I'm considering the Sunnto CORE model "wrist top" as Sunnto calls it. It's a watch/altimeter/barometer/compass that wears like a large wrist watch. I'm hoping to find somebody with first hand experience with this model. My concerns are ease of use when changing mode or calibrating and accuracy of the functions. Ease of setting alarms is a biggie too.
I have a Suunto Core. Got it lightly used at an REI "garage sale"
It seems to be a pretty good watch. The alarm is actually loud enough to wake me up. It will "snooze" every 5 minutes for an hour if you want it to, or you can just turn it off. Depends upon which of two buttons you push when the alarm goes off. The alarm automatically reactivates for the next day unless you manually turn the alarm off in the menu.
Easy to change mode- you just push the button which would be the winding button on an old mechanical watch ( the button at 3:00 on the face - it is called the mode button)
Alarm setting- when the watch is showing the time, push and hold the mode button. This brings up the menu. Press the - button to change the menu from "memory" to "time date" Push mode again to pick "alarm" within the time date menu. Push mode the third time, and the alarm time comes up.Push mode a 4th time, and the hours blink, can be set with the + or - buttons. One more push with the mode button makes the minutes blink, again can be set with the + or - buttons. Once the alarm time is correctly set, push start/stop to exit.
Sounds complicated, but it is not really- Just push mode several times until you get where you need to be. After you have done if a few times, it is easy!!
In general, the menu system is pretty easy to work with.
If you like, you can go to the Suunto web site and download the manual. This is what I did as the watch was used, and did not come with a manual. Having the manual is important!!
The watch is a bit physically large, seems to keep good time
I like it- would be better if physically smaller, but a lot is packed onto your wrist.
Overall, I like it; it's a bit big and bulky compared to a regular watch, but not to most other watches like it. I have the metal one with the thin green stripe around the bezel, and like the way it looks.
Setting the time, alarm, and most other functions is very straightforward. The one function that continually vexes me is adjusting the elevation (either setting a known elevation or adding/subtracting feet), though I think that's mostly from not remembering the exact steps, and not that it's that much more complicated than anything else on the watch.
I find it eats batteries more frequently than I'd like (a couple times a year), but then that's also affected by using the altimeter display and compass, which take more power than when the watch is just showing the time.
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