Sensors full of Bubbles, Plastic peels off.
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@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”
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@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 ! -
@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.
t6, S6, Elementum Terra, Ambit 3 Sapphire, Spartan Ultra Copper, Traverse Alpha, S7 Graphite LE, S9B Ambassador, S9P Granite Blue Titanium, S9PP Titanium Sand, Vertical All Black, Race Titanium Charcoal, Race S All Black, Race S Titanium Canary
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@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…
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@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. -
@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
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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. -
@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 -
@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?
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@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
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@Elipsus
I see, that makes sense, yes. -
@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!?
If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. #lifewithasthma #runwithasthma #nevergiveup #pushinglimits #adventurestartshere SUUNTO 9 Peak, Vertical Ti, Race , Race s, SA (Beta) Android🏃🏼🧗⛷️🚵
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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.
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@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.
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@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!
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@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.
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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.
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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…
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@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
