Rating  - Nice Watch
Very nice watch with useful functions. The only negative is how easily the lens scratches. I had it a month and the plastic lens has a permanent scratch already. The watch takes some time to figure out all the functions, but is eventually easy to use. The training effect is a good feature.
Rating  - Best HR I've used...
Previously had a Polar F6 (broke it changing the battery but I had worn that thing to death. The F6 was great but I needed something more advanced). I took this thing out of the box and within a minute or two of fumbling around with the menu system, I thought I was going to send it back. If you have come over from Polar or another make, then the menu system will seem counter-intuitive because it's so radically different. But if you take 10 minutes and read the manual and figure out what it does, this thing is a dream.
It provides TONS of data based on customizable settings. You can use a HR min/max as your limits OR you can set up 3 different HR "zones" (based on %. I have Z-1 at 60-70%, Z-2 at 70-80%, z-3 at 80-90%. You have to put in your max HR and you can use any number of programs on the web to derive that figure.) At the end of the workout, the watch displays a cool little graphic representing how much time you spent in each "zone." Even better, during the workout, the watch displays little indicators on the bezel to show what zone you are in. Look at the numbers on the watch face. You can see they range from 80-190 on the left. Let's say your zone 2 is set up as 145-170 BPM. If you are currently in that zone, the indicator lights show up at 145 and 170. If you go in to zone 3, the lights move on the bezel to delineate that range.
Of course, the watch provides cals, max, avg, etc. But there is also a system called "Training Effect." I'm still learning how this works but I think the basic idea is that the watch calculates how "hard" your workout was on a scale of 1.00-5.00. Read the manual. It explains it in better detail. But if you don't like this system or can't understand it, you can still use the watch as if it were not even there.
The watch is also supposedly adaptive. It tells you what your activity "class" is. You look in the manual to set a default "class." If you work out 7-10 hours per work, you are in class 8 (I think). Then, over the course of time, the watch figures out if you are failing to meet that class or exceeding it and adjusts accordingly. This, I think, will serve as a good motivator and keep me on the pedals. But, I haven't used it long enough to see it make any changes so this part of my review isn't that well informed.
I use this watch primarily for 2 activities- road biking and running. I bike approximately 110-150 miles a week and run maybe 20 (I'm more of a biker and run mostly as cross-training). I have run 6 miles with it and biked 60 with it so far.
Major complaint I suppose is that the face of the watch is CHEAPO plastic and it will scratch. I suggest the following- the watch comes with a piece of protective plastic on the BACK of the watch body. I moved that over to the front screen to protect it. There is a company called Invisible Shield that makes a military-grade protective film for the watch for 9 bucks. It's made specifically for the T3- it's not some generic garbage. Get it. Mine is in the mail.
Second major complaint is with the band. Suunto provides a cool band with a deployant clasp but you have to take a razor blade (yikes!) to the thing to size it to your wrist...dunno what they were thinking here. That process is a pain and you have to remove the little bar things that hold on the clasp. But, once you've cut the band it's fine. So don't mess it up!
I'm interested in trying this device with Suunto's bike skewer speed sensor. Has anyone out there used this combination?
Overall, this thing blows my polar f6 away (but then again, it's a different market level- I think the Polar CS300 is the closest equivalent...). If you can take a few minutes to set it up right and learn the menus, this thing is outstanding.
ARGH! Above is my original review. Here it is a few months later and the thing absolutely crapped the bed on me. First HR got stuck at "154" on a 3 hour bike ride. Then Suunto told me to put a new battery in the HR strap. That worked for about a day. Then it crapped out again. Sent it in the Suunto for repair. Suunto support was good and communicative and they paid for shipping. They informed me that I would get a new T3. Ok, fine. But they said they didn't know when this would be. I found this strange so I gave em a call. They said they couldn't send me one for over MONTH! What the heck? They did say they could send me a new one in a different color but I couldn't find that color online so now I don't know what I am getting. What a bummer! Letdown!!
Rating - very happy with the functionality and aesthetics
I'm very happy with this watch. I mostly wear it during and before/after workouts.
In terms of the actual performance of the watch, it has been great. I make heavy use of the HR zones, lap timers, calorie readout and log capability. The large readout for continuous HR makes it easy to keep an eye on the readout. I like the "dot-matrix" display and the customizability of units (km/mi, kg/lbs, date format, etc.)
I've probably used it for 30 hours so I'm not sure how long the battery will last.
I find the "activity class" rating somewhat useful. It goes up and down pretty responsively depending on the regularity and intensity of your workouts and I would think you have to train pretty hard to maintain a higher activity class.
Generally I think the watch is of high quality and the screen would be really nice as crystal (like on the Nikes) but the HR functionality is obviously why I bought it. I probably will get a food pod at some point as well. I also think it's generally stylish with the large/clear block numbers.
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Customer Reviews for Suunto,ss012689510-orange webbing,045235401536,SUT3BLK-O,0045235401536,B000H1CIEI, |
