Can you read the display ?????

[rbarrios]

Hi all,

I've just received a black-orange Core for Christmas. I think it is a great watch and I was very excited at first... but I've been using it for a day and each time I look at it I find myself moving my forearm until I manage to read the display. It is not easy. At all !!

Being a watch intended for outdoor (extreme) sports, it should be very, very easy to read.

I've replaced the battery with a new one but it hasn't improved.

Can you read yours easily ????

Thank you,
Roberto Barrios
Madrid

	Suunto Core - Click for more info The Suunto Core is the benchmark of Suunto's ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) wristop computers, furnishing the best features of top-selling Suunto predecessors, and then advancing upon their legacy with innovative environmental monitoring functions that any outdoor adventurer will find invaluable. The Suunto Core is the culmination of years of testing, research, user feedback from the field, and technological advancements in the Suunto laboratory.

[Adde]

Roberto,

I agree with you to 100%. These watches should be easy to read in any conditions. Unfortunately negative faces in general are much harder to read and Suunto Core watches are no exception. Dark orange on black is simply not a good combination if visibility is of any importance... As a matter of fact "hard to read the display" is a quite frequent complaint in various forums discussing these watches with negative faces.

Note! All Core watches have the exact same functionality (same watch different color scheme and material) so you could try exchanging your Black Orange for a Light Black...

/Adde

	Suunto Visit SuuntoWatches.com to see Suunto's full line of wrist top computers and compasses.

	Suunto Core - Click for more info The Suunto Core is the benchmark of Suunto's ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) wristop computers, furnishing the best features of top-selling Suunto predecessors, and then advancing upon their legacy with innovative environmental monitoring functions that any outdoor adventurer will find invaluable. The Suunto Core is the culmination of years of testing, research, user feedback from the field, and technological advancements in the Suunto laboratory.

[rbarrios]

Adde,

Yes, you are right that a color filter on top of the LCD does decrease visibility. But still, this is a tool, not a fashion accesory (or are they starting to be just that ?)

Anyway, I've found a way to improve the readability of the display but increasing the contrast. The change is not dramatic, but noticeable.

It's possible to do it from the service menu (courtesy of the Watchuseek forums):

1. Press and hold the upper left, lower left, upper right and lower right buttons until 'SUUNTO' appears on the display.
2. When the display is blank press the upper left button once - 'SUUNTO' will appear on the screen.
3. While 'SUUNTO' is still displayed press and hold the upper left button.
4. Highlight the 'contrast' option then press the middle right button.
5. Change the contrast using the upper right and lower right buttons.
6. Press the lower left then upper left buttons to exit.

Regards,
Roberto

[elpossa]

Hi,
I've just received a black-yellow Core (a gift), but... there are some strange things.
1. On the battery cover is written "Suunto C2", not "Suunto CORE".
2. I cannot start working compass: choosing COMPASS appears "calibration: factory" and nothing changes. What have I do?
3. The menu seems incomplete: some items shows "hello" and a strange picture instead eg. sunrise setting.
4. I cannot show the barometric trend (tre two little arrows), how can I do?

What's happens?

Thanks a lot
Elpossa

	Suunto Visit SuuntoWatches.com to see Suunto's full line of wrist top computers and compasses.

	Suunto Core - Click for more info The Suunto Core is the benchmark of Suunto's ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) wristop computers, furnishing the best features of top-selling Suunto predecessors, and then advancing upon their legacy with innovative environmental monitoring functions that any outdoor adventurer will find invaluable. The Suunto Core is the culmination of years of testing, research, user feedback from the field, and technological advancements in the Suunto laboratory.

	Compass Compasses are sensitive, absolutely crucial instruments to precision navigation. The earth's magnetic field, inclination, and your longitude and latitude all influence the horizontal plane of a compass needle. As a result, compasses are balanced for different geographical zones. Suunto Compasses overcome this limitation to traditional compasses by using a simple 'Two Zone System'. With a Suunto Compass, the only 'balancing zones' are the northern and southern hemispheres. In addition to this innovation, certain Suunto Compasses come equipped with useful features like luminous needles and marks, centimeter/inch scales, magnifying glasses, clinometers, sighting notches, and more.

[Vee Jay]

Originally Posted by rbarrios

Adde,

Yes, you are right that a color filter on top of the LCD does decrease visibility. But still, this is a tool, not a fashion accesory (or are they starting to be just that ?)

Anyway, I've found a way to improve the readability of the display but increasing the contrast. The change is not dramatic, but noticeable.

It's possible to do it from the service menu (courtesy of the Watchuseek forums):

1. Press and hold the upper left, lower left, upper right and lower right buttons until 'SUUNTO' appears on the display.
2. When the display is blank press the upper left button once - 'SUUNTO' will appear on the screen.
3. While 'SUUNTO' is still displayed press and hold the upper left button.
4. Highlight the 'contrast' option then press the middle right button.
5. Change the contrast using the upper right and lower right buttons.
6. Press the lower left then upper left buttons to exit.

