Suunto Core Review

Meet my Suunto Core All Black that I’ve owned for 8 years. It’s definitely been to the school of hard knocks!

The Suunto Core watch has been around for a LONG time. So long that some might wonder – why a review now? And what about all of the Android & Apple watches? They have a GPS, maps, compass, etc… Aren’t they they “leaders” in watches? To be honest, I think not.

I’ve owned a couple Android watches and while some of the features are pretty cool their batteries still need to be charged EVERY DAY! This is a non-starter for me in the backcountry. Besides, I still carry a GPS. Why would I need a GPS on my watch that has to sync with my phone (which means that it has to be turned on). Needing to have phone and fancy watch turned on all of the time means that I’ll have to carry battery chargers

Features

Sunrise/Sunset
I’ve found that the data shown for the sunrise and sunset times are amazingly accurate! In fact, within 1 minute when using Time and Date as the standard.

Altimeter
The altimeter is based upon barometric pressure changes. This means that periodically you’ll need to update your altitude. How often? Once every few days should be sufficient.

Compass
What more can be said? It has a compass.

Storm Alert
This is a pretty cool feature! The watch senses fast barometric pressure changes that are associated with weather system changes.

Bottom Line – Would I Buy It Again?

Absolutely! This watch has done everything I’ve asked of it. It’s simple enough to use easily yet sophisticated enough to provide very useful information needed to hit the backcountry.