UKC

I'm considering investing in one of these watches primarily for mountaineering and to a lesser extent, trail running. Looking for peoples thoughts, recommendations, drawbacks etc . I had a suunto core before dropping it in the alps this year. Had it for a number of years and it mostly served me well (found the altimeter particularly useful but a bit annoying with the barometer pressure adjustments).

Its looks like the Fenix has more features but the big draw back is the battery life compared to the suunto (16hrs vs 50h). TBH this alone probably swings it in favour of the suunto.

Obliged

In reply to davkeo:
Have you been on the DC Rainmaker site for reviews?

I had the same choice and went with the Suunto for battery life and the barometric altitude. The battery life was a real issue and I'm glad I chose the Suunto for that but the barometric altitude has proven to be a waste of time. At the time the Suunto was cheaper and I didn't think I'd need or want the extra features the Garmin provided,thus far that has been correct.

In terms of performance my Ambit 3 Peak has been superb.

Horses for courses really.

In reply to DaveHK:

The fenix 3 has barometric altimeter as well.

I have the fenix 3 and my only criticism of it is that in ultratrac mode (to save battery life) its pretty useless when recording a track in the mountains.

Ive not used the ambit though.

In reply to DaveHK:

Nice one Dave. I was also interested in the fixed altitude feature so that's a bit of a bummer.

Il check out DC Rainmaker.

In reply to davkeo:

I've just made the exact same choice in the last week, replacing a Garmin 310XT so wanting to cover triathlon as well as your pursuits.

I went with Ambit3 Peak, on the basis of battery as you say, and the on line consensus seemed to say its GPS is more accurate. I also love the Suunto ability to show an animated 'birds eye' film of your route after the event; just a bit of fun..

I paid £229 on ebay for a new one, significantly cheaper than Fenix3 I think.

In reply to davkeo:

I've not tried the Garmin - but my Suunto Ambit 3 Peak has been quite superb - hard to find fault with it. Can't recommend it highly enough. The GPS adjusted altimeter is amazing. Battery life is really good - even in full 'record' mode. For really long trips (e.g. Cuillin Ridge traverse) you just need to change the sampling rate to get 100's of hrs.
And it has even survived an accidental full wash cycle in the washing machine (long story!) - without any damage at all.
As 'fairweatherclimber' says - you can pick them up on eBay for a substantial discount.

In reply to davkeo:

Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful.

Suunto it is.