New for 2009, the Suunto T3c - the “c” stands for comfort - includes Suunto’s all-new Comfort Belt. Compared to the traditional Suunto heart rate belts, the new Comfort Belt sports fabrics that feel soft against the skin while traction strips keep the belt snug. The removable transmitter module lets you to throw your Comfort Belt right in the washing machine. The Comfort Belt may also be purchased separately for those wanting a spare or to upgrade from their older T3 heart rate monitor strap. Women can enjoy a little extra style with their own T3c watch. With attractive graphics, unique detailing and a softer, slimmer strap for improved fit, the women’s Suunto T3c provides a feminine feel without compromising performance. Suunto T3 Environment: The gamut of endurance sports including running, triathlons, spinning, mountain biking and more. At one point a fitness enthusiast who wanted to monitor and track their heart rate, caloric burn, and other exercise data would need a tangle of electrodes, complex equipment, and extensive personal guidance from a certified fitness trainer. Today, all you need is a Suunto t-Series wristop training device, a PC, and one or more accessories to create an optimal training range that outlines your ideal energy expenditure and muscle exertion while preventing you from overworking and damaging your muscles. The Suunto t-Series eliminates the need for a personal trainer and complicated equipment, replacing them with a user friendly watch and software interface that tracks your fitness regimen, monitors multiple facets of your physiology during a workout, and suggests adjustments before, during, and following your exercise routine.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Great!
I used this HRM for past 2 days in spin class. Picked up my HR in a studio with many people using HRM (mostly Polar) without any issues. I love the feature of having bars which shows HR in BMP and the TE. I have 2 Polar which were waste of my money (see my other reviews for my woes with Polar). I have a reliable Timex but it didn’t show HR in %. Usually in spin class, intructors give target HR in %. So I was looking for a HRM which showed in %. Love this watch. I am keeing my fingers cross that I’d still love this watch in 1-2 yr time.
I was actually going to buy the T1C but the orange color was too tacky for me. The ladies version of T3C is in green. I preferred and got the brown (men’s version) which looked almost black.
3 Stars Good watch, easeiy scratchable
Good watch, easily scratchable though. After a day, the metal attach was already scratched.
But for the rest, just fine. The problem with those watches, is durability. We’ll see.
Resident of the rest of the worl, take care for duty fee, they are not cheap.
4 Stars great on the inside, cheap on the outside
I would actually like to give this watch a 3.5 star rating because of the value, but the watch itself deserves 4 stars.
THE GOODs: very accurate HR monitor. has logs to track performance. trainer mode is great at improving performance (I’ve been using it for about 6 months now and much prefer it to heart rate zone method). very light and non-obtrusive. chest strap is the most comfortable i’ve ever worn
THE BADs: dial is extremely difficult to see in any low light conditions and with an added face/dial shield (xtra $12), becomes difficult to see in bright sunlight (which is most of the time here in San Diego) - virtually impossible if wearing polarized glasses. backlighting is way way underpowered. like most other readers, i felt the quality of materials on this particular style/model to be really cheap - face is plastic that seems xtremely scratch prone, band is cheap feeling semi flexible/hard rubber that looks cool on promotional ads but in real life looks and feels kinda cheap and also scratch prone. In order to sync it with your computer to track your performance for more than a couple weeks you need to buy a Suunto PC Pod for minimum $75 + shipping!!! just to be able to sync with my computer. Most of these negs are mere annoyances but do require a high level of patience and understanding to overcome.
All in all a good HR monitor watch but not impressed on the value. If I were to buy it again, I would definitely get a different style but would stick with the t3c model. And just do yourself a favor and order the protective face shield at the same time you order this watch cause you’re not gonna want to risk scratching it up permanently.
3 Stars great look, high maintenance
Although this certainly has to be the best looking heart rate monitor on the market it is a little “cumbersome” when it comes to sizing and figuring out it’s features. You have to cut it to fit your wrist (hopefully it fits well it is unsettling to cut your new band) and then reassemble…it is not as easy to access information as a simple Timex/Nike HRM and the instructions can be a little tedious. My opinion is that if you are looking for a visually appealing HR monitor as your first priority and user friendly as your second then this one is fabulous…if your desire includes a different set of priorities I might reconsider.
4 Stars Great, good looking and full of features
I bought this product because of the many features it had, compared with fx Nike’s heart rate monitors, but also because it looks good! I haven’t been disappointed. The features are really good, reasonably easy to use and especially the ability to view workout summaries 6 month back, ave. heart rate, calories burned etc. are really useful and a good incentive to do better.
I haven’t bought any of the pods, so I do not know about the GPS functionality, nor the food pod.
The only minus I see is the durability of the screen. It does easily get scratched, but so far its a minus I am ok living with taken the price and functionality into consideration.
