Watch was almost fully charged when I took it out of the box. No instructions on how to charge it. See photo attached to see what to do. The included Quick Guide has very little information on how to use the watch. This is strange and might make some customers feel uncomfortable. Had to wait overnight before the the watch face showed up with time. Display was dim until I pressed a button on the right side of the device. Then it was readable but still not very bright. Guess the developer opted for maximum battery life.This watch is built rugged. Although I don’t do watersports anymore, I’m confident it is waterproof per product specs I’m confused about the procedure to update firmware. Looks like U have to download the files to a Windows or Mac PC and that there’s no way to do it directly from the device. That’s a big drawback in my opinion. Some people spend most of their on mobile except at work. Using the companion app is simple to use. But still trying to view results on the watch. This is going to take some time. Might make a comment later on my review so verdict is still out for now. If U use the website, there are many options listed to track exercise. Very impressive. Starting exercise tracking from the website is a good convenience as I do all my exercise starting from where I live. Using movescount Android app and website to keep track of my walking activity and circuit training activities. I have a Moto 360-2 Android Wear watch and have never tracked gym activity because I don’t like bringing my phone into the building. With the Suunto I don’t have to worry about this as it is a dedicated stand alone device. Big points here. Watch band is wide so don’t think it’s for females.

The Suunto Spartan Trainer HR is a very nice looking watch that has enough features to satisfy even hardcore users. The watch is large enough to allow you to easily view stats when you're training, but it's not so large as to make the watch look gaudy if you want to wear it for more than just training. I also like that I can change the face. Although there aren't a ton of faces, it does allow you several options, and I assume they can add more if they choose to. I've actually been wearing this watch as my main watch for a few weeks, and it's extremely comfortable. It seems rugged enough, but I will probably invest in a cover for the face since most of my watches have scratches on the face where I've slammed them into a corner when reaching for something. The watch interface is fairly intuitive (a slight learning curve if you hate reading manuals), and navigating through the interface is very easy using the five buttons. I personally like the buttons instead of having to rely on a touch screen. The screen is quite easy to read, but if it's too dim, just hit a button to momentarily activate the back-light. I've been fairly busy since I got this watch, so I haven't used every feature it offers, but I have taken several 5+ mile runs and the GPS tracking is almost spot on. You can create your own routes if you want, and one interesting feature is the ability to mark points of interest, which would be really nice on long outings. I was initially disappointed in the heartrate accuracy, but it improves greatly once you 'break a sweat'. I do wish the HR monitoring was more accurate when not training. One other thing I've noticed is that the 'step tracker' can be fairly inaccurate. For instance, while working at my desk for a few hours, I was surprised to see I had managed over 500 steps. I guess it has something to do with wrist movement, so I'm hoping this is fixed in a firmware update. I've been getting about 6 days of battery life which will most likely drop when I have more time to bike, but I'm sure the battery life will be more than adequate. Overall I'm quite pleased with the watch. It looks good, feels great, and does a good job of tracking what I'm interested in.

I do not want to be overly negative in my review but let me start by saying that I really like the design of the Suunto Watch. It fits my style very well and I find it pleasant to look at and even to show it off. The watch functions relatively well but I have noticed a lot of issues while using it. The first thing is the Step Counter on it is an absolute joke. While I was setting the watch up I was sitting on my couch I was slightly moving my arm around getting the watch and fitting it in a comfortable position and when I look at the step counter it had said I had taken 32 steps already. This has continued throughout my time using the watch. just going about my normal business I will take a look down and see my steps have increased by several hundred or thousand. My job requires me to sit for long stretches of time. So the step reader is incredibly innacurate. The phone is also very particular on where it has to be on your wrist to get a good reading for the heart monitor. The phone would eventually slide down from where I would have it and began to display incorrect heart rate information until I adjusted the watch on my wrist. Also the connectvity to my phone has not been great, I do not recommend using it for notifications I kept having issues where a notification would pop on the watch, I would dismiss it on the watch and phone and it would notify my a couple more times on the watch about the notification even if it was something I had deleted several minutes ago. All of the other basic functions of the watch seem to work very well and the watch is very easy to use, its very easy to scroll through the different options and get to where I need to go on the watch. I wish I could love this watch and recommend it to everyone I know, but all of the issues I experienced using the watch left me not feeling great about it.

