Initial Report

Suunto Vector Wristop Computer
Initial Report
March 19, 2006

Biographical Information

Product Information

Initial Impressions

Vector

Biographical Information
Name	Jennifer Pope
Age	25
Gender	Female
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Wrist girth	6 inches (15 cm)
Weight	140 lb (64 kg)
Email address	Jennifer dot Pope at gmail dot com
Location	Los Angeles, CA
Backpacking Background Intermediate. I've been a car-camper as long as I can remember and started backpacking in Northern California when I was 16. I've been backpacking for a little over a year after a hiatus during college. I backpack in the Sierras as well as other National Forests and Parks in the Los Angeles vicinity. I also spend time in the California deserts and the mountains and coast of Northern California. I'm a tent camper leaning towards lightweight; but I'm also a fan of gadgets and I like being comfortable. I also frequently day hike close to home and while car camping.

Product Information (back to top)
Manufacturer	Suunto Oy
Manufacturer URL	http://www.suunto.com/
Year of Manufacture	2006
Color	khaki (black with a light tan detail)
Actual Weight	1.9 oz (54 g)
MSRP	$199.99 US
Warranty	two years against manufacturing defects not user misuse

Initial Impressions (back to top)

The watch comes in a smallish white box that I can use to store the watch while I’m not wearing it. I wish it were a little smaller but then it wouldn’t fit the owner’s manual, which is small but thick and comes in eight languages! It’s a combined manual for the Vector (this test), Altimax, X-Lander, and S-Lander. The very first page of the manual contains several contact numbers for Suunto including a toll-free number for the US, Canada, and a number for Europe (though I’m not sure if it’s toll-free). I think this is great because many times companies try to hide their phone numbers.

The watch also came with a small one-page, reinforced paper pocket guide. This just gives an overview of the watch’s functions and which buttons the user needs to need to push to get to those functions. I think this will be helpful while I’m still learning how to use the watch.

The watch When the watch came it was already on and running. I wonder how long it’s been sitting in the box running out its batteries? The batteries are supposed to last 12-18 months (according to the manual) so I don’t expect to need to change them anyhow. If I do need to change the batteries during the 4-month testing period I’ll surmise that it’s been sitting in the box running for quite a while. The watch has a screen protector over it reminding the new user to set the compass before use.

side view

Product Description (back to top)

The watch has a large face slightly over two inches (5 cm) across. It has a plastic band that starts wide (where it attaches to the face) and then tapers down slightly. There are four buttons on the watch which are located at approximately 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 7 o'clock, and 11 o'clock. These buttons have four different functions that allow the user to access all the options on the watch. The button at 2 o'clock is the 'mode' button; this allows the user to switch between each mode (time, altimeter, barometer, and compass). I can see which mode I'm in because each mode is listed on the watch face and whichever one I'm in has a small light below it (in the top picture I'm in the 'time' mode). The button at 4 o'clock is the '+' button. This is for adding value to whatever setting I'm on. For example, when I'm setting the timer, once I'm in the timer setting I press the '+' button. If I go too far, I can press the '-' button (at 7 o'clock) to go back. The last button at 11 o'clock is the 'select' button. This is used to select a particular function. For example, when I'm in the time mode if I hold down the select button for two seconds I get to the setting where I can set the time and date.

back of watch

The back of the watch contains several grooves- possibly to allow some ventilation and less sweating? Where the battery is located is pretty clear and it seems like its compartment could be opened with a coin.

The Fit
The face of the watch is indeed larger than the regular watches I’m used to wearing. My wrists are pretty skinny so I was somewhat worried that the watch would look awkward or not fit my wrist. It does look larger than a normal watch but not so much so that it really looks out of place. I wear the band on the third notch from the smallest so I have a little bit of room to go smaller. There’s quite a large ‘tail’ sticking out from the excess wrist band. It would be cool if they had an option for a smaller or larger wristband. But there is a loop to keep the strap out of my way, and it does just that. The tail only sticks out a tiny bit past the loop (see below).

watch band

The Look
The khaki color for the face is a really light khaki color, almost more white than khaki. Online it looked like it might have been silver but it is definitely not. The online pictures of each watch show two different background display options- black and gray. I liked the black background display better. The khaki watch comes with the black background display and I really like how it looks in person as well.

Setting up the Watch (back to top)

Setting the time
The watch defaults to the time mode. Setting the time was extremely easy. I just held down the ‘select’ button and then used the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons to set the flashing field. When I got to the correct number I again pressed the ‘select’ button to move on to the next field. I was able to set the minutes, hours, seconds, time mode (12- or 24-hour clock), month, day and year this way. The watch automatically sets the day of the week after the other options have been set. I set my time to the online atomic clock so I will be able to check the accuracy of the clock for the Field and Long term reports (to accuracy within one second).

