Compact GPS Sports Watch: This GPS watch features over 80 sports modes to accurately track exercise; Adaptive training guidance creates custom 7 day plans to maintain or improve your fitness level
All Else Fades: Engineered with long lasting intelligent battery modes, this lightweight GPS sports watch is great for running, hiking, cycling, and more; Accurately tracks steps, calories and sleep
Get Connected: Connect to your favorite sports apps and services from the Suunto app to get more from your watch; Share with your sports communities and access specific training analysis and guidance
Adventure Starts Here: Combining Scandinavian design with ultra durable materials, our watches track your sports, daily activity, and sleep to help you keep life, training and recovery in balance
Authentic Heritage: Founded in 1936, Suunto brings over 80 years of high quality heritage craftsmanship, relentless accuracy, and pioneering innovation to our watches, compasses, and dive products
Specification: SUUNTO 5, Lightweight and Compact GPS Sports Watch with 24/7, Activity Tracking and Wrist-Based Heart Rate
Product Dimensions
6 x 5 x 4 inches, 9.6 Ounces
Item model number
Suunto
Date First Available
May 9, 2019
Manufacturer
Suunto
Photos: SUUNTO 5, Lightweight and Compact GPS Sports Watch with 24/7, Activity Tracking and Wrist-Based Heart Rate
13 reviews for SUUNTO 5, Lightweight and Compact GPS Sports Watch with 24/7, Activity Tracking and Wrist-Based Heart Rate
2.9out of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
3
★★★★★
3
★★★★★
1
★★★★★
2
★★★★★
4
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★★★★★
Charly –
Actualización. Al principio, todo muy bien y muy práctico, el problema es que cada que pide actualización, el reloj se queda en standby como si estuviera descargando la actualización. Al contactar a atención al cliente, dan las mismas opciones que básicas de reinicio pero no funcionan y las veces que los contactes, las veces que te contestan lo mismo. Tengo que esperar a que se le termine la batería para reiniciar de cero y configurar todo de nuevo. En fin, mi recomendación es mejor comprar otra marca o probar con otro modelo, una lástima porque el reloj es muy bonito y buenas funciones. AL FINAL, SUUNTO ME REPUSO EL RELOJ
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★★★★★
EE –
This watch says that it can be submerged in a great depth of water— and so knowing this, on Sunday I decided to take a shower with it on. By Wednesday it had a an arrow coming down, I figured it needed to be reset or charged so I did so. But the arrow wouldn’t go away, I did some research— and many others also got this. It meant that the watch crashed and was dumping data.
Uhm, what? This watch cost over $300 dollars, how can this be? I made a call to customer service, and the lady on the line did not understand me at all and was just reading through a script. I just wanted to know if this was common in the watch and if it was gonna happen again. She could give no data, and kept telling me they can reboot my watch. It felt robotic, and I didn’t want to deal with it again. I’m starting a return.
For the cost of this item, it should not be doing this. BEWARE.
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★★★★★
SH Review –
I am a long time Suunto fan and I wear my Ambit 2 daily. Was excited to upgrade to this new design. Positives are: lightweight, good price for the functionality, less bulky than many similar designs. Cons: TOO DIM to read, illegible. I assume this was a choice to increase battery life, but what disaster. A watch you can’t read is useless. Before you ask, there is no option for brightness, just a “backlight – toggle or auto” choice. I called the Suunto help desk (amazing service, they answered on a Sunday morning!). The support person grabbed a watch to see for himself since this is a new design. After just a few minutes I was told, “you are right. It really is dim and you should return it.” I have sent it back and am stepping up for a Suunto 9 (double the price, ugh) and hoping it is a better option. Would have rather had the 5.
My guess is they will push out a software fix and reduce the battery life to make it functional.
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★★★★★
Dana Bialashewski –
Believe the other reviews. Screen is way too dim. Can’t even read it.
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★★★★★
AJ –
Not good. Immediate return. Couldn’t even get watch setup as every time I pressed the bottom right button (required to scroll between setup options) the watch shutdown. Had to reconnect to charger to get it to boot back up. In addition, watch was super dim, but not sure if there is a setting to adjust. Love Suunto but very disappointed.
