Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.

Elipsus

@freeheeler Unfortunatly, once the bubbles “pop” they alter the HRM performances (if the bubbles are on the receiving area) and they also made the watch less comfortable for me as it was slightly “scratchy” (see my first photo from July 13th)
And ,like I said before, they repair it because its under warranty, what will happen after ? how much will I get charged ?
And, on a sparate rant, they took more than 3 weeks to repair it, which kinda pooped all over my marathon training plan and statistics, that shouldn’t really bother me, but once you discover how powerful is a tool like this, its pretty hard to go back to “no watch, no data” for 3 weeks, I certainly don’t look forward to the next time I will have to send it back (see my second photo from 9 days ago) I hope I will be able to do it during the “winter training pause”, but then again I looked forward to use the watch for cross-country skiing…

I know that this problem is a bit overblown, but, as other said, its really frustrating to see all these beautiful (expensive) watches getting damaged for seemingly no reason

freeheeler

@Elipsus
I see, that makes sense, yes.

GiPFELKiND

@Elipsus yes Man, good Statement. Ist’s frustrating 1) to wait more than 3 weeks for Repair. Same procedure 2 times 2) bad measurement while bubbles on the sensor. 3) until today no official Statement from SUUNTO what exactly the Problem is there. No infos what the users can do better to not got this bubbles. That seems like suunto dont know the Problems… am i wrong!?

apfelkraut

Same symptoms here with a 9 Peak Pro. I bought it at Mediamarkt Germany around Mar’2023 and was wearing it since then. Now for repair since Sep 19th and got today an updated that “Due to a high volume of repairs, we are unable to repair your product at the time agreed.”

Seems to be a more wider issue. Just check eBay / Kleinanzeigen for this model. In case it is used and a photo of the back included, you will see bubbles …

Such a pity as it is otherwise an amazing sports watch with no serious competition in reach.

Brad_Olwin

@GiPFELKiND I imagine that Suunto knows exactly the percentage of units that have this issue based on returns. If Suunto believes that it is pervasive I expect they would make a statement. Clearly when there were some firmware issues that was done in the forums with a beta test. Why do you assume Suunto does not know what is happening? This does not seem to have happened with the 9Peak, only the Pro. Perhaps the reasons are more difficult to track down than you think. In my line of work a supplier can obtain raw materials and produce exactly the same product that now does not work for me. The reason was the raw materials somehow changed. Or a tiny change in how the supplier stores the raw materials caused a change. Your comments are not exactly helping users out here.

Have you contacted Customer Support and asked why this is happening?

I agree this should not happen and it has happened to me as well. I do trust the company and believe they will fix the problem. In the meantime if the solution is not yet at hand I am sure they will fix it. If you have to return a watch twice for this problem I would kindly ask Suunto if there was something they could do to help as it is quite frustrating to have this happen twice.

GiPFELKiND

@Brad_Olwin thank you for your thougts you are right

I check my watch daily after I’ve read of this issue, so I would like to know how long after the problem occurred. Mine for now seems fortunately ok after several showers/mud and so on. Thank you!

Brad_Olwin

@ultravox I worry about mine peeling as well. The S9PP is still my favorite watch. Because of that I never wear the watch showering. Perhaps large temp changes on the case could aid in bubbles forming as might prolonged exposure to soap. I am careful with sunscreen, lotion and soap. Other than those I don’t worry much about the watch. I do rinse it and the band after heavy or long workouts.

BrunoH

I’ve been doing some thinking; trying to come up with other things that get air bubbles and in what conditions it happens. I thought of smartphones and the screen protectors. There the bubbles appear at least if there’s a spec of dust in between the screen (I never seem to be able to clean the smartphone screen well enough). And another way to get bubbles is when the screen protector gets a hit or gets scraped.

Dirt and sand can and will get on your skin while doing outdoorsy activities. Tiny particles get between the watch and the skin scraping the top layer until air can penetrate the surface.

Very unscientific method, I know… Just a thought.

AntoniusGaius

Dear friends. My 9 Peak Pro came yesterday (after 30 days) from service center. Sensor looks nice, no bubbles or any other problems. Measured values seems OK too. I hope this was the last problem I had with them, and bubbles and peel will not return after few weeks. I will try to do some comparison on OHR accuracy with my Ambit 3 Peak and chest strap to see how good or bad it is. First sensor was very inaccurate so I used strap practically for every activity. But the reason I bought this new watch was ORH. Will see. It looks that Polar and Garmin are much further along in this…

vincent mayousse

@AntoniusGaius Thanks for the update. As for me, bubbles are still “growing”, but for now, it does not affect HR/SpO2 measurements (apparently). I consider sending my S9PP back for maintenance, but I am worried about the repairing/delivery time…I can’t afford staying a month or more without device…
@ others who sent back their watches recently: Have the repairing delays decreased over these last weeks?

Thanks

AntoniusGaius

@vincent-mayousse Hi, small update. OHR looks good. After replace measures pretty good. Today training was aceptable for me. Will see in the future.

AntoniusGaius

OK, so after FOUR days and three activities bubbles are developing again. I’m soooo frustrated… Is this problem present in the Race model as well? It has a LifeQ chip too. There can be “In house algorithms” but if the hardware is defective it will be unreliable no matter what. I’m afraid that I will change the team after 10 years with SUUNTO.

freeheeler

@AntoniusGaius
I can’t help here, just comment that I don’t have bubbles on my Vertical and my wife and my friend who both have an S9PP don’t have bubbles either.

could you share a picture of how bad it looks after 4 days and 3 activities?
and since it happens within this short time, I’m sure you can clearly state how you have used the watch. (in what conditions)

Egika

@AntoniusGaius wow, this sounds frustrating.
Actually the HR chip (LifeQ? - I don’t know) is just an extra piece of hardware sitting inside the watch and looking through the windows. the area that has been developing bubbles for you is part of the casing and not of the HR chip.
My Vertical and Race are spotless (and just have some wrist dirt ;))
I have exposed them to Sauna, swimming pools, baltic sea and the normal sweat and shower as I take them off only for charging evera now and then.

Anything like solvents or other chemicals your watch could have come in contact with?

AntoniusGaius

@freeheeler Hi, I used them on my left hand for hiking and running. No shower or so. Rinsed after use. Normal conditions, normal temperature. Absolutely regular use 24/4. I can’t imagine more regular… SN 2316xxxxxx

It does not look bad, but bubbles are present. When it was replaced it was clear. At the moment it does not affect the function, so I will continue using it, until it will be bad again…
Congratulations you have in your surrounding problem free products. It does not mean that other users can´t face defective ones. Thank you for sharing your experience. I will update the state after longer period of time.

freeheeler

@AntoniusGaius
was your watch repaired or replaced?

AntoniusGaius

@freeheeler Was repaired - back case was completely replaced with new one (new SN).

AntoniusGaius

@Egika OK you’re right, LifeQ is in this case not the case of the problem. It is defective casing. It looks like it is clear coated or so. I don’t understand why this part is not made of glass.
And to your question – no aggressive solvents were in contact with watch.

freeheeler

@AntoniusGaius
I would recommend, despite the disadvantage, to send it in again.
Suunto can only take note of the scope if they are aware of each case.

same as @Egika , my watch goes off my wrist for charging only.
it has seen sunscreen, saltwater, sand, and chlorine water etc…
edit: ok, you answered this question meanwhile.
is there maybe something you would suspect as a root cause? since you’re using it only few days you will remember what the watch was exposed to