The following review of the Suunto Vertical was written by trail runner Sarah Barber who lives and trains in Boise, Idaho.
Suunto. Say it with me: “SOON-toe.” If you’re not already familiar with this Finland-based maker of every type of watch imaginable, from dive-specific to multi-sport, it’s time to join the cultishly loyal fan base. Except for the most committed luddites in the trail running world, smart watches are among the most essential accessories we own.
Let’s face it—if our GPS data isn’t uploaded to Strava or Training Peaks, the miles might as well exist only in our dreams. Anyone can get by with a basic GPS tracking device, but if the smartest of smart watches is what you’re after, the new Suunto Vertical is MENSA-level pure genius.
Barber tests the Suunto Vertical on the trails.
So many features…my top three
As the primary focus here is trail running, I’ll refrain from sharing details about the Suunto Vertical’s 90 different sport modes, mostly because I can’t even guess who might need “mermaid” mode. But it’s worth noting that there’s even a sport mode for snowshoeing, which could be considered a form of winter trail running and would have come in handy at the national championship race this past winter.
Instead, I’ll begin with my top three favorite features that define all Suunto products, and especially the Vertical.
Feature one
Number one is durability. I’m hard on stuff. I drop my iPhone at least once a day. My scarred and scabby knees bear testimony to my frequent spills on the trails. Any watch that dares to ride on my wrist can expect constant abuse. The Suunto Vertical I tested is made of titanium, which has the highest strength-to-density ratio of any metallic element. Science nerds will delight in the obvious conclusion: an extremely robust product that is also lightweight. The face is sapphire crystal which means that unless you’re fortunate enough to be rolling around in diamonds, it’s scratch-proof.
Feature two
The second outstanding feature of the Vertical is its battery life…WHICH IS ENHANCED BY ITS CAPACITY TO ABSORB A SOLAR CHARGE! Yes, simply being out in the sun doing what you love to do EXTENDS the battery life. In its least battery-draining mode, the Vertical could last up to a year without electricity as long as it gets a regular dose of sunshine. Even better, the watch face depicts the ongoing solar harvest in a bar graph, making the magic visible in real time.
Feature three
Finally, the Suunto Vertical contains dual-frequency GPS/GNSS support, which basically means it’s the most accurate GPS watch in the business because it doesn’t get confused by atmospheric interference or environmental interference from urban canyons and dense forests. It also communicates with five different satellite networks, pinging them more often than a professional networker pings her colleagues. Offline maps take the accuracy asset to another level, allowing you to get un-lost should you make a wrong turn in even the most far-flung locale. And if disaster strikes, the trail has disappeared, and the stormy skies show neither sun nor stars, the compass will point you in the right direction.
So many features offered by the Suunto Vertical.
But wait…there’s more
These three pillars alone should be enough to silence a critic, but they don’t even begin to capture everything this watch can do. General health-seekers will appreciate the running tally of steps, the trending of heart-rate variability, and the option to measure blood oxygen saturation. Add to this all the obvious phenomena that today’s smart watches do (receive text message notifications, display the weather forecast, allow you to build routes and specific workouts, track your sleep, illuminate a dark room, estimate your running power, measure altitude, connect to WiFi and download maps….should I keep going?), and realize that you’re walking around with a personal assistant on your wrist.
Not everyone sleeps with their personal assistant, but I slept with the Suunto Vertical, and this was the only activity during which I was, shall we say, less than satisfied. It was simply a bit too big and a bit too rough for my sensitive tissue. Somehow the edges dug into my REM state, waking me up with a mild ache in my left wrist. The unique strap design is so wonderfully easy to loosen that my discomfort was easy to fix, even in the dark—my personal assistant had to sleep on the floor.
In summary…notes from a long-time Suunto user
As someone who is easily seduced by the latest and greatest, the Suunto Vertical has me salivating with desire. But, full disclosure, I’ve been a committed Suunto-phile for years and have used over a half-dozen different models. For me, no other smartwatch will do! But what would I say to my polar opposite: a trail runner who has been using the same GPS watch (or worse—no watch at all!) for the past decade, who thinks that it’s not broken, who thinks it works fine, and who is loathe to create waste in the interest of replacing a still functional item.
Barber provides 20 years of Suunto products—the one on the far left is a circa-2002 model she gave her husband when he returned from a post-9/11 deployment to Afghanistan.
I would say this: “The Suunto Vertical is fully carbon-compensated for its entire life cycle through tree planting on behalf of each watch made. The watch itself might have more capabilities than you’ll ever use…until you’re in a catastrophic situation, and you need a functioning compass or flashlight or map to find your way to safety, and your phone doesn’t work because its battery is dead, and the Vertical’s battery is either still alive or will be as soon as the sun rises….”
See where I’m going? If one can see the value in personal safety, and the safety attributes happen to come with more additional features than one can fathom, why not have them all?