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★★★★★
Keith –
Nice looking watch and connects to the satellites quickly. Not sure how well it will work in cold weather, my old Garmin Forerunner 235 was terrible in cold weather, hence this purchase. Suunto app works well with the watch, once you figure out what you want to do and it transfers data to Strava as soon as it connects to the watch. Would have given it 5 stars, but for the fact you cannot turn the watch off. I don’t wear the same watch all the time and it is a pain having the Suunto battery running down when I’m not wearing it.
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★★★★★
M.C. –
Really like the watch. Size and weight are really good. It could use improvement on heart rate monitoring though I’ve tried it various ways and while generally accurate, there is some lag, meaning if you go from low intensity to high intensity activity quickly (like doing sprints or going up a steep incline) it doesn’t pick up the change in heart rate immediately. Also, I generally agree with comments about screen brightness that others have noted. Daylight and at night it’s great bit in moderate light not that great. I think part of the problem is that most people have smartphones so we compare the screen brightness of the watch to those and it’s just not the same. It’s more comparable to a Kindle in terms of screen design and brightness. Still, of all the watches I’ve tried, this is the most solid.
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★★★★★
Amazon Customer –
The most negative review for this item is the poor lighting, I do not find it to be an issue though. Perhaps we are all just too used to the brightness of smartphones. The less screen time the better, try it and maybe the dimness of the screen won’t be an issue. The battery life it great, I keep mine on reserve and am still abel to achieve all I need to, such as logging exercise, navigation, and checking my heart rate manually (which should only be done when not moving, otherwise the readings are all over the place). I highly recommend this watch.
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★★★★★
silvercorp –
Muy buena marca, me encanta el reloj pero su software es dificil de manejar, la nueva app suunto que se supone substituye a Movescount, tienen conflictos, no se pueden tener las dos, pero suunto no reune aun las caracteristicas de movescount, decepcionado con su software, ademas no sincroniza adecuadamente, tarda en conectarse y constantemente se requiere reiniciar el telefono para que reconozca el reloj y sincronizar. El reloj muy bien, el softare con fallas constantes.
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★★★★★
Mike Kucherawy –
I’ve had my Suunto 5 for 6 weeks now. It fits well and looks good, but the glass is not very scratch resistant. It got a good scratch on it yesterday while I was working form my home office. I wasn’t doing something rugged outdoors like this watch was supposedly built for. I also find that the colours on the display are very faint & bland, not at all like the pictures. This has been disappointing for me. I called Suunto and they offered me 10% off a new watch. It would cost more than I paid for the watch to fix the scratched glass. I would not buy this watch again.
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★★★★★
Marco ruffini –
Deluso …purtroppo le foto che lo pubblicizzano sono belle la realtà diversa quadrante praticamente illeggibile date le dimensioni minuscole dei caratteri ,illuminazione quasi nulla e non perfetto nel conteggio delle vasche. Un grazie ad Amazon per la serietà nel accettare il reso.
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★★★★★
B.A. –
Just got this a few days ago. So far, I like it.
History: I am coming from another fitness tracker probably the most popular in the business, but I have worn out two of them just by wearing them and I will not buy another.
This product so far:
1. Superior build quality. Solid. Feels good on my wrist. Looks good. 2. Band is flexible and comfortable. Does not fall off (so far). 3. Two year warranty. Better than many others. I am expecting more than two years out of this, so my questions include: what will be the costs to replace the battery or get the band replaced? Unknown at this point.
The following denotes my experience, what I found. I am not sure if this information is “officially correct” or not, so Suunto, feel free to comment:
1. Initial watch setup is fairly easy. 2. To pair it using Bluetooth to connect to your phone, the watch must be in “non power saving mode” Settings->General->Power Saving (Off – toggle to the left). My watch came with this setting Off. 3. Download the Suunto app from the Play Store (if on Android, as I am) to your phone. 4. Download and install the SuuntoLink app from the Suunto website to your computer (Mac or Win10). In my case, Win10. 5. Connect the charging cable to your watch, and to the usb on the computer. Your watch will begin to charge, and Windows will recognize a new device. 6. Open the SuuntoLink app on your computer. It will show the watch, the charge level, and the version of the watch software. If your watch needs an update, it will offer to update your watch. 7. The current version of the watch software as of this writing is v 2.13.18, and it had to be updated upon receiving the watch to be current. 8. Create an account in the Suunto App on your phone. Under Partner Settings, choose Strava. You may have to create an account on the Strava website first (free). 9. Choose your watch face. Settings->Watch Face. There are several to choose from. The best for me is digital showing the date, time, and steps. Toggling the upper left button alternates steps with battery percentage remaining. 10.)When the watch is charged, choose an exercise Exercise->Walking (this was my choice for today). Wait for the watch to catch a GPS fix and your heart rate, (the watch will pause while it does this), then tell the watch to start the exercise. The watch will track your stats, including distance, minutes per mile, elevation, and route. 11. End your exercise (tell the watch) and sync with your phone. Your route data and stats will be transferred to the Suunto app on your phone, and Strava on the web for your viewing. The map of your route will be visible in both the Suunto app and the Strava web site. 12. It is not necessary to bring your phone or have Bluetooth on your phone on during your exercise. The data is transferred upon completion of the exercise, after the Bluetooth connection is re established.
