Suunto Shout Out From Utah Outside

Suunto had an amazing weekend at Outdoor Retailer Winter Market! We were excited to unveil some sweet products including our new 75th Anniversary Special Edition Core Watch, a redesigned foot pod and Movestick. We got a great shout review of these products from Utah Outside who visited us at our booth. Read the article by Jared Hargrave of Utah Outside:

Suunto is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, and in honor of the milestone, the company has built a special edition watch. In addition, they’ve redesigned the Foot POD and Movestick so that they are both much smaller and easier to use. All of this was on display at Suunto’s booth at the Outdoor Retailer 2011 Winter Market in downtown Salt Lake City.

The Suunto Core Anniversary Edition honors Suunto’s long history in the outdoor adventure and sports precision watch market. The Core is an all-in-one watch that is packed with features like an altimeter, barometer, and compass, as well as functions such as a depth meter, sunrise and sunset times, storm alarm, and a menu in four different languages. Of course it tells the time pretty good as well. The Anniversary Edition has a 75th anniversary edition engraving on the back.

The Suunto Foot POD has gotten a lot smaller this year, which means you’ll be less likely to even know it’s there when you attach it to your shoe for a run. The Foot POD clips right on the shoelace and automatically goes on and off when you start moving. It wirelessly transmits your running information to your Suunto watch so you can keep an accurate track of mileage etc.

The Suunto Movestick has also lost a lot of weight this year. In fact, it’s tiny. The Movestick allows you to transmit all your training information stored on your watch to your computer. It attaches to your computer’s USB port and allows you to keep tabs on daily training management with Suunto’s sports community website, Movescount.com.

Thanks for this great write up Utah Outside! These new items will be available this spring. For more Utah Outside click here. The foot pod is featured on a Salomon trail running shoe, for more like it click here. For more Suunto products click here.

SNEWS Loves the Suunto M5 Fitness Watch

While most of our top athletes wear the Suunto t6d because of its abilities to monitor EPOC (exercise post oxygen consumption) and training effect, we've got something for athletes of all levels. The new Suunto M5 is designed for active users who are looking to achieve a specific fitness goal.

We got a great review of the M5 Fitness watch from SNEWS. Read about some of the standout features they had to say about our new fitness watch.

Heart-rate monitors can be intimidating with all kinds of buttons and selections that might turn off the user just in a quest for basic fitness. And some heart-rate monitors are loaded with features that many people just don’t need.

This “fitness watch” is just what it says. It’s simple in its operation, and the screen literally holds your hand through the process of pushing buttons to keep you on track. Plus it’s all about fitness – fitness of any level.

We used this watch for a few months – it arrived at stores in August – and found it pleasant in many ways. Once you input your fitness level, age, gender, experience, and the like in a user profile, it chooses workouts for you, based on whether you chose fitness or weight-loss as a goal. And, each time you use the monitor, it tells you what your workout is going to be. For example, 30 minutes hard, or 50 minutes easy – and then it doesn’t take its eye off you (so to speak). Lag a little on the intensity and a little beep chirps with an arrow reminding you to step it up; push a little too hard and a beep chirps to tell you to back off.

Then, once you are done, you can scroll through a series of summary screens telling you what you did, what percent of the target workout you finished, how long you exercised, how many calories you burned, and your average and peak heart rates. It also tells you how many hours you’ll need to recover. Heck, you can even look at charts and graphs of what you’ve done and size up overall percentages of your completion of target workouts.

And, for the women, it looks nice and sleek on the wrist. No big clunky sushi dish here.

You can also do a fitness test (walk one mile as fast as you can), which you can then re-do to track your progress. Then, data from the tests are logged for you to review in one neat package on your arm. Oh, and the test and the workouts are based on recommendations from the well-reputed American College of Sports Medicine

For the fitness user or gym-goer who wants some personal coaching, this could be the watch for her. You get your own trainer on your arm, harassing and needling you nicely to get out there.

If you’ve opted for the upgrade to the new MovesCount.com website, you can also download and share with others in a community of like-minded souls. You can also use the Suunto POD for tracking speed and distance.

All in all, the basic watch/heart-rate monitor could be a nice coach for those in search of a little guidance.

Click here for the full review.

Click here for more on the M5 Fitness Watch.

Click here to learn about or join Movescount.com

Earn 50% off a Suunto M Series Watch!

Suunto and women’s active wear brand Skirt Sports have partnered up to bring you some amazing 50% off deals! There are two ways to score on these killer discounts.

1. Buy $100 or more in Skirt Sport gear and you can earn 50% off a Suunto M-Series watch. Click here for the link.

2. Go to Suuntowatches.com, purchase any M2, M4, or M5 watch and earn 50% off any order at Skirt Sports. Click here for the link.

These deals are for a limited time only people so get on it and get saving! The Holiday season will be here before we know it, so stock up now and save!

Go to Suunto’s website to finish off your new look and fitness plan with a great accessory like a Suunto foot pod.

