Sports Corporation with the sister brands Wilson, Salomon, Atomic, Precor, and Mavic.

Product Description

Suunto T3 is more than a heart rate monitor. The Suunto T3 helps you maximize results by providing real-time information on the training effect of your workout. Transcending the conventional heart rate monitor, the Suunto T3 logs your workouts, tracks y

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000H1EF4O
• Item model number: ss012690110 black polished
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Function, Bad Form, Fat Price, October 7, 2006

By 

Billy Radcliffe - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Suunto t3 Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness Trainer Watch (Black Polished) (Apparel)

The health functionality of the watch is quite nice - the ability to track workouts over time is helpful for those serious about trianing. Seeing progress in fitness level over time is also motivational.

Unfortunately the quality of the watch is subpar. The watch face is plastic and seems like it will easily scratch. The band on this particular version of the T3, though it looks nice in the pictures, is also cheap plastic. The spring loaded and locking clasp somewhat makes up for the cheap band. The inverted LCD on this model also looks cool in the pictures but makes the watch more difficult to read.

Overall I'm impressed with the functionality of the watch, and the ability to add additional features with pods is nice. But the price is far higher than it should be for a watch of this quality, and the pods are far too expensive. Other heart-rate watches cost 1/3 what the Suunto T3 does, and adding a $80 pedometer or $130 GPS only increases the cost without adding features that are really necessary except for all but the most serious training athletes.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not what I expected from a Suunto, December 9, 2006

By 

Michael Foxtrot "Gadget Lover" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Suunto t3 Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness Trainer Watch (Black Polished) (Apparel)

Pros:
-Looks nice (I receive a lot of compliments)
-Heart rate monitor is comfortable, unobtrusive, and very accurate
-Lots of heart rate training modes

Cons:
-Cheap plastic face that scratches very easily
-The clasp on the band constantly pops open
-The buttons stick out so far that every time you bend your wrist back or bump your arm the watch changes to a different mode. This happens CONSTANTLY and is extremely irritating.
-It is very complicated to try to figure out all the different training modes
-No compass or altimeter settings that are common on most other Suunto watches

Bottom line:
Suunto has been making great watches for long enough that they should have been able to avoid the mistakes they made when designing this watch. This watch is definitely overpriced for the product that you get. If your looking for a good heart rate monitor you can find models by Polar with all the same features of the T3 for about half the price.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best HR I've used..., May 10, 2008

By 

M. Marshall "marshamk2" (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Suunto t3 Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness Trainer Watch (Black Polished) (Apparel)

Previously had a Polar F6 (broke it changing the battery but I had worn that thing to death. The F6 was great but I needed something more advanced). I took this thing out of the box and within a minute or two of fumbling around with the menu system, I thought I was going to send it back. If you have come over from Polar or another make, then the menu system will seem counter-intuitive because it's so radically different. But if you take 10 minutes and read the manual and figure out what it does, this thing is a dream.

It provides TONS of data based on customizable settings. You can use a HR min/max as your limits OR you can set up 3 different HR "zones" (based on %. I have Z-1 at 60-70%, Z-2 at 70-80%, z-3 at 80-90%. You have to put in your max HR and you can use any number of programs on the web to derive that figure.) At the end of the workout, the watch displays a cool little graphic representing how much time you spent in each "zone." Even better, during the workout, the watch displays little indicators on the bezel to show what zone you are in. Look at the numbers on the watch face. You can see they range from 80-190 on the left. Let's say your zone 2 is set up as 145-170 BPM. If you are currently in that zone, the indicator lights show up at 145 and 170. If you go in to zone 3, the lights move on the bezel to delineate that range.

Of course, the watch provides cals, max, avg, etc. But there is also a system called "Training Effect." I'm still learning how this works but I think the basic idea is that the watch calculates how "hard" your workout was on a scale of 1.00-5.00. Read the manual. It explains it in better detail. But if you don't like this system or can't understand it, you can still use the watch as if it were not even there.

The watch is also supposedly adaptive. It tells you what your activity "class" is. You look in the manual to set a default "class." If you work out 7-10 hours per work, you are in class 8 (I think). Then, over the course of time, the watch figures out if you are failing to meet that class or exceeding it and adjusts accordingly. This, I think, will serve as a good motivator and keep me on the pedals. But, I haven't used it long enough to see it make any changes so this part of my review isn't that well informed.

I use this watch primarily for 2 activities- road biking and running. I bike approximately 110-150 miles a week and run maybe 20 (I'm more of a biker and run mostly as cross-training). I have run 6 miles with it and biked 60 with it so far.

Major complaint I suppose is that the face of the watch is CHEAPO plastic and it will scratch. I suggest the following- the watch comes with a piece of protective plastic on the BACK of the watch body. I moved that over to the front screen to protect it. There is a company called Invisible Shield that makes a military-grade protective film for the watch for 9 bucks. It's made specifically for the T3- it's not some generic garbage. Get it. Mine is in the mail.

Second major complaint is with the band. Suunto provides a cool band with a deployant clasp but you have to take a razor blade (yikes!) to the thing to size it to your wrist...dunno what they were thinking here. That process is a pain and you have to remove the little bar things that hold on the clasp. But, once you've cut the band it's fine. So don't mess it up!

I'm interested in trying this device with Suunto's bike skewer speed sensor. Has anyone out there used this combination?

Overall, this thing blows my polar f6 away (but then again, it's a different market level- I think the Polar CS300 is the closest equivalent...). If you can take a few minutes to set it up right and learn the menus, this thing is outstanding.



ARGH! Above is my original review. Here it is a few months later and the thing absolutely crapped the bed on me. First HR got stuck at "154" on a 3 hour bike ride. Then Suunto told me to put a new battery in the HR strap. That worked for about a day. Then it crapped out again. Sent it in the Suunto for repair. Suunto support was good and communicative and they paid for shipping. They informed me that I would get a new T3. Ok, fine. But they said they didn't know when this would be. I found this strange so I gave em a call. They said they couldn't send me one for over MONTH! What the heck? They did say they could send me a new one in a different color but I couldn't find that color online so now I don't know what I am getting. What a bummer! Letdown!!