This should get you started.
Some quirkiness with the watch:
I bought this watch with the intent that it gets me out a bit more and exercising, and so far, that has worked (yay!).
On the watch face I have chosen I can see steps. When I chose Walking, the miles traveled, exercise duration time, and some other data are displayed on the watch face, but not the steps! I would like to see a field added for steps also. The watch is tracking your steps, just not displaying them in walking mode. When you end your exercise, and return to the watch face I have chosen, the cumulative daily steps have been tracked and updated, so the data is there during the walk, just not displayed.
I will continue this review as I find out more about this product.
I started out with a full charge, and went for a 3 hr walk, and still had above 90% when I returned with power saving off (GPS tracking on).
A note about the display:
There are many reviews complaining about the display. My experience has been different. In bright sunlight, outdoors, the display is quite readable.
Indoors, the backlight is necessary, which requires the press of a button.
Essentially, what you are purchasing seems to be a high end fitness tracker, with high build quality, that links to an app on your phone for data transfer, and that app can link to Strava for data and route archiving and review.
If you are buying it to glance at the time, indoors, without pressing the button, it will be too dark for you, and a waste of money.
So far, I like this product, and have given it five stars, and so far, I am happy with the purchase.
Update 12/30/20:
The heart rate monitor on the watch is moving around quite a bit, even though it appears snug on the wrist. The watch gave an error message about the heart rate.
So I purchased the Suunto chest monitor which arrived today for around $80. It came, and I am not too pleased as: 1. It is made in China, seems light and cheap. No on/off switch, so constantly on. 2. It would not pair with my watch or my phone. 3. Suunto support was courteous and helpful, and suggested I return it., which I did today. 4. Amazon will replace it with another. 5. At this point I am not getting accurate, consistent heart rate from the watch, or the chest monitor, and if the replacement monitor is also bad, probably both will be returned for a refund, and I will consider other vendor.
Reduced by 1 star for above.
I intend to update this review when the replacement sensor arrives.
Update 1/3/21:
I have received a replacement chest band and successfully paired it with the Suunto 5. Increased * to 5.
Watch quality and chest band quality seems to be good.
However, Suunto is short on instructions, and like many electronics manufactures today, may expect you to learn about their product by playing with it. I however, am old school, and I like clear and complete documentation.
So, here is some “extra” information, that may help you with both the Suunto 5 and the chest strap:
1. The chest strap has no “on/off” switch. It appears to turn on when the chest contacts are moistened and strapped to your chest. 2. The chest strap has two components, the strap, and the sensor. The sensor clips into two fasteners built into the strap. It is designed to ride on the center of your chest. Clip the sensor to the strap. 3. Adjust the strap to fit, so the sensor is snug, but not too tight. 4. Moisten the contacts on the back of the chest strap. These are not metallic, but are black rubberized plastic spaced approx 2″ on either side of the sensor on the back of the chest strap. They are 2″-3″ long and shinier than the elastic part of the strap. 5. Turn power saving OFF on the watch. Settings/General/Power Saving 6. Pair your watch to the chest band. Settings/General/Connectivity/Pair sensor. Note: the chest band seems to pair to the watch, not to your phone. The watch will tell you if pairing has been successful.
