Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Awesome watch! I have studied many different models of GPS watches before purchasing this one. In fact I was going to purchase the Suunto Traverse a few weeks ago which is the older model. I came across Suunto's website and saw that they had a new version coming out April 2016. I decided to wait and get this one, the Traverse Alpha. It has a few extra features that the older model doesn't like the hunting and fishing modes for the GPS. The textile band, textured bezel, and Sapphire Crystal are other things added to the watch that contribute to the increased cost compared to the older model which is totally worth it. The smooth bezel on the older model would show scratches more when they happen. The textured bezel gives it a more rugged look and will show less signs of wear over time. The sapphire crystal gives you more scratch resistance and more clarity on the screen, and the textile band feels nicer on your wrist than the silicon band on the older model. I tried on the older model at an REI for comparison. This watch is worth the money. From all my research through reviews on various websites a lot of people have said the GPS on this watch is reliable. Whereas I was also looking into the Garmin Fenix watches and everyone loved the watch for the most part, but many said the GPS on it wasn't accurate. That their runs with the breadcrumb trail on the Garmin Fenix would show them going way off trail making their total distance ran further than they actually ran. I have friends and family with Suunto watches and they have all been happy with them. One has the Suunto Ambit Peak 3 and told me the GPS function worked great. I felt so much more confidence buying the Suunto Alpha over any other GPS watch out there. I am not a watch person since I just use my phone to check time, so I am not going to buy a watch just to check the time. I bought this because it is very functional with the GPS for when I go hiking in the backcountry and it even will vibrate when I receive a text or call. I used the Apple Watch for a couple weeks when it was released and thought the notification features were useful, but it didn't justify the $400 cost of the watch. The Suunto Traverse Alpha is everything I wanted the Apple Watch to be. I wanted it to be a smart watch with a good battery life and with functional features that my phone cannot do off the grid. This watch does everything I liked about the Apple Watch which was really only notifications since I keep my phone on silent and I don't always feel it in my pocket. I always feel the vibration on my wrist so now I never miss a text or call. This watch doesn't need your phone to get a GPS location, altitude, compass, or barometer measurement. It functions like any standard GPS. The battery life on the Apple watch was like 1.5 days. I've tinkered with this watch for a couple days now after a full charge 2 days ago it is only at 93% now. Seems like I could easily go a week or longer without charging this. Of course using the GPS function will drain it faster, but I don't need the GPS all the time. I sold my Apple Watch soon after I bought it because it only did everything that my phone could do. Most of the time in the watch apps it would even tell me to open up the app on my iPhone to use more features since the watch couldn't do it all. It was an expensive gadget that didn't provide me with any extra function. I now wear the Suunto Traverse Alpha since it can do things that my phone can't do and it has a lot of useful features when paired with your phone for everyday use. It is worth every penny. (Update June 15th, 2016) I still love this watch after using it for about a month and a half now. I took it swimming, and was happy to learn it really is waterproof lol. It showed the water temperature quickly and accurately. I don't have a heart rate monitor belt yet. Been curious how that would be. I've been able to test the features enough to know what battery life to expect and that is probably what most people want to know. (See Below) General Use Battery Life- I get my work email on my phone and get at least 50 emails a day, maybe like 20 texts a day as well. Then some other random notifications throughout the day. I get about 80-90 notifications daily that get pushed to this watch with the vibration turned on. With this general usage I can get 1.5 to 2 weeks of battery life for just time and notifications. One thing that helps too is to keep the watch on the "Locked" mode so you don't accidentally press other buttons throughout the day. I found that when i'm sitting on the floor and push my self up my hand in a right angle to my wrist causes the mode button to be pressed and it goes to either the barometer or compass mode which will drain battery life faster if left unnoticed. It's not like it will drain your battery within hours or within a day if left on the barometer or compass. The compass will shut down after a few minutes anyways. You will still probably get 1 week of battery life if you keep accidentally using these features, but if I keep my watch locked I get at least 1.5 weeks. When I first got the watch I played with it too much, so I am noticing better battery life as I leave it alone. :) 1) "GPS Best Accuracy" - I haven't gone hiking yet. Going to Glacier National Park next month, but I turned on my watch GPS before a family trip from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas on the highest accuracy just to record the drive. In about 6 hours to get to Vegas the battery went from 100% to 13%. So you might get 6.5 hours of best accuracy GPS recordings. Remember this is while I still had notifications active. If you are in the back country with no internet access or cell service the watch won't have to do extra work with your phone, so I'm sure it would do better in the wilderness. The Movescount App shows me exactly on the highway the whole way down. It is very accurate on this mode. 2) "GPS Good Accuracy" - Haven't tested this one yet. 3) "GPS OK Accuracy" - This is the least accurate of the options available. I tested this one on the drive back home from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. It took 8 hours to get home because of bad traffic, but the battery only went from 100% to 89% in 8 hours. So you could expect around 72 hours on the least accurate mode. The accuracy still isn't bad though looking at the map on Movescount. It only showed me go off the road in some spots. It wasn't off by more than 50 meters. Take into consideration i'm going highway speeds too on this test, so it probably throws it off more. When hiking with this at slower speeds i'd expect it to be more accurate. GPS Connection Speed - This part really impressed me. When I read the manual it said that as you keep connecting to satellites over time the watch will become even faster at connecting. This part is true. When I first used the GPS it took a number of minutes to get a connection, but now it is instant and I somehow get connected inside of buildings. I turned it on inside a warehouse and it quickly got a connection and started telling me what my walking speed was. I've never had a GPS of any kind do that before. Really great that it can do that so I know it will work great even when walking through thick trees. Overall Opinion of the GPS function - This is definitely a rugged useful watch for hiking in the back country. The Movescount App adds plenty of function for this watch as well. I was really impressed with the Suunto Movie option. The Movescount App will tell you some things that the watch itself won't show like how elevation or temperature changed throughout the time you recorded your route. Lots of useful information from the App. I always carry a usb solar panel with me so I can charge my gadgets in the middle of nowhere, so battery life really wasn't too much of a concern. I mostly only do day hikes anyways that will last 7 hours or less, so I could record my whole day hikes on the best accuracy without recharging. I'll probably test the Good accuracy on my next hike to see how the battery life is on that mode. I will do another update in a couple months. Overall i'm impressed with the accuracy of the GPS especially on the "Best" setting and still impressed with the low power "Ok" GPS setting. In most situations I think the "Good" or "OK" GPS accuracy will be all you need. My one complaint on the GPS is that it always defaults to the "Best" setting when you start a new recording. You have to manually switch it to "Good" or "Ok" after you start recording. I wish you could change the default. Still a 5-star watch regardless.