New Suunto Elementum Watch - Review

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ILDiver

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Peoria
Suunto | Elementum

A few months ago Suunto sent out an e-mail newsletter announcing that they were looking for people to try their new product coming out. No real details to it, so I replied that I was interested. After a couple of e-mails back an forth I had not heard anything more. Then after a couple of weeks I got an e-mail saying I was not chosen. About 45 minutes later I got another e-mail saying I was sent the wrong e-mail, I was chosen. So here is a review of the watch. The Elementum line should become available in June through select watch stores. The site also has a brief interview with freediver William Trubridge as well.


I took the watch to the lake, we had three training dives to do to finish NAUI open water dives. To see what others thought I let a couple of student try it as well.

First, the watch and everyday use. It's a very nice watch, typical strong Suunto construction on the case. Heavy and rugged. I was wondering how the crown would be since it is pretty good size. It has not been an interference at all. I do not accidentally press any buttons or anything. The black face version is easy for me to read and is a nice look. There is no timer or stopwatch on the watch, that would be a nice addition, especially for freediving.

Diving mode. It does it's job, it tracks the dive well. The dive mode kicks in at about 4ft I think. The book says 1.2m. The dive time runs in minutes and seconds, whick is nice for freediving, I would like to try some freedives with it. We were doing training dives, so we were up and down a lot doing skills, but the combined times of the tracked dives were equal to what my computer logged. In the water I was afraid the display would be hard to read. But when one of the students was wearing the watch I was about 5ft away and saw the watch display in about 10ft of vis. While blurry I could almost make out the numbers, they were plenty bright, and that was with no backlight or anything on. The watch matched depths as well, reading our 48ft dive matching my computer. Missing on the dive side is the temp in the log. It only records the time and depth. It would be nice to see the coldest temp recorded.

I never really questioned whether it would be accurate, it's a Suunto and they make great gear. I would like a couple of additional basic features to make it a little more useful. The face and strap I got are black, the strap is a nice soft rubber and very comfortable. The stainless version has the nice steel band and looks very professional in the photos that I have seen.

I do not know what this watch will be priced at when it hits the market. But if a person is looking for a nice watch and then a bottom timer to track their dives, this watch will handle it, be it scuba or freediving. Your not going to download any data, but you have instant access to your last 14 dives to see your progression.

The watch (right) in comparison to the Suunto D6 (left)
24264d1243519540-new-suunto-watch-released-elementum-elementum.jpg
 
cool! good review. Pictures not working though
 
Sorry, tried to link the pic over from Deeperblue, but you have to have an account and be logged in there to see it... Attached here.
 

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The big knob is a hazard...
 
I have not seen or been told a price yet.

The big knob is a hazard...
It's really not a hazard. I thought it might get bumped, pushed, pulled, catch on gear.... Nothing. Gear removal and replacement and all, it never got hung up. It does not dig in to the arm or anything. Daily use, it never gets pressed or twisted by accident.

I am curious how you view it as a hazard.
 
As you, I see it as an entanglement hazard..probably going to get "bumped, pushed, pulled, catch on gear" or knocked off. There is a reason why we don't see that too often :)
 
Just ordered two from my LWS. Mid-july $400-600
 
I see the concern, but as stated in my original post, I have not yet had an issue, even in daily wearing of the watch. I looked for it, but was plesantly suprised. Even with a student wearing it doing gear removal and replacement (at the surface and I was watching to be sure). I would not write it off based on the crown. The thick wrist mounted computers (Gekko's, Uwatec's Prime's etc.) have more potential for getting hung up on gear than this watch does.

I will have it in the pool again this weekend, this time no wetsuit under it.

The biggest con for me is the lack of a stopwatch and/or timer. If it had that, it would be a very nice and simple watch for freediving. It's meant to be a lifestyle watch for the person that wants their watch to be compatable with their hobby. This watch will do that. It may not be for the Tech/HOG/DIR types??
 

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