Notes recording an exercise: The watch will display steps, time, remaining battery and heart rate, depending on the watch face you choose. To store this data and transfer it to the Suunto app and later to Strava (if you have a Strava account), you need to sync the watch with your Suunto app on your phone. Suunto support tells me that the watch will sync automatically with your phone overnight if the watch is in NON Power Saving Mode, and is paired with your phone with Bluetooth. My experience is a little different. I prefer to sync immediately after an exercise, manually. Here is the procedure to do that. It assumes you have already paired your phone via Bluetooth with the watch, and you have a Strava account, and it is setup to talk with the Suunto app.
1. Bluetooth should be ON on your phone. 2. Consider rebooting the watch (left and right buttons top pressed and held simultaneously for 15 sec, then released). Consider also rebooting your phone. This may not be necessary, but can solve problems with syncing. 3. Open the Suunto app on your phone. Go to the Home page. In the upper right corner you will see a small watch icon. Press it. The app will take you to a page showing the watch and saying “Connecting”. 4. The App will then say “Connected” and “Syncing.” When complete it will say “Last synced: Just Now” 5. At this point, the Suunto app has your data, and Strava may have your data, Strava may instantly get your data or it may take longer, I have experienced both.
Update 1/4/21:
Suunto support says they will replace the watch band should it be damaged out of warranty for approximately USD$60. They could not give me a price on watch battery replacement as the watch is new, and they have not had to replace any batteries. They indicated that the battery is covered under the two year warranty for the watch.
1/8/21:
The watch only seems to require being OFF Power Saving Mode when it is syncing with the Suunto App on your phone. Otherwise, even with Power Saving Mode ON, the GPS will still track you. You can turn OFF Power Saving mode after the end of your exercise before syncing with your phone. Once sync is complete, you can turn ON Power Saving Mode again.
Update 1/11/21:
My preferred way of charging this watch is to attach it to a Win 10 computer with the Suunto app installed on it. My process: Boot the computer Start the Suunto App Connect the watch via USB The Suunto App reflects that the watch is charging, the charge level, and that the watch is up to date. When the watch reaches 99 or 100%, I disconnect it, and close the Suunto App.
I hope this is a useful review.
Update 7/26/2021: I have used this watch for some time now, and continue to like it. It is solid, and has gotten me to do a bit more walking, which is good. I no longer user Stravia, as I find everything I need is in the Suunto app. I update after my walk turning on Bluetooth and syncing with the Suunto app on my phone… this usually takes approx. a minute. Then I turn Bluetooth off. I share my walk, stats and map track with friends using email on my phone. I usually charge the watch a few minutes before each walk to 99 or 100%. I have never run out of battery during a walk, and I am always using power saving except when syncing.
So far, so good.
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★★★★★
AU –
I returned it as it turned out to be too small for my “flat” wrist. The wristband snaps to the watch so that it has a “fixed” curve.
What I liked: – Exceptional Build Quality – Made in Finland – Battery Life
What I didn’t like: – Display Quality (it’s on par with my friend’s Garmin though) – Updates can only be pushed over the wire – Sunrise/Sunset Alarms didn’t Work ;-(
Charly –
Actualización. Al principio, todo muy bien y muy práctico, el problema es que cada que pide actualización, el reloj se queda en standby como si estuviera descargando la actualización. Al contactar a atención al cliente, dan las mismas opciones que básicas de reinicio pero no funcionan y las veces que los contactes, las veces que te contestan lo mismo. Tengo que esperar a que se le termine la batería para reiniciar de cero y configurar todo de nuevo. En fin, mi recomendación es mejor comprar otra marca o probar con otro modelo, una lástima porque el reloj es muy bonito y buenas funciones. AL FINAL, SUUNTO ME REPUSO EL RELOJ
EE –
This watch says that it can be submerged in a great depth of water— and so knowing this, on Sunday I decided to take a shower with it on. By Wednesday it had a an arrow coming down, I figured it needed to be reset or charged so I did so. But the arrow wouldn’t go away, I did some research— and many others also got this. It meant that the watch crashed and was dumping data.
Uhm, what? This watch cost over $300 dollars, how can this be? I made a call to customer service, and the lady on the line did not understand me at all and was just reading through a script. I just wanted to know if this was common in the watch and if it was gonna happen again. She could give no data, and kept telling me they can reboot my watch. It felt robotic, and I didn’t want to deal with it again.
I’m starting a return.
