Part 1 : New Features & Design

Part 2 : Battery Life & FusedTrack

Part 3 : Optical Heart Rate & Take-Away

Next : Battery Life & FusedTrack (Part 2)

Battery Life

Normally, the battery life for GPS devices is extended by either increasing the amount of time that goes by between each GPS sampling point, or 'fix', or by simply reducing the power of the GPS signal. The Suunto Spartan Ultra has three different GPS modes: 'Best' takes a GPS fix at full power every second which gives it an estimated battery life of 18 hours; 'Good' takes a GPS fix at low power every second which gives it an estimated battery life of 35 hours; and 'OK' takes a GPS fix at full power every 60 seconds which gives it an estimated battery life of 140 hours.

The Suunto 9 Baro on the other hand, also retains these three different GPS modes, but with slight changes: 'Best' retains its GPS fix of every second which gives it an estimated battery life of 25 hours; 'Good' now instead takes a GPS fix every 60 seconds which gives it an estimated battery life of 50 hours; and 'OK' doubles that by taking a GPS fix every 120 seconds which gives it an estimated battery life of 120 hours.

The watch then goes a step further and introduces new power modes that don't just stop at changes of the GPS sampling rates. The 'Performance' mode for instance uses 'best' GPS accuracy and keeps everything else enabled except for the touchscreen. The heart rate, either via the optical sensor or via the Suunto Smart Sensor chest strap, is also enabled, as are all the notifications and vibration alerts. The 'Endurance' mode reduces the GPS accuracy to 'good' and the display brightness to 20%. The 'Ultra' mode on the other hand, uses 'OK' GPS accuracy and turns off everything that is non-critical such as the notifications and vibration alerts, reduces the display brightness to 10%, enables the display timeout after 10 seconds, and turns off the oHR sensor (although it still picks up the Suunto Smart Sensor chest strap if used). All this helps to extend the battery life to 120 hours.

Just before you begin an activity, or 'move', an estimate of the battery life that remains is displayed on the watch face. This estimate is based on both the current charge as well as the power mode that has been selected. Simply pressing the upper right button then allows you to quickly toggle between the power modes and to select the one that best fits both the duration of the activity and the accuracy of the GPS tracking that you might require. The Suunto 9 Baro also displays low battery warnings when the battery drops to critical levels, and allows you to dynamically switch to different power modes even whilst in the middle of an activity.

FusedTrack

When the amount of time that goes by between each GPS sampling point is extended, the accuracy of the GPS tracking will undoubtedly be compromised, and ends up turning nice windy trails into jagged zig-zags. This is where the magic of the Suunto 9 Baro comes in, with the introduction of something that Suunto calls 'FusedTrack':

The 'Fused' concept has been around for quite a while: 'FusedSpeed' corrects the speed and the pace by taking into account data from both GPS and accelerometer readings, whilst 'FusedAlti' corrects altitude measurements by combining GPS and barometric data, and is a process that is done automatically on the Suunto 9 Baro based on the movements that are tracked on the accelerometer.

'FusedTrack' on the other hand, combines data from the gyro sensor, the accelerometer, and the compass, in order to generate a track even without GPS data. This is what fills in the 'gaps' in-between GPS fixes for the 'endurance' and 'ultra' power modes--gaps that would otherwise just be straight lines. The algorithm for FusedTrack also takes into account the number of watch oscillations, which is why it is enabled for running and trail running.

In the image below, the green line was taken with a GPS sample rate of 1 second, which is as accurate as one can get; the blue line however was taken with a GPS sample rate of 60 seconds without FusedTrack enabled--notice how it begins to deviate from the green line. Hover your cursor over the image to see how well the red FusedTrack line performed on a GPS sample rate of 120 seconds, which is a rate that is double that of the blue line:

The second image shows a section where a backtrack was required. The closer the two lines of the same colour are to one another, the more consistent the GPS measurements are. The closer the other lines are to the green line, the more accurate the measurements are. Once again, the green line was taken with a GPS sample rate of 1 second, and the blue line was taken with a GPS sample rate of 60 seconds without FusedTrack enabled. Hover your cursor over the image to see how well the red FusedTrack line performed on a GPS sample rate of 120 seconds:

Next : Optical Heart Rate & Take-Away (Part 3)

Optical Heartrate

The Suunto 9 Baro comes equipped with the latest generation PerformTek 1.2 sensor from Valencell, which is one of the best optical heart rate sensors out there. No matter how good it is though, no optical heart rate sensor can match the accuracy and precision that heart rate belts like the Suunto Smart Sensor give.

