Review: Suunto 9 Peak smartwatch could lead an exercise revolution

The Suunto smartwatch seems to have all active human endeavours covered.

Suuntu 9 Peak smartwatch.

Finnish premium smartwatch maker Suunto has somewhat of a cult following. It has been making navigation gear for 80 years. The legend goes that in 1939, a Suunto M-311 field compass saved the life of a Finnish soldier when he was hit by a Russian sniper’s bullet. It wasn’t high tech that saved him though. The bullet hit the Suunto compass in his pocket.

The brand isn‘t a household name in Australia, but the company’s hardy watches are popular among outdoor adventurers and serious sportspeople.

This latest offering, the Suunto 9 Peak, is still a largish smartwatch compared to Apple and Samsung watches. It has a round face and three operating buttons at right. However, it is significantly smaller than the existing Suunto 9 Baro and lightweight.

Suunto says it is 37 per cent thinner and 36 per cent lighter than the Baro. You barely feel it on your wrist.

The 9 Peak has a stainless steel bezel and the display is protected by sapphire glass. Suunto says it offers 100 metres of water resistance and battery life is anything from 5 days to 170 hours depending on the battery mode.

Walking heat map at a Sydney park used for exercise in lockdown.

Suunto watches are not cheap. The All Black and Moss Gray models cost $999.99 while the Granite Blue Titanium and Birch White Titanium variants are $1,199.99.

So why buy a Suunto which is double the price of an Apple Watch, Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 and Fitbit Sense? What functionality does the 9 Peak offer us?

The Suunto’s claim to fame is the more than 80 sports modes it measures and the detailed metrics offered. Modes not only include walking, running, cycling, hiking, skiing and swimming, but weight training, trail running, open water swimming, trekking, triathlon, mountaineering and yoga/pilates.

It seems Suunto has all active human endeavours covered.

Suuntu 9 Peak premium smartwatch

There are the signature Suunto heat maps. Suunto collects non-identifiable route information from users and compiles these amazing maps for a variety of sports. The brighter the colour (the heat), the more people have travelled that route performing the chosen activity.

Crowdsourcing training routes is a clever idea; Suunto can sit back and watch the routes evolve without lifting a finger. Needless to say, my local park across the road which is a magnet for lockdown exercising lights up like a Christmas tree on the heatmap. You access the maps from within the Suunto app.

Suunto watches also feature GPS and barometer/altitude readings. This year Suunto has added “snap to route” which navigates you in an area with poor GPS.

You load a route before you head off. The watch then guides you along that route provided you don’t stray too far.

The Ghost Runner Pacer lets you set a target pace for a phantom runner and tells you of your proximity to them during training.

The Suuntu 9 Peak and its app.

I was impressed with the detailed data the app displayed from a simple outdoor walk: a comprehensive map, duration, distance, average speed, maximum speed, calories (kilojoules), steps, average heart rate, maximum heart rate, recovery time, a graph of heart rate zones at all times of the walk, an altitude map covering all times and comparative stats on the same route when walked previously.

The 9 Peak has an ambient light sensor that adjusts screen brightness; viewing was OK outside but faint indoors. It’s brighter indoors when you trigger action on the screen, but still dull compared to rivals. That’s one way the 9 Peak manages to conserve battery. I also found that the touch screen is not nearly as sensitive as Apple and Samsung watches. The 9 Peak is more responsive when you operate it using the three buttons.

The watch offers rudimentary sleep tracking, displays notifications and alerts, and your stress levels and recovery times after exercise.

The 9 Peak offers faster one hour charging, an improvement on the previous four hours, and there is a new optical heart rate sensor and blood oxygen saturation monitoring but these are not the medical grade measurements offered by some smart watches.

The Suunto 9 Peak is available in Australia now.