# The Suunto All Black Core (Military). Review and Pics..(Black Attack)



## Mystro

Well the 2X Black Core arrived last night and I spent hours with it learning about it and running it through a lot of test. My first impressions are great. This watch was advertised as a *Military Core* but from my understanding dealers are calling ALL BLACK CORES military? Who knows?
The negative display is super crisp and sharp. I bumped up the contrast from the factory setting of 6 to 7 or 8. Just cause I could. It was fine from the factory but why leave well enough alone.:roll: I have other ABC Highgear watches (Altiforce with negative display and Altis SS with positive display). I am going to compare the ALL BLACK CORE to the other two. I think this is the most accurate way to see what the Core can do.

I first looked the Core over for any manufacturing defects. The bezel turns smooth and isn't lose nor is it tight. I would say the Bezel was perfect. All of the markers aligned up perfectly with the 12 o'clock face. The bezel clicks around with the sound of one of my fly fishing reels and turns both ways. Very nice!
The strap has a black buckle. Suunto calls this the all ALL BLACK CORE and I am happy to see it has a black buckle. My impressions of the watch are very cool looking and stealth. _Its a looker._
The buttons are firm to push and I like the no-slip checkering engraved in them. The Negative display is sharp, perhaps sharper than the Altiforce (see pic).
The Altiforce has more of a blue cast to the display.
Either way both are excellent and I prefer the negative display in the woods. Negative displays also light up better and appear sharper with less light pollution.
Speaking of light. The Cores light is great, not too bright and not too dark. I also like that the light has its own button and extends its 5 second time if any other buttons are pushed after you activate the light. This is especially good when using the compass or navigating the watch at night in the woods. It just makes sense to have the light work this way. I also like the fact that the light blinks when the alarm goes off. A Lot of times in noisy situations (like in a club) you cant hear the alarm but can see the light flash. Brilliant!
The alarm is loud and has a quality multi chime sound to it. I am disapointed there isn't a hourly chime.
I tested the barometer with both Altiforce and Altis and all three are _dead balls on_ with the reported barometric pressure. This was nice suprise to find that 3 wrist computers are calibrated that accurately.
The weather trend indicator was correct by showing the downward direction of both parts of the arrow. It was clear last night and started to rain early this morning.
I also tested the altimeter with the other 2 watches and my GPS and it too was *dead balls on*!!! 
I especially like the way the Altimeter and Barometer switch to the appropriate profile in the AUTO mode. I tested to see how much movement would switch the barometer profile to the altimeter profile. I let the watch sit and go into the barometer profile. When it did, it made a nice multi chime sound. I then took the Core down one flight of stairs in my house. It didn't switch. So I started to go down my basement stairs and half way down I heard the chime indicating the profile switched back to altimeter. I tested it again and it switched the same spot. Very accurate altimeter!!
I then calibrated the compass and tested it with the other two watches. All watches were calibrated the same time. I calibrate my ABC watches by going out side on my deck railing and use a medium Gatorade bottle with the wide mouth. I sit the watch on top of the bottle with the cap on and spin the entire bottle when making the 3 rotations. It keeps the watch perfectly level and is easy to turn slowly.
Once again all three watches were *dead balls on!*
_At this point I am more than a little impressed._
I tested the bearing tracking feature. It worked great and I am excited to try this on Saturday when I go into the woods. I can see this feature is priceless to hunters that are tracking downed game. I can speak from experience that it is very easy to lose your direction while following downed game at night in the woods.
This feature can point the way back to the car.
Over all I found the watch easy to navigate. Much like my Hi-def receiver with on screen display. You do have to push a few more buttons to get around on the watch but I can see why Suunto uses this format. Its pretty strait forward. My last test so far was to drop the watch in a glass of water for 15 min to make sure it is water tight. It passed. I do this with all my new watches. I want to find out now and not in the field if it goes down.
Software version is 1.0.3. Serial # starts with 841....etc
The watch is very comfortable to wear and is thinner than my 2 Highgear watches.
I am very impressed so far. I will keep adding to this review as I find more features to talk about.
Tonight I took the Core out in the woods bowhunting. I had a nice suprise to find the 2 markers on the top of the bezel glows very well.(see pic). I also tried the compass bearing lock. It performed flawlessly. I locked it on where the main trail starts. I then walked back into the woods to my treestand. It was dark when I got down out of my tree and the bearing lock pointed me right back to where I aimed it at. I also started a Altitude Log. I checked it out and love the real-time motion graph of my journey. (Very Cool!)









































































Water Test. (Got to be hard CORE to drink this stuff.)









Luminescent Bezel marker


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## Jeff_C

*Re: The All Black Core arrived. Review and Pics..(Black Attack)*

Very cool indeed!


