Suunto 3 User Guide

Daily activity

Activity tracking

Your watch keeps track of your overall activity level throughout the day. This is an important factor whether you just aim to be fit and healthy or you are training for an upcoming competition. It is good to be active, but when training hard, you need to have proper rest days with low activity.

The activity counter automatically resets at midnight every day. At the end of the week, the watch provides a summary of your activity.

From the watch face display, press the lower right button until you see your total steps for the day.

Your watch counts steps using an accelerometer. The total step count accumulates 24/7, also while recording training sessions and other activities. However, with some specific sports, such as swimming and cycling, steps are not counted.

In addition to steps, you can press the upper left button to see estimated calories for the day.

The large number in the center of the display is the estimated amount of active calories you have burned during the day. Below this you see the total calories burned. The total includes both active calories and your Basal Metabolic Rate (see below).

The ring in both displays indicates how close you are to your daily activity goals. These targets can be adjusted to your personal preferences (see below).

You can also check your steps over the last seven days by pressing the middle button once. Press the middle button again to see calories burned over the last seven days.

While in steps or calories display, press the lower right button to see the exact numbers for each day.

Activity goals

You can adjust your daily goals for both steps and calories. While in the activity display, keep the middle button pressed to open the activity goal settings.

When setting your steps goal, you define the total number of steps for the day.

The total calories you burn per day is based on two factors: your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and your physical activity.

Your BMR is the amount of calories your body burns while at rest. These are the calories your body needs to stay warm and perform basic function like blink your eyes or beat your heart. This number is based on your personal profile, including factors such as age and gender.

When you set a calorie goal, you define how many calories you want to burn in addition to your BMR. These are your so-called active calories. The ring around the activity display advances according to how many active calories you burn during the day compared to your goal.

Instant HR

The instant HR display provides a quick snapshot of your heart rate. The display shows your current heart rate.

To view instant HR:

1. From the watch face view, press the bottom right button to scroll to the instant HR display.

2. Press the lower left button to exit the display and return to the watch face view.

Daily HR

The daily HR display provides a 12-hour view of your heart rate. This is a helpful source of information about, for example, your recovery after a hard training session.

The display shows your heart rate over 12 hours as a graph. The graph is plotted using your average heart rate based on 24-minute time slots. In addition, you get your lowest heart rate during the 12-hour period.

Your minimum heart rate from the last 12 hours is a good indicator of your recovery state. If it is higher than normal, you probably are not yet fully recovered from your last exercise.

If you record an exercise, the daily HR values reflect the elevated heart rate from your training. But keep in mind that the graph rates are averages. If your heart rate peaks at 200 bpm while exercising, the graph does not show that maximum value, but rather the average from the 24 minutes during which you hit that peak rate.

Before you can see your daily HR graph, you need to activate the daily HR feature. You can toggle the feature on or off from the settings under Activity. If you are in the heart rate display, you can also access the activity settings by keeping the middle button pressed.

With the daily HR feature on, your watch activates the optical heart rate sensor on a regular basis to check your heart rate. This slightly increases battery power consumption.

Once activated, your watch needs 24 minutes before it can start displaying daily HR information.

To view daily HR:

1. From the watch face view, press the lower right button to scroll to the instant HR display.
2. Press the middle button to switch to the daily HR display.

Pressing the the lower right button in the Daily HR display will show how much energy you consume every hour, based on you heart rate.