Endurance Runner Matt Hart Blasts the Colorado Trail

Our good friend and big Suunto fan, Adventure Racer Matt Hart just finished running the historic Colorado Trail. He regularly trains with his Suunto t6d and we were excited to hear how his ambitious journey went.

Matt says, "Hey gang! Well two days ago I finished an epic journey… an attempt at the Colorado Trail speed record. Although I did not break the record, which is insanely tight. I did run the 3^rd fastest time for the 484 miles with 75,000 feet of elevation gain. I wore my Suunto t6d and foot pod each and every day. The foot pod was awesome and gave me a very close approximation of my pace and how close to being done with each section I was. The altimeter as always was spot on, and with the massive amounts of vert each day it was great to see it tick off as I climbed, and climbed and climbed. There were extended sections above 13,000 feet!! I was also on the trail for 15-24 hours at a time, and we all know the 7 hour battery life of a forerunner just wouldn’t have cut it out there. So with all that said – THANK YOU."

Also from Matt’s website –

484 miles and 75,000 ft of vertical gain later.. and somehow life really is that much sweeter. I finished the Colorado Trail on July 23^rd at 12:18pm. I ran the 484 miles as fast as I could, which was 9 days, 7 hours, 48 minutes. I believe this is the 3^rd fastest time anyone has ever covered this beautiful and awe inspiring piece of trail. I knew from speaking iwht very fast ultrarunners who do this sort of thing that the record was super tight. I found that out. After 3days I had run 180 miles and was 10 miles ahead of the record pace. But I paid for it the following day where I only logged 38 miles and couldn’t stay awake. And so it goes, I made a lot of mistakes, didn’t plan well enough for some sections, was stranded a few times and hypothermic once. None of that matters or tarnishes the experience because that is the experience. All of these things are expected when the goal is something this huge ~ the crap that happens becomes the deepest burned memories. It’s how you respond to that crap that really matters. All things considered the adventure went amazingly well on 3 days of planning.

Way to go Matt--that is an awesome accomplishment!

To see video segments of the run visit Matt’s website here.

Matt Hart Sets Trans-Zion Trek Record

Endurance athlete and good friend of Suunto, Matt Hart, recently reminded us that records are made to be broken. He ran across Zion National Park at a record-setting pace on May 14th, 2010. The Trans-Zion Trek was a sure test of endurance and took Hart just under eight hours to complete. He shattered the previous record by more than an hour! He wore a Suunto t6d, heart rate belt and Foot POD to help calibrate and pace his efforts.
The Trans-Zion Trek is a 48-mile route across Zion National Park in Southwestern Utah. This route winds through some stunning sections of the park and typically is done as a five-day backpacking trip.

Matt wrote a blog about his experience. Here are a few excerpts:

From Matt Hart: The last 3 miles felt like 20. I pushed my pace even though i was out of water and fuel. My mouth was dry and I was cramping. The wheels had come off and I was dragging axles at this point. I pushed the last two steep sections hard and when I saw Linda [support]. I just put my head down and ran the stairs (above photo), fully embracing the pain. I touched the sign and hit the stop on the Suunto before quickly laying down and begging for Nuun.
I ran the 48 miles with 10,400ft of gain across Zion National Park in 7 hours 58 minutes 07 seconds. With Jared and Christian's previous record time of 9hours 8 minutes I had managed to take 1hour 10minutes off the record. I'm happy with that.

And it's not over for Matt--he's still going full-steam doing media interviews (including one with Runner's World!)
What an impressive accomplishment, Matt--thanks for letting us be part of it.

Inspired Athlete Continues to Succeed with Suunto

We love success stories--especially coming from dedicated Suunto users like Jonathan Hinkle. Jonathan has been on the fast-track to fitness success. Jonathan started three-and-a-half years ago by taking a serious look at himself and knowing that he needed to drop weight to become healthy. Changing his diet, Jonathan lost 50 pounds in the first year. Then, in year two he took up biking and lost another 50 pounds totaling 100 pounds. Then in year three, Jonathan amped up his exercise regime and started training more intensely. He began to race in triathlons. He has reached his target weight goal of 200 pounds and is a strong competitor in a variety of venues across the country.

He most recently finished the American Odyssey 200 Mile Relay and the Charleston 70.3 Half Triathlon (with a 2nd place finish). He is also part of "Team Nameless & Shameless," set to compete in the Ragnar Relays in Washington D.C. and Miami.

Here is an excerpt from Jonathan's blog about using a Suunto t6c triathlon pack:

"I used the Suunto t6c, as always, to stay on pace. I soon as the wheels are moving the Bike Pod picks up and once the feet are running the Foot Pod picks up. When chasing PR’s I can not tell you how important it is to have one device to track your swim, bike & run. I still had a personal best with a 4:44:20 finish."

Keep up the motivating work Jonathan, and keep us posted on your race results!