I searched and couldn't find anything on BPL about this upcoming toy. Anybody waiting for this? Supposed to be available in March sometime...50 hour battery life in full GPS mode sounds promising. I wouldn't leave it in GPS mode for long but, could be a nice backup. Thoughts?

http://www.suunto.com/us/en/products/Outdoor_Sports_Instruments/suunto-ambit/suunto-ambit-black#all

Looks similar to the HighGear XT7. I'm sure the Suunto will be a good bit more expensive though.

Cost is supposed to be around $600.

Its overkill for backpacking, could have some benefit for speed ascents and fast overnights where you're wanting to monitor pace and track elevation gain/loss. Its definitely a watch designed for the climbing and running folks, or the armchair adventurers with deep pockets.

It is a sharp looking watch.

Yeah, REI has the HighGear listed at $250. Huge price difference.

Street price looks like it will be appox. $500. Come on guys...we all spend our money somewhere! :) I agree, it's typical Suunto, high priced but high quality. I do think that the 50 hour battery in GPS mode vs. 8 hours on the High Gear, puts it in a different league from the HG. I also know there are a lot of BPL closet GPS guys that are spending $200+ on a separate unit not to mention the extra weight in the pack.

If you are looking at getting a GPS and a Suunto Core, this could be a good combo...time will tell. Overall, I agree that a person could still get a lot of orienteering classes and a kickin' compass for the cost of this admission ticket and a compass's battery life is much better to boot!

I wasn't trying to imply that the price wasn't appropriate, to each their own, just stating what I saw when Kilian Jornet was testing this thing out for Suunto. I think for what you get in such a precision piece of equipment the cost makes sense. 50 hrs of battery time absolutely distinguishes the Ambit from the rest of the GPS multisport watches available. Its the difference between a training/novelty item and a real mountain tool for extended use. I've been disappointed with the Garmin GPS watches that I've owned in the past, mostly the weak battery run times when the GPS function is on, 8 hrs was about tops. 50 hours would be excellent for endurance sports.

I think one of the biggest differences is battery life. The Highgear unit is listed as average of 8 hours in gps mode. Whereas the Ambit is claiming 15 hrs in run mode and 50 hrs in the "outdoor" mode with longer gps tracking intervals.

Certainly not cheap by any definition but I am liking the claimed battery life on the Ambit.

Edit: While posting I see the 50hr battery life point has been raised.

Edited by PhilipD on 02/29/2012 10:26:45 MST.

I'd be curious to see what real world testing/results dictate. I don't necessarily see Suunto as a company whose products are worth their price tag. For reference, I own a Suunto Core ($300), and my buddy owns a High Gear Axis (that he picked up for $40 on STP). The bezel on my Core popped off within the first week of use, and the backlight button barely functions after 2 years, a common occurrence according to the internet. My friends Axis gives altimeter readings just as accurate, if not more, than my Core. That's with frequent calibration on both our parts. For general backpacking, his watch does everything my watch can do.

Battery life...well, I hope that 50hr estimate accounts for real world conditions. I find my Core suffers in cold weather performance. If I leave my watch out in my tent and the temperature drops below 40 degrees, I can almost guarantee you that the watch will be dead by the next morning. I'm forced to sleep with the watch on to keep it warm, which in turn renders the alarm useless since its quiet and inaudible when buried within my sleeping bag.

oh, btw, the Core's advertised battery life: 12-18 months!

I realize that this new watch is on a completely different power system than my Core, utilizing an internal rechargeable battery, and not a disposable cell battery. Still curious to see how it holds up in colder temps though.

Edited by Konrad1013 on 02/29/2012 10:35:31 MST.

I'm seeing what I can get together for a review of both here on BPL.

Well what you could maybe do is get a USB AA charger and charge the watch with that (it has USB cable). However I don't own any expensive watches, and some cheap USB chargers are just bad (break up). An electronics engineer could possibly tell, or give even a schematic for a great one. This way however you could possibly charge your phone or MP3 player too, or even camera with one charger. And lithium batteries are quite efficient.

Edited by jiriki on 03/28/2012 22:57:25 MDT.

Finally, the watch I've been wanting.

30 day battery life in watch mode? My Timex basic watch is two years battery life. My Benrus watch doesn't have a battery and is over 40 years old; keeps perfect time too. My compass doesn't use a battery and is over 20 years old. My topo map tells me the altitude. My toes tell me when it is cold, my scalp tells me when it is hot. I can invest $500 into $1,000 in 8-10 years.

Pass.

My horse can get me where I need to go too... but, time and technology moves on. Why wait years to double your money, Apple stock can do that for you in 6 months. Truth is, I don't know if the Ambit is THE watch yet.

No doubt, soon we'll all be wearing watches like this as the tech gets more refined, and the prices continue to drop as supply and demand takes hold. Sure a compass can get you where you need to go, as long as you can see and shoot a bearing. This is not always possible. Why sit and wait a storm (fog or clouds) when you could use technology to keep moving or get to a location much more efficiently? Of course, no instrument is without failure. If the magnetic poles switch (as it has) we'll all have to use our compass upside down. :)

I'm excited about this small step forward in progress and know it's perpetual...whether I embrace it or not.