I have been testing the Suunto 9 Peak Pro (titanium) sports watch, which boasts a host of modern features and a long battery life. Here is my review of this sports watch.
Suunto say of the Suunto 9 Peak: “A thin and tough sports watch with extended battery life for endurance and outdoor sports.”
Like all modern sports watches, there are many features that will vary in usefulness depending ion the sports you do. See some details here.
To summarise some of the basic features:
- Measurements: 43 x 43 x 10.8mm
- Weight: 55g (with silicone band)
- Bezel material: Titanium Grade 5
- Glass material: Sapphire crystal
- Case material: Glass fibre reinforced polyamide
- Strap material: Silicone
- Touch screen operation as well as side button
- Compass
- GPS
- Mapping: Breadcrumb routes
- Display type: Touch screen 240 x 240 (30.48mm display)
- Water rating: 100 metres
- Best use: Running, hiking, cycling, swimming and snorkelling, as well as “mermaiding” (to 10m depth)
- Price: £419 or £529 (depending on whether it’s stainless steel or titanium)
- See Suunto Peak Pro 9 and Amazon (for cheaper price options)
Battery life is a feature that many sports watch companies compete on. The Suunto Peak Pro 9 has:
- Battery life of 30 days in “time” mode
- 21 days in 24/7 tracking and mobile notifications mode
- When training, depending on GPS tracking mode: 40 hours, 70n hours or 300 hours.
News: Suunto has just announced a new watch, the Suunto Vertical, which has the added bonus of even longer battery life, offline maps and two models with solar charging.
My thoughts: Suunto 9 Peak Pro
Suunto report that the 9 Peak Pro 9 watch is “our most powerful and best performing GPS multisport watch yet. Ultra thin and tough”.
I think it’s a really nice looking watch with a simple and lightweight design. You could wear it as an everyday watch, as well as using it for sports activities.
It’s also a durable watch that will cope with the knocks and bangs of outdoors life thanks to the sapphire crystal watch face and silicone strap.
While the watch case is 43mm diameter, the face size is 30.48mm, which is smaller than other GPS watches, such as the Garmin Enduro. However, it’s still easy to see the display and the screen is quite bright, which is a good thing.
The depth of the watch is fairly slim at 10.8mm and there is an optical heart rate wrist monitor on the rear. This is where you’ll also find the connectors for the magnetic charging dock. This clicks together easily and charge is fast in only a couple of hours.
The weight is 55g including the strap, which is about standard for a GPS sports watch with a long battery life. It doesn’t feel heavy on the wrist.
It’s worth noting that I found the strap to be a bit annoying because instead of a traditional loop to hold excess strap in place, there is a little catch that is meant to stay secure in one of the watch adjuster holes. However, this can be subject to coming apart when you catch the strap end/flap. The strap is removable so I recommend people change the strap for something more traditional and secure.
There is a choice of eight different watch faces that are an option on the watch itself and these include traditional analogue and 24-hour clock, as well as some more modern looks. I like that you can see the date, as well as sunrise and sunset on the main watch face.
There are three buttons on one side. The top button is pressed if you want to access the many different sports modes. There are so many sports options that I lost count when scrolling through them. You can scroll by using the same button, or by touching the screen. The touch screen is really good.
To return to the main watch screen, you hold the middle button for a couple of seconds. This middle button gives access to information such as battery charge and mobile phone message notifications if you have this switched on, which I generally don’t because I find it annoying to be constantly alerted to messages! It is a useful function if you are expecting a message, however.
The third button takes you to a range of functions such as navigation, a log of previous activities, timer, alarms, media controls, timer, settings and more.
The buttons are easy to use and they give a pleasing click when pressed.
The watch also has a barometric altimeter, which is considered to be more accurate than using GPS to measure details such as elevation gain, especially when elevation gain is in small increments.
Bluetooth connection means that the watch easily syncs with the Suunto phone app, headphones and also with accessories, such as heart rate sensor if you want to use a chest one instead of the in-built wrist monitor.
The watch has controls for any music you are playing through your phone. This is actually quite useful, although it is not something I thought I would have wanted in a watch. Note that the watch doesn’t store your music, but only controls the music on your phone.
Out on the trails: Suunto 9 Peak Pro
Just like other modern sports watches, the Suunto 9 Peak Pro tracks all the activities you can think of, including running, hiking, kayaking, swimming, circuit training and skiing. There are also modes you might not have thought you will need like stretching, hunting and roller skiing.
Plus there are an extra couple of modes that are a bit different. These include “snorkelling” and “mermaid”. Did you know that mermaiding is a sport? Mermaids use a monofin with a fabric tail and “move like a mermaid”. These two modes track your activity in shallow water and give details, such as maximum depth and dive length.