For the cost of this item, it should not be doing this. BEWARE.
SH Review –
I am a long time Suunto fan and I wear my Ambit 2 daily. Was excited to upgrade to this new design. Positives are: lightweight, good price for the functionality, less bulky than many similar designs. Cons: TOO DIM to read, illegible. I assume this was a choice to increase battery life, but what disaster. A watch you can’t read is useless. Before you ask, there is no option for brightness, just a “backlight – toggle or auto” choice. I called the Suunto help desk (amazing service, they answered on a Sunday morning!). The support person grabbed a watch to see for himself since this is a new design. After just a few minutes I was told, “you are right. It really is dim and you should return it.” I have sent it back and am stepping up for a Suunto 9 (double the price, ugh) and hoping it is a better option. Would have rather had the 5.
My guess is they will push out a software fix and reduce the battery life to make it functional.
Dana Bialashewski –
Believe the other reviews. Screen is way too dim. Can’t even read it.
AJ –
Not good. Immediate return. Couldn’t even get watch setup as every time I pressed the bottom right button (required to scroll between setup options) the watch shutdown. Had to reconnect to charger to get it to boot back up.
In addition, watch was super dim, but not sure if there is a setting to adjust.
Love Suunto but very disappointed.
Keith –
Nice looking watch and connects to the satellites quickly. Not sure how well it will work in cold weather, my old Garmin Forerunner 235 was terrible in cold weather, hence this purchase. Suunto app works well with the watch, once you figure out what you want to do and it transfers data to Strava as soon as it connects to the watch. Would have given it 5 stars, but for the fact you cannot turn the watch off. I don’t wear the same watch all the time and it is a pain having the Suunto battery running down when I’m not wearing it.
M.C. –
Really like the watch. Size and weight are really good. It could use improvement on heart rate monitoring though I’ve tried it various ways and while generally accurate, there is some lag, meaning if you go from low intensity to high intensity activity quickly (like doing sprints or going up a steep incline) it doesn’t pick up the change in heart rate immediately. Also, I generally agree with comments about screen brightness that others have noted. Daylight and at night it’s great bit in moderate light not that great. I think part of the problem is that most people have smartphones so we compare the screen brightness of the watch to those and it’s just not the same. It’s more comparable to a Kindle in terms of screen design and brightness. Still, of all the watches I’ve tried, this is the most solid.
Amazon Customer –
The most negative review for this item is the poor lighting, I do not find it to be an issue though. Perhaps we are all just too used to the brightness of smartphones. The less screen time the better, try it and maybe the dimness of the screen won’t be an issue. The battery life it great, I keep mine on reserve and am still abel to achieve all I need to, such as logging exercise, navigation, and checking my heart rate manually (which should only be done when not moving, otherwise the readings are all over the place). I highly recommend this watch.
silvercorp –
Muy buena marca, me encanta el reloj pero su software es dificil de manejar, la nueva app suunto que se supone substituye a Movescount, tienen conflictos, no se pueden tener las dos, pero suunto no reune aun las caracteristicas de movescount, decepcionado con su software, ademas no sincroniza adecuadamente, tarda en conectarse y constantemente se requiere reiniciar el telefono para que reconozca el reloj y sincronizar. El reloj muy bien, el softare con fallas constantes.
Mike Kucherawy –
I’ve had my Suunto 5 for 6 weeks now. It fits well and looks good, but the glass is not very scratch resistant. It got a good scratch on it yesterday while I was working form my home office. I wasn’t doing something rugged outdoors like this watch was supposedly built for. I also find that the colours on the display are very faint & bland, not at all like the pictures. This has been disappointing for me. I called Suunto and they offered me 10% off a new watch. It would cost more than I paid for the watch to fix the scratched glass. I would not buy this watch again.
Marco ruffini –
Deluso …purtroppo le foto che lo pubblicizzano sono belle la realtà diversa quadrante praticamente illeggibile date le dimensioni minuscole dei caratteri ,illuminazione quasi nulla e non perfetto nel conteggio delle vasche.
Un grazie ad Amazon per la serietà nel accettare il reso.
B.A. –
Just got this a few days ago. So far, I like it.
History: I am coming from another fitness tracker probably the most popular in the business, but I have worn out two of them just by wearing them and I will not buy another.
