Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.

vincent mayousse

@Tieutieu : Mine starts with 2311… so maybe its a random batch issue. Or (but I hope not for you), it will develop on your wife’s watch as well…

GiPFELKiND

@Tami999 sent your watch to repair! Its NOT normal.
You can open a service request Here: https://www.suunto.com/de-de/Support/Reparaturservice/Online-Serviceanfrage/

GiPFELKiND

@Tami999 perhaps it is the time between the serial number of production, wrote something about this — if you Check the Pictures perhaps the problems are from 2302 to 2317 or so .

vincent mayousse

@GiPFELKiND : Yes although one #2305 seems (for now…?) NOT affected

surfboomerang

@GiPFELKiND Yes, I am a watersport guy so the watch has had it’s fair share of salt water, fresh water and suncream.
The watch is also rinsed with clean water after almost every activity.

martintrail

what about Vertical? I see only 9PP (mine too). Does that include SV? I’m thinking of switching from 9PP, so what should I expect.

freeheeler

@martintrail
expect a watch that was made in finland, passed quality check and is covered by manufacturers warranty
I wouldn’t hesitate a second to buy a product where a handful of people report issues.
it was the same with pixel phones some time ago and will always be a potential issue with any technical device.
even my avalanche airbag had a recall and was covered by warranty

enjoy the sports

Elipsus

@freeheeler Well, my watch is under warantty, so i was able to had it repaired, and considering how I already have some bubbles on the new sensor, I can expect to have to send it back early next year, and, if they don’t fix the root cause (from my point of view, they have this problem since a good six month already and they installed the same shitty sensor with the same shitty problem), i will have to send it back again in 1 year and a half, then my watch will be out of warranty, then in 3 years my watch will be dead again ?

I mean, its like Apple and their dreaded butterfly keyboards “don’t worry its covered under warranty”, then your macbook hits 2 years old and suddenly “it going to be 150€ for us to put back the exact same defective keyboard that will fail in 6 months, good luck”

vincent mayousse

@Elipsus Totally agree! The “it’s OK it’s covered by warranty” should not be an excuse to avoid solving the main issue!
Instead, they really should acknowledge the problem (I think they have all the relevant elements, as many users must have sent back their watches for this specific problem), and address it appropriately : i.e. cover their sensors with a new/robust material, especially for such an expensive watch !

Egika

@vincent-mayousse look. It’s different people involved here.

people telling you “covered by warranty” are not the ones in charge of product quality in Suunto.
People commenting here cannot solve the coating issue. They can just comment.

The Suunto quality department is not part of this forum. They get those warranty devices back on their tables and will decide what to do about the issue based on numbers, user reports, technology, etc.

vincent mayousse

@Egika Yes of course I know, I was just thinking out loud.

But I would assume that people from Suunto Quality Support might screen this forum to get some users feedbacks…

freeheeler

@vincent-mayousse
the companies with serious quality improvement that I have worked with didn’t do surveys about their products. they’ve analysed the quality claims and warranty replacements and took action.

Elipsus

@Egika said in Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.:

The Suunto quality department is not part of this forum.

That’s not true, while they don’t actively participate in it, they are looking at what is being posted, if they don’t they would be missing on tons of information about how their product is used.
And while Suunto quality department is not officially here, a few Suunto employees are here (notably a few devs), and since Suunto is hosting this forum, they have (by law) to know what is going on here (because they host it, they are responsible for whats posted inside)
As said before many people (including me) sent back their device for repair and there is no improvements nor communication on the matter, Suunto is currently playing a game called “let’s sweep this under the rug for the moment” that i understand (no company wants to acknowledge any issues) but I personally hate this as its some corporate bullshit to give minimum communication so you have less responsibility and basically no engagement toward your users.

@freeheeler said in Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.:

@vincent-mayousse
the companies with serious quality improvement that I have worked with didn’t do surveys about their products. they’ve analysed the quality claims and warranty replacements and took action.

They are definitely not mutually exclusive

Egika

Sorry, I know that devs are passively and actively participating here from time to time.
Please tell me which user is working in quality at Suunto.

Also there is no under the rug - this implies, that there are people suppressing something or that quality managers are here and not speaking out.
Fact is, there is just no-one here. It has been stated before and I know many of the Suunto staff. This is not the official communication path to Suunto for technical support or warranty claims.

Elipsus

@Egika I don’t know any user working in quality at Suunto, like I said
About the “sweep under the rug” that’s a poor wording on my side, I meant that Suunto refuse to publicly acknowledge a potential manufacturing issue publicly (on any channel) and just quietly repairs many watches that have the same troubles

freeheeler

@Elipsus
I’ve recently received a recall for my car’s parking brake… safety relevant.
I don’t think these bubbles could be harmful. I can even imagine that the watch works smoothly even with bubbles.

the day I find bubbles on the back of my watch, I’m happy Suunto repairs it. and that’s what I’ve picked up they do, right?

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.