A
Artemisia
Guest
Hi all,
I'm considering buying one of those ABC watches, and am currently
hesitating between a Casio Pathfinder/Pro-Trek model and a Suunto Core.
Both have altimeter, barometer, temperature, digital compass, stopwatch,
and are waterproof farther than I ever dive. Both have log capacities,
the Casio allows you manually record a log while the Suunto logs trends
automatically over several days.
The advantages of the Casio are:
a) solar powered battery that should recharge itself on daylight; hence
less worry about replacing batteries and the attendent risk of losing
the water-proofing (as happened on my Timex Ironman).
b) Radio-controlled time, which resets itself automatically the world
over, so stays accurate and does not have to be reset for Daylight Savings.
c) much cheaper than the Suunto
d) better design, clearer display, less fussy, easier to read
The Suunto does not have a solar battery or the radio-controlled time,
but on the other hand has two features which I consider key: a storm
alarm and sunrise-sunset times. This is vital information for my cycling
days and I am constantly checking it on the internet. It would be useful
to have it handy for when I don't have internet. Indeed, I don't really
understand the utility of all this alti-baro stuff otherwise - all I
need to know is if it's going to rain or go dark in the next hour.
Another useful feature about the Suunto is that you can set a bearing
with the compass which will then tell you when you are going towards
where you want to go and when you are veering off-course: useful for
someone like me who is deficient in orientation skills. OTOH the
rotating bevel on the compass has been described as very hard to turn,
whereas the equivalent on the Casio turns correctly.
So overall I like the feature set of the Suunto much better, but find it
fussier (visually it's pretentious and annoying) and less practical in
the fundamentals. The Casio seems to me more reliable as a basic watch.
The Suunto's advantages thus only apply if they really _work_.
Neither watch has a feature that I _would_ like: gradient percentage -
the bike forums keep asking me about the gradient on my hill and I can't
tell you, except to say that there are parts of it that look like the
hypotenuse in my old math books.
Neither are HRMs, although Suunto does have some older models that
combine ABC and HRM. However, I'm annoyed with upmarket HRMs - neither
Timex Ironman nor Polar has ever worked so well for me as my dear old
bottom basement Sigma. So I'll just wear two watches when I want HRM -
luckily I have two wrists.
Does anyone have experiences to relate, especially of the storm-warning
feature? I know the Core is a very recent model. Are people who have
Suunto products generally pleased with them? What is the battery life?
Casio I know as the world standard for digital watches and I've had a
few already, so they are a tough act to beat for me.
Thanks,
EFR
in Isle de France where the weather reports constantly predict storms
for 4 days on end, but then we only get 20 minutes of piddle, and I end
up not cycling when I could have!
I'm considering buying one of those ABC watches, and am currently
hesitating between a Casio Pathfinder/Pro-Trek model and a Suunto Core.
Both have altimeter, barometer, temperature, digital compass, stopwatch,
and are waterproof farther than I ever dive. Both have log capacities,
the Casio allows you manually record a log while the Suunto logs trends
automatically over several days.
The advantages of the Casio are:
a) solar powered battery that should recharge itself on daylight; hence
less worry about replacing batteries and the attendent risk of losing
the water-proofing (as happened on my Timex Ironman).
b) Radio-controlled time, which resets itself automatically the world
over, so stays accurate and does not have to be reset for Daylight Savings.
c) much cheaper than the Suunto
d) better design, clearer display, less fussy, easier to read
The Suunto does not have a solar battery or the radio-controlled time,
but on the other hand has two features which I consider key: a storm
alarm and sunrise-sunset times. This is vital information for my cycling
days and I am constantly checking it on the internet. It would be useful
to have it handy for when I don't have internet. Indeed, I don't really
understand the utility of all this alti-baro stuff otherwise - all I
need to know is if it's going to rain or go dark in the next hour.
Another useful feature about the Suunto is that you can set a bearing
with the compass which will then tell you when you are going towards
where you want to go and when you are veering off-course: useful for
someone like me who is deficient in orientation skills. OTOH the
rotating bevel on the compass has been described as very hard to turn,
whereas the equivalent on the Casio turns correctly.
So overall I like the feature set of the Suunto much better, but find it
fussier (visually it's pretentious and annoying) and less practical in
the fundamentals. The Casio seems to me more reliable as a basic watch.
The Suunto's advantages thus only apply if they really _work_.
Neither watch has a feature that I _would_ like: gradient percentage -
the bike forums keep asking me about the gradient on my hill and I can't
tell you, except to say that there are parts of it that look like the
hypotenuse in my old math books.
Neither are HRMs, although Suunto does have some older models that
combine ABC and HRM. However, I'm annoyed with upmarket HRMs - neither
Timex Ironman nor Polar has ever worked so well for me as my dear old
bottom basement Sigma. So I'll just wear two watches when I want HRM -
luckily I have two wrists.
Does anyone have experiences to relate, especially of the storm-warning
feature? I know the Core is a very recent model. Are people who have
Suunto products generally pleased with them? What is the battery life?
Casio I know as the world standard for digital watches and I've had a
few already, so they are a tough act to beat for me.
Thanks,
EFR
in Isle de France where the weather reports constantly predict storms
for 4 days on end, but then we only get 20 minutes of piddle, and I end
up not cycling when I could have!