" alt="" title="In their latest move to disrupt the competitive heart rate monitor market, Suunto are launching their new Quest Watch. With a dazzling lightweight design and a wealth of features, we expect that this watch will make an early impact on the market.
“The new Suunto GPS Track Pod weighs a mere 1.2 ounces and can record speed, distance and even post-exercise maps in Suunto Movescount software”, says Rusty Squire, President of the Heart Rate Watch Company.
Suunto have revealed that the GPS pod can also be used with the Suunto M5, opening up the possibility that the Quest watch can be used with an independent pod.
“The new Suunto Quest watch also includes the Suunto Mini-Movestick to upload data to you PC, laptop or notebook along with the Suunto Comfort belt”, says Squire. He adds, “This is one nice looking watch and a versatile package for indoor or outdoor fitness”. Whilst none of this can be exactly described as revolutionary, it does cater for the vast majority of the market. Most of these features are curplus for the avergae health club member who use their device to track their heart rate over an hours run on the treadmill, but the ability to effortlessly log data across your devices has obvious appeal for the majority. For too long, heart rate monitors have worked independently to the trainers over devices, which leaves the data isolated on the device itself. This is all well and good, but this is hardly an accessible and monitorable way to store fitness data, especially considering the often limited memory capacity of most affordable devices.
The Suntro Quest – Suntro’s affordable foray into the Heart rate monitor market.
Since the Suunto Ambit costs around the £320 mark, earmarking it as a high end solution, the Suunto Quest is a GPS for the rest of the world according to Squire. “At under £190 the Suunto Quest GPS offers advanced heart rate features combined with pacing and distance data, which is the key to proper pacing”, says Squire. Therefore, the Quest can hardly be described as a cheap heart rate monitor, it is positioned as an affordable device for the serious trainer.
One of the nice things with Quest is that the watch uses a normal coin cell lithium battery so there is no need to re-charge it, which is a pleasant break from many of the higher spec watches which require constant re-charging in a similair vain to your smartphone. This is a throwback to older models, as well as some of the markets cheaper offerings, and i don’t consider that to be a bad thing. The GPS pod does require charging, with a lifespan of ~15 hours of use, although this works out as one charge every 2 weeks or so for most.
Distinctive design
A yellow and black device is always likely to grab the eye, and the Suunto Quest is no exception. Whilst the design isn’t the purists idea of a critical element, it is not something to overlook. So much of the fit tech market is driven by design, and this watch is likely to find its place. It features a large face, with oversized digits and easy navigation.
The Suuntro Quest is now available to buy in a number of outlets, and is priced at around £190 or 300 USD.