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Review of the renowned Suunto Elementum Ventus wrist computer

Compared to Swiss construction, the Finns have made an incredibly competitive watch. The Suunto Elementum Ventus shell is great with a “carved, not stamped” feel. I enjoy sapphire crystal, but it frustrates me that it is not glare-proof or domed. Therefore, in a pinch, you should use it as a mirror to fix your hair.

The pushers work very well, even though the much-lauded “rotary pusher A” looks a little less than “Swiss badass” if you ask me.

The display … well, after many years of Swiss watches rendering flawlessly readable negative displays, I can’t “get it” with this watch. Why can’t Suunto make a negative display with enough lucidity and contrast to compete with Breitling, TAG or RADO? Through my limited knowledge of LCD technology, the gap between a positive and a negative screen will be the polarizing filter. There is not much more to that. So now I am puzzled why it is so difficult to read.

I am satisfied with the function of the watch. Suunto seems to have sought to make this watch as easy as possible! Basically, there are 4 modes: the particular main time display that can display the barometric pressure numerically or, within the same area, display the date. Barometric recording, which can be used by turning push-button A counterclockwise and scrolling the bar graph in hourly increments. The compass, accessible via push-button C in all modes, except when the “race timer” is running; and the race timer itself.

The countdown chronograph is quite … difficult. It is reset to zero by holding push-button C after you have stopped by pressing push-button A. As soon as it is reset, it takes five minutes as the start time, although you can turn push-button A to change it in steps of one minute. If reset, it really works like a modest chronograph. Why modest? Counts tenths of a second down to 1 minute and then changes to minutes and seconds, then just minutes. When it comes to the latter mode, no one can detect that it is still working without detecting a digit change. Unlike the “regular” convention of flashing the “:” to indicate a running chronograph, the “:” is static. Also, the bad luck is that, once finished, the watch will not show the most accurate readings. Compare this to an aerospace watch, where once the chronograph is stopped, the watch alternates between displaying the minutes and seconds, to allow you at least to gain access to the degree of precision maintained in the watch.

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