New Suunto Watch to be released - Elementum

[ILDiver]

Suunto | Elementum

This new line has three types of watches for Diving, Mountaineering and Sailing. The Aqua is the diving version. The diving features are fairly basic, Time, Date, Alarm, Backlight, Auto Dive Mode, Depth, Max Depth, Surface Time, Water Temp Number of Dives, Log (last 14 dives).

On the site is an interview with William Trubridge. Also an interactive to show the features (Click on Dive functionality or Crown and it will run through a demo of each). There are some color and style options there as well.

I should be receiving my watch from Suunto tomorrow to review. I was selected by responding to their e-mail newsletter. I'll take some pics of it and dive with it this coming weekend. So far, that's all I know!

 

[nostres]

Can You find the price for it? I was going to get me D4 but now looking at this Aqua... I would choose this one over D4 if it costs less.
I think it should be cheaper than D4, it's not gonna be the choice for top freedivers because they are far beyond 80m depth limit.
But then, people also pay for design and it's nice looking thing for sure so it may be pricey...

 

[ILDiver]

I will report the price as soon as I know, or if someone else finds it... It's in a "Luxury" line, so it may be a higher price. I believe it is meant to be an everyday watch with additional functionality. I also think it has a user changeable battery with an expected battery life of about 1 year.
EDIT: from the user guide - NOTE: Do not attempt to replace the battery yourself. Contact your local watch store to get the battery replaced.

I am doing training dives with a scuba class next weekend and I will take it along for sure. I think it is another month before it hits the stores.

 

[nostres]

It says available Jun 09.
It has timer in seconds so it's good enough for freediving. I am fine with 80m limit for now But if it's more than $400 I am sure most people would rather have D4

 

[ILDiver]

I'm downloading the user guide now. I do not know how it will function for freediving.

Price, I have no idea what it will be. I do not know if we will have access to them through the dive shop I work at and we carry Suunto. The Suunto diving line comes in under Aqualung, we can not get any of their other watches. I don't know where this will fall in the distribution, I assume with the other watches.

Part of the deal with getting this watch is that I have to review it. So that is the plan. They just released word on it today, DHL should deliver mine tomorrow. I was just putting the word out.

 

[nostres]

And after review is done You can keep it?

 

[azapa]

does it have the full freedive functionality like the D4? I am still holding out for the f.10 if it ever comes out, me wantee mutliple depth alarms.

 

[ILDiver]

Nostres, yes, after reviewing it I get to keep it.

Azapa, from reading the pdf manual, it is a very nice watch with a digital dive timer. Showing time, current and max depth, etc. No depth alarms.

 

[ILDiver]

Here is a quick pic comparing it to the D6. The face is slightly smaller than the D6 and it is just a shade thinner than the D6.

I will get to see the diving features this weekend and write up a full report.

 

[nostres]

Nostres, yes, after reviewing it I get to keep it.

Wanna make a hundred?
American Dollars..

 

[Giobbi]

Or 200 Swedish kroner?

 

[Broseidon]

Or 100 English pounds...

 

[ILDiver]

My thoughts on the New Suunto Elementum

I took the watch to the lake, we had three training dives to do to finish NAUI open water dives. To see what others thought I let a couple of student try it as well.

First, the watch and everyday use. It's a very nice watch, typical strong Suunto construction on the case. Heavy and rugged. I was wondering how the crown would be since it is pretty good size. It has not been an interference at all. I do not accidentally press any buttons or anything. The black face version is easy for me to read and is a nice look. There is no timer or stopwatch on the watch, that would be a nice addition, especially for freediving.

Diving mode. It does it's job, it tracks the dive well. The dive mode kicks in at about 4ft I think. The book says 1.2m. The dive time runs in minutes and seconds, whick is nice for freediving, I would like to try some freedives with it. We were doing training dives, so we were up and down a lot doing skills, but the combined times of the tracked dives were equal to what my computer logged. In the water I was afraid the display would be hard to read. But when one of the students was wearing the watch I was about 5ft away and saw the watch display in about 10ft of vis. While blurry I could almost make out the numbers, they were plenty bright, and that was with no backlight or anything on. The watch matched depths as well, reading our 48ft dive matching my computer. Missing on the dive side is the temp in the log. It only records the time and depth. It would be nice to see the coldest temp recorded.

I never really questioned whether it would be accurate, it's a Suunto and they make great gear. I would like a couple of additional basic features to make it a little more useful. The face and strap I got are black, the strap is a nice soft rubber and very comfortable. The stainless version has the nice steel band and looks very professional in the photos that I have seen.

I do not know what this watch will be priced at when it hits the market. But if a person is looking for a nice watch and then a bottom timer to track their dives, this watch will handle it, be it scuba or freediving. Your not going to download any data, but you have instant access to your last 14 dives to see your progression.

 

[Fondueset]

Do you know what the depth sampling rate is? Every second is pretty much the standard for freediving I think.

 

[azapa]

0.1 secs i think fondi Suunto | Elementum and click the AQUA link, there is some data there

PS. the above is wrong, it does not say that.

 

[ILDiver]

Yeah I could not find a sample rate, but I did not look real hard (at work), but Azapa with the assist. I was going to say, it is pretty much instant like a depth gauge. Any time it changes it updates the max depth.

If I was not a gadget freak and like the ability to download the profiles, this watch would do what I need it to do for freediving. Again though, a timer or stopwatch for timing when to descend as a safety would be a great addition.

 

[azapa]

Sorry Fondi I was wrong! it says 0.1M resolution on the depth guage..

 

[hyeparis]

I wonder if this one will support Mac.

 

[ILDiver]

I wonder if this one will support Mac.

There is no download to it. It's a lifestyle watch.

 

[Bill]

'Your not going to download any data, but you have instant access to your last 14 dives to see your progression.'

Since I use the wrong computer most of the time, I seldom download data directly but my question is; when they say 'stores the last 14 dives' does that mean you can look at the dive or only the time of the dive, time on the dive and max depth???

P.S. Is there an access panel for the battery?