Our 7 Favorite Suunto Watches in 2024 (for Outdoor, Hiking, & Running)

With its history of various timepieces made for outdoor life, Suunto watches are a combination of attractive designs and heavy-duty features.

Suunto timepieces came from a heritage of compass watches of different specifications that were built for different outdoor activities, both extreme and not-so-extreme.

Aside from robust watches, Suunto [R] also has a wide array of lifestyle watches and products that have a very chill vibe—now these are for me.

If you’re eager to lay your hands on your very first Suunto wristwatch, below are some of their top-notch watches used for outdoor and sports. Your next best Suunto timepiece is waiting for you.

Traverse Alpha: #1 Suunto Wristwatch Model

If you’re wondering what the most excellent Suunto wristwatch will look like, look for the Traverse Alpha. This Suunto masterpiece will leave you in awe with its top-notch features at the optimal price.

With its rugged stainless steel bezel and scratch-resistant crystal glass exterior, you’ll be taking this GPS watch anywhere without trouble. You can even receive incoming calls and notifications from your smartphone given that you synced it with its Bluetooth connectivity.

It also has a sunrise alert, weather alert system, and moon phase calendar. I really can’t sense convenience more than what this GPS watch offers.

Compared to other brands of watches, Suunto is very generous when it comes to giving you the greatest timepiece, and this Suunto model or product justifies it with its GPS and GLONASS technology. This feature allows you to know the exact positioning and map coordinates of the paths you’ve conquered. This way, if you want to head back to your starting point, or you just want to go back, its re-tracing feature has you covered.

Ambit3 Peak HR Running: Top-tier GPS Watch

Popular for its GPS feature, the Ambit3 collection from Suunto has numerous watches to choose from. However, one of the most excellent watches from this collection of the finest Suunto products is the Ambit3 Peak HR. Its excellent features will let you know why.

Aside from the previously mentioned GPS functionality, this sports watch also has an altimeter, barometer, and compass, which makes it perfect for outdoor activities. It is also water-resistant up to 100 meters. Its battery life depends on your GPS setting.

Just like the other high-end Suunto timepieces, you can sync it to your smartphone so you can remotely see your notifications and calls on your watch through its Bluetooth and Wi-Fi features.

Its most notable feature is the Movescount application. You’re probably wondering what it is. Well, this app lets you take photos with your current speed and distance. Tracking your fitness activities is so easy with this app. And if you have enough photos already, you can create a movie or a short video. Then, you can share it with your online friends or any of your social media accounts, because why not?

Ambit3 Sport HR Monitor: For The Runners

If you can’t get enough of the greatest Suunto wristwatches and their GPS feature, here’s another one. Sports HR is one of the Ambit3 collections, and it’s built more for fitness and sports lovers.

Living up to the Ambit3 watches’ fame, the Suunto Sport HR has excellent GPS navigation that’s perfectly suitable for people who are active in their outdoor adventures. Belonging to this feature is the speed and wrist heart rate, and it can also track distance.

Its battery life hours will depend on battery modes and how you use the GPS. With a minute accuracy, the battery life can expand up to 100 hours. Keeping track of your smartphone is also very easy because you can sync the sports watch with it.

If you plan to use the Suunto Sport HR for swimming, it has a handy feature that lets you track your heart rate with its Suunto Smart sensor. Paired with the Movescount application, your workouts and training have never been this great. This app helps you plan your workouts and have voice guidance during your exercises. It can even determine your sleep quality.

Ambit2 GPS Heart Rate Monitor: Practical Choice

Before Ambit3 came to life, there was Ambit2. While you may think that these watches have already outshined their successors, the Ambit2 GPS still stands strong and is a highly competent GPS watch.

This GPS watch makes a convenient companion when you want to go biking, hiking, or running. This is a perfect choice for athletes, too.

Adding to its features are its speed, wrist heart rate, and distance monitor. Ambit2 GPS also gives access to excellent tracking and features like sunrise and sunset times, storm alerts, tidal information, and barometric pressure.