Who knows if this will be useful to you and it is an unusual mode to add to a watch, but it’s there if you want to use it!
Tracking includes the usual list of distance, duration, heart rate, pace, laps etc. There are other useful tracking features such as End of Route ETA , cadence, nautical distance and intervals.
I usually find that people tend to make use of a few favourite features but then ignore the rest most of the time. It’s good to know there are plenty of features there should you need them, but most of the time, I use only a few.
All the data recording can be analysed in-depth on the interactive Suunto app. It’s a nice app to use, although I still prefer the apps for other brands such as Garmin and Coros.
There are also SuuntoPlus options, including both SuuntoPlus sport apps and SuuntoPlus guides. These are training programmes that are similar to Garmin’s Connect IQ platform although not as established because the SuuntoPlus facility is much newer than the Garmin Connect IQ.
The watch also keeps track of lifestyle routines including sleep, steps, calories and blood oxygen. The accuracy of these is, as usual, open for debate because the measurement via the wrist heart rate monitor is never going to be as accurate as a sports lab, but they still offer some interesting insights. The best way to view them is as personal daily or weekly comparisons.
There is a useful log on the watch to show recent activities, as well as a timer and alarm, plus the capability to relay mobile phone notifications to your watch. You can’t reply but you can view them.
The watch can be used for navigation, including uploaded GPX files, for example, These are seen as a “breadcrumb” route. This means there are no maps displayed on the watch, however the breadcrumb route does have turn-by-turn notifications. You can easily upload routes as, for example, a GPX file to the Suunto app and this automatically syncs to the watch.
It’s possible to create routes on Strava and Komoot and then upload them on the watch.
The difference between Suunto 9 Peak Pro and equivalent sports watches, such as the Coros Apex 2 Pro and various models of the Garmin Fenix, as well as the new Garmin Enduro 2, is the mapping.
While Suunto has a breadcrumb route and it tells you when to turn, Coros has their own maps and a breadcrumb route on top but no turn-by-turn information, although it does tell you when you are off route. Meanwhile, many Garmin watches offer a full colour map and turn-by-turn route navigation.
The Suunto 9 Peak Pro also uses what the company calls a “new All-Systems GNSS Chipset” to track GPS. This is not multiband, but GPS/QZSS/Galileo/Beidou/GLONASS supported by Sony. Suunto says “GPS accuracy comes via four concurrent systems and 32 satellites”.
What is multiband GNSS chipsets, you might be thinking? Most pricier sports watches rely on this system and what it means is that while multi-satellite connects to many satellites, multiband/dual frequency connects to two different frequencies on each satellite, which should increase tracking accuracy.
According to the experts, multiband, such as that used in the Garmin chipsets, is better than multi-satellite and especially in challenging conditions where the weather is less than favourable. Also multi-band offers two slightly different measurements in difficult scenarios, for example, when under cover of trees or in an urban environment, and therefore it’s said this is better for GPS accuracy.
When out and about on trails, in hills and mountains of Scotland the Suunto 9 Peak Pro seems as accurate as any other watches I’ve trialled. I’ve compered my routes for distance and elevation to friends with other watch brands and models and the Suunto appears to be as accurate as any. It might be that there are some slight inaccuracies in measuring distance, elevation gain and route but, for most people, the accuracy is probably sufficient.
One thing to note is that I found that the buttons sometimes operated without me knowing they had. Annoyingly on one run, I accidentally stopped the recording of my route. I think my jacket or top must have pressed the button without realising.
What about battery life?
If you enjoy longer outings, you will want a sports watch that can keep going with you.
The Suunto 9 Peak Pro claims is that the battery life in time mode is 30 days. With 24/7 tracking and mobile notifications, it’s 21 days.
While in training mode with GPS, the battery will apparently last between 24 hours and 170 hours depending on GPS mode, from performance to endurance, ultra and tour. You can also create a customised setting.
I used the watch for keeping track of time and for daily activities (in performance mode) of between an hour and five hours. I have mobile notifications switched off. The battery lasted 19 days.
Conclusion: Overall this is a great watch and certainly one to consider if you are looking for a performance sport watch. It looks good and there are plenty of features. The GPS tracking is as you would expect for the money, as is the battery life.
However, having tested other watches, such as the Coros Apex Pro 2 and the Garmin Enduro, Suunto is lagging a bit behind because it doesn’t yet have a multiband GNSS chipsets and there is no on-screen mapping, just a breadcrumb route.
I’d day this is more of a hiker’s watch than a runner’s watch, although you can easily use it for both.
The silicone strap catch is annoying because it comes apart and then flaps about.
Battery life is good and the watch is very quick to re-charge. I recommend you shop around to get the cheapest price.