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Suunto Core Altimeter Watch

Suunto Core Altimeter Watch description

The Suunto Core Altimeter Watch keeps an eye on approaching storms with an innovative motion-sensing barometric altimeterand looks good doing it. The Core is Suunto's latest companion for the outdoor athlete seeking thin alpine air, with a slimmer profile than you'd expect from a wristtop computer. Along with the Storm Alarm, which switches from pressure-sensitive altimeter to barometer depending on your body movement, the Core advises you directionally with a digital compass, gives accurate temperature readings from -20 to 140 degrees, and measures underwater depth to 30 feet. The Core even provides all this information in English, French, Spanish, and German. Suunto managed to pack all of those features, plus regular timekeeping, chronograph, alarm functions and more into a variety of cases that, while technical in appearance, won't look out of place when you head downtown for the evening.

Bottom Line: The Suunto Core brings extreme alpine technology to the dinner table with aplomb.

I bought the light green version of the Core, and it worked for about a month before the total ascent measurement went bonkers. I returned it, got another, and in two days the log stopped working entirely. Bad run of luck, or crappy quality? All you have to do is hold the thing in your hand to realize how poorly made it is. Very cheap construction. Seems to me that Suunto should be building them a little better after all these years.

The negative display on this watch can be difficult to read, but the deal-breaker for me was the battery life. In my experience, battery life is about 1 month with normal usage. The altimeter and barmoeter are excellent, but I decided to return the watch due to the battery issue. Also, in general, the quality of the Core reflects it being made in China. If I had to purchase one Suunto watch, it would be the X-lander military edition, which is still made in Finland.