An HRM with many capabilities and just a few minor setbacks
I've had this HRM since Summer of 2008 and it's been a great fitness tool. I purchased two of the accesories for the watch the suunto food pod (later edition) and the suunto bike pod. Both pods have worked flawlessly in sync with the T6c and I highly recommend them if you jog or mountain bike. The T6c has its pros and cons i'll jump right in and explain them:
Pros:
- able to browse through 6 settings during your workout(For example I use duration Current Heart Rate Calories burned in one screen and Distance Speed Avg Speed in the 2nd screen (using either one of the pods)). You can also browse to the Time interchangeably with the two aforementioned screens.
- amazing graphical software (Firstbeat ATHLETE) is available for purchase and compatible with the T6c. Also a con which i'll explain.
- comfortable fitting heart rate strap makes it hardly noticeable during exercises
- Workouts can easily be uploaded to PC with included USB cable link.
Cons
- The backlight is useless. If you browse through the suunto forums you'll find the backlight gives many people trouble. For my watch it doesn't work PERIOD. If you workout at night and need to view the watch at night frequently you may want to reconsider this watch if that is one of your purchasing factors.
- The software that comes with the watch Suunto Training Manager is subpar in my opinion. You can view line graphs and all of your uploaded stats which is nice but the layout and interface of the program is sloppy and unorganized. Firstbeat ATHLETE however is beautiful compared to STRM. It has beautiful graphs and many combinations of results you want to see. The downside is that this program costs 80 dollars! There's a free trial that you should try out and see for yourself how much better it is. Hopefully Suunto will do some updates on their standard software!
- There are times where the HRM strap will have trouble transmitting to the watch. For example i'll get a flatline during workouts where it won't output my current heart rate. I did find a solution that works well. Use electrode gel before you put it on your chest this helps with the readings (much better than spit or water).
- Cost. The pods are $50-$100 = $150. The Firstbeat ATHLETE program is $80. The watch is about $300. That's $530 i've spent! Ugh.. Still it's been worth it!
In all as a prior owner of the Polar F6 i'm blown away by this heart rate monitor. I have yet to try the GPS pod but i'm a little nervous as many have had trouble with signals. Since I have the food and bike pod however I won't really need it. I love the open endedness of the watch and how you can customize what you results you want to see. It's definitely a breakthrough in heart rate monitors. Now if they can just fix that stupid backlight it'll be nearly perfect!More detail ...
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