Review Suunto Nautic S

It’s been a big year or so for Suunto. We’ve seen a slew of new releases that have completely refreshed its product lineup. First came the Ocean, a highly capable dive computer and smartwatch hybrid, and earlier this year the Nautic arrived: a superb, do-it-all, full-sized dive computer.

The Suunto Nautic S seemingly completes the new line-up. Shedding many of the smartwatch features of the Ocean, the Nautic S is a focused dive computer watch. The question I want to answer is whether, in the age of the multi-sport smartwatch, a dedicated wristwatch dive computer really makes sense.

Design

Nothing about the appearance of the Nautic S screams dive computer, and I like that. Available only in black, it’s discreet, with the only real evidence of its diving pedigree being the small ‘Suunto’ logo at the bottom of the bezel. The watch is predominantly polymer, but the bezel itself is stainless steel, giving the Nautic S a reassuring sense of weight.

The Nautic S shares the same 36mm AMOLED screen as the Ocean, and it’s excellent. I think it’s about as large as you want a watch display to be before it becomes too big and awkward on smaller wrists. In the water, as I’ve found with other AMOLED displays, it offers exceptional viewing angles and clarity.

This allows it to punch well above its weight. I found the much smaller Nautic S easier to read than my considerably larger, but older, EON Core, which uses an older-style TFT display.

It’s a touchscreen, too, but I always stuck to operating it using the three physical buttons surrounding the bezel. They protrude nicely from the watch, making them easy to find and identify, even with gloves. My only complaint is that I’d like another one. A three-button control scheme means you have to long-press a button (or use a contextual prompt) to go back through the menu structure.

It’s a small thing, but I always find that extra button useful.

The biggest design win on the Nautic S is its textile strap. Adjustable at both ends, it has a huge range of adjustment, allowing it to accommodate the different thicknesses of wetsuits and drysuits while remaining comfortable in everyday use. It certainly beats having to swap straps or use extenders, as is often necessary with rubber straps.

My first in-water test of the Nautic S was actually snorkelling, followed by a couple of days of diving. The strap transitioned easily from a wetsuit to a drysuit and fitted comfortably over my dry-glove rings.

Features

The Nautic S is a capable and well-featured dive computer.

The Nautic S follows in the footsteps of the Nautic and Ocean by ditching Suunto’s much-discussed (and maligned) proprietary RGBM algorithm in favour of the ever-popular Bühlmann model. It offers fully customisable gradient factors, which are easy to find and adjust.

One of the biggest compliments I can pay the Nautic S is that I never really had to think about using it. Out of the box, setting up the computer was easy, diving with it was easy, and reviewing dive logs was easy. I never struggled to find a setting or work out what to do in a particular menu.

The standard diving display layout is excellent and has been well optimised for the screen size. By displaying only depth, time, decompression information and gas, Suunto ensures that everything is as large and readable as possible.

One particularly nice design touch is the ability to display the compass around the edge of the screen without obscuring any of the other information. This allows you to keep the compass visible at all times without needing to press a button or compromise other key information, which I found incredibly useful.

A Dumb Dive Watch?

This is definitely a dive watch, not a smartwatch. There are no sports modes or heart-rate tracking here. All you get is diving, freediving and, in what is a first for me, mermaiding.

The biggest benefit of leaving out these features is the superb battery life. It’s difficult to quantify just how good it is, but Suunto advertises up to 60 hours of diving, and I have no reason to doubt that claim. A dive seemed to use just a percentage point or two of battery life. That’s it.

Removing the need for constant monitoring on the surface also means that battery life outside of diving is measured in weeks. That means no battery anxiety and one less thing to charge during a busy dive trip.

The Nautic S may not offer health and fitness tracking, but it is well integrated with Suunto’s app. This includes automatic syncing of dive data, tide times and weather information. Suunto’s dive route tracking feature also returns, providing a visualisation of your dive in the app. It’s fun to look at, but I’ve never found it particularly accurate.

Another included feature is GPS, along with the ability to download offline maps. GPS allows you to view your dive entry and exit points, a feature that is implemented really well in the app. Offline maps are a nice-to-have, but not particularly useful on such a small screen. Their utility is further hampered by the map selection, which is geared towards land-based activities. As far as I could tell, there are no maritime charts.

Comparison

Suunto Nautic S Verdict

Suunto has delivered a highly capable dive computer in the Nautic S. In the water, it’s about as fully featured as most divers could need, from freediving to multi-gas diving and sidemount. There’s an awful lot to like.

My issue, and this is a personal preference, is the overall package. I want the flexibility of a health and fitness smartwatch alongside all those great diving features.

I get it: some people don’t want or need the general smartwatch features and would prefer something dedicated to diving. For them, the Nautic S is a perfect fit. I can see it being particularly popular with dive professionals, thanks to its competitive price, excellent battery life and strong set of diving features.

At £479 ($549), it’s significantly cheaper than the Ocean (£725/$799), which offers additional health and fitness features. Looking at the wider dive computer market, the Nautic S is probably the best-value dedicated dive computer available right now.

So, for me, it’s not quite the right mix of features. If I were buying a Suunto, I’d step up to the Ocean. But if you’re looking for an excellent dedicated dive computer watch, the Nautic S is a great choice.

The Suunto Nautic S is available now and retails at £479 ($549)

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