My first experience with a 24/7 tracking watch
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I come from suunto ambit 3 peak which I only wore to record my training sessions and then take it off it worked perfectly for this. The suunto vertical is my first watch to wear 24/7 and track everything such as sleep, resources, steps, V02max etc
My thoughts here most likely apply not just too the suunto watch but these issues are Likely across brands as I found in the Garmin forums the same thing.
1.)sleep tracking the watch either nails this almost perfectly or completely gets it wrong, for example last night it told me I slept for 21mins yet other nights it gets it spot on. I don’t know why this is but being able to manually edit this would make this function much more useful. At the moment it’s gets sleep right about 50% of the time the other 50% it’s wrong by many many hours which makes this feature near useless and also feeds into point 2.
2.) resources, without correctly recording sleep well this feeds into resources making it useless.
3.) v02 max this is also useless unless you are only running flat roads. As an example i was only recording walks and uphill trail run V02max stayed at 42.5, I then did a single flat road run only high zone1 borderline zone 2 for 12 mins the watch straight away bumped V02max up to 45.1. Two days later I do a treadmill walk at 10% incline drops back to 41 because the watch is only looking at speed and hr doesn’t take into account incline which makes it useless unless you are a road runner all the time.
4.)steps and calories I don’t pay too much attention to this but most certainly it counts way too many steps based on sensitivity with wrist movements.
I think this covers most of the tracking features that I was interested in when buying this watch, in the end I will probably just use it to record training sessions like I did with the ambit 3 peak and not wear it 24/7. I still think it’s the best watch out there and the huge battery life and gps accuracy makes it the best for recording training sessions and the training peaks in suunto app is very useful I use this and it works well. The 24/7 stuff just isn’t there yet and from reading the Garmin forums it’s the same there if it doesn’t record sleep properly it flows onto everything else.
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@gone-troppo I have been using 24/7 tracking watches since I sold my old Ambit 3 about 7 years ago.
Fenix 3, 5, 6, 6x and 7. And now Suunto Vertical…And I have to say I’ve always had the feeling that all those data is useless or not necessary at all… let me explain my case:
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Sleep: I do not need my watch scores my sleep… I do know if I rested well or not. Not to mention that sleeping with a watch is not comfortable for me. Now my vertical sleeps in the table while I sleep in the bed
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V02Max: interesting metric if you use it. I do not.
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Resources (body battery in Garmin): I do know if I have energy enough or not. I do know if I’m tired or not. Do not need the watch to tell me that.
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Steps and calories: well… steps are an interesting measure of your activity during the day. Calories… I do not care
That being said, I think that most watches provide way more fuctionalities that most of us need.
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@Luis-Andés-Olmedo yeh mate I think I bought into the hype a bit with all this stuff guess I felt like I was missing out somewhat.
I have been training over 2 decades mostly with just hr monitor and a few years back upgrade from that to ambit 3 peak. Truth is I probably never needed anymore than what the ambit 3 peak provides. I guess I look at the suunto vertical as a fancy new ambit 3 peak with few upgrades does the basics I need.
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@gone-troppo agree!
In my case, the only features really interesting in Vertical that Ambit 3 Peak does not have are:
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Maps: I’m a trail runner and maps are very usefull sometimes.
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Screen size/resolution.
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Battery life
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@gone-troppo , nice Feedback !
I was in a similar case than you when I Switched to S9B, and Vertical now. I’ve been wearing my watch H24 since I went to S9b, and so do I with the Vertical.
I find that some datas - or should I say “indicators” - have helped me to know me better, to rely feelings I had about my condition with “facts”. Sleep (for me it works pretty well, even it is not always totally accurate), VO2max (I don’t use HR or OHR for walking activities, for the reasons you mentionned - only for trail running and running). I’d like that V02 max estimation would perhaps work better for trail running ; like you said It seems more relevant when running with few elevation.
Like you I don’t pay that much attention to ressources or steps. I found just a little satisfaction in seeing I’ve been active enough !
A data I also particulary focus on since I went to S9B is the NGP, which I find pretty reliable for trail running to compare activities, estimate shape level…That’s probably the data I’d like to be able to analyse and compare in SA. For now there is not much about it.
I have not tried SPO2 even once, no need for now.
What I found also interesting to focus on is the training load. It now helps me to easily accept recovery time after a race, or train a bit harder. Suunto coach also gives nice indications.Anyway, more than the datas of the day and the values themselves, I find way more interesting to see their evolution in time. It is intersting to rely with events, shape during races, recovery…
(Thats is the reason why I choosed for now to stay with HR calculation based for TSS, even if the vertical has pwr.)For someone like me, who is training by his own, mostly following my mood, envy and feelings and without a coach or a prepared training plan, I find that those datas have helped me to improve.
It of course depends on what are your goals.(I also focus a bit more on datas since I’ve really increased my training load.)
@Luis-Andés-Olmedo said in My first experience with a 24/7 tracking watch:
In my case, the only features really interesting in Vertical that Ambit 3 Peak does not have are:
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Maps: I’m a trail runner and maps are very usefull sometimes.
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Screen size/resolution.
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Battery life
When I switched from A3P to S9B (mostly because I had repeated barometric sensor failures), the only thing I really missed at first was the GPS accuracy, but I never used the A3P again since then.
With the Vertical there is no discussion anymore, you can’t be disappointed on the 3 points you mentionned.
But you would probably enjoy a lot more of it -
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@gone-troppo I think none of the watches available on the market measure all the points you have listed in such a quality, that it’s wise to strictly follow the data and train based purely on it. But I think it’s interesting to see it as a big picture over time, trends, etc.
The problem for me is that I was not sure if the data is reliable enough before with S9PP, but now with SV I absolutely don’t trust (especially) the sleep and resource data. I think also it’s way over-counting steps. And unless you measure VO2Max in a lab, it’s just all informative…
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@tomasbartko said in My first experience with a 24/7 tracking watch:
@gone-troppo I think none of the watches available on the market measure all the points you have listed in such a quality, that it’s wise to strictly follow the data and train based purely on it. But I think it’s interesting to see it as a big picture over time, trends, etc.
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The problem for me is that I was not sure if the data is reliable enough before with S9PP, but now with SV I absolutely don’t trust (especially) the sleep and resource data. I think also it’s way over-counting steps. And unless you measure VO2Max in a lab, it’s just all informative…no, it’s not about the quantity, it’s about the interpretation of data,
what do you mean by sleep score 69, what is the different between 69 and 75?
Do you think you will get same Vo2max in 2 different labs? do you think you will get same Vo2max in the same lab but tested in morning and afternoon?the data is just presenting one thing, but your interpretation can be wrong.
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@zhang965 I use my Suuntos all day every day. I’m a bit of a data nerd and love all the data provided by modern sports watches.
Resources, sleep, specific data fields and Suunto Coach are all fantastic innovations for Suunto. Granted, some don’t need or use these features but all can be useful depending on individual needs and wants.
Suunto guides and apps are great and I use these when running trail races. Immensely useful for my use case.
I also use HRV4Training everyday as well 🤭
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The other observation I forgot to add was wrist based power this is only consistent per activity and cannot be transferred from trail running uphill to flat running for example. You can only set one ftp either for flat running or uphill running if you wish to see your power zones accurately. Going uphill vertical kilometre zone 4 effort near threshold will produce low 200 watt range power for me . A simple zone 1 road run flat road will produce 260 watt power.
I still love my suunto vertical please don’t get me wrong I’m not attacking suunto, actually I’m a staunch suunto defender at all times. I just tend to get to the bottom of things and test everything. And I’m sure these findings apply across all brands if tested enough
