AustrAliAn triAthlete | 51I’m wearing a small satellite dish. But I’m
being picky here and like I said, this didn’t
affect the wear of the watch at all. In fact, I
really only noticed the size when I put on
the Garmin after having worn the Suunto.
The main difference in the functionality
of the watch face between the Suunto
and the Garmin is that the Suunto is touch
screen. It took a little bit of time getting
used to the touch screen, and it was a
little frustrating at times during training
because I’m so used to the buttons on a
Garmin, and knowing exactly what to
press and when to capture my training
data. But this is no reflection on the watch
itself – it’s a case of getting used to it.
Although, I did find that the touch screen
on the Suunto a little unresponsive at
times, especially if my hands were sweaty
and in the pool. However, the Suunto
watch face does also come with three
buttons on one side of the watch to help
in these situations.
Possibly my favourite feature of both
watches is the wrist HR (heart rate)
sensor. Goodbye heart rate strap – it’s not
me, it’s you! Monitoring your HR during
training is useful in that it helps with
keeping to the prescribed intensity and it
can be used to calculate other data such
as total calories burned. But wearing a HR
strap, for me anyway, can be a pain in
the...! HR straps can cause some serious
chaffing and often slide down – they’re
just annoying. Who’s with me? Doing away
with the strap has been the best thing.
Both the Suunto and the Garmin use
wrist HR technology – the Garmin uses
Garmin’s signature Elevate™ optical
wrist-based HR technology, whereas the
Suunto uses Valencell, which is said to be
the most accurate biometric sensor for
wearable sports technology. The way
wrist HR technology works is -
underneath both watches are green
optical sensors, which, when placed onyour skin, detect your HR. The optical
sensors are green as it is said green
sensors better detect HR across a
broader range of skin tones. You need to
make sure the watch is on firmly and
above the wrist bone to get the most
accurate reading. It’s useful to note that
wrist HR doesn’t work as well in water as
water passing through, between the
watch and your wrist is said to interrupt
the technology.
In terms of HR monitoring, the main
difference between the two watches is
that the Garmin measures 24-hour HR,
sampling your HR every 1-2 seconds,
regardless of whether you’re at rest or
training. Whereas the Suunto is not able to
measure 24-hour HR. Instead, the Suunto
lets you check your HR throughout the daychoIceS: Whether you choose Suunto or Garmin, you will get a
high-quality multisport watch.Goodbye heart rate strap -
it’s not me, it’s you. — Margaret Mielczarek