Ambit4

Brad_Olwin

@fazel The Poor distances and tracks on anything but best GPS and having the route distances when a route is loaded into the watch be as the crow flies were serious negative issues that I commented to Suunto about every chance I got. The route issue is the single most important as know I have an accurate distance measurement as I am often off trail.

Fenr1r

@Brad_Olwin This is a thread for a putative Ambit 4. You’re arguing against the Ambit 3 … why?

Do you know that a more powerful Ambit couldn’t run a FusedTrack-equivalent? That might give Suunto a competitor to Garmin’s surprise Instinct (+ Solar) hit.

Why shouldn’t Suunto and their customers have a Waypoint navigation alternative product to the Routepoint nav of the Sx?

You prefer Routepoint navigation, others don’t.

You have, and like, the relatively new Sx; others have, and like, the heading-towards-obsolescence Ambit 3.

Noone’s suggesting taking your product away: why take a swing at this?

lexterm77

@Brad_Olwin

I don’t know about crow distance, but I think you mean this:

https://www.suunto.com/en-ca/Support/Product-support/suunto_ambit3_peak/suunto_ambit3_peak/features/3d-distance/

francescobaldi

@TELE-HO said in Ambit4:

@francescobaldi
may I ask what your doubts are with other Suunto models?

What in the last years happened to the ambit users will happen in the future to the other models users.
I don’t want to go again into explaining what makes me angry.
I don’t like the idea that they can decide to stop functionalities that I paid for, or deliberately make my experience more complicated to force me to switch to buy a new product.
If they do, like they did, I’ll please them, but I’ll buy another brand.

Brad_Olwin

@lexterm77 said in Ambit4:

@Brad_Olwin

I don’t know about crow distance, but I think you mean this:

No, I loved my Ambits, had 4 of them 1, 2, 3, 4 and 3 sapphire, have only 1 now for posterity.
A major bummer for me when routes were introduced is the distance from beginning to waypoint or waypoint to waypoint or waypoint to end was calculated as a straight line (as the crow flies) and not as the route is drawn on the screen. This could never be changed in the Ambits and is the primary reason I purchased an SSU as routing in the SSU is accurate for the route as drawn on a map not as a straight line distance.

I believe this was a limitation of the Ambit hardware. There were many others too but won’t detail them here. BTW, I believe the 9 series automatically calculates 3D distances if doing trails, ski touring, etc.

fazel

@Brad_Olwin I agree the 9 is a better watch overall. However, I do think what @Fenr1r suggested about competing with the Instinct has merit. It would be cool to see much of the 9’s functionality pushed into an Ambit4 much like Apple does with the iPhone SE if/when the 9 is updated. That would be an appealing watch IMO.

Brad_Olwin

@fazel what about improving the Suunto 5? Barometer? Would be nearly identical to ambit with advantages of s-series. Great antenna and smaller, I found the ambit rather large

fazel

@Brad_Olwin maybe yeah. I would want sapphire since I am rather clumsy and would actually prefer grayscale (though I admit I’m probably in the minority here).

From what I can find on the web, there is 8g that separate the Ambit3 Peak and Suunto 9, correct?

@Brad_Olwin said in Ambit4:

@fazel what about improving the Suunto 5? Barometer? Would be nearly identical to ambit with advantages of s-series. Great antenna and smaller, I found the ambit rather large

although that could be nice, I think they may be two different watches.
There is something regarding grayscale devices and their simplicity that attracts me (same with bw phones, I love them!)

freeheeler

@francescobaldi
but ambit is still working, isn’t it?
Nobody can guarantee that e.g. Garmin, Polar or Coros need to consolidate an outdated database, too.

Fenr1r

@Brad_Olwin said in Ambit4:

Suunto 5 … [+] Barometer … Would be nearly identical to ambit.

200hrs battery life (recording)?
Ability to enter POI coordinates on the watch?
Ability to use WP navigation for those activities where Routepoint is inferior/inapplicable?