Regards,
Roberto

Thanx Roberto, did the contrast change and it looks a bit better. Dont you think that it could be voltage problem?

[Arthur]

Originally Posted by elpossa

Hi,
I've just received a black-yellow Core (a gift), but... there are some strange things.
1. On the battery cover is written "Suunto C2", not "Suunto CORE".
2. I cannot start working compass: choosing COMPASS appears "calibration: factory" and nothing changes. What have I do?
3. The menu seems incomplete: some items shows "hello" and a strange picture instead eg. sunrise setting.
4. I cannot show the barometric trend (tre two little arrows), how can I do?

What's happens?

Thanks a lot
Elpossa

Elpossa,
Did the watch come from an Approved/Authorized Dealer?
The watch should have Suunto Core on the back.

There were an awful lot of problems on earlier Core watches and it is only in the recent batches (Feb 2009) that the problems have been rectified.
Have a look at the serial and tell me what the first three digits are......
If for example it starts '908' then the watch was manufactured in week 11 of the year 2009.

	Suunto Visit SuuntoWatches.com to see Suunto's full line of wrist top computers and compasses.

	Suunto Core - Click for more info The Suunto Core is the benchmark of Suunto's ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) wristop computers, furnishing the best features of top-selling Suunto predecessors, and then advancing upon their legacy with innovative environmental monitoring functions that any outdoor adventurer will find invaluable. The Suunto Core is the culmination of years of testing, research, user feedback from the field, and technological advancements in the Suunto laboratory.

	Compass Compasses are sensitive, absolutely crucial instruments to precision navigation. The earth's magnetic field, inclination, and your longitude and latitude all influence the horizontal plane of a compass needle. As a result, compasses are balanced for different geographical zones. Suunto Compasses overcome this limitation to traditional compasses by using a simple 'Two Zone System'. With a Suunto Compass, the only 'balancing zones' are the northern and southern hemispheres. In addition to this innovation, certain Suunto Compasses come equipped with useful features like luminous needles and marks, centimeter/inch scales, magnifying glasses, clinometers, sighting notches, and more.

[Joska]

Originally Posted by rbarrios

Hi all,

I've just received a black-orange Core for Christmas. I think it is a great watch and I was very excited at first... but I've been using it for a day and each time I look at it I find myself moving my forearm until I manage to read the display. It is not easy. At all !!

Being a watch intended for outdoor (extreme) sports, it should be very, very easy to read.

I've replaced the battery with a new one but it hasn't improved.

Can you read yours easily ????

Thank you,
Roberto Barrios
Madrid

I have it now 1 week and I' m realy disappointed.

The visibility is very poor (even outside) and is far from what Suunto is depicting on the website. I bought the watch on-line, believing the visibility is something like you can see on the Suunto website.
How can we know that Suunto is selling a watch that has a barely visible display? If I had known beforehand, I would have bought another colour.

Regards,

Joska

	Suunto Visit SuuntoWatches.com to see Suunto's full line of wrist top computers and compasses.

	Suunto Core - Click for more info The Suunto Core is the benchmark of Suunto's ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) wristop computers, furnishing the best features of top-selling Suunto predecessors, and then advancing upon their legacy with innovative environmental monitoring functions that any outdoor adventurer will find invaluable. The Suunto Core is the culmination of years of testing, research, user feedback from the field, and technological advancements in the Suunto laboratory.

[giglr]

Originally Posted by rbarrios

Adde,

Yes, you are right that a color filter on top of the LCD does decrease visibility. But still, this is a tool, not a fashion accesory (or are they starting to be just that ?)

Anyway, I've found a way to improve the readability of the display but increasing the contrast. The change is not dramatic, but noticeable.

It's possible to do it from the service menu (courtesy of the Watchuseek forums):

1. Press and hold the upper left, lower left, upper right and lower right buttons until 'SUUNTO' appears on the display.
2. When the display is blank press the upper left button once - 'SUUNTO' will appear on the screen.
3. While 'SUUNTO' is still displayed press and hold the upper left button.
4. Highlight the 'contrast' option then press the middle right button.
5. Change the contrast using the upper right and lower right buttons.
6. Press the lower left then upper left buttons to exit.

Regards,
Roberto

Doing this, does it clear everything out? Will I have to go back in to set time, date, etc...?

[Knagel]

No, you won't have to reset everything else.

I have the Orange/Black core I got about a year ago, I then got the black leather band for the core series watches and swapped out the orange band, although the black band came with chrome lugs and a chrome buckle, the orange band had black ones, so I swapped everything to black except the tang on the buckle, since the leather band had smaller round holes you have to use the tang from the chrome buckle, but once it is on all you see is the tip of the tang, so it isn't even noticeable. In any case it is all black now, and very sweet looking.

