Any Suunto sports watch owners about?

[justwanttoweeinpeace]

DH wants a Fitbit for Xmas. He's spent the last six months getting into shape and he's done fantastically.

The Fitbit seems to have a bit of a rep for being somewhat lightweight, so I'm reluctant to buy something that will end up in a drawer in a few months time because it doesn't do much.

We both dive and we've used Suunto dive computers for decades. I see they do sports watches. Can anyone tell me whether they're any good?

DH cycles, hikes (inc very long treks annually) and goes to the gym. I'm looking for something with a heart rate monitor if possible.

Any advice / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[NeilsBoar]

I use a Suunto Ambit3S for triathlon training and it suits me perfectly; they're currently quite well discounted as Suunto have released the Spartan. So you may well be able to get an excellent deal on an Ambit3S or Ambit 3 Peak (avoid the Ambit3 R as its running only).

I would strongly advise avoiding the Spartan until at least this time next year since Suunto released it with only a fraction of the features finished; it will be a fabulous watch when it is finished, but for the moment I'd strongly suggest avoiding it.

For a HR monitor as well I'd buy one of the cheap bluetooth straps from Decathlon or for an optical option the Mio Link/Scosche Rhythm Plus.

Another thing to be aware of is that unlike Fitbit or Garmin there is no online / web based platform for the step / activity count on Suunto watches (only for the workouts), i.e., you can only see your current day/week activity on the watch and not online. Plus the Ambit 3 only shows activity in terms of calories not steps (which for me makes far more sense as most of my daily activity comes from non-step things e.g. cycling, swimming, weight training).

Personally I wouldn't want someone else buying me a sports watch unless I told them exactly which model / features, but then I'm very fussy about my sports watch as I use it for 3 or 4 different workouts a day...

//www.dcrainmaker.com has a lot of superb reviews and links to where you can find discounts at the moment.

[NeilsBoar]

Another big plus for the Ambit 3 is that its a superb hiking/mountaineering watch (particularly the peak version), you can use it to log your positions and find your way back or you can upload a route before you leave and follow it (even in normal watch mode) and the battery life will last a full day (or more!) of hiking and navigating.

[justwanttoweeinpeace]

Thanks so much Neils, this is exactly what I needed :)