Customer Reviews

Suunto t3c Heart Rate Monitor and Fitness Trainer Watch (Black Polished)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Bought this watch last week and have used it roughly 3 times (twice running and once at the gym for lifting). The feature set is excellent. You are able to setup intervals for running which for some reason is hard to find with other HRMs that actually look decent. The chest strap is very comfortable and once adjusted, you feel as if it's not even there.

My biggest complaint, as others of stated, is the durability of the screen. With only a weeks worth of use, the screen has been scratched beyond use. It's made of some type of plastic and not glass. Suunto, spend the extra $5 and upgrade the screen. Any watch that you pay over $100 for should not have this sort of problem, especially when Suunto prides itself on extreme outdoor activity.

Now I'm just trying to figure out now which other HRMs to use that will provide the same feature set as the t3c. Despite the nice look of the t3c, I can not recommend it due to the scratching issue.

Pros:
Huge upgrade from my previous Nike brand heart monitoring watch. Sleek, discrete profile, perfect display options. This color (black polished) to me is the least 'eye-sore' option for this product. Easy to set-up. Being able to easily lock/unlock the buttons minimizes accidental starts and stops of the funtions. Thorough design for basic cardio-training.
Cons:
It's not easy to tell online, but the wrist band has a shiny plastic tone. The buttons/labels are very discrete, so navigating the funtions may take some referencing to the manual a few times. The watch face is easy to read but scratches easily, so recommend the watch be removed when doing tasks that may lead to bumping or rubbing the watch across abrasive objects.

I'm a longtime fan of Suunto products and love my Altimax altimeter watch. That being said, I find the T3C to be a disappointing product for several reasons. Although it does work well as an HRM, and I like the menuing, there are some problems that prevent me from recommending it.

1)This unit is made in China (not Finland) and doesn't have the same quality feel as the Suunto wrist computers.

2)The watch band (wrist strap) that comes with the unit is completely unsuitable for an athletic watch. It's polished, stiff, black plastic, and uncomfortable to wear. The replacement strap available from Suunto is perfect for this watch, should have been included and costs $20. Additionally, the strap is unique to Suunto so you cannot use a velcro strap or another brand.

3) The watch face scratches VERY easily, unlike the Suunto wrist computers. You will want to buy an Invisible Shield screen protector, and they cost $10. So plan on spending $30 more just to get this unit in useable condition.

Bottom Line: I wouldn't buy it again. Polar does a better job with heart rate monitors.

I was hoping to get a nice watch because from all my research Suunto seemed like a reliable brand. Instead I got a watch where battery dies every 3-4 months (I barely use HR monitor or the light), the screen scratches very easily, and most importantly it "resets" itself every few weeks. It basically just stops working until you take out the battery and put it back in. I know that some special forces units in the army had Suunto watch given to them--i hope that their model is more reliable.

After many 42.2 marathons and counting, i have used many HRM timex ironman, nike, many polars up to my latest the RS800(a dissapointment by the way).currently i run with the Garmin 305, wich i love!! Any way i wanted a simple hrm which actualy looked like a watch. I found the T3 and the design really got me. So i bought it. It is so much more than i expected. Its design is amazing! Just love it. The hrm functions aré so simple yet different from garmin or polar. The graphs Are great, so you can easily follow your training on your watch. The hrm perormance is ok. This is my first Sunnto and i do recommend this product. I am 100% satisfied. Regarding the scratching i read in other reviews, they probably work on a construction site, because i use it everything day and no scratches what so Ever, it is like any other watch it Will strach if you scratch it ......

I would actually like to give this watch a 3.5 star rating because of the value, but the watch itself deserves 4 stars.

THE GOODs: very accurate HR monitor. has logs to track performance. trainer mode is great at improving performance (I've been using it for about 6 months now and much prefer it to heart rate zone method). very light and non-obtrusive. chest strap is the most comfortable i've ever worn

THE BADs: dial is extremely difficult to see in any low light conditions and with an added face/dial shield (xtra $12), becomes difficult to see in bright sunlight (which is most of the time here in San Diego) - virtually impossible if wearing polarized glasses. backlighting is way way underpowered. like most other readers, i felt the quality of materials on this particular style/model to be really cheap - face is plastic that seems xtremely scratch prone, band is cheap feeling semi flexible/hard rubber that looks cool on promotional ads but in real life looks and feels kinda cheap and also scratch prone. In order to sync it with your computer to track your performance for more than a couple weeks you need to buy a Suunto PC Pod for minimum $75 + shipping!!! just to be able to sync with my computer. Most of these negs are mere annoyances but do require a high level of patience and understanding to overcome.

All in all a good HR monitor watch but not impressed on the value. If I were to buy it again, I would definitely get a different style but would stick with the t3c model. And just do yourself a favor and order the protective face shield at the same time you order this watch cause you're not gonna want to risk scratching it up permanently.

