Qualifying the Suunto Vertical as a marathon runner isn’t enough to compliment its excellent autonomy. The watch is actually capable of about sixty hours of operation in its most accurate positioning mode (performance mode: dual-frequency GNSS acquiring one position per second). About 3% for 2 hours of operation.
This duration rises to 90 hours in endurance mode (single frequency), sufficient when the environment is clear. We achieve 120 hours in Ultra mode, which consists of shutting down the GNSS chip for half a second between each position taken, without reducing the acquisition frequency (1 Hz). For example, in rural areas, we did not notice significant accuracy degradation in this mode as long as it was in an open environment. Only Tour mode significantly reduces accuracy, and for good reason: it records only one position every 10 minutes – despite everything using dual-frequency GNSS, it can last up to 500 hours against the background of several days of travel. The possibility of recharging, for example.
In connected tracking mode, Suunto also claims up to 30 days of autonomy. During our testing we specified twenty days, although that includes ten hours of gameplay, so 2 hours outside with geolocation.
For those who need even more autonomy, Suunto assures that its vertical solar version (Titanium Solar) can achieve 30% tolerance when exposed to the middle of the sun (50,000 lux). Announced autonomies are then 85 hours (Performance mode), 140 hours (Endurance), 280 hours (Ultra) and 30 days in Tour mode. This is awesome! The autonomy of the steel version should satisfy most owners.
