@sky-runner said in Why anyone would buy a Suunto at the moment? Or ever.:
@Brad_Olwin said in Why anyone would buy a Suunto at the moment? Or ever.:
The S9b is built for trail and ultra running! I have used mine for many races and countless trail runs. Without HR you will get 35+ h of battery life, close to your 40. In Endurance mode, where little is sacrificed you will get 50h with HR. Using a belt will get ~34h in Performance and 50h in Endurance mode.
I would never use an extended (Endurance or Ultra) battery mode in a race or in a long self-supported run. I don’t trust its reliability. I had serious issues when I tried to use Good/5-sec battery mode on A3P in a 100 miler in the past, which led to tons of frustration during the race, and I’d never ever repeat that mistake again. And I need more accurate distance during a race to estimate splits, remaining distance to aid stations, etc. Also Strava really dislikes FIT files produced by Endurance and Ultra modes.
Well, I have used both 5 sec fix on A3P for 100 mile races (actually 120 miles too) and the S9b on Endurance mode for self-supported and races (100miles). I have no issues or frustrations. I don’t really care that much about Strava and if you change to Race there are no issues. I always laminate or on my phone carry aid station splits for several finish times. For the races and events I do, it is impossible to estimate instant pace or use instant pace. The average pace and average between aid stations is useful and Endurance mode is fine for that.
And now that there are watches that deliver 60 hours in the best GPS mode, I think there is little reason to compromise by using Suunto’s extended battery modes.
I typically use Navigation so those estimates are best case scenarios. What is real battery life? How is Navigation dealt with on other brands? Suunto switches to 1s fix only while on Nav screen. With FusedTrack and my standard Navigation uses I can get 50h on Endurance mode, which is great. The tracks are nearly as good as 1s fix. I don’t need perfection.
Routes on SA are super and can be loaded to the watch offline while exercising. Great when I bail off trail and have bailout routes on the phone