This product so far:
1. Superior build quality. Solid. Feels good on my wrist. Looks good.
2. Band is flexible and comfortable. Does not fall off (so far).
3. Two year warranty. Better than many others. I am expecting more than two years out of this, so my questions include: what will be the costs to replace the battery or get the band replaced? Unknown at this point.
The following denotes my experience, what I found. I am not sure if this information is “officially correct” or not, so Suunto, feel free to comment:
1. Initial watch setup is fairly easy.
2. To pair it using Bluetooth to connect to your phone, the watch must be in “non power saving mode”
Settings->General->Power Saving (Off – toggle to the left). My watch came with this setting Off.
3. Download the Suunto app from the Play Store (if on Android, as I am) to your phone.
4. Download and install the SuuntoLink app from the Suunto website to your computer (Mac or Win10). In my case, Win10.
5. Connect the charging cable to your watch, and to the usb on the computer. Your watch will begin to charge, and Windows will recognize a new device.
6. Open the SuuntoLink app on your computer. It will show the watch, the charge level, and the version of the watch software. If your watch needs an update, it will offer to update your watch.
7. The current version of the watch software as of this writing is v 2.13.18, and it had to be updated upon receiving the watch to be current.
8. Create an account in the Suunto App on your phone. Under Partner Settings, choose Strava. You may have to create an account on the Strava website first (free).
9. Choose your watch face.
Settings->Watch Face.
There are several to choose from. The best for me is digital showing the date, time, and steps. Toggling the upper left button alternates steps with battery percentage remaining.
10.)When the watch is charged, choose an exercise
Exercise->Walking (this was my choice for today).
Wait for the watch to catch a GPS fix and your heart rate, (the watch will pause while it does this), then tell the watch to start the exercise. The watch will track your stats, including distance, minutes per mile, elevation, and route.
11. End your exercise (tell the watch) and sync with your phone. Your route data and stats will be transferred to the Suunto app on your phone, and Strava on the web for your viewing. The map of your route will be visible in both the Suunto app and the Strava web site.
12. It is not necessary to bring your phone or have Bluetooth on your phone on during your exercise. The data is transferred upon completion of the exercise, after the Bluetooth connection is re established.
This should get you started.
Some quirkiness with the watch:
I bought this watch with the intent that it gets me out a bit more and exercising, and so far, that has worked (yay!).
On the watch face I have chosen I can see steps. When I chose Walking, the miles traveled, exercise duration time, and some other data are displayed on the watch face, but not the steps! I would like to see a field added for steps also. The watch is tracking your steps, just not displaying them in walking mode. When you end your exercise, and return to the watch face I have chosen, the cumulative daily steps have been tracked and updated, so the data is there during the walk, just not displayed.
I will continue this review as I find out more about this product.
I started out with a full charge, and went for a 3 hr walk, and still had above 90% when I returned with power saving off (GPS tracking on).
A note about the display:
There are many reviews complaining about the display. My experience has been different.
In bright sunlight, outdoors, the display is quite readable.
Indoors, the backlight is necessary, which requires the press of a button.
Essentially, what you are purchasing seems to be a high end fitness tracker, with high build quality, that links to an app on your phone for data transfer, and that app can link to Strava for data and route archiving and review.
If you are buying it to glance at the time, indoors, without pressing the button, it will be too dark for you, and a waste of money.
So far, I like this product, and have given it five stars, and so far, I am happy with the purchase.
Update 12/30/20:
The heart rate monitor on the watch is moving around quite a bit, even though it appears snug on the wrist. The watch gave an error message about the heart rate.
So I purchased the Suunto chest monitor which arrived today for around $80. It came, and I am not too pleased as:
1. It is made in China, seems light and cheap. No on/off switch, so constantly on.
2. It would not pair with my watch or my phone.
3. Suunto support was courteous and helpful, and suggested I return it., which I did today.
4. Amazon will replace it with another.
5. At this point I am not getting accurate, consistent heart rate from the watch, or the chest monitor, and if the
replacement monitor is also bad, probably both will be returned for a refund, and I will consider other vendor.
Reduced by 1 star for above.
I intend to update this review when the replacement sensor arrives.
Update 1/3/21:
I have received a replacement chest band and successfully paired it with the Suunto 5. Increased * to 5.
Watch quality and chest band quality seems to be good.