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## kleptoix

*Re: The All Black Core arrived. Review and Pics..(Black Attack)*

nice review! My all black has silver buckle, I like the black buckle better! Can you get a buckle somewhere?


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## allen2oo3

*Re: The All Black Core arrived. Review and Pics..(Black Attack)*



kleptoix said:


> nice review! My all black has silver buckle, I like the black buckle better! Can you get a buckle somewhere?


ditto.


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## Mystro

*Re: The All Black Core arrived. Review and Pics..(Black Attack)*

I don't think Suunto just sells the buckle. I looked on Suunto site and all their straps have the silver buckle. I think the 2X black Core is so new, Suunto just started putting the flat black buckle on or maybe my All Black Core is a Military? I am looking for another strap to dress the 2xCore up when I am not in the woods. I am looking to get the black rubber elastomer strap with the silver lugs and silver buckle item # SS013338000. Does anyone know the best/cheapest place to find it? I was hoping Ebay but didn't see one there. On a side note, I tried to register on line and the All Black Core isn't listed on the register drop down list.
I called Suunto and they said the watch was too new and for me to select any Core model. The SS# was the way Suunto tells what model it is.


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## Mystro

*Re: The All Black Core arrived. Review and Pics..(Black Attack)*

Update.


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## symantec11_76

Hello all in the forums as this is my first post. I am a member of many forum communities and must say that this forum is at the top of my list. I really enjoy reading everyone's posts here. I have to give Mystro a thumbs up on his review of the Suunto Core All Black as it helped me in my decision to become a proud Core owner. My first Suunto is a N3i MSN direct watch. Though discontinued, the watch still receives the free MSN services and serves its purpose on my wrist while I'm at work. Since the N3i has served me well, I decided to take a look at the latest watches made by Suunto. I instantly fell in love with the All Black model and began my research. After some Google searching, I was led to this great forum and Mystro's review helped me decide on the Core which is happily residing on my wrist. The Core is functioning flawlessly, and I do not regret the purchase at all.

The only complaints I have is the shiny black bezel, and the barely glowing tick marks around the screen. The image of the All Black core on the Suunto website shows the bezel to be a flatter black matching the tone of the strap. I would have preferred this stealth black color better but the function outweighs my disappointment. The other complaint is that the Suunto website image shows the tick marks at every 30 degrees glowing brightly like the bezel tick mark. I put the watch under a UV light for a short time and noticed that the tick marks do slightly glow, but very little. Brightly glowing tick marks would have added a nice cool factor and increased functionality at night. But again, I am extremely happy with the watch and can live with these disappointments. I feel that the negative display is perfectly readable and that the backlight has just the right amount of light without blinding me. I ordered the screen protector made by Invisibleshield and will be posting some images of the watch with the screen protector shortly in another thread. Those are my thoughts and thank you again Mystro.


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## Mystro

Congrats on the new Suunto. Welcome to the dark side of the Core. Its nice to hear success stories about the Core. Are you going to put a screen saver on the Core? It has a glass crystal and is very scratch resistant on its own.

The pictures do exaggerate the markings luminescence.


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## Jeff_C

Welcome to the forum!


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## symantec11_76

Thanks for the congrats. I did a write up and added pictures of my Core with the Invisibleshield installed in a different thread. Here is the link to that thread if you get curious.

https://www.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=145397

I am sure the glass crystal is fairly scratch resistant as is, but the added protection from the screen protector will help out if I mistakenly rub up against a rock outdoors.


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## fmr18E

Which Core has the blue backlight and which has the red/orange backlight?


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## Mystro

All Black Core has a blue back light.


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## Specialist

I'm a serving infantry soldier and have been extensively researching the best military watch. I have not found a watch that I believe meets 100% the criteria that would, in my opinion at least, be _the ultimate true military watch._

*I believe the Suunto Core (all black) Military version is the closest watch that can be described as the 'Ultimate Military watch.' *I have owned one for three years and have exposed it to withering machine gun operation, hot and arctic environments, bangs, scrapes and encounters with my webbing, numerous dunkings in the sea, rivers, swamps and lakes not to mention my local swimming pool- even after two field battery changes. I never take it off for hot showers either. It's proved amazingly resilient and continues to be so.

I have used the Suunto Core ABC functions on numerous occasions and have relied on the Sunrise/ Sunset function as input to patrol planning. The barometric functions have helped me to accurately predict on the spot local weather. For this reason, my next watch is another Suunto Core since the current one, although 100% functional, is looking like it's been through the wars and my wife is commenting on it when we go out to smart dinners together!