When you want to transfer data, the Ambit2 has a cool feature that lets you do this using its included USB cable, or you can do it wirelessly with devices that support ANT or ANT+. Moreover, this sports watch comes in different colors like black, silver, and sapphire.

Original Traverse GPS

As its name gives out, Suunto Traverse GPS comes with GPS tracking and GLONASS technology. You can freely explore the outdoors and discover new areas and terrains and upload routes.

The amazing part is that you can track your pathways and altitude figures and track back your directions with the breadcrumb trail. The major drawback of this Suunto GPS watch is that it can go live for only around eight hours in GPS mode.

But, fret not as this Suunto timepiece's GPS is packed with other functionalities that will make up for this drawback.

This Suunto GPS watch is more than just its GPS tracking function as its Bluetooth connectivity and Suunto App lets you stay updated with your phone when you sync it. It also has features like storm alerts, weather trends, and sunrise and sunset times. All thanks to its built-in barometer!

Ambit3 Vertical HR Running: Great Uphill Partner

Another one from the Suunto Ambit3 collection is the Suunto Ambit3 Vertical HR Running watch. What would the top Suunto timepiece be without its GPS technology?

This feature just makes outdoor activities such a breeze, especially its breadcrumb trail feature. Its battery life can last as long as 100 hours with one-minute accuracy.

With its Suunto App and Bluetooth connectivity, you can view your calls and notifications.

The Suunto Movescount app just makes everything a lot better than it already is. With this app, you can create outdoor routes with its topographic maps and altitude data. In addition, you can track your climbing progress when hiking with its hill incline feature.

Spartan Ultra HR: Packed With 80 Sports Modes

Last to join the hunt for the most amazing Suunto wristwatch is the Spartan Ultra HR Sports watch. Its advanced technology and software are the reason why this GPS watch with a digital touch display might be your next watch.

Its GPS and GLONASS technology won’t let you down with its very accurate navigation and digital compass that will guide you in your adventures every step of the way.

Its battery can last up to 15 long days in daytime mode. Its Bluetooth connectivity also connects to any compatible device.

The greatest thing about this is that it’s equipped with 80 sports modes. Suunto Spartan is known to assist you in almost every activity you can think of. I don’t know about you, but I want to test them all out!

Worst Suunto Wristwatch - Suunto 5

The Suunto 5 is a rugged multi-sport GPS watch designed for serious athletes, offering over 80 sport modes, adaptive training guidance, and impressive battery life. While celebrated for its durability and comprehensive features, it has faced criticisms:

• Design and Comfort: The watch is considered big and heavy, and while it's comfortable for exercising, it's not ideal for daily wear. The strap design is uncomfortable with rigid lugs that don't fit well and can dig into the wrist, especially while sleeping​​.
• Display: The glass over the display is of poor quality, prone to scratches, and has low brightness and resolution, making it difficult to read in sunlight. The display size is also smaller compared to the watch size​​.
• Interface: The five-button layout is not intuitive, lacks labels, and has a steep learning curve, especially for those switching from other brands​​.
• Heart Rate Monitoring: The optical heart rate monitor is finicky, taking time to normalize, lagging behind real-time heart rate, and sometimes inaccurately spiking. The discomfort from the band may contribute to this inaccuracy​​.
• Sleep Tracking: Limited in analysis compared to competitors, struggling to accurately detect wake times and lacking detailed sleep phase information​​.
• GPS and Navigation: While GPS is accurate, the watch lacks a barometric altimeter and relies on GPS for elevation data, which may not be as accurate​​.
• Smartphone Connectivity: Issues with re-downloading notifications upon reconnecting to the phone were noted, causing annoyance with constant alerts​​.
• Battery Life: Although it has flexible battery life modes, the watch consumes battery quickly with 24/7 heart rate monitoring, reducing the promised battery life​​.
• Suunto App Ecosystem: The app is described as messy, though improving, and lacks the robustness of competitors' platforms​​.
• Overall Recommendation: Despite its strong training features and battery life, the poor display, comfort, and glass quality are considered deal-breakers, making it not recommended by the reviewer​

Factors To Consider When Buying A Suunto Wristwatch

It’s not enough to buy any Suunto timepiece, you need to make sure you get the most decent Suunto wristwatch there is. To accomplish this successfully, it's time to look at these factors first.

