After running for the past few years with a Garmin Forerunner 110 GPS watch, the damn thing broke. This immediately threw me back into the market for a new watch to replace the old one. I started researching like a madman and realized based on the activities that I was doing – road running, trail running, ultra running, hiking, etc – I knew that I needed more watch than what the Forerunner series could provide. I needed a watch with long battery life, fantastic durability and endless customization possibilites geared towards mountain life and distance training. Through my research, I figured out there were two watches that fit the bill: The Suunto Ambit and the Garmin Fenix.
After wearing both watches for a few months in various conditions and environments, I can safely say they are BOTH beasts. They are deep with features, customizable data screens, and both do any job I’ve thrown at them damn well. While I may lean towards one watch over the other only due to how it fits on my wrist, I’m torn to the other watch’s ability to be future-proof. There is so much tech in these watches that I highly recommend you take them on a test run yourself to determine which would fit your needs. It’s going to come down to personal needs, and you’re the only one that knows what those needs are.
So which watch am I wearing? Well, it honestly came down to price and the wrist-fit factor. The Garmin Fenix now sits on my wrist for all of my running endeavors and so far I love it (I ended up swapping my unit for a new one under warranty due to the multiple software crashes I was enduring). I’ve had to reprogram some of the buttons to perform functions I prefer (start/stop now doesn’t require holding down a button, but a simple quick press) and set up the appropriate data screens for different activities. As for battery life, this thing hasn’t failed me. I still had more than 30% battery left after logging the entire 11hrs of my brutal Leona Divide 50mile race!
But just when I finally feel comfortable with my watch selection, Suunto goes and releases the Ambit 2 and Ambit 2s. DAMMIT! Hopefully I’ll be able to get my hands on one of those and give it a proper review to see how it stacks up!
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