Although my trusty Garmin 305 is still working, I began thinking it might be time for an upgrade when a friend asked if that was a tablet strapped to my wrist! OK, so maybe it’s not that big, but there are smaller options available today. One such option is the Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR. In a much more reasonably sized package, I get all of the functionality of my previous sports watch and more. Right out of the box, the Spartan is charged and ready to go. What I thought was a very thorough user’s manual turned out to be about 5 pages of instructions repeated over and over in just about any language you can think of. No problem, I’ll find instructions on the web. The first thing I did was to download the Suunto Movescount software and check for a firmware update for my watch. This is a simple process and it goes quickly. Anxious to try out the watch, I disconnected and decided to give it a try. The watch comes pre-loaded with a number of “sport modes” that are already configured with the metrics that are most important for a particular exercise. For example, my main sport is running, so the basic setup for the running sport mode includes pace, heart rate, distance, duration, and more. There are 4 different screens for each exercise. The first question I had was “how do I configure these screens to display what I want to display in the order that I want to see them?”. On my Garmin, I was able to configure those screens right on the watch, but the Suunto doesn’t allow that. Instead, you have to go to the movescount web site. This is where you can change the settings on the watch, and then you synch those settings to the watch using the Suunto Link app. Once I learned that, I set up a custom sport mode with the metrics I wanted to see, in the layout that I prefer. I also deleted the sport modes that I wouldn’t be using. Using the Spartan is a breeze. One thing I really appreciate about the newer watches is that they don’t make you wait while they acquire a satellite signal for the GPS. You can simply choose your exercise, press start, and take off. As you complete each mile, the watch vibrates to let you know. It also has a heart rate monitor built in, which uses light to measure the heart rate right on your wrist. It’s not as accurate as using a separate chest strap, but it’s a whole lot more convenient. I did some running wearing both my old and new watches to compare them. The Suunto seemed to consistently track my runs as being longer distances than the Garmin, but I think that may change over time. Each time I synch the Suunto, it tells me it is optimizing the GPS, so I expect that to get better over time. Even so, it’s not a drastic difference, and who’s to say that the Garmin is right? The Spartan is thicker than a standard watch, but not largely so, and that means you can wear the watch all day long, not just when you’re exercising. It has the features of a fitness tracker, so it keeps track of your steps, stairs climbed, heart rate, etc. all throughout the day. You can even use it to track your sleep patterns, but I did not do that, since I can’t stand having something on my wrist while I’m sleeping. Maybe one of these days I’ll give it a try. It features several watch faces from which you can choose, but none of them are anything to write home about, and I didn’t see any way to import watch faces from other sources. While the Spartan is not a “smart watch”, it does connect to your phone via Bluetooth, and you can receive notifications from your phone for things like texts and news headlines. Although you can’t interact with the notifications from the watch, it’s actually a nice feature to have. I’ve never been able to see the value of the high-end smart watches, but I’ll admit that I do like being able to check a notification easily while driving without having to pick up the phone (which I shouldn’t be doing anyway, right?). Battery life is good, and I can get about 4 days out of a charge, using the GPS every day for about 45 minutes. Charging doesn’t take long, and it’s easy to connect it to the computer, synch my information, and charge it at the same time. The Spartan features lots of screens to help you keep track of your fitness. You can see a weekly summary of key metrics like distance run, average heart rate and average pace on a daily basis. That’s pretty cool, but it’s even better when you upload the data to movescount or other apps such as Map My Run. There, you can easily see your trends and keep track of your fitness over time. Overall, I’m very impressed with this watch. This is a tough category, and you have decide if buy in at a price point like the spot where the Spartan is, or do you go further and get a full smart watch such as the Apple Watch. At $279, this is a pretty good bargain, and you get a lot for the money. You don’t get a touch screen at this price, but I think that’s a reasonable trade-off. The buttons are responsive, and I prefer physical buttons when everything is sweaty or otherwise wet, so I would definitely not pay more for a touch screen. I’m very happy with this watch and am looking forward to getting a lot more use out of it. If you’re in the market for a GPS watch, you should definitely include this one on your short list!

I used to wear the Microsoft Band 2 for my fitness as well as heart rate monitoring. Since they don't sell it anymore, I was looking for one where it doesn't depend on the smartphone, like the Apple watch or the Samsung gear. I wanted something that has GPS, and does the everyday fitness tracking like the steps, sleep, HR, etc. This one is extremely comfortable and light weight. Once you know the functionality of the buttons, it becomes very easy to use this. It works with any phone by connecting via Bluetooth to get call and text notification. The GPS tracking and maps display on the watch is very intuitive. You can get a day or two of the battery life, depending on your usage. It is also water resistant. The heart rate sensor is pretty accurate. There is an app you can download so the data from the watch is synced. The watch comes with lot of sport modes that is preinstalled and can be chosen for a particular workout. Overall, this is a great sports fitness watch for anyone who isn't looking for a smartwatch and wants a personal sports watch.