new suunto ambit - some questions!

[vivithemage]

I read the DC Rainmaker review, loved it's capabilities. This is my first watch in a loooong time. This looked to basically replace my iphone in terms of capabilities. I have been doing more water/wet activities and unable to track them, so this guy seems perfect.

I had some questions :

After an activity, how do you verify that the GPS is back to off?

Is it was possible to change the main display to add another page or something?

How does one read the baromter? I know nothing about what it equates to, and what the reading tells you.

Which is more accurate for alt-baro? Or is automatic perfectly good at figuring it out?

Also, I charge it via my USB cord provided, but plugged into my iPhone power plug USB, works great.

BUT, I am traveling to 220v countries, and was wondering if I needed a converter or something, or if it'll just work?

[razza]

wouldnt mind a couple of these questions being answered myself,thanks!

[or_watching]

After an activity, how do you verify that the GPS is back to off?

There is a GPS icon at the top of the screen when the GPS function is powered on.
It (the icon and GPS chip) turn off automatically when the extercise or navigation is Stopped.
The icon also goes off when the GPS is inactive during the "60second" GPS mode.

Is it was possible to change the main display to add another page or something?

No additional main pages can be added.
The View button changes the bottom row of information. The Next button cycles through Time/Date - Alti-Baro - Compass screens.

How does one read the barometer? I know nothing about what it equates to, and what the reading tells you.
Which is more accurate for alt-baro? Or is automatic perfectly good at figuring it out?

I highly recommend that you read this section of the manual. It explains both the watch functions clearly and has some basic usage examples.
Many folks in the forum can help answer your questions, but if you are completely unfamiliar with barometers and altimeters based on them, starting from scratch is a lot to post in one reply.

In brief:
- There is one pressure sensor in the watch which measures the surrounding air pressure.
- In ALTI mode, pressure changes are interpreted as an elevation change. Note I said "change". The key to getting the actual correct altitude is to set the Reference elevation at the beginning of the exercise. e.g. from a Topo map. Use this mode when hiking.
- In BARO mode, pressure changes are interpreted as a change in barometric pressure. These changes have some rough relationship to weather. Higher and increasing pressure is generally associated with fair weather. Vice-versa for bad weather. This rule is often true, but not always. Use this mode when in camp.
- In AUTO mode, the watch switches between the two modes automatically. Good, but not perfect. And better than being completely wrong if you are not managing the mode manually.
- So you can either be measuring Elevation changes or Weather changes. But not both simultaneously.
- You need to understand that barometric pressure (in the weather context) is usually shown as the value at sea level. So imagine two villages, one atop a 500ft cliff overlooking the ocean, and the other at the base of the cliff at sea level. If the lower village measures 1019mb of pressure, that is both the actual ambient pressure (since it's a 0ft), and also the reported barometric pressure. It's a fine day. The village at the top of the cliff is experiencing the same weather. It's weather station would also quote a barometric pressure of 1019mb, even though it's actual pressure is lower due to it's elevation.

Also, I charge it via my USB cord provided, but plugged into my iPhone power plug USB, works great.
BUT, I am traveling to 220v countries, and was wondering if I needed a converter or something, or if it'll just work?

It should just work, so long as you have the adapter to physically plug it into he wall. The output is 5V regardless of the input.

[eeun]

You can add, remove and customise pages/views using movescount. You can also set defaults for each 'activity'. Works pretty well in my experience.

[vivithemage]

snip

Awesome, thanks a lot! for the alt/baro stuff, i'll just let it stick to automatic for now.

on the 220v/120v stuff, I just want to make sure when I am in a 220v country I do not fry it. AFAIK the iphone charger does regulate between 105v-230v so I should be okay!

You can add, remove and customise pages/views using movescount. You can also set defaults for each 'activity'. Works pretty well in my experience.

This I found out the first day, pretty net! I wish you could duplicate one, but just have it 60s vs 1s....otherwise it works pretty nicely.

[vivithemage]

Some things I like :

battery life = awesome, I can go a lot longer with GPS on then my Garmin
Looks like a normal watch, compared to the competition
I love being able to modify everything for the exorcizes on movecount (although a bit clunky imo, still early stages it looks like)


things I wish I could do :

duplicate exercises, makes adding a 60s vs a 1s exercise easier
ability to change main watch option like the exercise pages, this one is a no brainer
like mapmyride/mapmyfitness, be able to hover over the location on your move in the site, and see the time/altitude/etc


overall I am liking it!

[bowesmana]

things I wish I could do :

duplicate exercises, makes adding a 60s vs a 1s exercise easier

overall I am liking it!

Do you mean duplicate the exercise 'modes'. You can just create a new custom mode in Movescount. Although there's no duplicate option, it's easy enough to set up a new one.

There's no issue with charging the Ambit from USB whatever the voltage is. I've been travelling for 3 months in Europe/US and have used car USB charger in different cars, wall USB and my solarmonkey adventurer USB charger.