Are you in pursuit of adventure? If that inclination takes you outside, then Finnish tech maker Suunto wants you to take a new assistant — the Vertical adventure watch.
Like most outdoor watches, from the Apple Watch Ultra to pretty much anything Garmin makes, Suunto’s wearable places a considerable emphasis on GPS and battery life. Which, when you’re scaling a large mountain, aren’t aspects of life you want to find yourself worrying about. The Finnish company hopes to reduce your stress levels even further.
Enhanced Vertical
It’ll do this by offering owners access to offline maps, globally. These maps include “heatmaps, 3D maps and road surface type” data, making it possible to plot a climb or hike extremely accurately. It makes sense since the new wearable is an evolution of the company’s 9 Peak Pro (as opposed to the Ambit 3 Vertical, which isn’t the same thing at all). Expect a 1.4in 280 x 280 display, 32GB of internal storage, and either a stainless steel or titanium finish. The pricier titanium model also comes with solar charging, via a layer on the display.
The battery for the stock version of the Vertical will operate for up to two months if you’re just using the thing as a watch. Expect around 500 hours in Tour Mode and if you’re putting in the fitness tracking hard, it’s rated for 85 hours before returning to the wall plug. The solar version claims 30% better performance, but you’ve got to be out in the sun for that to apply. Hey, it’s an outdoor device, after all.
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Suunto is also at pains to point out that the production of the Vertical uses all renewable energy. It’s also apparently been carbon-offset. We reckon the MIL-STD-810H toughness spec, 100-metre waterproofing, and almost 100 different tracking modes (for various activities) are a little more useful when it comes to choosing whether to buy one, however.
Two versions of Suunto’s Vertical wearable will become available in South Africa from 16 May, each of which has four different variants. The stainless steel models will retail for R12,500, while the solar charging-equipped titanium versions will set buyers back R16,500. If you happen to be lost in the wilderness, that’s the one you want to be wearing.