SUUNTO Suunto SUUNTO Core Classic Outdoor Watch (Open Box)

Here are my thoughts on my new Suunto Core, hope this helps others decide if this is the right watch for them or not. Overall I love the fit and finish of this watch, I have the Military All Black edition. The bezel is low profile which allows it to easily fit inside the cuff of a shirt and also less prone to striking on door jams and the like as you walk. The watch is lighter than I had anticipated, but does not feel light in a cheap kind of way. I was initially a little bummed about the lighter weight because I normally where very large and heavy Invicta watches. However the lighter weight of this watch makes it far more useful for being active which is what this watch is all about. The lighter weight also means you can wear the watch higher up on your arm where it belongs and it will stay there. That way its not impinging on your hand while extending the wrist (say while riding a bike.) The band is a smooth matte hard rubber and has a matte black aluminum clasp. There are also two rubber cuffs to tuck the excess band inside, this is very nice as it keeps the excess band out of the way of what you are wearing and what you are doing. The watch itself is very comfortable as a function of both the band construction and the overall weight of the watch. My favorite part of the overall look of this watch however is the dark face. It's clean and sharp; you can choose which information you would like displayed by default (time, altitude, bearing, sunrise/set, date, countdown, etc). In very bright light and with the watch tilted at an extreme angle it can be difficult to see the information on the display, however with the watch pointing directly at you, I have no issues reading the display even in full sunlight. At night the display is completely dark, except for the glowing North indicators on the rotating bezel. The backlight feature (activated as needed with a button press) lights up the entire display so you can see all functions and feature of the watch including indicators such as the alarm being set. Another nice little feature is a button lock, achieved by pressing and holding the backlight button for a few seconds, handy so that you are not accidentally accessing menus or changing settings inadvertently while you are asleep or wearing gloves. In terms of the altimeter/barometer, I have always wanted this watch for skiing purposes as it gives you a way to track your vertical feet for the day without having to pull out your phone and check an app like EpicMix. As I have yet to ski with this watch I cannot comment on its ability to track vert just yet, however many other people I know with this watch have been pleased with its ability to do so. It does give me accurate readings of atmospheric pressure which has been interesting to follow. These past few days we have had some decent storms roll through and I have actually watched the barometer drop as that was happening. It displays the pressure in a graph so you can see trends over time. The reality is that I would not routinely use this to try to predict or gauge the weather - in this day and age I can get vastly more detailed information from my phone. That being the case the barometer is accurate and functional. The thermometer does a great job of telling me the temperature of my wrist but not the ambient temperature (at least if I am wearing it). I knew this was going to be the case before I even purchased the watch as this is a common theme with all "ABC watches". The reality is there is no way for the thermometer to account for the conductive heat transferred to/from your body (or radiation from the sun for that matter). Again, if I need to know the ambient temperature I look at the weather app on my phone but if I was in an area with no cell signal that would not be an option. In that event you can always hang the watch from your pack or inside your tent to get an accurate reading on the ambient temperature. The thermometer is accurate, you just need to take your wrist out of the equation when you need that information. The compass feature works great though I personally don't see myself using it routinely. I have compared it to the lensatic compass in my pack and its relatively close but if I ever actually had to navigate I would definitely use a dedicated compass. In my humble opinion the compass function on the watch is more convenient for getting a general idea of your bearing or heading - something I usually am aware of already but I can appreciate how this might be useful if you are traveling or exploring in a new area. Another great feature of this watch is the sunrise/sunset information. While programming the watch you select your nearest major city and that is how the sunrise/set times are calculated. This gives you a relatively accurate prediction of the time at sunrise and sunset but depends obviously on if you are in that exact location or not. As I am in Milford, CT I have mine set to NYC. The watch tells me that sunset today will be at 19:48 where as according to a simple google search it will be at 19:42 for my current location (unsure of the source that is being indexed though). In any event, it is close enough and reliable for the purpose of gauging your activities by the need for daylight or night. As expected there are also the typical watch functions of chronograph with lap metering and an alarm. The alarm actually also has a snooze feature which is pretty nice. As the alarm goes off a notification on the display says "snooze?" and places "yes" and "no" next to two buttons on the bezel. Selecting yes gives you an extra 5 minutes of sleep. I am unsure if you can change the duration of the snooze in settings or not. There is also a countdown timer which comes in handy sometimes. You can set the duration of the countdown to anything you like in the settings. Another nice feature is the product support offered by Suunto. The day I received the watch I got on the website and made a user account then registered my serial number. From there I can submit work or repair orders should anything ever go wrong. There is also a nice user community for sharing information and activities, something I won't probably be an active member of but I am sure there are others who really enjoy this aspect of the brand. I really have no gripes or problems with the watch to report so far. I have only had it for 2 weeks and I am very pleased with my purchase. I have read other reviews noting problems with the band breaking. The band seems solid to me but certainly does not feel indestructible. I am sure with enough repetition of folding the band back to remove the watch it would ultimately crease and then crack as others have reported. At this price point I expect this to be a watch that I get many years of solid use out of. If for some reason the band starts to get too terribly worn or breaks I would be okay replacing it. I do not believe the Suunto warranty covers band damage from normal use. It appears replacement bands for the Core are available for around $30-40 which is reasonable in my opinion. It appears the band can be replaced by the user, and judging by the look of the screws attaching the band to the watch body you would only need a small flathead driver. Also of not, the watch battery can be easily replaced by the user. So in summary, all in all I am very pleased. The watch looks fantastic. The watch is comfortable to wear both at rest and while working out or being active. The altimeter/barometer are accurate and give you ample ways to display and use the data. The thermometer works great, you just need to take the watch off to get an accurate reading (true for all watch thermometers as far as I know). The compass is accurate for getting a general idea of your heading but if you are planning on doing serious navigation then use a dedicated compass. The other standard watch features (alarm, chrono, countdown) are all present as well as few nice bonuses like a countdown timer, snooze function for the alarm and sunrise/set times.