GPS Functionality

A GPS feature on any watch makes it one step higher to its competitors. This technology allows you to enjoy features like speed, heart rate, distance, and cadence trackers. These functions will assist you in your outdoor activities like hiking. You’ll know if a GPS watch is top-notch if it’s paired with GLONASS technology. This makes everything more precise and faster with its satellite signaling.

Battery Life

But of course, what would a GPS watch be without a very good battery life? Especially for watches with GPS tracking technology at hand, battery life will be a concern. You want to have adequate hours of battery life to stand with you through your training and adventures, otherwise, you’ll constantly have to charge it time and again which will only ruin your experience.

Bluetooth Connectivity

To add to the overall convenience of a Suunto timepiece, Bluetooth connectivity allows you to sync your GPS watch to your smartphone. This lets you see your notifications and incoming calls remotely. Who needs a smartwatch when you have Bluetooth connectivity?

Additional Features

Aside from the above-mentioned features, there are a lot more features to Suunto timepieces especially if it's a high-end model. Examples of these are smart features like sunrise and sunset times, weather updater, and even pre-installed mode selections that can be essential to your workout and training activities.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Your commonly raised questions answered.

Which Suunto Wristwatch is the Top Choice?

The top choice on the list is the Suunto Traverse Alpha. It’s an all-inclusive outdoor watch that can pass through strict military standards. You'll want to take this with you in your outdoor adventure as it comes with all the features needed for hunting or fishing, hiking, or even just tracking your daily routines and activity levels.

Suunto Timepieces, in general, is famous for its highly reliable GPS, especially for this Suunto model. On top of that, it features an excellent long battery life (up to 2 weeks), a great price, and it’s highly water resistant including the nylon strap.

Which Suunto Wristwatch is Perfect for Triathlon?

The perfect Suunto wristwatch for the triathlon is the Suunto Spartan Sport Ultra. Triathlon, which is known to have a 3-part sports discipline demands more intensive physical training, and Suunto Spartan Sport proves to be a reliable companion for swimming, cycling, and running because of its incredible features. It has 80 sports settings to choose from, and comes with a reliable GPS, water resistance up to 330 feet, altimeter, barometer, and digital compass. With the help of the Suunto app or Bluetooth connectivity, it can also sync with your Smartphone in case you want to know the stats of your training progress.

Which Suunto Timepiece has the Longest Battery Life?

The Suunto timepiece with the longest battery life is the Suunto Ambit3 Peak. It has 200 hours of battery life when you use the battery conservation mode. This means that if you use the 1-minute GPS accuracy setting, you’ll get the most out of Ambit3 Peak’s battery power. You can actually choose different battery modes for different times and situations.

Where are Suunto Wristwatches Made?

Suunto Wristwatches are handcrafted in Finland. Although a globally renowned brand for its high-end products, its headquarters never left the Finland borders.

Verdict

The most amazing Suunto timepiece among other watches on this list is the Traverse Alpha. This excellent timepiece ticks all the right boxes with its exquisite quality, performance, and built-in features. It has everything you’re looking for with its high-quality GPS functionality, weather detection features, great long battery life, and other convenient features. It definitely gives good value for your money.

Overall

Getting your hands on the perfect Suunto wristwatch that is right for you might give you an uncalled dilemma, but it will definitely be worth it in the end. Suunto wristwatches are known to give only premium products with outstanding performance, so whichever model of these Suunto timepieces you decide to purchase, will surely be a good investment.