Gear Review: Suunto Core Wrist Watch

Let’s be honest gents, a wrist watch is more an item of jewelry these days than a functional timepiece as it once was. We have the time and so much more on our phones, computing devices, and in our car. You may think your black clad military looking watch sets you apart from the stainless Rolex dive watches, but it doesn’t. Yep, still jewelry.

One such watch is the black clad Suunto Core. Suunto wrist watches are a familiar site on just about any adventure, along with a few other similar watches such as the Casio Pathfinder. These watches are in a category called ABC (A=Altitude B=Barometer C=Compass) and are also referred to as wristop computers. Suunto released the Core watch back in 2007 and there have been 25 different versions since. All of them have the same functions, just cosmetic differences such as wrist strap and bezel.

Featured here is the Suunto Core Classic. Entirely black, plastic moving bezel, and elastomer wrist strap. The only noteworthy improvement over the years with the Core Classic, is the switch from a painted metal bezel to a plastic one. I have to think the metal bezel will hold up better under abuse, but the black plastic holds its good looks over time. Remember, with watches it’s all about presentation and perception. Jewelry.

For me, the Suunto Core’s simple looks make its operation both visually and instinctively pleasant to use. Toggling through modes such as compass, altimeter, and time options, with a touch of button. Entering a menu tree with a simple long press of the same button. On screen ques make button and option selections idiot proof. The Core’s chassis and face is relatively low profile and combined with a well thought wrist strap, fits and stays put. A nice touch, the wrist strap keeper fits positively into the wrist strap, preventing movement readjustment and tinkering.

As cool as the black on black scheme looks, it makes reading the watch more difficult than I anticipated. I expected a better contrast adjustment. I was hoping for more brightness and contrast after replacing the battery, no love. Using the watch here in Colorado, the altimeter is the biggest disappointment. With Colorado’s ever-changing weather, the barometric based altimeter is consistently off by thousands of feet. There is an option to plug in altitude reference points during each new adventure, but I’m not that geeked-up.

All in all this is a well-made watch and priced appropriately. The Core series lacks real ruggedness and for that it belongs in town and not in the field. Suunto however does make it’s Vector series, a rugged multi-function watch which will hold up to some abuse on any adventure.

Suunto Core

$299

Sunnto Vector

$199

Stupid Gear Award: 
Lock-back Safety Knives (LBS)

This is currently my favorite overall design/idea to pick on, the lock-back safety, or ‘LBS’. Where did the idea spawn from? Is there a rash of knife lock-back failures?! I have to think this is a gimmick to sell knives to the not-so-knife-like folk. What a terrible feature and design. Most people, especially those unfamiliar with knives, have a hard enough time working the normal lock-back, let alone a second mechanism simultaneously. 

Most of us have a knife for one use or more. Basic utility, camping, hunting, even personal defense. Hopefully you’ve chosen a name brand knife, feel confident using it, and keep it clean and sharp. If you have a single blade folding knife, it most likely has a locking blade. Meaning you have to push a spring in some way to close it, once opened fully. Most newer knives have gone to a breach style side to side lock, verse the rear button lock.

Jump back for a moment. For myself and other Mid-westerners like me, there’s a tradition of a father or grandfather passing down a pocket knife, your first knife. Possibly a Case, Buck, or Swiss Army knife. Due to the age, this pocket knife typically had more than one blade and had no lock-back feature. As it was passed down, you were given brief instructions on using the knife, whittling, always cutting away from yourself, etc. A kid’s second knife was a step up, bigger, and more up to date, having a locking blade for more confident and versatile use (cutting, skinning, stabbing).

Insert present day folding knives. Assuming you've spent more than $20, you have a reasonable knife with a locking blade and material such as 440 Stainless steel. The knife has one of the two styles of locking mechanisms mentioned and possibly even a lock-back safety. Any knife in this “reasonable” category has more than a sufficient lock mechanism and one that has been torture tested by the manufacturer.

STUPID:

A lock-back mechanism prevents the knife from *closing*, not opening. It assures you that the knife blade won’t close on your fingers while using it…in the event that there is pressure put on the back of the blade. I can’t think of any scenario where there is pressure on the back of blade, but regardless the lock-back secures the blade and makes it rigid during extreme uses.

The LBS. Engineering a safety mechanism on top of an already existing and proven safety is mind boggling. Worse, this new safety design doesn’t do what’s actually needed…that is, keeping the knife from *opening*! Our knives are found everywhere, rattling in a glove box, junk drawer, in a backpack, on a climbing harness, etc. For me, on several occasions, I have reached for my knife and found that it was opened halfway while being jostled or collided with. Folding knives overall are prone to opening by design, not closing. This new LBS design doesn't address this condition at all. #AssBackwards