Review of the Suunto 9 Peak Pro sport watch
After 3 months using it, it's time for a feedback!
Suunto 9 Peak "Pro"?
Suunto released the 9 Peak Pro in November 2022.
It looks exactly the same as the 9 Peak, but Suunto did a huge work on the
internals of the watch, as well as the OS.
I'm not going to list all the differences, because as usual, I want to focus on my feelings.
If you want a complete review, you can have a look at:
As I said, externally it's almost impossible to distinguish a 9 Peak Pro from a 9 Peak: they have the same design, the Pro is 0.2 mm thinner. You just have a "Suunto 9 Peak Pro" sign near the HR Sensor.
That also means that the wristbands from the 9 Peak are compatible with the Pro.
Suunto 9 Peak (left) vs. 9 Peak Pro (right)
Why did I upgrade?
I loved my 9 Peak, but one thing which bugged me is its slow operating system - it was laggy, and using it was not really super nice.
If I were to sum up what the 9 Peak Pro brings compared with the 9 Peak:
- Reorganized menus, a lot more intuitive and easy to use,
- Battery life is a lot better (up to 40 hours with all GPS, compared with 25 hours for the 9 Peak),
- Ability to change activity settings once the activity is started - I can't compare with my 9 Peak as I sold it, but I seem to remember that this was not possible,
- You can choose which widgets you want the watch to display.
Quick Test!
Menus
Navigating the menus is now a lot easier and logical:
- clicking the
upbutton brings you to activities - the
downbuttons brings you to all the other options: Navigation, Logbook, Timer, Settings, ... - the
middlebutton shows you the different widgets (Notifications, HRM, Blood oxygen)- note that you can also use the touch screen and swipe right/left to switch between widgets
Suunto Mobile App
It goes without saying that you're still using the Suunto Mobile App to configure your 9 Peak Pro, create and upload routes, create and manage sports profiles etc.
Starting an activity
When starting an activity, you'll have a summary screen which shows you:
- the GPS signal status,
- HRM status,
- Battery left (in hours of activity),
- a big "START" button - which you can start with the middle button,
- the activity settings, which you can access with the down button.
Selecting a route is still easy:
While running
Once you start the activity, you are presented with the different displays you have configured, and you can switch between displays using the middle button (the touch screen is disabled while doing an activity).
I use the routing option a lot, and still find it super useful and easy to use:
Some argue that Suunto is missing a proper mapping system, like Garmin does with the Epix series, but Suunto's offer is enough for my use case.
I'm intentionally not including the Suunto 7, as it runs WearOS and to me this is incompatible with a trail watch (not to mention that Google is behind it, I'll spare you the details of what I think...).
When Paused
You can now modify the activity settings while the activity has been started!
Doing so is possible when pausing the activity: you then see an "Options" icons, which allows you to modify the activity settings - I like it!
Once Finished
When you stop your activity, you'll be presented as usual with 2 pages:
- the first one showing the different metrics (Distance, Pace, Cadence, Steps, HRM, ...),
- the second one showing your laps (by default every kilometer) with for each lap your pace and your average heart rate frequency.
Training
This was already available with the 9 Peak, but I still love the way the watch suggests that you use a scheduled training session:
In the above screenshot, I created a workout with the awesome Intervals.icu website, then dragged it to the day I wanted to do it, and then synchronised my watch with the Suunto app.
Then when I launched a new activity on this day, the watch asked me whether I
wanted to use it.
As a reminder, I have covered in details this feature in another blog
article.
Wrap Up
What I like
- Battery life: this thing never dies! I ran the SaintéLyon with it (~13h30 of running), and I still had 60% of battery left! On average, I will use it for 2 to 3 weeks, with around 5 to 7 hours of activity per week.
- Activity settings: it is now possible to change those even when you have started the activity - e.g. change the display brightness, or use a route, or disable the "Do not disturb" feature. It was not possible before, and I really like this change, it makes my life so much easier!:
- New menus: they're a lot easier to use
- OS snappiness: what a pleasure to use a watch that doesn't feel like it's 10 years old! :)
What I don't like
- Still missing basic features, such as defining multiple alarms
- The display is still not on-par with what e.g. Garmin or Coros do: this is less of a concern with the new menus, which are much crispier, but we could do with a new, better display