Suunto makes great watches. Full of features. It takes time to learn the interface. You definitely do not want to lose the manual. Cut the band a little long for a test fit. Crystal scratches pretty easy but car polish will take out most small scratches.

New Problem- After about a year, the watch and the belt stopped communicating consistently. They connect, and then drop the connection. I have put new bats in both and re sync'd with no change. This watch has great features but it appears to be unreliable. I have read other reviews that complain of similar problems.

I finally gave up and moved on to a Timex. While the Timex (T5J031) does not record more than one training even at a time, and it seems to be osbsessed with creating new laps, no matter what button you press, at least the HRM is split-second accurate and it does not drop you 5 minutes into your workout.

HR Monitors aren't very cheap. After conducting some research, the Suunto brand seemed to be the best balance for performance and features that was of good value. It was also the most reasonable looking unit and very usable outside of training as it doubles as a watch. I was concerned about other reviews reporting issues with the HR/watch face being quite easy to damage/scratch. To prevent this I also purchased a Zagg Invisible shield to protect the face. The Zagg and T3C combo has been flawless and has kept the T3C in pristine condition in the couple of months I've had it. I train 10 times a week, 5 of those sessions I use the T3C for both steady-state cardiovascular exercise and high intensity interval training.

As far as build goes, it's been able to hold on it's on quite strongly despite my level of activities. A fair few people have also commented on the appearance of the T3C as a nice watch but as soon as I mention that it's more of an HR monitor they would not believe me.

I only have two negative points about the T3C, but they aren't worth worrying about when taking in consideration what the T3C does right. First thing is that the armband out of the box appears to be made for an extremely obese person and had to have a watch repair professional adjust and cut a fair bit to ensure it fit's right on my wrist. The process was extremely quick and if anyone had the right tools this could be done with ease, the manual has some details on how to do this. Secondly, the interval trainer beeps aren't loud enough. When I do high intensity training (usually in the form of sprints), both my vision and hearing are very much affected. This has made the T3C a little more difficult to hear. It's not extremely bad and so far I haven't missed any beeps from the interval trainer however if I trained any harder and if the beeps were any fainter then I am certain I'd start missing intervals. Otherwise, I am absolutely enjoying this product and have had no regrets with my purchase.

I will likely be returning this watch soon, in favor of a Timex Ironman HRM. The Timex is not as stylish, but in my experience they are great training watches; unfortunately I cannot say the same for the Suunto.

The T3c has two basic modes: time and training. Pretty self explanatory. However, many timing options (like a countdown (interval) timer or stop watch) are not available in the timing mode--this could be just a minor inconvenience--and, more importantly, are buried in a terribly CLUNKY INTERFACE.

INTERVAL training is where this units truly falls flat. The T3c allows you to store only 2(!) interval periods plus a warm up period; effectively, interval #1 is your interval period and #2 is your recovery time (they alternate in immediate succession...for instance 5 on and 2 off). Unfortunately, the setting to change the interval duration is buried in the training menu and nearly impossible to get to while kicking hard or while in a brief recovery period between intervals. If you only use one constant interval period in your workout, this will not be a problem for you. But, if like me, you vary your interval durations throughout each workout you will be mightily disappointed by the Suunto. For instance, I like to warm up for 20mins and then jump into 2x10 min intervals with 2 off, followed by 3x5 min intervals with 2 off and then wrap up with 4x1 min intervals (with 30 sec off); and this is really an impossibility with the T3c (I could just count the mins/secs but I shouldn't have to for the price of this unit). BOTTOM LINE: This "watch" is NO GOOD for someone who trains with varying interval lengths within each training session.

On the plus side, I find the belt to be very COMFORTABLE and I have no complaints with the general HRM function. Unfortunately this is just not a good training WATCH, despite its redeeming features as a HRM. I cannot recommend this watch until the interface is improved such as to make this a real training watch, not just a HRM.

I've had the Suunto T3 for a couple years now and it's worked well for me. It looks nice, so I can wear it as my everyday watch at work, and I'm also able to use it for all the heart rate monitoring things. It's a little hard to read in low light or with polarized sunglasses. It reads my heart rate well without many problems. Only on long hikes in cold weather have I had issues with it reading. It definitely works better if you're sweating. I usually put a little water on the electrodes and it does great from the get go.

You can set up the heart rate to exercise in heart rate zones which works great for interval training. It can also warn you if you're training too hard or not enough with an alarm. I also like the 'training effect' because it gives me a rough estimate of how effective my workout was. The software that you can use to look at your workout info isn't that great, but it's somewhat interesting.

I don't use it with any of the pods other than the PC pod to download information to my computer. Annoyingly, you can't get the information to a computer without buying the add on PC Pod for this watch.

I had it replaced under warranty without difficulty as water somehow got inside the watch. Suunto was a pleasure to deal with and sent me a new watch. Battery life has been great. The band is starting to crack a bit (though it hasn't broken through) and $25 seems pricey for a band, but I'll probably do it since I've been happy with the watch.