However, Suunto is short on instructions, and like many electronics manufactures today, may expect you to learn about their product by playing with it. I however, am old school, and I like clear and complete documentation.
So, here is some “extra” information, that may help you with both the Suunto 5 and the chest strap:
1. The chest strap has no “on/off” switch. It appears to turn on when the chest contacts are moistened and strapped to your chest.
2. The chest strap has two components, the strap, and the sensor. The sensor clips into two fasteners built into the strap. It is designed to ride on the center of your chest. Clip the sensor to the strap.
3. Adjust the strap to fit, so the sensor is snug, but not too tight.
4. Moisten the contacts on the back of the chest strap. These are not metallic, but are black rubberized plastic spaced approx 2″ on either side of the sensor on the back of the chest strap. They are 2″-3″ long and shinier than the elastic part of the strap.
5. Turn power saving OFF on the watch. Settings/General/Power Saving
6. Pair your watch to the chest band. Settings/General/Connectivity/Pair sensor.
Note: the chest band seems to pair to the watch, not to your phone.
The watch will tell you if pairing has been successful.
Notes recording an exercise:
The watch will display steps, time, remaining battery and heart rate, depending on the watch face you choose.
To store this data and transfer it to the Suunto app and later to Strava (if you have a Strava account), you need to sync the watch with your Suunto app on your phone.
Suunto support tells me that the watch will sync automatically with your phone overnight if the watch is in NON Power Saving Mode, and is paired with your phone with Bluetooth.
My experience is a little different. I prefer to sync immediately after an exercise, manually.
Here is the procedure to do that. It assumes you have already paired your phone via Bluetooth with the watch, and you have a Strava account, and it is setup to talk with the Suunto app.
1. Bluetooth should be ON on your phone.
2. Consider rebooting the watch (left and right buttons top pressed and held simultaneously for 15 sec, then released). Consider also rebooting your phone. This may not be necessary, but can solve problems with syncing.
3. Open the Suunto app on your phone. Go to the Home page. In the upper right corner you will see a small watch icon. Press it. The app will take you to a page showing the watch and saying “Connecting”.
4. The App will then say “Connected” and “Syncing.” When complete it will say “Last synced: Just Now”
5. At this point, the Suunto app has your data, and Strava may have your data, Strava may instantly get your data or it may take longer, I have experienced both.
Update 1/4/21:
Suunto support says they will replace the watch band should it be damaged out of warranty for approximately USD$60. They could not give me a price on watch battery replacement as the watch is new, and they have not had to replace any batteries. They indicated that the battery is covered under the two year warranty for the watch.
1/8/21:
The watch only seems to require being OFF Power Saving Mode when it is syncing with the Suunto App on your phone. Otherwise, even with Power Saving Mode ON, the GPS will still track you. You can turn OFF Power Saving mode after the end of your exercise before syncing with your phone. Once sync is complete, you can turn ON Power Saving Mode again.
Update 1/11/21:
My preferred way of charging this watch is to attach it to a Win 10 computer with the Suunto app installed on it.
My process:
Boot the computer
Start the Suunto App
Connect the watch via USB
The Suunto App reflects that the watch is charging, the charge level, and that the watch is up to date.
When the watch reaches 99 or 100%, I disconnect it, and close the Suunto App.
I hope this is a useful review.
Update 7/26/2021: I have used this watch for some time now, and continue to like it. It is solid, and has gotten me to do a bit more walking, which is good. I no longer user Stravia, as I find everything I need is in the Suunto app. I update after my walk turning on Bluetooth and syncing with the Suunto app on my phone… this usually takes approx. a minute. Then I turn Bluetooth off. I share my walk, stats and map track with friends using email on my phone. I usually charge the watch a few minutes before each walk to 99 or 100%. I have never run out of battery during a walk, and I am always using power saving except when syncing.
So far, so good.
AU –
I returned it as it turned out to be too small for my “flat” wrist.
The wristband snaps to the watch so that it has a “fixed” curve.
What I liked:
– Exceptional Build Quality
– Made in Finland
– Battery Life
What I didn’t like:
– Display Quality (it’s on par with my friend’s Garmin though)
– Updates can only be pushed over the wire
– Sunrise/Sunset Alarms didn’t Work ;-(
Now I plan to give the Suunto 9 a try