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garmin forerunner 910xt vs suunto ambit. Help me choose my Xmass gift!
NB: Originally posted elsewhere on the Global Riders Network and appears via syndication.
Does anyone use garmin forerunner 910xt or suunto ambit for MTBiking?
Which one is better for us? Apart from riding i do a some running too.
Any advice/comments are appreciated.
Merry Xmass everyone!
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I recently bough the garmin 910xt, after weeks of research and reeding reviews.
I absolutely love the garmin. It is so easy to use. Great for running as well as cycling/mtb.
Hr monitor syncs in seconds.
Watch out with suunto- they use their own version of ANT technology which is not compatible with other ANT+ devices.
Garmin easily syncs wirelessly with the computer.easy to upgrade software and watch firmware and transfer data. Battery life is excellent as well.
What can I say, garmin are known for GPS.
I have had a 910XT for 6 months now, absolutely love it. Only problems I've had are user-based (don't try and record a mtb ride while in lap swimming mode....), but can't blame Garmin for that!
Works great for all sports, Garmin Connect is really useful too, and Strava (if you're that way inclined) works pretty smoothly with it as well.
I did have to replace it after 2 months due to water getting in it (it was working, just fogging up inside), but Garmin just replaced it straight out, no questions asked. Very happy.
had a 910xt for 8 months or so. use it for mtb, road riding and running. i lost one ride where the file corrupted after i finished and because there's no USB port (like there is on an edge 500 for example) you can't access the files to repair them. it can also take ages sometimes for the GPS to find satellites which can be annoying if you forget to switch it on before you're ready to ride.
other than that though i love it. would definitely buy it again.
Does the 910xt have a map?
what about the Fenix
Thanks for sharing your experience with garmin.
I do like the idea of using suunto as everyday watch and possibility of updating the software.
Anybody using suunto?
you can use the 910xt as an everyday watch. just set a screen to show the time of day only and switch off the GPS and it will last for ages.
fenix looks good.
I've just moved from a Suunto HRM + Sigma bike computer to a 910. Overall it's fantastic. Two minor issues with the Garmin, it isn't as good with the Activity Level and Training Effect as the Suunto and it doesn't show time in HR zones.
However, the software, Garmin Connect, is about a million times better than Suunto, everything is in one unit, the swim stuff is excellent and the nav is way better.
yeah, my partner and I both have ambits and really like them. I havent used the Garmin so cant really do a comparison, but our experience with the Ambits has been excellent.
Our main reason for buying them was for mountaineering, and the other functionality was really just fringe benefit. And the Suunto wins hands down for alpine sports. But we use ours for all sorts, mtb, road riding, gym, squash everything really. Its easy to use and battery life is good from my experience. I've got a black one and my other half has a silver one, and although they are exactly the same size, due to the colour and the slightly different shape of the bevel mine "looks" a fair bit smaller then hers. So if you buy one, I recommend the black.
On a side note, the compatibility issue with ANT+ devices mentioned above has been rectified with the latest Ambit 2.0 software. Navigation funcionality has also been improved, although I havent used it since the update (not that I ever found it an issue, I managed to use it ok at 5500m asl in a pretty oxygen starved state). Latest software also allows for user created apps, available in an apple-style app store.
If you want to see it in action, I'm generally riding around the trails in the kalamunda area and we could catch up if your keen.
Cheers.
Thanks everyone, you convinced Santa into getting garmin.
Any objections?
I only just notice your post and i am back to square one. I was leaning towards Suunto but couldn't find enough evidence to back my gut feeling.
Looks like regardless of the outcome of my dilemma i should be happy and it comes down to finding the best deal.
Cheers.
I'm sure either way you'll be happy. There both made by good companies and have good reputations, so your really not going to lose. That said there are a few small differences in the Suunto's favour.
One is battery life, The garmin on gps is rated for 20hrs, whereas the Suunto is quoted for 50hrs. That said, when I was researching I read somewhere on a review that in real world it did a bit over 45hrs. Thats about right too by my experience, I used it for about 6-8hrs per day for 3 days consecutive at between 0 and minus 30 degrees and got to a bit below half battery. Another is temperature, if your interested in that. These two things, among a fair few others actually, means its probably the best mountaineering watch around, which is the main reason why I bought one.
Another good thing is the speed monitoring, the Suunto has an inbuilt accelerometer, so it combines both accelerometer and gps readings for speed calcs, for a more realistic, less smoothed speed reading.
I did quite a lot of research before buying mine and I'm really happy with my ambit.
Cheers.
This guys website has really good in depth reviews of nearlly all gps watches on the market.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/product-reviews