The Suunto Core Military does not however have the following features (although it is 30M water resistant). Essential/ must have features in red:


Red backlight LED to maintain natural night vision (like some casio 'military' versions)
At least 100M Water resistance (just so there are no doubts if it's dunked or exposed to seriously heavy waterfalls)
Selectable Flashing Alarm mode (Casio 'Military' versions have this)
Selectable vibrating alert/ alarm (overcomes audible and visible issue in a tactical situation- not found on any watch)
Compass readings in MILS ( Not found on any watch)
Wind chill factor Indication (Not seen on any watch I have found so far)
Moon Phase (really important form time to time to know in a military context- Casio pro trek series have this)
Tide phase/ prediction (important form time to time to know in a military context- Casio pro trek series have this)
GPS with separate/ dedicated battery for GPS functions (not found on any watch)
Quick Global silent setting- a single option to kill all audible functions on the watch (not found on any watch AFIK)
I wish Suunto would at least implement the red highlighted features. I think it customer base would increase enormously just with the MILS compass scale- a very quick with for a very small software a change.

If Suunto read this, please look at the above features and at least give us the red highlighted ones


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## Jeff_C

I would buy most of your suggestions... except wind chill. Im not sure a watch could do that without some sort of anemometer attached to the watch... and that may be a bit cumbersome!  There are hand held units that can determine wind speed.... but again, they are quite large. 

I think Military watches are a tough market to fill. There are so many "nice to haves" that soon your watch gets to be the size of a microwave stuck on your wrist. Its hard to please all needs in any single watch.... See all the conversations about the new Ambit model. 

Sounds to me like the Ambit fits more (not all) of your needs. 

Your MILS statement is solid. 

Finally, and not as an (us vs them) statement... Its a bit misleading to say "Casio Protrek series have this". SOME Casio models have those features, but not all. Then again, no Suunto models have tide or moon phase. 

And finally, finally... I understand your "QUICK global silent setting" idea... but some G Shock models do have a "mute" option.


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## Specialist

The wind chill feature would simply be a scale with Temperature (as measured by the watch) against user measured/ guessed/ predicted/ forecast wind speed. This feature would therefore be a graph or user input of wind speed. That in itself would be a handy and yet very simple feature.

It could also be augmented with key safety milestones indicated on the graph or watch for given user input of wind speed.

To be honest, the Ambit would be the last watch I'd leave an FOB with. Having limited battery life and then thinking 'have I charged it up' when I'm going on patrol is not something I want to be bothered with- I'll have far more important things to worry about such as IEDs. If I'm going out for a Jog around the FOB, then the Ambit sounds good.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to why such a simple thing as MILs compass option was not (or is still not) implemented on any watch. It would be a unique selling point for Suunto Core and complete it's military image. It's just arithmetic straight conversion along with graphic scale on the LCD. Does anyone know of a compass watch with MILs scale?


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## Jeff_C

Good point on the battery/charging.


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## Specialist

Jeff_C said:


> Good point on the battery/charging.


It does seems obvious to me to have separate batteries for GPS and Watch functions. It would provide a lot of confidence in taking the watch out without fear of it dying.

I think the same approach can apply to Solar Powered watches- separate rechargeable batteries for Compass and other watch function. Electronic compass drains the batteries fast even through occasional cross checking over a few days.


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## ejunge

Truth is, a Mils based compass implies a level of precision that these watches just dont have. The X10M had many of those features, and if you didnt use the GPS, then you had OKAY battery life- but it had an adjustable red LED blacklight and a compass that you could set in mils- but it also had a rechargeable battery. And it got the reputation of not holding up to military life.. 

I am a definite Suunto fan, and I detest Casios- as I think that they are ugly monstrosities, but i gotta admit, they do a few things really well, and a military G-shock would probably be a great watch for a serviceman.


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## Specialist

ejunge said:


> Truth is, a Mils based compass implies a level of precision that these watches just dont have. The X10M had many of those features, and if you didnt use the GPS, then you had OKAY battery life- but it had an adjustable red LED blacklight and a compass that you could set in mils- but it also had a rechargeable battery. And it got the reputation of not holding up to military life..
> 
> I am a definite Suunto fan, and I detest Casios- as I think that they are ugly monstrosities, but i gotta admit, they do a few things really well, and a military G-shock would probably be a great watch for a serviceman.


I see what you mean about the precision needed for a Mils reading.

The compass in my iPhone is very precise. I have a compass app that shows a compass in mils and the precision matched my Silva compass. I also have another more precise magnetic military compass and I have to say the iPhone was amazing. So the technology is here.

The Suunto Core seems to be pretty precise also when compared with say a Silva but not sure about Mils precision- probably not.

I think the ideal compass would be 3D in mils. Whatever Apple use seems to work well.


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