The Suunto Vertical was developed by the Finnish company as an expedition-grade smartwatch. It offers up to 60 days of battery life, it has offline maps, weather forecasting, solar recharging, and a slew of other features that come in handy when you’re out in the wilderness.
Suunto was founded by Tuomas Vohlonen in 1936, he was a Finnish orienteer and engineer who was frustrated with the poor accuracy of the standard compasses of the time. He invented and patented the production method for a much steadier, more accurate compass using a unique liquid-filled capsule and a stable needle.
The Suunto Vertical syncs with the Suunto iPhone/Android app, give you a detailed breakdown of your activities.
During the war, Suunto supplied compasses to the Finnish military, which proved to be critical in the nation’s challenging northern environments. In the post-war era, Suunto expanded its product range and began exporting compasses worldwide. Their instruments became popular among various professionals, from explorers to mariners.
In 1987 Suunto introduced the SME-ML, its first dive computer. This was revolutionary for divers as it provided critical data about dive profiles and helped improve diving safety significantly. During the 1990s Suunto diversified its product range with the introduction of outdoor sports instruments, like altimeters, barometers, and combination devices.
In the early 2000s the company became an early innovator in the world of smartwatches that offered a wide variety of features like built-in altimeters, barometers, compasses, multiple timezone time-keeping, heart rate monitors, GPS functionality and more.
The Suunto Vertical is one of the company’s newer offerings. It has a built-in battery that offers up to 60 days of battery life thanks in part to the fact that it has solar changing build into the display – so whenever you’re wearing it in the sun, it’s charging.
The titanium version of the Suunto Vertical comes with four strap colorway options (shown above), the stainless steel version of the watch comes with an additional four colors.
The watch also has dual band GPS/GNSS for outdoor navigation, and a suite of free maps that can be used both offline and on – so when you’re far away from the nearest cell tower you’ll still know exactly where you are.
The navigation systems have both route and POI navigation and it communicates with all five major satellite systems via dual frequencies. The Vertical has 95+ sport modes as well as 50+ sport apps that can be downloaded from Suunto through their smartphone app that syncs with the watch.
Suunto developed the Vertical for people who are into outdoor adventures, specifically cross-country runners, hikers, and explorers, but the watch is also useful for those who go off-road on motorcycles and four-wheel drives, as it offers a full suite of navigation equipment, weather warnings, and more.
Each of these watches is made in Finland, and features heart rate tracking and exercise monitoring.
The Suunto Vertical is offered in both stainless steel ($629 USD) and titanium ($839 USD), each is offered with its own unique series of straps that come in a number of different colorways. You can buy the watches direct from Suunto online, and they come with free shipping as well as a two year warranty.
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
