Hey guys, in this article, I will be unboxing this minimalist Nordic watch, the Suunto 9 Peak, and giving you 5 smart ways to fully utilize it.
Now the first thing that stood out to me is obviously the color options that are available. You know me – the guy who loves white colors. So the one that I have is the Titanium model which comes with either this Birch White or Granite Blue.
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And the other variant is the Stainless Steel variant, and that comes with the All Black Color and Moss Gray.
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UNBOXING
As for the unboxing process, first of all, the box comes in white, together with the visuals of the watch just next to it.
At the back, there are some of the key features available for the watch such as the wrist heart rate, intelligent battery modes, weather functions, and many more, where you will also find the compatibility and partners as well.
Sliding the box cover, firstly there is the warranty card. Where with every purchase, comes with 2 years International Warranty.
Opening up the box, you will immediately find the watch itself.
So the watch is wrapped around another white box, in there, there is the USB magnetic charger. Then underneath, there are the manuals and the safety leaflet guide as well.
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BRAND OVERVIEW
Now before we go further, just a quick overview of Suunto as a brand, just in case you haven’t heard of them before.
They were founded over 80 years ago by Tuomas Vohlonen, a Finnish adventurer. And since he was the kind of person who was not really satisfied with the current technology then, invented a liquid-filled compass with a steadier and more accurate needle and then transitioned to the technology that you see today, like their diving products and of course now, these fitness watches as well.
BUILD QUALITY
And now let’s look at the watch’s design and build quality.
Looking at the watch design, it has a round-faced design that looks sleek, unlike the older generation of Suunto’s that you might know that had a chunkier exterior.
It is now ultra-thin and this new minimalist Nordic design is now 37 percent thinner and 36 percent lighter than the award-winning Suunto 9 Baro, so because of this, it is Suunto’s thinnest, smallest and toughest watch ever!
Now the watch has a 1.2-inch LCD display, with quite thick bezels at the sides and the screen’s glass is built with Sapphire crystal glass material with Titanium Grade 5 bezels and a glass fiber that is built for tough conditions.
So it’s nice to know that even though it has a premium-looking design, it is built to last through every adventure.
As mentioned earlier, Suunto 9 Peak comes with 2 different finishes which is the Grade 5 Titanium, that weighs 52 grams, and also in stainless steel, weighing in at 62 grams and it is all-weather resistant too.
This display works well in bright light situations as it has an automatic backlight intensity adjustment sensor to help with the screen brightness depending on the lighting conditions.
Then at the back of the watch face, you will find the charging points together with the LifeQ heart rate monitor that can now also measure your blood oxygen levels.
As for the strap, it is made of improved silicone with the new metal fastening pin that makes it great for both casual and physical activities. And of course, the straps are removable easily with its quick release strap mechanism, so feel free to change to whatever you like.
PAIRING & APP CONNECTIVITY
So the pairing process for the watch is like how any other fitness watches would be. For Suunto 9 Peak it also comes with Over The Air software updates, which was nice compared to the previous generation where updates needed to be done by connecting the watch directly to your PC.
As soon as you turn it on, it will go into the language selection, and then just enter your profile settings accordingly.
After that, the watch will prompt you to download the Suunto App, which is available for Android and iOS devices.
And speaking of the app, I found it to be one of THE best fitness watch apps, where the overall user interface was really nice and clean.
I just love how the home screen of the app looks, where it was very organized with Progress and Sleep Tracking towards the top.
And then scrolling down, shows the recent workouts that you have done.
Then, moving to the next tab is the Training Diary, Map, Connecting To People on social media, and finally the Account and General settings as well.
So yes, overall the App has to be one of the plus features of the watch and another thing to note is that you DO get notifications for messages and phone calls as well but it is just one way, since it is more of a dedicated fitness tracker, and to avoid distractions, where you can set the notifications in the app.
NAVIGATION
So the navigation options for the watch are through these 3 clicky buttons on the right of the watch together with the touch screen.
The button on top is the Up Navigation Button where you can go through widgets such as the Exercise widget. In there, you will find many exercise lists such as Running, Weight Training, Kettlebell, Cycling and lots more to choose from.
Then there is the Navigation widget, in there you will find the Points of Interest, Routes, Your Location, and even Compass as well.
Next, there is the Workout Logbook, for all your previous workout stats. Scrolling up goes to the Timer widget, and finally, the overall Settings widget, for you to dive in deeper into the overall settings adjustments.
Then the middle button is basically the “ENTER” or “SELECT” button or at the home screen, pressing it shows the date and the battery percentage, depending on the watch face.
Then the button from the bottom, or the third button, is for the Down Navigation Button or the home screen, it goes to the Heart Rate and Blood Oxygen level widget.
Next is the stress and recovery state which is interesting as this feature shows your body energy level throughout the day.
Now this is super useful for me since I don’t get enough sleep and my energy level is always inconsistent, sometimes I am tired sometimes I am not, so it’s nice that the watch indicates how is your current body is feeling, which most of the time for me, it is…stressed…sighs, given the current situation….we all know why…
Then of course you’ll have other widget displays like your daily steps, weekly training insights, training plans, and all activities. Then you have the altitude measurements and the Sleep tracker details.
Then as for the touch controls, the swipe gestures bring you to the same widgets for up and down. Then swiping from left to right goes to the back button, if you are navigating through the menu, which is the ONLY touch gesture that I use since the watch face does attract fingerprints and smudges easily, and I prefer the tactile clicky feel that the watch’s button has.