Despite this, the optical sensor does seem to do quite well, at least once you manage to find your own sweet spot. You see, the accuracy of optical heart rate sensors depend on a huge range of factors: how much you are sweating, the position of the watch on your wrist, how tight the watch straps are, the ambient temperature which affects your blood flow, and factors like how much your arms move and whether you tend to clench your fists or not. Once you do find the right position however, the results will fairly accurately follow the 'trend' of your heart rate. The graph does spike and drop on occasion but the trend is indeed there:

The peaks and troughs of the Valencell optical heart rate sensor can be seen in turquoise. Once these are omitted, you can see quite clearly that the graph matches that of the Suunto Smart Sensor (in orange) quite closely

If it were up to me however, I would have left it out to save weight and reduce the cost, and for the time being at least, will still continue to use the Suunto Smart Sensor for my runs. I also do realise that optical heart rate sensors have been added to Suunto watches before, but this write-up is a comparison between the flagship models, and this is the first time an optical sensor has been added to Suunto's highest end device.

Baroless Option

The baroless option--referred to as (just) the Suunto 9, as opposed to the Suunto 9 Baro--was announced just a month ago. The biggest physical changes on the Suunto 9 are the different chevrons on the cardinal points of the bezel, the straps now lie flat, and of course the lack a barometer port on the underside of the case.

The underside of the case of the Suunto 9 Baro on the left and the Suunto 9 (baroless) on the right.
The absence of a barometer port can be seen on the right of the case.

The lack of a barometer also slims the Suunto 9 down slightly, and reduces its width by 0.3mm. This, and the change from a sapphire crystal to mineral glass display, make the weight difference quite considerable--a reduction of 9g, more than 10% the total weight of the watch. This weight reduction should, at least theoretically, increase the accuracy of the optical heart rate readings since the watch will be less likely to flop around on your wrist. The lack of a barometer does not mean that altitude readings have been completely omitted however, as the watch still takes GPS altitude readings which, although not completely precise, still manages to capture the ascents and descents. The Suunto 9 may have been announced but it is still in its pre-production phase, and as such, my field tester NDA prevents me from releasing any test results. At least, not at this time.

So, to wrap-up.. here are the pros and cons:

Pros

• Amazing battery life of up to 120 hours with GPS tracking.

• Intelligent battery modes and warnings.

• Swappable straps without additional tools.

• Rugged and can withstand the demands of the outdoors.

• Has a very sleek modern appearance.

Cons

• The Suunto 9 requires a figure-of-eight arm movement to re-calibrate the compass each time FusedTrack is enabled. Whilst this may indeed be necessary for improved FusedTrack accuracy, the wild flailing does attract a lot of unwanted attention.

The Take-away

The results that the FusedTrack algorithm produces are nothing short of extraordinary. The Suunto 9 Baro (and Suunto 9) can effectively track routes relatively well without the presence of a GPS signal. This in turn allows the amount of time that goes by between each GPS sampling point to be extended without adversely affecting the accuracy of the GPS tracking, which subsequently results in a battery life that is vastly extended.

The device also comes with an array of intelligent and customisable battery modes and settings that boost the battery life even further, which is ideal for ultra runners or for those who are out in the wilderness for multiple days at a time. The accuracy of the GPS and the barometric altimeter readings, and the navigation capabilities of the watch are perfect for those who call the mountain wilderness their home. The sleek yet robust form factor will also be able to withstand almost anything that demanding weather and terrain can throw at it.

This is a watch that has indeed been 'built to last'.

You can find the Suunto 9 at

Suunto Malaysia's official Lazada store

* Both the Suunto 9 Baro and the Suunto Spartan Ultra have been provided by Suunto Malaysia.