Anyone tried a Suunto HRM?

[downhillracer]

I now know that only the 6 has EPOC and only the 4 has the Coach. I'd really like both. Plus the 6 has lots of features I DON'T want, which I suspect will greatly shorten battery life.

Had my T6 a couple of years, only replaced the battery once or twice, though possibly because I use it mostly as a stopwatch, as the HRM transmitter kept falling off after cracking at the strap holes fairly easily (maybe caused by me ripping it off when I failed to get reception for the hundredth time - though again I've had THAT problem with Polars too). The backlight is also a bit pathetic, and only accessible by holding in the button for 3 seconds - not that easy mid-run!

On the plus side.... I've never had a problem with the Footpod (apart from its depressing accuracy in telling me how much I've over-estimated the length of runs). Software is easy to use and tells you quite a lot - I bought it partly because of the altitude function - surely handy for you proper fellrunners? I'm a bit sceptical/ luddite about the EPOC function, as it would drive me up the wall to adjust training pace according to a piece of software as opposed to feeling/ training diairies. Also quite well-designed - the most compact of all the HRMs/ GPS-type monitors, given the number of features, at the time of purchase - though dunno if other manufacturers have improved since then.

[Ben B]

I have a t6 and footpod; agree with the comments re the depressingly accurate SD monitoring as my old seven mile routine trog turned out to be under 6 (doh...). The graphing of runs was interesting and the EPOC data could be useful, but basically I'm so unfit nearly everything put me in the over training category, even when I fiddled all the settings. I did once get an 'under training' run by jogging slowly down a gentle gradient very slowly!
The death knell for it was Suunto's pathetic inability to support any OS other than XP - OSX users being totally left out in the cold, and I can't face defiling my mac with XP just to run the training manager.
I found the problem was software compatibility rather than the hardware. Watch good but without the software I don't have much need for an HRM at present - so sits in the draw with a flat battery, rather sad really.
B

[Mark G]

Ben - I did see something on the internet when I was researching these where a user had written his own software because he didn't like suuntos version - he was offering it for download, I dont know enough about computers and operating systems to consider trying (and for me the original is fine) but it might be an option to consider as you seem to know what you are doing.
Downhill - dont know which chest belt you have but mine came with the new 'comfort belt' - I dont think its ever lost signal, I've had a few cheaper HRMs in the past when this has been a problem but not so far with this one - and it is light and comfortable to wear.

[steve456]

The T6 uses CR2032 cells which are really really cheap and my first battery on my X6-HR lasted around two years of fairly heavy use with the backlight on night-mode too.

What do you mean by useless off-road? No foot pods will work off-road (they're just little pedometers really) but they make a GPS pod for tracking the T-series off-road. No reason the other functions won't work.

[Alexandra]

Well I'm totally confused now. Fotpods are depressingly accurate or just useless over-priced pedometers. As for GPS pods, I tried a Garmin wrist top and it couldn't cope when there was a tree anywhere within sight, also lost the plot every time I changed direction - I sent it back to Amazon for a full refund (even of the postage) on the grounds that it didin't do what it claimed. I don't like the sound of the fragile Suunto belt. In my small experience, old fashioned black rubber Polar belts are best, can be wetted with spit and dried on a muddy hanky. I once bought a Timex belt which was almost impossible to put on, though it did have a user replaceable battery.

[Ben B]

I've had no issues with the Suunto belt, and the batteries are user replaceable. Battery life not amazing but lasted me about 6 months a time, then just replace.
Re accuracy, I think we're expecting miracles and in reality SD is better than a piece of string on the map but not infallible. It beats GPS when signals are poor eg in dense forests. It always measures about 10% lower than I think I have run - but this is more of a function of how low my fitness is than an issue with the SD pod! On the occasions I have compared it to a known distance it has been spot on. Of note the altimeter has on occasions been accurate to a metre, memorably looking for a cloudy CP on a long ridge during the Mull LAMM a few years back. Of course, this will always depend on recalibration and stable weather but I had reset it the night before and this was lunchtime the following day - I get the feeling it is more accurate than my old Suunto Vector.
Overall I feel the t6 is a good product, accurate and simple to use, versatile, and not too "Star Trek" in appearance - unlike the Garmin - but let down by the lack of software support for anything other than XP. Suunto customer support have in the past been unbelievably helpful - they replaced my 5 year old knackered vector for free when I sent it back to see if it could be repaired on the grounds that as I wore it when I got married it must be of great sentimental value! It's just such a shame they won't look at OSX yet - maybe when they realise they need to have an iPad compatible version...
Cougar - thanks for that, I will have a search and see. But I suspect you credit me with computing superpowers that are in fact even less than my fellrunning ones
B