Regarding the contrast, the default contrast setting in the service menu is 5, change it to 7 or 8, 7 seams pretty good, at 8 you can see a hint of some of the inactive LCD segments in extremely bright light, but it isn't too bad. As a matter of fact I think they should have it set to 7 as the default, at 7 it seems very easy to read outside and not too bad indoors except in really dim light. I also have noticed over time it seems to get easier to read, I'm not sure if the the display "burns in" or your eyes just adjust to it better, but after a couple of months it seems a whole lot easier to read, I'm leaning toward the "burning in" theory, I'm pretty sure it wasn't this easy to read when I first got it.

Regarding battery and reseting issues, this was an issue with the versions with the poly-carbonate cases (Like the orange/black version), the metal, stainless and aluminum versions did not have this issue if you have an older version with this problem send it back to Suunto and they will swap it out for one that has this issue corrected, I'm not sure if you have to do it within a certain time frame, so you may want to do it as soon as possible, you can call them and they will tell you what you need to do. I swapped mine out a little while ago and have had no problems with the new one.

	Suunto Visit SuuntoWatches.com to see Suunto's full line of wrist top computers and compasses.

	Suunto Core - Click for more info The Suunto Core is the benchmark of Suunto's ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) wristop computers, furnishing the best features of top-selling Suunto predecessors, and then advancing upon their legacy with innovative environmental monitoring functions that any outdoor adventurer will find invaluable. The Suunto Core is the culmination of years of testing, research, user feedback from the field, and technological advancements in the Suunto laboratory.

	Suunto Bands - Click for more info The range of Suunto Core Acessory Straps include the six straps as found on the various Suunto Core wristop computer models as well as three additional straps. All straps are compatible with every Core model, allowing you to custom-tailor your Core to your tastes and needs.

[giglr]

Originally Posted by Knagel

No, you won't have to reset everything else.

I have the Orange/Black core I got about a year ago, I then got the black leather band for the core series watches and swapped out the orange band, although the black band came with chrome lugs and a chrome buckle, the orange band had black ones, so I swapped everything to black except the tang on the buckle, since the leather band had smaller round holes you have to use the tang from the chrome buckle, but once it is on all you see is the tip of the tang, so it isn't even noticeable. In any case it is all black now, and very sweet looking.

Regarding the contrast, the default contrast setting in the service menu is 5, change it to 7 or 8, 7 seams pretty good, at 8 you can see a hint of some of the inactive LCD segments in extremely bright light, but it isn't too bad. As a matter of fact I think they should have it set to 7 as the default, at 7 it seems very easy to read outside and not too bad indoors except in really dim light. I also have noticed over time it seems to get easier to read, I'm not sure if the the display "burns in" or your eyes just adjust to it better, but after a couple of months it seems a whole lot easier to read, I'm leaning toward the "burning in" theory, I'm pretty sure it wasn't this easy to read when I first got it.

Regarding battery and reseting issues, this was an issue with the versions with the poly-carbonate cases (Like the orange/black version), the metal, stainless and aluminum versions did not have this issue if you have an older version with this problem send it back to Suunto and they will swap it out for one that has this issue corrected, I'm not sure if you have to do it within a certain time frame, so you may want to do it as soon as possible, you can call them and they will tell you what you need to do. I swapped mine out a little while ago and have had no problems with the new one.

Uhh, yes you do have to reset everything.

	Suunto Visit SuuntoWatches.com to see Suunto's full line of wrist top computers and compasses.

	Suunto Core - Click for more info The Suunto Core is the benchmark of Suunto's ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass) wristop computers, furnishing the best features of top-selling Suunto predecessors, and then advancing upon their legacy with innovative environmental monitoring functions that any outdoor adventurer will find invaluable. The Suunto Core is the culmination of years of testing, research, user feedback from the field, and technological advancements in the Suunto laboratory.

	Suunto Bands - Click for more info The range of Suunto Core Acessory Straps include the six straps as found on the various Suunto Core wristop computer models as well as three additional straps. All straps are compatible with every Core model, allowing you to custom-tailor your Core to your tastes and needs.

[Knagel]

If you had to reset everything then there really is something wrong with your watch, I can go in and out of the service menu all day long without effecting the my settings, it's just a different menu, it doesn't reset anything. Before making this post I double checked this on my watch, I went into the service menu and changed my contrast setting from 7 to 8 and went back out, all my settings are fine, nothing has changed. If yours is resetting when you do that, then you need to contact Suunto.

	Suunto Visit SuuntoWatches.com to see Suunto's full line of wrist top computers and compasses.

[giglr]

I guess it also depends on what you have your's set at. If you have it set to metric, you're fine. You wouldn't notice a change.