Watch of Adventure: The Suunto Vertical

I have been in the long-distance running space for five years. Over the years, I’ve tried different pieces of gear. As someone who regularly does races that require being on your feet for over 24 hours, I needed a watch that could last just as long. After trying Garmin and Coros, I settled on Suunto. Suunto is an old dog in the adventure space. Ironically, this was a full circle moment because my first backpacking compass was a Suunto. So how does the Suunto Vertical, Suunto’s 2nd highest end watch, hold up? In my opinion, this is the watch of adventure, true to Suunto’s brand. 

Style

In this product review, I will break down my experiences into style, features, experiences, and last words. Starting with style, I’m a big fan of the orange and green band colors. For those looking for more neutral colors, each version of the vertical is also available in black and white. The brighter colors are fantastic, but have a dark shade that is a great look. The design is sleek and doesn’t feel bulky. The Suunto logo is subtle and on the side of the watch. 

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Features

No matter the sport, this watch has something for you. As a runner, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of different options, even in trail running. For example, there’s a mountain running and trail running feature. At first, I was disappointed that the default activity did not have some of the tracking features I wanted during an activity. Luckily, you can create your own custom version of the activity with the tracking faces that you want. For me, I wanted to add elevation gain to the front face. Of all the watches I’ve owned, Suunto has the most customization on the activity front. 

Other features of note to me were the interval running and the notes features. The interval running is standard but easy to use. The note feature allows you to put messages to yourself at different markers of an activity. This helped a lot when I was doing speed work.

Experiences 

Speaking to my experiences, I first used my Suunto Vertical at the Bigfoot 200-mile endurance run. Now, I could have put charging under features, but charging with ease is so important to me during multi-day races. Other watches have failed on that front. The Suunto magnet charger might be my favorite feature of the watch as a whole. Personally, I’m not a fan of prong cable. The speed and ease of the magnet charger made me an instant fan.

My biggest challenge with learning the Suunto wasn’t with the Suunto itself, but rather with switching to a different watch brand. Once I figured out the buttons, everything became second nature. Overall, my experience of using my Suunto at the Bigfoot 200 over 82 hours was fantastic. Only needing one charge was great. 

Last Words

Adventure enthusiasts, I’ll admit that I was skeptical of the Suunto Vertical given everything I had heard about bugs. In all honesty, I’ve experienced bugs with the other watch companies all the same. During my run with Suunto, I’ve had only one minor issue that was fixed by a firmware update and it’s been smooth sailing from there. 

There’s a reason Suunto has been in the game for a long time. Give the Suunto Vertical a shot, because it is truly the watch of adventure. 

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