Suunto Observer: a fantastic piece of crap

 

 

I've had a Suunto Observer watch for over five years now. Here's what I like about it:

  • The metal and the construction of the watch itself is awesome. It's unbreakable.
  • The altimeter is very useful when you're hiking or cycling.
  • It's waterproof.
That's it. Here's what I don't like about it:
  • The strap is the worst piece of crap you can imagine. The rubbery part of the strap quickly grows inflexible and just plan breaks within 6 months of using it. Suunto will rip you off for a replacement strap. I've had 2 replacement straps so far, and they both didn't last any longer than 6 months either. It's a fucking ripoff. For the remainder of the time I've been using a cheapass third-party strap because they don't break. They look ugly, though.
  • The compass stopped working a couple of years ago. I sent it to Suunto outside of the warranty period. They charged me a shitload of money and didn't fix it.
The wristband thing is a bit like what printer manufacturers do with ink, except it isn't. If you buy a printer you can reasonable expect to have to buy ink every once in a while. If I buy a watch then I really just expect the wristband to not fucking break. Suunto disagrees and would like you to spend 70 pounds on a piece of shit that breaks every 6 months.

No, I'm not happy with my watch, or the lack of support from Suunto's side. I've e-mailed them several times with my wristband issues, but they simply refuse to do anything about it if it's outside the warranty period, despite countless posts on internet forums of other users that have the same problem. I do know one thing: my next watch is not going to be a Suunto.


Update: I'm going with a Casio Pro Trek watch these days. It suits me much better.

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