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At the store where I picked mine up, I had the Seamaster in one hand and the Yachtsman in the other. Lastly, I already knicked the aluminum bezel reaching into a closet. The compass reading is a little jumpy (though in my experience, accurate). The race timer is essentially a countdown (you synchronize with race committee gunshots) followed by a stopwatch, with split time viewing and one-race memory. Also, its a great looking watch if you can pull off the large size, and its relatively inexpensive.The bad: The contrast could be a little darker, and the backlight could be a little brighter. The Yachtsman has probably twice the mass, but less than half the weight.
when I'm rolling around on the foredeck and trimming sails, its probably going to get pretty beat up.Overall, good product. I like this watch a lot. Picked this up in order to give my Omega Seamaster a break (needs to be sent back to switzerland to get polished up). I haven't changed the battery yet but the compartment is opened with a coin, and looks very easy.
All units can be changed between imperial and metric. The barometer includes a 1 hour interval memory (remember, 3 mbar change in under an hour and you're probably in trouble) and a thermometer. You can toggle seconds display briefly via pushing a button. Well done Suunto.
The thermometer doesn't take accurate readings while strapped on due to the heat from your wrist. A couple good features: it can only be stopped by hitting the stop button twice in two seconds - good for those of you that wear sailing gloves. Reading the manual (twice or three times) is an absolute must, because the buttons are unmarked. This watch is big, but very, very light.
No seconds display on the standard time view. If you aren't a racer, you might do just as well with the x-lander, which excludes the racing timer but includes an altimeter, all within the same aesthetic package. It is good looking, and will be a conversation piece when worn with a suit at business meetings.The good: Time, stopwatch, barometer, thermometer, compass, and race timer. Beeps are audible unless the wind is howling above 20 knots.
For a simpler, more user friendly Suunto sailing watch I recommend the M3. The concept behind this watch is neat, it looks nice, but Suunto should update this product and stop selling this particular watch. This watch was a disappointment for what you pay for it. It is hard to read at an angle, the countdown timer you would use to start a race is difficult to use and nearly inaudible.
So I recommend seeing it beforehand.So if you can live with the size, it's a good buy. I gave it to my boyfriend for Christmas and that was the key thing he mentioned - it is really big. This is a really good watch. The features are pretty handy - barometer, temperature, can store readings, etc.The only concern is regarding the size of the watch.
It is a nice looking watch, good display, and very easy to use. Having the temperature and pressure is nice, but okay. they are extras. I have been looking for quite some time at different sailing watches. I would highly recommend this watch for anyone who truly competes in sailing regatta's. I have now had this watch for a few months and I must admit it is the best watch I have ever used. As a bowman, I compete quite heavily in sailing regatta's and have tried several different watches. It is very user friendly and has an excellent countdown timer.
I generally want to know seconds, not what month it is, on the race course. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to when you do what.In all, I'm disappointed with the lack of flexibility for displaying the time (you'd think they could splurge for a six digit display for the time, it is a watch, after all). The baro and compass features are cool, although I don't use them that much.I find it odd that in "Time" mode it doesn't show the seconds digitally, instead preferring to show the day of week, month, and day of month.
Instead there is a one shot timer that, once started, it seems that no force in the universe can reset, although you can get it to jump (either up or down, I can't remember which) by pressing one of the buttons.Finally, I am reasonably intelligent but I'm no good at this thing's interface. The timer is "use it our way or not at all" as well. Navigating through functions involves pressing one of three buttons either once, twice in two seconds, or holding it down for two seconds.
I want to like this watch a lot, but I am having to admit that my inexpensive Timex Ironman (now at the bottom of Lake Michigan ticking away) did the basics better. There is no repeat mode, which I used to set to five minutes and just let roll during starting sequences. I could fight through the interface by reading the manual every night for a week, but really, it's not supposed to be that hard.
You can get it to show seconds by pressing one of the unlabelled and not particularly intuitive buttons, but only for ten seconds, then it's back to the day (or date, I can't remember which). There is a 36 element ring that does some stuff as seconds elapse but it isn't easy to read at a glance.The countdown timer is odd too.
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