Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Cycling - cycling, bicycle accessories
I have been researching this watch since the X9i(first model) . I guess I expected too much. The first watch that I had was sent back because the barometer went out as well as the face steaming up. All I exposed it to was a car wash and normal shower. Not what I expected for $400+ watch. Sent it back and got another one. Within a week the coating used on the black part of face is flaking off. I looked at every review and still ordered the watch. I love the look of the watch and make no mistake it is very cool. I wanted it to wear everyday because of the large face and it looks cool. I would just like to caution everyone else. It is not very durable, and this was a lot of money for me. I really thought because of the high price and the rugged look, I would not have to worry about it. That is not the case. I find myself constantly checking it after it gets wet to make sure it is not fogged up. I like the watch it just lacks some durability issues for everyday wear. If you are a gadget guy or girl you will like the watch, just be aware that it is not a timex and does not handle be bumped and beat around very well. I also forsee some issues with the seals, they do not fit well. If you are even remotely hard on watches, I would not purchase this watch if you are looking for an everyday watch. Hope this helps someone else.
2nd posting---
This is my second posting and I am on my 3rd X10mi. Like I have said before this watch is way cool, but lacks some real work. My 1st watch fogged up, my second one fell apart and the third one is being sent back in the morning, because the bezel keeps popping off. If you buy it from an authorized dealer you can keep sending them back (at least for 2 years) but what happens after that? Do not buy this watch. I went through these reviews and saw the same type of reviews as the one I am typing. I over looked them because I loved the watch and thought that won't happen to me they must have got a bad one or they are just picky. Trust me I am just an average Joe and this thing breaks like crazy! Beware! Suunto X10M Wrist-Top GPS Computer Watch with Altimeter, Barometer, Compass, and GPS
This watch was a great purchase for the first few weeks that I had it; as far as functionality it has performed superbly. A few weeks after I purchased this watch (the X10 Military) I deployed to Iraq and planned on using this watch with my work in the Army here.
The watch has continued to serve fairly well, until I had about 2 months in country. The bezel/upper-case (a flexible rubber ring) is only attached by two rubber flanges that fit into the hard plastic body of the watch. First (at about 60 days) one of the flanges failed, then in another 30 days, the second flange failed. I have been able to superglue the bezel back onto the case (and probably voided the warranty, but I can't wait months to get this back and forth) but I am very dissapointed that a watch that cost me $500.00 USD and is listed as a "military" model, cannot handle exposure to the elements on my wrist for less than 3 months.
I think the concept and design of this watch is great, but I hope that Suunto is able to better incorporate some "painful" product testing before you market something to the military who will depend on it.
Overall, this watch is great. I've used it snow shoe camping, mountaineering, hiking, running, biking and bragging! ;)
Cons:
The GPS can take upwards of 5+ minutes to "Lock On" to the satellites. I usually put it on the "1 second fix" setting before turning on the GPS, then once it's locked on change it back to "1 minute fix" or "manual" depending on my activity. Once it's obtained an initial lock, subsequent locks seem to be faster.
Battery life on the 1 second fix setting is low, 6 hrs, just as advertised. But for most of my activities, the 1 minute or manual fix options provide plenty of battery life.
The watch offers a lot of features and as such there's a learning curve. Expect to spend a few hours playing with it.
The user manual could use some work...
The watch is not compatible with the mac version of TOPO!
You can't pull your track log directly from TOPO! (pc version). You have to pull the log using Trek Manager, export to a txt file, then import into TOPO!. This probably isn't the watches fault but instead TOPO!s.
Pros:
Once the GPS is locked on, it will track you anywhere. It works great in deep forest. It works great on the top of or in the shadows of mountains. It works in a car. It works in the city. I've never not had it work, except indoors, but then why would you use a GPS inside?
The navigation function for following pre-set routes and finding waypoints is great. Even better is the track back feature. It also provides quite a few in-flight statistics that are often helpful in estimating arrival time, duration, course error, etc.
I really like the sun rise, sun set feature. I wish this feature had an alarm, but since the watch has 3 alarm settings it's not too hard to manually set sun rise/set alarms. I wish it had tide and moon rise/set info as well.
The altimeter/barometer/temp work well, though i'm not a heavy user of these features but they serve my purposes fine.
Summary:
I really like this watch. But keep in mind it's a watch and cannot be expected to outperform handheld units. For me, using this in conjunction with a map & compass has worked out great as it helps provide that sanity check on position. I feel confident enough with this watch that I could navigate in a blizzard and make it back again. In fact, I did just that last week. - Cycling - Gps - Bicycle Accessories'
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