Why my Suunto X10 military went back after a brief review (and why the Core and Garmin 305 are on my wrist)
by naisan on Sep.29, 2008, under gadgets, Garmin 305, garmin 705, GPS, GPS Watch, Suunto X10, watches
I recently picked up the Suunto X10 hoping that I would get my one-device fix, but soon realized that it was not to be. As outlined in my previous posts, there are too many tradeoffs to the Suunto x10 on every pole of the usage triangle:
1) fitness / training device: no heart rate, short battery life, and few calculations that relate to training performance
2) navigation device: tiny screen, low gain antenna compared to a handheld or even the Garmin 305 according to my side-by-side ride, where the Suunto x10 missed large patches that the 305 didn’t. Also, no screen to speak of, compared to some on the 305, and large touchscreens on a dedicated navigation device.
3) watch: too big, and poor battery life, coupled with truly abysmal visibility without backlight under any dimmer light condition – let alone running or hammering down the road on your bike with sunglasses on.
I don’t really fault Suunto – the technology is just going to require some more time to mature. Given today’s tech limitations, I really think the pod approach is the right one – like the pds offered by Garmin or Suunto’s training series.
If I had my druthers, I’d pick up the Garmin 705, and use my Suunto Core for a watch. But the Forerunner 305 works great, and includes a heart rate monitor, and I can keep my Core ABC watch on which gives me backup altimiter, and other watch functions.
Even if you require a tiny gps device, this doesn’t suit: by the time you bring along your solar panel to recharge it every 6 hours of use, or even 7 days if you use the features from time to time, you might as well have brought along a regular watch and a regular GPS with all the bells and whistles, which would also get you solid basemaps and the like.
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September 18th, 2009 on 12:35
Agreed mostly.
I just posted another Suunto X10 review.
If, after all of the negative reviews, you still want to purchase the Suunto x10 it can be found at oegear.com for $400 using the code 400X10.
May 18th, 2010 on 08:51
After one year using Suunto X10, I buy a Garmin Forerunner 305.
Sunnto x10 has a few flaws:
Cannot undergo firmware update, which is a big loss to owners, unlike Garmin and Globalsat.
1) lousy plastics and rubbers, will certainly break or wear off even under care. The button plastics in my watch all gone. My face cap is now glued onto the watch. The belt tightener totally break and rendered unusable after a period.
2) Weak screws, the watch has 2 screws, all broken due to only 2 screws holding the watch from its straps. They are so likely to break when you accidentally bumped the watch, stretching the straps from the watch.
3) No rudimentary maps, important for me. This function does exist in Garmin and globalsat gh625m.
4) No speed alert, distance alert, a few alerts that are important.
5) No countdown timer
6) Cannot name points with alphabets – cannot type, only choose among fixed names in the watch, however, you can only name location points or routes in PC(afterthat names do appear in the watch).
7) Maximum number of satellite fixable is 12, compared to 20 I think, in other devices. The watch can miss something or not accurate.
9) No Heart rate monitor.
10) It’s not a one-device for hiking, e.g. hiking into unknown places. It can do, but the lack of rudimentary map makes it very difficult. That’s why I want to try Garmin FR305.
X10′s prominent advantage:
barometer/altimeter – can see height change, or when you are at the same altitude all the time, you can track weather(rain should come when the trend goes down).
1) temperature sensor
2) Very good belt/strap, it clicks so nice when you fasten it.
3) Mineral glass, after rough uses, the glass is still perfectly smooth, durable.
4) Has sunrise/sunset time-telling, many people would love this.
5) Smaller than Garmin
6) Integrated compass, sometimes really useful when you walk indoor(malls) or you want to have a low-tech hiking. You can use it to calculate bearings in math exams, applicable.
7) Can change GPS fix intervals to save energy(1sec, 1min, manual press). This is even viable in Globalsat which you can set any time intervals. This is absent in Garmin(only 1sec fix).
I choose Garmin FR305 over Globalsat GH625M is just because Garmin has sunrise/sunset telling function(also found in X10), but not Globalsat.