Finnish company, Suunto, is right up there when it comes to fitness watches and with its latest release – the Suunto 9 Peak – they’ve really extended the bar. Two models of this watch are made from grade 5 titanium so it’s extremely light and tough – as well as being scratch resistant and hypoallergenic. The other two models are made from stainless steel and both models have a fast charge feature, sync extra fast with the Suunto app and yes – they measure your blood oxygen levels.
The Suunto 9 Peak is the thinnest and toughest from the Suunto line or sports watches so it’s a good choice if you’re looking for a watch which is lightweight and durable at the same time. Because it’s compact, the 9 Peak fits easily on your wrist and you can charge it fully in one hour. Another nice feauture is the ‘Resources’ setting which shows you if you’ve overextended yourself and you need to rest – or if you’re all good and ready to go.
Here at Women Love Tech, we trialled the 9 Peak and we found the battery life was better than the Suunto 9 Baro, easily lasting for two days or more, even after doing a lot of exercise. As well, it’s a comfortable watch to wear and with more than 80 sport modes, there’s hardly anything it can’t track.
As well, the 9 Peak comes with all the features you’d expect from a Suunto watch, including screens you can customise to show you the most relevant data for your exercise, accurate wrist-based heart rate monitoring and in-depth weather insights.
Here’s a quick list of the upgrades Suunto has included in the 9 Peak:
- Minimalistic design, which is 37% thinner and 36% lighter than the award-winning Suunto 9 Baro.
- Blood oxygen level measurements to help determine acclimation levels at higher altitudes. (The Suunto 9 Peak is not a medical device and is not intended for diagnosing or monitoring medical conditions.)
- Automatic backlight intensity adjustment depending on lighting conditions.
- Faster charging: 100% battery in 1 hour.
- Improved watch strap with new metal fastening pin.
- Added watch face that showcases weekly training metrics and inspires new routines.
- The sync speed between the Suunto 9 Peak and the Suunto app is now doubled with Bluetooth 5, the latest iteration in Bluetooth technology.
The Suunto app integrates with the Suunto 9 Peak so you can effectively plan routes with sport-specific heat maps and popular starting points, which can be built and transferred to the watch for offline navigation. The mobile app allows you to discover new locations, create points of interest and look back on previous adventures with personal heat maps.
The Suunto 9 Peak has been tested rigorously including trials where Nepalese Sherpas wore the watch as they climbed K2 and trials in Australia by long distance runners. Suunto recently sponsored the ultra race ‘1000 Miles to Light’ in regional New South Wales. Runners in the race included the endurance runner, the Hon. Pat Farmer AM and Greta Truscott, a running coach who’s been on the support crew for Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation program for some years. She’s also helped thousands of people learn to run and achieve their goals in marathons.
With the challenge of running 1000 miles in just 10 days, athletes wore the Suunto 9 Peak throughout the gruelling team race to provide them with a range of metrics and data vital to their performance and overall health and wellness. It also enabled race organisers to monitor important vital signs of some of the world’s leading ultra-runners in real time as they each pushed their limits of endurance and determination.
With a career spanning 35 years, Pat Farmer has raced across America twice and has competed in numerous 24-hour, 48-hour and 6-day races. Providing detailed statistics and information, Pat had his Suunto 9 Peak with him every step of the way across this grueling yet rewarding challenge.
Pat said: “As I was pulling together 1000 Miles to Light, I needed to ensure participants were supported with the very best equipment and resources where accuracy and detail is key. This event pushes some of the world’s most elite endurance runners to their limits and beyond, so partnering with Suunto became an imperative.”
“As runners and organisers, we relied on the Suunto 9 Peak to monitor the performance of participants every step of the way, including blood oxygen levels, heart rate and sleep patterns. Suunto’s involvement, and the ability of the 9 Peak to consistently keep up with these elite runners in the harshest of Australian conditions, helped ensure we always had accurate information at hand to ensure their wellbeing,” Pat added.
Head of Suunto ANZ, Fraser Jones, said: “We consider ourselves 85 years young, enabling us to bring a heritage of high performance and precision, all delivered in a new sleek form factor that reflects our vigour and desire to grow, refine and evolve what can be delivered in a sports watch in response to feedback from our passionate consumers all over the world. We believe the Suunto 9 Peak is the perfect companion to help Australians keep their fitness goals on track no matter how big or small.”
The Suunto 9 Peak will be available in two different styles with four different colours:
- Granite Blue Titanium and Birch White Titanium, made with sapphire glass and grade 5 titanium.
- All Black and Moss Gray, made with sapphire glass and stainless steel.
In Australia, the Suunto 9 Peak is available from Harvey Norman, Find Your Feet, Wild Earth and other specialty retailers with additional retailers being announced later.
About Suunto: Pioneering exploration has been in Suunto’s DNA since 1936, when Finnish orienteer Tuomas Vohlonen, set out to create a more accurate compass, and subsequently invented a new method for manufacturing liquid‐filled compasses. Today, Suunto designs dive computers and instruments used by adventurers all over the globe. Eighty-five years from its founding, Suunto products are designed to be durable but still have an aesthetic which reflects the company’s Nordic identity. Suunto’s headquarters and factory are still in Finland. For more about Suunto, visit here.
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