- Stylish wristwatch-style heart rate monitor with altimeter for hill and altitude performance
- Includes heart rate monitoring Comfort Belt and universal Foot POD for tracking running speed and distance
- Calculates needed intensity and duration of training to improve your condition
- Interference-free digital ANT transmission and coding
- Water-resistance to 330 feet suitable for swimming; user-replaceable battery; 2-year warranty
Product DescriptionSleekly and stylishly designed, the Suunto T6c premium heart-rate monitor now offers even more features to help committed and professional athletes take their conditioning to new levels. In addition to its comprehensive physiological analysis on PC, it includes an altimeter, thermometer and barometer–for hill and altitude performance–and offers real-time Training Effect and EPOC to gauge your personal aerobic improvement from each workout. This package includes th. . . More >>
#1 by World Traveller - February 14th, 2010 at 19:10
I bought this product along with competing models from Garmin, Polar, and Timex. I wanted to check ‘em all out, and I went back and forth considering the pros and cons of each. In the end, I went with the Garmin, and very happy I did. Look for my review there (click on my name to see my other reviews).
From the reviews, it seems like Suunto is great for our military folks abroad, and if that’s you, thank you for what you’re doing, and you can stop reading, because this review is more for the civilian fitness/outdoors folks.
It’s pretty clear that Suunto wasn’t designed with a unisex aesthetic. That’s okay, but without stand-out features, it was already low on the comparison chart for me. It’s just large and chunky, and didn’t fit on my small wrist without flopping around.
But what killed the deal for me was the GPS unit. I decided I really need GPS for tracking where I’ve been and how far I’ve gone. I thought this model had a GPS option, but I was mistaken. Turns out that costs quite a few more bucks to get into GPS, as another reviewer noted. I should have paid more attention.
Even if I did get the GPS unit, I will note that the Garmin model seemed superior for GPS applications, at least for casual fitness as opposed to military-your-life-depends-on-it uses, because of:
- the hardware: other brands’ GPS is achieved through a separate unit strapped to your arm that contains three AAA batteries that run out of juice after 8-12 hours. It’s a battery hog. The door of the little plastic GPS thing might be ill-fitting, as it was on mine (from a Timex model, but they all use the same third-party supplier) and another reviewers. So, hit or miss on the manufacturing. Problem is that unloading and reloading the batteries every few runs will get to be a hassle. And, it’s one more piece to lose or break. The Garmin unit contains it all right inside the watch itself. So superior.
- the software: If you’re interested in downlaoding (uploading) your workouts into your PC and analyzing your total miles, calories, and actually seeing your route overlaid on a map, it will require a lot of steps for you and a little PC savvy to do it with other solutions. Garmin is a mapping company and their software is so easy.
But, if you like a manly-looking watch, you don’t need GPS, and this model would probably be great.
#2 by T. Frank - February 14th, 2010 at 21:03
The perfect information about your training status. I like the automatically adapted activity level most. It indicates very clearly whether you follow your training schedule or not.
Very reproducible foot pod numbers!! The measurement is +- 2% correct – incredible!
#3 by Henrik I. Christensen - February 14th, 2010 at 23:17
I have used the system for 4 weeks by now and the watch is really great for training. The watch has a good strap that is solid and with a good grip. The watch is overall a good watch with clear reading of the display. The information presented is OK.
The revised heartrate monitor is a significant improvement over the old one. The old would would not reliably provide heart rate information, those problem are all gone with the new model.
The watch provides a lot of information and the interface to the PC is awesome. I am much happier with this system compared to the T3 I had before.
The alarm on the watch is not easily accessible and also not very loud, so the watch has some weaknesses as a general utility.