# (Another) Suunto Elementum Terra Review



## paduncan (Sep 28, 2007)

So, I decided to take the plunge and get the Suunto Terra (black leather band, positive display). I am wearing it right now, as I took delivery on it this AM and decided to travel with it my current business trip.

First the good:

As others have said, the display is very nice, and easy to read. No ghosting, and the backlight is stunning.
The watch is easy to setup
The altimeter seems to be accurate
The leather bracelet is of good quality
The case is sturdy feeling
I like being able to see the barometric pressure in both hPa and inHg around the perimeter
3D compass
I think the idea of having a permanent "auto" mode is very good. The watch seems to do a good idea of going in and out of alti mode. Barometer stays constant when it should, and altitude changes when it should.
Alarm tones are nice and loud.

Cons:

The watch could be a bit less high off the wrist
The pushers are easy to engage by mistake when taking a back pack off, or putting it on. I found I had to keep resetting the buttons after this.
The embossed silver markings often cause lots of shadowing on the display, which takes away from the clarity
I am not a fan of always seeing the "0" before the time.
I would have liked to be able to see the "Day" on the display. All you can see is the month and date.
No seconds (this has been discussed before)
Compass does not have cardinal bearing (just degrees)
Compass can't be set for declination, and has no ability to lock in a bearing
Doesn't really bother me, but the Terra has that "feature" of the backlight flickering when in compass mode
Dual time would have been a nice feature
Price - I think this watch would be much better priced around $500 dollars. $1,000 dollars is VERY steep for a watch like this.

I will be keeping it though, but I think if there were another little hitch or something you would have to "work around" I would return it.

Pictures coming later - as I mentioned, I am on the road for the next few days...


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## cb400bill (Feb 11, 2007)

paduncan said:


> The pushers are easy to engage by mistake when taking a back pack off, or putting it on. I found I had to keep resetting the buttons after this.


Have you engaged the lock? If not, pushing in on both the top and the middle pushers engages/disengages the button lock.

BTW, welcome to the Elementum Owner's Club. :-!


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## George Roubicek (Feb 12, 2006)

The Elementum Terra may not be perfect but I sure like it. I cant wait for the bracelet to arrive. I think that will be awesome!! The stock leather strap is of great quality. Right now I have mine on a nice Bond strap.:-!


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## paduncan (Sep 28, 2007)

Another con I noticed is it is super easy to scratch the case...I accidentally hit it on a desk drawer handle, and put a nice little scratch on it. Oh well...


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## scandium21 (Nov 28, 2007)

Ti buffs out really easily though so I wouldnt worry about it. You can likely rub majority of it out with your fingers a little bit each day.


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## paduncan (Sep 28, 2007)

scandium21 said:


> Ti buffs out really easily though so I wouldnt worry about it. You can likely rub majority of it out with your fingers a little bit each day.


Actually, I believe the watch is stainless steel.


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## paduncan (Sep 28, 2007)

Just found out something else that is sort of a bummer about the elementum terra.

Stopwatch is only in tenths of second (but there is still a zero for the hundredths of a second).

Strange, why not just make it 100's of a second?


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