Calibrating the Compass
This process was also pretty straightforward. The watch almost tells me what to do as I’m going through the button presses. Calibrating the compass requires me to go through a couple of button presses and then hold the watch level and slowly rotate it 360 degrees. The manual states that the user may have to do this process twice to completely calibrate the watch and indeed after rotating it once it went back to the screen telling me to start the calibration process (it literally says “PRESS -”) making it obvious what I’m supposed to do. After rotating the watch one more time the watch said “done”. If the calibration were to fail I would have to remove the battery to reset the watch and start again.

Setting the units
The default on this was set to metric units, so I wanted to change it over to Imperial. It was a little more difficult because I had to hold two buttons down at the same time for three seconds to start setting each of the units. It probably would have been easier if I wasn’t wearing the watch. Setting these options wasn’t quite so intuitive because after holding the ‘mode’ and ‘select’ buttons down together for two seconds I had to hold the ‘select’ button down again for two seconds. I’ll probably only set the units once so I guess it’s not really an inconvenience. Then I went through each unit and selected whether I wanted that measurement displayed in metric or Imperial units (e.g. I picked whether I wanted Celsius or Fahrenheit, then meters or feet, etc). I think that’s a cool feature because I don’t have to pick metric or Imperial for all units- I can select each one separately. I happened to set all my units into Imperial mode though.

Using the Alarm, Stopwatch, and Countdown timer
All of these features are part of the Time mode. To get into one of these ‘sub-modes’ I need to press the ‘select’ button a certain number of times (one, two, or three depending on the mode I’m trying to get to). Setting these functions was fairly easy and once they’re set I can go into any of the other modes and the countdown timer will continue to count down and the alarm will still go off at the set time. Also, when the alarm is set I can see a tiny bell icon near the largest display field (i.e. the time when in that mode) while I’m in any mode. Similarly, when I have a countdown timer set the word “timer” is flashing near the bottom of the display.

The alarm for the countdown timer and the alarm have the same sound and it seems loud enough. The difference is the alarm sounds continuously until it’s silenced (it might stop at some point but I only let it go for about 20 seconds) and the countdown timer only rings three times and then stops. We’ll see if it’s loud enough to wake me up from a deep sleep and if it even causes my husband (a very deep sleeper) to stir. This watch has three separate alarms as well.

In general I find it easier to do complicated tasks on the watch while it's not on my wrist. But things like setting a timer and the alarm are easy to do while the watch is on my wrist.

Summary (back to top)

So far I really like the watch. It is larger than a regular watch but not so large that I look ridiculous. At this point the watch also seems fairly user-friendly. I haven't had a lot of trouble remembering where the timer is, for instance. I'll have to find out if the more complicated features are as easy to use.

Field Testing Information (back to top)

During the spring and early summer I will be taking trips into the San Bernardino and Angeles National Forests (other areas in Southern CA aren't off limits either). These generally aren't planned far in advance, but I'll likely be out a weekend each month. Temperatures on all these trips should be fairly mild ranging from the 30s to 90 F (0 to 30 C). Weather should be fairly mild as well with an always looming possibility of rain. Elevations range from 4,000 to over 10,000 feet (1,200 to 3,000 m).

Depending on what happens this spring (i.e. how much more snow falls); the Sierras might be a destination in the Long Term test period. The weather and elevations I'll likely encounter are similar to those in the Angeles National Forest (listed above). However, the terrain in the Sierras can be more rocky and rough and there's usually rain every afternoon.

I will also likely be going to the desert again before it gets too warm. Elevations can be up to about 4,000 ft (1,200 m) and the terrain is usually rough, dry and sandy. I will likely be going there while the temperatures are still reasonable; perhaps between 30 to 75 F (0 to 25 C).

The coastal areas north of Los Angeles are also a likely destination. Elevations should be less than 4,000 ft (1,200 m). The terrain is usually rocky and chaparral-covered. Temperatures usually range from 50 to 80 F (30 to 45 C).

This watch will also be used on day hikes (usually of less than 6 miles/9.7 km) in the Los Angeles area. These areas are usually dry and chaparral-covered. I will also likely wear the watch as my casual weekend watch. Though not a real “field test” the watch could come in contact with ocean salt water and beach sand.

Test Plan (back to top)

My generally strategy is to use the watch a lot in different types of activities and see how well it meshes with my style and if it's easy to adapt into my everyday hiking. It's no fun if it's a chore to use and ends up being a hassle.

I plan to evaluate this watch thoroughly and report on the following:

User-friendliness (button placement, ease of use, etc)
Comfort and fit
Usefulness of features (how well do the available features enhance my hiking experience)
Durability (battery life, scrapes & scratches, dirtiness etc)
Accuracy of features (compared to a GPS, a traditional compass, & local weather reports)
Anything else that I find interesting or important!

I want to thank BackpackGearTest.org and Suunto Oy for giving me the opportunity to test this item.

Read more reviews of Suunto gear
Read more gear reviews by Jennifer Pope

Reviews > Electronic Devices > Watches > Suunto Vector Wristop Computer Watch > Jennifer Pope > Initial Report

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