The Suunto X6 HR : An Urban Home Companion
Posted By Nicolas Danan on 12 June 2006
The station at Lexington Avenue and 59th Street offers express trains to Broadway and 34th , one of my main morning destinations. Train doors closing, heartbeat is at 140 as I ran fast to catch the train. Ipoded girls wearing jeans and high heels boots seated side by side give me a quick preview of the early spring fashion trend in New York, but I pranayama my way down to 80bpm.
Door closes, I gulp my last breath of air before the next station: 50th Street. Nine city blocks, about half a mile. The X6 chronometer is still going. Train doors open, some passengers step out, fresh ones come in, two guys board with their drums. Me, I'm still holding as the now-familiar please stand clear of the closing doors drones out of the loudspeaker. We're heading for 44th street. The X6 altimeter is giving me some negative readings, correctly sensing my underground location ! I'm still in the easy phase of my breath-hold. The two guys start drumming on their bongos. They're good enough, but for some reason my heart wants to match their tempo and goes back up to 80bpm - not a good thing…struggle phase here I come! Loud subway brakes signal the upcoming stop on 44th street - doors opens… slow controlled exhale, resume breathing.
I've been logging the whole thing and the Suunto software that comes with the watch should give me a nice bar graph including heartbeat, time and altitude. I have a Mac! Suunto still doesn't provide Mac software, but soon will, or so I'm told. I think there's some third-party Mac software available on the net, as for the D3. Check on DB forums.
Poolside, the X6 HR works great, as the watch is rated to …well, to a depth you don’t have to worry about in the pool. The compass, too, worked well underwater, a definite plus when you loose the line in murky water. I've used a Polar A5 for a few years but it doesn’t compare to the multiple functions and style that the X6 has to offer. The amount of information one can get from such a small timepiece is astounding. I'm not quite sure I need to know the barometric pressure, but when I do, I will.
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