Suunto Vector questions

I have the Core and yes, it has an “auto” mode that minimizes the need to recalibrate elevation.  It’s not perfect, but works surprisingly well.  The Core has two modes:  barometer and altimeter.  In the former, all pressure changes get logged as changes in the weather, while in the latter they get logged as changes in elevation.  The auto mode intuits whether or not you’re moving and sets the mode accordingly.

It’s pretty simple.  There’s a threshold rate of pressure change the watch considers too fast to be weather.  If it sees that much change over a 3-minute interval, it assumes you’re moving and switches into elevation mode.  Once the pressure has been stable for a defined period of time (12 minutes, I think), it switches back to barometer mode.

Obviously, if the weather changes while you’re hiking, there’s no way for the watch to account for that correctly, but it avoids the large phantom elevation shifts you normally see while camped if you forget to switch to barometer mode at night.

“Should I just settle for resetting the altitude every morning?”

Try “several times every day.” My 14 year old Vector won’t read within 100 feet of a known map location after a few hours of hiking. I see fluctuations like yours at home, too. Always has had that problem.

Once I missed a hidden trail junction and hiked about three miles out of my way, just before dark, because the Vector altitude was off. I only trust it for ~200 foot accuracy if I haven’t reset it recently.

I find the compass feature much more useful for quick map orientation.

Accidentally leaving the altitude, barometer, or compass functions running chews through batteries quickly. If you swap the battery yourself, getting the O-ring lined up properly is tough. Recommend getting the kit with new battery and O-ring if waterproofness is important, e.g.

And for a while I thought the compass function was kaput – until I replaced the battery and recalibrated the compass per instructions.

I recently bought a Casio PRG-300-1A2CR on sale to replace the Vector, but keep pushing the wrong buttons – too much old muscle memory! So half the time I just grab the Vector and go.

— Rex

My Vector is now 13 years old and still going strong.  I just reset the altitude in the morning after checking how it has changed overnight for a bit of insight into the weather.  I also adjust it at the bottom/top of any slope where I want to keep track of my altitude. You don’t even need to do this as long as you know the difference between the starting altitude and the watch reading and do the math.

I find I get a year out of a battery and a little silicone grease on the o ring each change has meant only one new o ring and cover over the years.  I keep thinking about upgrading but the relatively small size of the Vector compared to the Core has kept me from doing so.

If the baro trend arrow has been stable all night, it can be reset in the morning and remain somewhat accurate all day. But approaching high and low pressure weather can alter it dramatically and quickly so the only thing that really works is to recalibrate (or at least check to confirm) every time you’re at a know elevation.

The best set-and-forget option in my experience is something like my Garmin etrex 30 using the auto-calibrate setting. If it gets a whole bunch of very strong satellite altitude readings it will reset the baro altimeter to that number and then resume baro until there is once again a strong disagreement between the two. IME this works uncannily well…. always very close to actual… although of course this depends on good signals so if you’re in a rain forest or a slot canyon maybe not so good.

@texasbb

So do you think that the Core is more reliable than the Vector?  I considered picking up a used Core on ebay, but it was about twice the price and heavier in weight.

@bobmny10562

How do you read the barometric pressure arrow?  I see that it is divided into 4 quadrants.  Is there a given time range which the two arrows are meant to represent?  For use of the watch as an altimeter, do you recommend that I keep the watch in altimeter mode or just switch over from time mode when I want to check altitude?

How to read the barometric pressure arrow. See the manual, p 32

http://ns.suunto.com/Manuals/Altimax_Vector_X-Lander_S-Lander/Userguides/Altimax_Vector_X-Lander_S-Lander_UG_multilanguage.pdf

Watch mode uses the least battery power. The compass uses the most. So I only switch to altimeter when needed but the battery lasts over a year with heavy use so probably no big deal if I kept it in altimeter mode all the time. I calibrate the altitude once a day against a paper map or against GPS. I have found it accurate enough as an aid to navigation.

So do you think that the Core is more reliable than the Vector?  I considered picking up a used Core on ebay, but it was about twice the price and heavier in weight.

More reliable?  I’d say more convenient, especially if, like me, you always forget to reset the thing in the morning.  But even the Core needs a manual recalibration now and then, especially if weather’s moving in/out while you hike.