Suunto - Vertical (Stainless Steel)

As an owner of 9 Peak, Vertical 1 and Race 2, buy Garmin without hesitation.

I came from Apple Watch, briefly to Garmin, then got a Vertical (1 - steel solar) a year ago. I too thought it was a great looking watch which is why I bought it. I cant speak for everyone here bc the Suunto reddit group seems to be a place where people bitch about Suunto, so ALL YOUARE READING HERE IS COMPLAINTS. I am here to tell you that the experience with the app and the watch is great and it is a better looking watch than anything the competition has and... isn't that part of the point of a watch? Though admittedly I am not an elite athlete or anything but I do bike/hike/run a distance of 50-80 miles per week (according to watch) with the occasional loooong bike ride and it seems just fine for me. Software and sensors seem just as good as the Garmin I had. I way prefer the Suunto APP to the Garmin app and drawing bike routes on it is great and better than strava, which I still use for some reason.

100%. I took both my Suunto Vertical and Coros Vertix 2 to Chamonix a couple of summers ago. Each run/hike I relied on maps & navigation more than any other feature. I started out with Coros, but after losing the trail a few times at crucial intersections, I swapped out for Suunto. It performed much better in that environment.

Edit:  original comment I replied to just said "Because the battery dies after a day". Maybe for an Apple watch?  Really inaccurate for any modern watch  designed for the activity.   My Apex 2 Pro lasts for about 3 days straight tracking my location, and I don't need to track when I'm stopped or sleeping.  It realistically gets me 5 days of use between charges.  If I ever do more than that, it's battery is so small it barely affects my power bank.  Or if you regularly do more, the Vertix gets double the battery life.  Garmin or Suunto have similar options and capabilities too.

I moved to a Suunto Vertical from the Fenix line (after my 7 broke) and absolutely love it. Battery lasts about 2 weeks between charges during a normal training cycle, during a hilly 50k in September the battery depleted by 9% with full navigation and zero battery saving modes on for the whole race. It feels robust and I enjoy wearing it. It’s a different experience to Garmin, more stripped down and with less “smart” features on the devices themselves, but I actually prefer this experience personally and the Suunto app is leaps ahead of Garmin for me. Largely because you can create routes directly in the Suunto app, and the “training zone” breaks down more info than Garmin which are nice features!

The features are well-integrated I’d say - importing GPX routes from external sources is super easy to import too which I really appreciate when in a new area. Installing extra apps is also very easy from the app, the most important one for me is ZoneSense which is relatively new (a few months old) that tells you in real time what HR zone you’re in (requires a decent heart-rate belt though, from any brand). Turned out my aerobic threshold HR was lower than I thought it was, and I’ve been using that to hugely improve my base the last few months - it’s been worth its weight in gold in that regard!

can't say for garmin but general rule is like that * garmin have more features. you can route maps on watch which means you can set a point where you wanna go without use of phone while on suunto you need to do that via your phone which can be annoying in areas where singal is questionable. also suunto have no names on watch itself on map but yea, their maps re more snappier, faster, etc. * garmin have way more data. now some were locked behind subrsicption, i'm not sure which data excat. suunto have less data but imo better organized * application on phone matters for me alot and there suunto is just better. they have one app for everything which imo is more user friendly. garmin have more apps for each purpouse one and steeper learning curve (my father have garmin edge 1040 bike computer and yea) but thats just from user to user, at the end it matters how you fell. * smart functions there is no question that garmin is better. suunto is really behind. you will get basic notifications with opiton to control music on your phone and call my phone function and function to turn down phone call with a SMS and thats pretty much it. garmin here have huge edge with their stuff * battery life on the other hand, here suunto wins no question at all! while in smart watch mode they re about the same, maybe 2 or 3 days difference, on gps mode there is just too much difference IMO, garmin is more than 2x behind in battery. now, does that matter to you? are you gonna do some multi day hikes or really some long lasting stuff like running 100km or you just in general wants more battery life? thats up to you. * as of GPS accuraccy, i can't really speak but i ve doubt you will be dissapointed by any of those watches. GPS recievers came soo long way in few last watch generations on all devices including Polar, Coros, Suunto, Garmin, even Amazifit and others that you can't go wrong with any of those devices in terms of gps quality. yea there re some minor + - offs bettwen watches, for example i can compare Vertical vs Fenix 7x pro sapphire on same route we logged 4,45km on Fenix vs 4,6km on my Suunto, I ve started my watch slightly faster soo there might be 50m. we also both logged slightly different alltitude gain, me with around 1065m alttitude gain vs my friend fenix 1059m allitude gain, my highest point on watch was more towards official readings of 1242m (it showed 1243m while my friend logged i think 1236m or similar soo yea, if you are like "well well, garmin for 800€ can't beat vertical from suunto i ve got for half the price" kind of attitude then sure, be my guest but in reality those re soo minor difference that if you re gonna argue on that..... yea. but just to show you what i ve meant * HR data i ve heard that suunto really did a big step foward with Race 2, still some minor problems but they really solved that issues Vertical and Race have. but imo me as some1 who do more trail runs / hikes / bike rides i just took my polar h10 with me and this is by far most accurate data imo. still just to point out suunto issues * can't say for sleep tracking or quality of life features since i'm not using that, maybe will start in future. soo yea at the end imo its more towards your usuage case. me as a trail runner or bike rider or hiker i preffer battery life, snappier maps and overwall better application more than garmin extra fuctions. plus yea in my case suunto vertical costed me 400€ while back then garmin forreruner 955 and 965 costed around the same but imo inferior watch with far less battery on gps mode + plastic desing with only gorrila glass which imo is bad for hiking specially if you go some via ferrata route or more demanding rocky area where its real fear to strach your watch. and garmin 7s solar sapphire glass costed me 600€ and yea, that was far too off to spend on. soo yea, your user case will determine at the end what you wanna buy, simply as that, what you preffer more, what u value more in your watch bcs at the end you can be happy with both options or just hated them soo its really hard to say.

Do you have a bike computer? One thing making me consider going back to Garmin is being able to have a watch and like computer that sync data to the same platform. It really bugs me that even my Zwift training rides don’t show up in the Suunto app (I’ve tried some 3rd party apps to sync them and they just don’t work). It’s like I’m missing a huge part of my daily health metrics. I end up viewing everything in Strava, but then I have to check a separate app for steps, daily hr, and sleep. I am glad that Suunto know lets you pair multiple meters of the same type on their newer watches. On my Vertical I’m unable to pair a separate speed and cadence sensor, as Suunto considers those the same type.

Cannot recommend this enough, I did the YouTube cycle and landed on Suunto Vertical, and I’m satisfied so far.

Not sure what would be better but I recently got a Vertical and have been very impressed with the mapping and battery life. It's less good at the day to day stuff but if those two things are your priorities it's a really solid choice.

Suunto is years ahead simply with the implementation of ZoneSense. It’s a pure sports watch without unnecessary gimmicks, designed for athletes who truly understand their training. Yes, you need to know yourself to set it up properly, but that’s exactly why it excels. The Suunto Vertical is a masterpiece of precision, unmatched in its accuracy. Bugs? No different from any other brand or tech. But calling Suunto “late” is misleading—ZoneSense redefines training, making traditional metrics like HR, pace, or power feel obsolete.