Posts Tagged ‘watch’

Overview Of The Infamous Suunto Elementum Ventus Survival Watch.

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

Compared to Swiss design, the Finnish have made an incredibly competing watch. The case of the Suunto Elementum Ventus is world class with a “carved not stamped” feel to it. I appreciate the sapphire crystal, but I am disappointed that it is nor glare-proofed nor domed. Therefore in a pinch, you should use it as a mirror to fix your hair.

The pushers perform properly, even though the much lauded “revolving A pusher” would seem just a little less than “swiss rugged” in my experience.

The display…. alright, after many years of Swiss timepieces that flawlessly performed legible negative displays, I can’t “get it” with this particular watch. Why can’t Suunto create a negative display with enough clearness and contrast to compete with the likes of a Breitling, TAG or RADO? Through my limited understanding of LCD technologies, the main difference between a positive and a negative display is the polarizing filter. There isn’t much else with it. So I am puzzled why this is so hard to read.

I am satisfied with the function of the watch. Suunto seems to have sought to make this watch as easy as possible! You’ll find essentially four modes.The main time display that may show either barometric pressure numerically or, in the same place, display the dat. The barometric log, that is utilized by revolving the A pusher counter clockwise and scrolls the baro chart by hour increment. The compass, available via the C pusher in all modes with the exception of when the “race timer” is working; as well as the race timer itself.

The count down chronograph is rather… awkward. It resets to zero by holding the C pusher after it has been halted by hitting the A pusher. As soon as zeroed, it takes on 5 minutes as the start time, even though it is possible to rotate the A pusher to modify this by minute steps. If set to zero, it functions like a modest chronograph. Why modest? It counts 10ths of seconds until 1 minute, and then switches to minutes and seconds, after which to minutes only. As for the last mode, no one is able to detect it is still working without catching a digit change. Unlike the “regular” convention of flashing the “:” to show a going chronograph, the “:” is static. Additionally unlucky is the fact that, when ended, the timepiece will never show the greater precise readings. Compare this to an Aerospace Watch, where once the chronograph is ceased, the watch alternates in between displaying the minutes and the seconds, so that you can at least access the degree of precision stored in the watch.

Mario Bosemon is a long time watch collector and knows few things about them, in particular the outside/sport ones. So his opnion on Suunto Elementum and especially his favorite Suunto Elementum Ventus may be considered before purchasing one. To find out more: http://suuntoelementum.com/


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