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If you are looking for an extremely comfortable heart rate monitor, one that offers both fitness buffs and athletes the ability to keep careful tabs on their exercise level
and heart rate throughout exercise, then the Suunto M5 may be for you.

 

Suunto M5 Review – Mans Best Gym Friend?

With the Suunto M5 Black you can choose from among three fitness goals: fitness, weight or free. Guidance is offered when you choose weight or fitness, none is given when you choose free. The M5 will offer suggested times for working out, plus estimate a recovery period.

 

Setting up the Suunto M5

The Suunto M5 is very easy to set up. Once the watch is unpacked, a simple press of a button will wake it from sleep mode. Pressing the indicated button and holding for a few seconds will bring you to set-up mode.

This is where you can select the measurement scale you wish to use (metric or imperial), language, time and date and whether you prefer the 12 or 24 hour timing system. Then you enter your vitals (weight, height, level of fitness and birth date). You will have the ability to choose if you want to accept the min/max heart rate it offers or input your own.

Once it has all of that information, the Suunto M5 will give you a diagnosis of whether or not you are overweight.

Now you are able to begin exercising or, if you would like, to choose another option.

We found it a bit disheartening however that the M5 does not allow you to program training intervals.

 

 

Test Your Fitness

The M5 Fitness Test is a way for the heart rate monitor to test your fitness level. It is a simple test where you begin the test and walk as fast as you possibly can for a mile and then stop, ending the test.

There is a simplicity that holds a certain charm, although it comes at a loss of some advanced features (like setting intervals). It is great that there is full flexibility for the user to determine the type of activity they wish to pursue. The Suunto M5 Black displays your heart rate while you follow your exercise routine.

My largest concern is the transmitter and strap of the M5. It feels comfortable but it seems a bit complex in its design. It remains to be seen whether or not it will stand up to the heavy usage it will undoubtedly be put through.

Even though the M5 may not have all the fancy features that pricier models may include, it is still extremely versatile in that it can track your level of effort. It only stores your last workout session stats, however you can see a running tally of your workouts with various stats such as the number of sessions you have done, the amount of calories you have burned in the last month and how well you have done in the last seven days and last four weeks.

The M5’s display is clear and legible. You can upload your stats to their website, “movescount dot com.”

Overall, the Suunto M5 is quite pleasing. It is a very nice looking heart rate monitor that is both comfortable and fashionable. The watch function is very charming and the display is easily read whether you are inside or out. The digits, and the heart rate count, in particular, are large and simple to read.

 

Best Price

The best price found for the Suunto M5 at the time of this article was found on Amazon for £84.99

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