I’ve never seen an Ambit “4 sapphire”: could you share a pic?

chrish

There just isn’t a watch that can do what the Ambit3 series can do with regard to the points @Fenr1r is making. That’s why Ambit3 owners are so disappointed in Suunto with the SSU, S5, S9 and the new Suunto App. They are largely worthless for backcountry use. The addition of bearing lock helped, but POI mgmt and navigation (still not available on iOS and only in beta on Android if I’m not mistaken) will go a long way to bringing the S9 back in parity w/ the Ambit3. Hopefully the S9 ‘vNext’, whatever they call it, will come out of the box.

But the topic wasn’t about the S9 or what current Suunto device might marginally match up with a requested “Ambit 4”, it was about requesting a device ‘on par’ with the Ambit3 with regard to screen and features, and a bump in performance. I’d definitely snag one of those, even at an S9 price point.

Brad_Olwin

@chrish Based on some recent surveys Suunto has done, I would guess they are considering an outdoor watch, perhaps. It would seem a good idea to take the S9 hardware (with some improvements) and parse outdoor-specific firmware. They did this to make the D5, which is built on S9 hardware. The question for you folks that want an outdoor watch, are you willing to give up some of the sport-specific software to enable robust outdoor capabilities? One might think the next generation Traverse. Quite a different watch than the Ambit though.

fazel

Wow. I opened a can of worms…

dulko79

@Brad_Olwin perfect, plus slightly better brighter screen.

Fenr1r

@fazel Maybe stirred it a little. The can’s a bit rusty and the worms are worn out from wriggling in circles.

@Brad_Olwin

The question for you folks that want an outdoor watch, are you willing to give up some of the sport-specific software to enable robust outdoor capabilities?

Sure. I would “sacrifice” functions that can already be found on other watches in the Suunto portfolio to maintain this conceptual Ambit 4’s USP (and competitive merit vs Garmin). Although I wouldn’t post opposition to those functions’ retention/reinstatement in a notional future watch.

Your question assumes such loss is actually necessary which, with an improved processor and better RAM in the same chassis, it might well not be. Even so, yeah. And if the Ambit chassis has had its day, I’d lean more towards the OHR-free Spartan. If colour touch-screens are required, a Spartan 2 would carry the outdoor-specific FW nicely. But it seems that keeping the Ambit-style screen would keep costs down and the watch competitive.

I’m not sure the Traverse and Ambit are quite so different.

fazel

@Fenr1r right - a dot-matrix screen and no OHR should keep cost down I would think, as would using the existing chassis, no? The basic idea is use what you’ve already developed when possible to create a watch that is, in spirit, about executing core functionality quickly with accuracy and precision. Seems like a winner.

Does anyone know if the external antenna design is inherently better than newer designs? It seems like it would be but I don’t want to make assumptions.

Brad_Olwin

@Fenr1r said in Ambit4:

@fazel Maybe stirred it a little. The can’s a bit rusty and the worms are worn out from wriggling in circles.

I think Suunto is likely pushing the hardware on the S9 given how SuuntoPlus is implemented. My opinion as I know nothing of the hardware/firmware. To easily implement and keep costs down re-utilizing the hardware would seem prudent. Not sure all you want and all sports firmware already present is feasible.

fazel

@Brad_Olwin said in Ambit4:

@Fenr1r said in Ambit4:

@fazel Maybe stirred it a little. The can’s a bit rusty and the worms are worn out from wriggling in circles.

Haha

Fenr1r

@fazel said in Ambit4:

Does anyone know if the external antenna design is inherently better than newer designs?

Single user sample: about 8/10 times my A3P is closer to my handheld’s tracks (& map-/OHI-drawn paths) than my SSU. Same GNSS chip in both watches. But usually not by much - I don’t know how it compares to your 6% variation between external and newer. I should check.