deanrobi said..

Drewm said..

Ricardo1709 said..
94 waves surfed but i don't see any whitewater??? something not right happening there

LOL! (that's what the kids say, right?)

It's not a live satellite feed, Ricardo. Satellite image could've been taken on a flat day.

this was just a test session on the kite and the watch is not suited for kiting as it gets confused by the constant speed etc, the wave count is based on the algorithym so I'm guessing each run towards the beach it counts as a wave.

Drew, good point. The spot in the photo does have small waves on the two points when the conditions are right, i was mainly mucking around at the point on the left hand side, then did a downwinder to the point on the left side and then tack back up wind

Nother point, not sure if it affects the Rip Curl watch (although I am sure it would): I went surfing and while waiting for a wave, sitting on board, hands on hips, but underwater my watch kept buzzing that it has lost satellite contact so I had to keep my left arm out of the water, although it seemed to reconnect reasonably quickly.

Take a look at the suunto website, ambit 3 is the latest model. Ambit 3 peak is the top of the range.

How are your watches coping with water? The Garmin and Suunto watches are all just IPX7/5ATM waterproof. That's nothing. IPX7 is 1m submerged for 30min. If you have a wipeout at speed the water pressure on the watch could be far higher. Even the Garmin website says so:
www.garmin.com/en-US/legal/waterrating/

IPX7 - Withstands incidental exposure to water of up to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes. Suitable for: Indoor/outdoor use in the presence of rain, snow or brief splashes of water. Unsuitable Activities: Any immersion of more than 1 meter, regardless of duration of immersion, or any immersion of more than 30 minutes, regardless of depth of immersion

5 ATM - Withstands pressures equivalent to a depth of 50 meters. Suitable for: Surface swimming, shallow snorkeling and similar activities. Unsuitable Activities: High speed watersport surface impact may exceed this rating (ex. wipeout during motorized water sports)

I don't know about you guys but I crash and when I crash the impact is typically a little more intense than "brief splashes of water".

I just lost my GPS and I am looking for a replacement but I am hesitant to throw 500$ at something that might fail very soon.

Thanks windreams,

100m should be enough to cope with wipeouts, for some reason I though the Suuntos were only waterproof to 50m. The Garmin watches are only waterproof to 50m which is a joke for a watersport product like the Quatix.

I've noticed these gps watches have a very short battery life compared to normal watches. Can these batteries be easily replaced yourself and not affect the waterproof rating if the watch? A rechargeable watch sounds like a great idea if it is possible?

Anyone used the Garmin Fenix 2 ? The DC Rainmaker review seemed pretty positive. I'd like to hear any comments from any owners tho before spending that kind of money. I'm mostly interested in the navigation features for long downwinders to a specific campsite etc.

thefacts said...
Batteries cannot generally be replaced by the user as the watch will probably need to be pressure tested. Suunto suggest the battery should last the life of the unit.
Yes the watch is rechargeable - the watch comes with USB cable to recharge the battery or you can buy a separate AC charger.


Battery life also depends on how you use the watch, below is a difference between a Peak and Sport model using the same GPS functions:
"Battery life is approximately doubled on the Ambit 3 Peak (16/24/50hrs) over the Ambit 3 Sport (8/12/25hrs) based on a Best/Better/Good – 1/5/60 second GPS sample rate. - See more at: http://highlytunedathletes.com.au/blog/suunto-ambit-3-review-exclusive/#sthash.ifPpQcNb.dpuf"

Thanks for all the info

Been looking for a camera with built in GPS, but eventually settled on a nike plus GPS watch on sale at Harvey Norman for $120 ( www.harveynorman.com.au/nike-sportwatch-gps-powered-by-tomtom-anthracite-blue.html ).

The watch is rated at 5 ATM and I've done a fair bit of "water shock testing" in the past 2 weeks without any dramas. It plugs into the PC using a USB connector built into the watch band. I'm highly skeptical that the connector is going to corrode or simply fail after being dunked in the sea daily as it regularly has water on the contacts. At least the contacts are exposed ("open" USB style) and can be wiped clean or scrubbed later on, and there is no possibility of water entry because it doesn't have removable seals to a micro USB port or the like. Definitely hanging onto the receipt for the 12 month warranty.

The watch can be set up to show top speed when out on the water, but it looks like it's averaging the last 20 seconds or so as you need a pretty long tack before it stabilizes onto your current speed. When uploading the data, it keeps wanting to show your pace (minutes per Km) rather than speed because it's designed mainly as a running watch. That said, it's giving me what I wanted: a GPS track of each kite session ( secure-nikeplus.nike.com/plus/activity/running/detail/4918000000005502458560007912319282520764?external_share_id=2ab45747-f407-45a7-be1e-adc8de218ddf )

Anyone had a look at the upcoming FITBIT Surge?

I'm looking to get a GPS watch too for kitesurfing, paddling and sailing (Laser). I'd love a watch that shows the speed in real time and in knots (not kph).

Does anyone know if any of the Garmin or Suunto have that feature ?

Thanks !

I use a Garmin Fenix and I love it. It shows me the speed I'm going at in Kph (max i've gotten on a surfboard is 41Kph) and the can measure your heart rate and everything. You can also set up a profile for kiteboarding to display what you want like distance, time, speed and elevation etc. Garmin connect is pretty good also, allows you to view your gps data over google maps and you can store them all. The Gps is pretty accurate also, got my dad to tow me behind the car on a skateboard and the speed on my watch matched the speedo.

I looked to see if you can change the speed to knots, but it only have miles and Kph.