Looking for an Uber rugged, Mil-Spec watch that will probably survive longer than you will in most situations? Look no further because here it is: The Suunto Traverse Alpha. I have the stealth model specifically, and I have been abusing mine for about 3 years now.
I was looking for a military grade time piece that I could drag with me everywhere and had the right functions to make it useful at the same time. The Traverse Alpha offered that, plus some.
This watch comes loaded with some pretty cool features, from the ordinary, to the oddly specific. Lets take a look at the list below to see what I’m talking about.
- Hiking, Fishing and Hunting modes
- Sunrise-sunset times and alerts
- Fishing and hunting specific POI types
- Moon phases and moon rise/set times
- Automatic Shot detection
- Red backlight, Night Vision Goggle compatible
- GPS and GLONASS for route and POI navigation
- Real-time breadcrumb view of the recorded track
- Tracking for speed, distance and altitude
- Discover new routes with heatmaps on Suunto app
- Route preview and route altitude profile on the watch
- 100 m/330 ft water resistance
- Altitude (FusedAlti™)
- Weather trend and storm alarm
- Compass
- Backlight in flashlight mode
- Vibration alarm
- GPS time update
- Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly activity tracking of steps and calories
- Mobile notifications
- Compatible with Suunto app (iOS and Android)
Some things that the Suunto Traverse Series does not have is a heart rate monitor, but it can be paired with Suuntos heart rate monitor belt to aid you in your workouts.
So not only can this function as a watch, alarm clock, compass and barometer… it also can track your route and where shots are fired. I have to admit, I don’t regularly use all the features on the Suunto, but they are nice to have. It spends most of its time being used as a compass and giving me text notifications. It really is kind of like a sleeper agent on my wrist, living out its mundane daily suburban life, but always ready to spring in to action and live up to it’s potential.
The Suunto isn’t cheap though at +/-$300, nor is it a petit watch.
That being said, you definitely pay for what you get, quality. This watch in bomb proof and amazingly durable. Plus it looks totally badass, which is all that really matters. The battery life really depends on what functions you are using, but mine lasts about 2 weeks between charges and that’s fine with me. I do wish it had some more smart watch capabilities like reading texts or answering calls, but I imagine that would take away from the durability.
All in all I love mine, its tough enough to live on the range, yet classy enough to be worn with a suit. Kind of like me, and that’s why we get along so well. Be sure to watch my video on it below!