5 BEST WAYS TO USE Suunto 9 Peak
Now for the question you’ve been waiting for. What are the 5 best ways that you can fully utilize the Suunto 9 PEAK at its best?
#1 – Snap To Route
Firstly, is the Snap To Route feature.
This basically means that it helps create a nice clean GPS track but you have to load in the route beforehand where this feature is more useful especially when you are in areas where there is no good GPS coverage, like near tall buildings or basements.
Now I found this sweet, because at this point in time, here in Malaysia, we are not allowed to go outside to run, so I have been running daily at my residential multi-story parking lot, and this Snap To Route feature allows me to still give the best and accurate reading, whether or not certain areas may not have the best GPS reception because it will still “Snap” to the same route that I have been used to, thus not having any issues with GPS readings.
#2 – Over 80 Exercises
Secondly, as mentioned, there are many built-in exercise widgets in the watch, and you can select up to 80 over sport modes, in which every exercise has its detailed tracking which is a great way to log in your daily routines and reach your goals better without losing track especially with the lockdown affecting our motivation nowadays.
And I have been using exercise modes such as running, weight training and kettlebell work as well at this point of time.
#3 – Blood Oxygen Measurement
The third would be the blood oxygen level measurement sensors. This is a great feature not only to monitor if your blood has the right amount of oxygen levels but also can help determine acclimation levels, especially if you’re into high altitude hiking…. BUT I wonder when we can go to the GREAT outdoors again? Hmmmmm Year 2030?!
But keep in mind that the measurements are not as accurate as a pulse oximeter but it is pretty close to getting to know how the levels are.
#4 – Suitable for any occasion
The next way is to use this of course on your casual or formal wear.
Compared to other typical smartwatches I have seen and reviewed, this has to be the best-looking fitness tracking watch on ANY occasion.
I just love how you can change the straps based on your day-to-day activities and there is a wide choice to choose from at Suunto’s official website, which I’ll leave the link down below.
And I just love how this Nordic design is ultra-thin and its watch is quite female friendly as well, as it is not as bulky as the previous iterations.
What’s sweet is that it also could fit under your jacket or hoodie sleeve, making it perfect for any outdoor or even indoor lifestyle activities.
#5 – Virtual Ghost Runner
Lastly, it’s my favorite exercise of all, OTHER than weight training of course..is…..running!
There’s this cool Virtual Ghost Runner from the Suunto Plus Navigation to practice your pacing or when you get bored JUST running alone, this feels like a fun game to run, especially nowadays, the lockdown is killing everybody’s well-being and motivation, so yes, THIS should be a good start.
BATTERY PERFORMANCE
Another thing that I would like to bring up over here is the battery performance.
It has fast charging capabilities of up to 100 percent in 1 hour. Speaking of charging, I love how the magnetic charger was very strong and easier to charge compared to some watch chargers where you will need to align the watch EXACTLY on the charging pins.
In terms of battery life, it can go up to a total of 170 hours depending on what training mode you are in.
There are different modes that you can choose from starting from the Performance mode which gives you up to 24 hours of battery life.
And based on the graph seen over there, this performance mode gives you the best GPS accuracy, turning off display timeout, enabling wrist heart rate, and where the brightness, vibration and Bluetooth is set to Normal.
Then there is the Endurance mode which gives up to 50 hours battery, with good GPS accuracy, and this time it reduces the brightness of the watch to 20%, where everything else is normal.
The Ultra mode can get up to 120 hours of battery life, with OK GPS accuracy, Display timeout set to 10 seconds, brightness set to 10%, and vibration turned off.
Then lastly is the Tour mode which to me becomes just an ordinary watch without using much of the watch features, that gives you up to a massive 170 hours battery life, with low GPS accuracy, data logging to every 1 hour and everything else is pretty much the same as the Ultra Mode.
CONCLUSION
Overall, I’d be honest to say that even though this is my first Suunto watch, I must say it is a great watch that has almost all the features that are needed, especially as a full-fledged fitness tracking watch.
The build quality is amazing and I JUST love the minimalist circular Nordic design, which surely stands out more than most typical fitness trackers or EVEN smartwatches if we are comparing those designs that are out right now.
The accuracy also is very good compared to other typical smartwatches and with the pandemic lockdown, there definitely has been an increase in the number of people doing non-contact sports such as running, walking, and indoor cycling. So, why not go for that “PEAK” experience with Suunto?
PRICE
As for the watch price here in Malaysia, this exact Suunto 9 Peak Birch White Titanium is priced at RM3199 and for the stainless-steel variant, it is going for RM2799.
You can get your hands on this watch now from online stores like Shopee, Solar Time and other major online platforms which I will leave links down below or you can also get them in stores after this lockdown is over from A.D. Time stores in Malaysia.
Now, some may complain about how there are better “smartwatches” out there with a lower price range, but remember, that THIS is NOT a smartwatch but it is an extremely great GPS multisport watch.
Now, let’s go for a run my friends!
Get the Suunto 9 Peak at the links below:-
Lazada – https://www.lazada.com.my/shop/suunto
Shopee – https://shopee.com.my/suunto.os
Solar Time – https://solartime.com/collections/suunto-sports-performance-watches
On-groundstores – https://adtime.com.my/suunto/retailers/index.html#sunnto-networks
