There is a good reason Suunto are making their second appearance on my top 5 list for cycling trackers. Their products are not only competitive features-wise but are also slightly cheaper than the competition and are therefore a very tempting offer for a lot of people. The Suunto 9 GPS Sports Watch has a wide range of functions but does its features make it a good cycling watch? Well, in this review I will try to answer this question and compare it to its direct rivals from brands like Polar and Garmin.
My verdict: While sophisticated to its core, the Suunto 9 can be everything you’d ever ask for from a performance fitness watch. It is rigid enough to handle any type of weather conditions and will give you the necessary cycling and workout information you need in order to keep pushing forward. With more than 80 tracking programs and a well-performing sensor array, it will fit any type of cycling training. Still, if you go for the base version, you won’t get a chest strap HR sensor and won’t enjoy the added sensors of the “Baro” version which is quite more expensive. Either way the regular Suunto 9 is a good bang for your buck and is one of the more reliable watches out there.
For more of my thoughts on some of the best fitness trackers for cycling, visit my Buyer’s Guide. Now, let’s jump straight into this!
Table of Contents
Overview & Features
Just as a disclaimer, here I am reviewing the Non-baro model, while there are two more – Baro, and Baro+Heart Rate belt which are more expensive and have a worse price-to-value ratio than this version here which only lacks a few things compared to the other versions.
Product Rating:
- Very durable and reliable
- Battery performs well
- Sensors are accurate
- Easy to read display
- Waterproof up to 100m
- Pairs with devices easily
Tracking
In terms of tracking, the Suunto 9 does a great job at handling everything you can possibly throw at it. Apart from cycling, ti has 80+ other sports modes and multisport event modes that combine the data from any type of activity. It also tracks altitude changes and hill incline and gives you a live graph of the terrain you go through. It has storm alarms and reminders for sunset and sunrise. The baro version also has alti- and baro- profiles, as well as pressure changes and temperature fluctuations.
This watch also uses Suunto’s FusedTrack algorithms which combine the data from the motion sensors with the one from the GPS signal. That improves the accuracy of your distance you travel and the live data of your current location. This also allows for the GPS to not work constantly which helps the battery optimize its performance.
Another thing I like here is the advanced sleep tracking capabilities with its wrist HR sensor. It can track sleep duration and your average HR during your sleep. When that information is used by almost any health app, it can determine your sleep stages and sleep quality. Sleep tracking is actually quite a rare feature on these performance-oriented watches as they primarily focus on the field results and not so much on recovery and sleep.
If you need something to track triathlon training better and combine all the data seamlessly, I suggest checking out the Polar Vantage V Multisport Watch. It is slightly more expensive but also has a very precise chest-strap HR monitor and is dead reliable in any occasion. Now, back to the Suunto 9 and it’s sensors…
Heart Rate
As I mentioned earlier, the base version doesn’t get a chest strap HR sensor but it does have a good enough wrist IR sensor which performs surprisingly well even if your hand is wet. It has the option to track 24/7 and will measure calories burned, your resting heart rate, average heart rate throughout the day, steps taken, and track your sleep. When working out, though, I suggest using their chest strap which isn’t the cheapest one out there but works flawlessly with their devices (as expected) and is really reliable in its readings.
Design & Build Quality