Suunto have announced new variants on the Suunto 9, which is the replacement for the Spartan Ultra.
There are actually 2 distinct Suunto 9 models as well as various colour/case options so now is as good a time as any to clarify the different hardware competencies.
There’s also new firmware 2.4.14 as of 2Oct2018, which impacts both the Suunto 9 AND the Suunto 3 Fitness in different ways.
New Suunto 9
There is the Suunto 9 Baro Titanium like this
And there is the Suunto 9 in Lime White and Black
A potential buyer should specifically note that there is a Suunto 9 and a Suunto 9 BARO. The difference is in the name. The BARO has a barometer and the other one doesn’t. But this is a little confusing as when the Suunto was first released it was publically called the “Suunto 9” (even though some internal references and references that I saw DID call it the Suunto 9 BARO). Then the non-BARO version was introduced with the Suunto 9 and, at the same time, the original Suunto 9 (with BARO) became specifically marketed as the Suunto 9 BARO…got that?
That might cause some confusion for people who read the info on the Suunto 9’s original launch and assumed that the ‘Suunto 9’ has BARO…anyway, now it does NOT have BARO. Just the BARO version does….phew!!
Suunto 9 Model Variants
- 9 White (mineral glass, stainless steel bezel)
- 9 Black (mineral glass, stainless steel bezel)
- 9 Lime (mineral glass, stainless steel bezel)
- 9 Baro Black (sapphire crystal glass, stainless steel bezel)
- 9 Baro White (sapphire crystal glass, stainless steel bezel)
- 9 Baro Titanium (most expensive one w/Grade 5 titanium bezel, sapphire crystal glass)
- All have whr but HR strap bundles available for some models.
Firmware Version 2.4.14
This firmware version brings some unspecified performance enhancements for the Suunto 9 range. I’ve asked what they are and will post here if notified of the answer.
- Alarm by vibration.
- Answer / reject calls.
- Possibility of enable / disable the HR sensor before an activity.
- Possibility to configure the autolap before an activity.
- Possibility to remove Feeling (colored faces) at the end of the exercise.
- New way “not to disturb” (the same one that incorporates Suunto 3 Fitness) where it allows yo to enter any menu even to start a sports activity.
- Horizontal target bar (same that incorporates the Suunto 3 Fitness) more visible and clear than the previous outer ring.
- Number of steps in the summary of the activity.
- New screen of autolap, where it shows more clearly the number of autolap and according to the sport changes the central data in the screen of autolap.In Trail Running when you overcome the 50m of total ascent in the exercise, you will see in each summary of autolap the ascent or descent of that autolap, always it indicate the data that more meters reach in the autolap, if you ascend 20m and descend 60, the autolap will show the meters of descent.
- Customize of graphics in custom sports modes from Suunto app IOS and ANDROID.
- See comments: possible WHR improvements.
Suunto 3 Fitness too
Perhaps of more interest is that the same firmware version for the Suunto 3 Fitness adds in 2 new adaptive training guidance modes: ‘maintain’ and ‘boost’ as well as endowing the 3 Fitness with improved WHR and steps accuracy. Maybe the same WHR improvements are what are in the Suunto 9 update? (Edit: see comments, apparently so) This might be to rectify ‘cadence lock’ that some users have reported. With cadence lock, sometimes the WHR sensors gets confused between a heart beat and a runner’s cadence. So if you ever have a HR which, at times, scarily looks like your cadence, now you know why. This issue applies to ALL optical HR solutions for sport and needs addressing by all vendors.
Note : these new adaptive training modes are almost certainly from Firstbeat like the original adaptive mode. The original Firstbeat adaptive guidance looked QUITE GOOD even for half-decent runner and these new modes might help offer further good options. I contrast to Garmin’s Adaptive Coaching which didn’t seem to adapt to much and was targetted to runners at a maximum speed of 25 minutes/5k.
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The OHR is in the S9. According to RN from Suunto