Suunto 9 Peak Pro offers more health & fitness features compared to the 9 Baro, including blood oxygen, HRV, adaptive training guidance, and a depth meter. However, Suunto 9 Baro is more affordable, has a higher resolution display, and has more battery modes.
Suunto 9 Baro vs Peak Pro: 6 Aspects Compared
By Naila Syifa
Updated May 2024
Suunto 9 Baro and Suunto 9 Peak Pro are two popular GPS sports watches from the Finnish company Suunto. Both watches offer advanced features for outdoor enthusiasts and athletes, but there are some key differences between them.
In this comparison, we'll break down the similarities and differences between the two models across a few key comparison aspects to help you decide which one is the best fit for your needs and preferences.
Key Takeaways
Suunto 9 Peak Pro offers more health & fitness features compared to the 9 Baro, including blood oxygen, HRV, adaptive training guidance, and a depth meter. However, Suunto 9 Baro is more affordable, has a higher resolution display, and has more battery modes.
Suunto 9 Baro
Tough Outdoor Sports Watch
✓ Health & Training Features
✓ Free Offline Maps
✓ Multi-GNSS Support
✓ 5 Intelligent Battery Modes
Suunto 9 Peak Pro
Premium Sleek Multisport Watch
✓ Military-Grade Durability
✓ HRV, Blood Oxygen, Adaptive Training Guide
✓ Multi-GNSS Support
✓ 4 Intelligent Battery Modes
#1 Price
Suunto 9 Baro
Suunto 9 Baro and Suunto 9 Peak Pro come in several variants, each priced differently based on the materials and colors. Generally, the 9 Baro is more affordable than the 9 Peak Pro, starting at around US$239. It is more than two times cheaper than the 9 Peak Pro, which starts at US$549.
Due to the significant price gap, it is important that you carefully consider whether the extra features that the Peak Pro offers are worth the investment.
#2 Design & Display
Suunto 9 Peak Pro
While the Suunto 9 Baro has a sporty, rugged appearance that appeals to outdoor enthusiasts, the Suunto 9 Peak Pro boasts a sleeker, more elegant design suitable for both sports and everyday wear.
The 9 Peak Pro also caters to people with smaller wrists, fitting to wrist sizes ranging from 125-175 mm, while the 9 Baro is designed for wrist sizes between 130-220 mm.
The 9 Peak Pro is also lighter and has a more minimalistic display size of 43 mm, while the 9 Baro is big and bulky at 50 mm. This makes the 9 Peak Pro more comfortable to wear for extended periods and is suitable for different occasions, from the gym to the office.
However, a bigger display in the 9 Baro allows for a higher display resolution of 320 x 300, which makes it easier to read information at a glance during activities. In comparison, the 9 Peak Pro has a lower display resolution of 240 x 240.
#3 Health & Fitness Features
Suunto 9 Baro
Both watches have a range of features to track your health and fitness, as well as helping you to train more effectively and reach your goals. These include heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, VO2 max for fitness level, stress and recovery, training load, and more.
Suunto 9 Peak Pro has an advantage with its Adaptive Training Guidance feature, which provides intensity and duration-based real-time guidance during workouts. The 9 Peak Pro also has 95 built-in sports modes, which is a little more than the 9 Baro with 80 built-in sports modes.
If you do snorkeling or diving, the 9 Peak Pro is a better choice, as it has a Depth Meter feature that displays your current depth and the maximum depth reached during your dive. The 9 Baro is also waterproof, but it doesn't come with a Depth Meter feature, making it less suitable for underwater activities.
Suunto 9 Peak Pro
Some other features that the 9 Peak Pro offers over the 9 Baro include blood oxygen and heart rate variability (HRV) measurement. These two features can provide additional insights into your overall health and fitness, which the 9 Baro lacks.
The presence of those two features also makes the 9 Peak Pro able to provide more comprehensive sleep data that includes heart rate, HRV, and blood oxygen levels during sleep. The 9 Baro lacks this ability.
Suunto 9 Peak Pro even has additional data about your Light Sleep duration, aside from the Deep Sleep duration, total sleep duration, and sleep quality score, three of which are also available in the Suunto 9 Baro.
#4 Maps & Navigational Features
Suunto 9 Baro
Suunto 9 Baro and Suunto 9 Peak Pro are very similar in this aspect. Both offer free offline outdoor terrain and satellite maps, which are very useful for navigation when you're out in the wilderness without cellular coverage.
Both watches also support multi-band GNSS, relying on multiple satellite systems like GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS, and BeiDou for more accurate positioning.
One small difference is that while the Suunto 9 Peak Pro supports using up to 4 satellite systems simultaneously, the Suunto 9 Baro only supports up to 2 satellite systems at the same time. This gives the 9 Peak a slight advantage in terms of accuracy and reliability of GPS tracking, especially in challenging environments like dense forests or deep canyons.
#5 Smartwatch Features
Suunto 9 Peak Pro
Suunto 9 Baro and Suunto 9 Peak Pro have a range of smartwatch features suitable for everyday use and connectivity, including smartphone notifications, music controls, and a range of date and time functions like stopwatch, alarm, and more. With an Android phone, you can even reply to messages with pre-written responses directly from the watch.
One slight advantage that the 9 Peak Pro offers is the support for automatic over-the-air software updates, which allows you to easily keep your watch's firmware up-to-date.
Unfortunately, both watches have no contactless payment feature, unlike some competitor smartwatches like the Garmin Fenix 7.
Read also: Suunto 9 Peak Pro vs Garmin Fenix 7
#6 Battery Life
Suunto 9 Baro
The Suunto 9 Peak Pro boasts an exceptional battery life, providing up to 40 hours in training mode with GPS and an incredible 30 days in time mode. This makes it an excellent choice for long outdoor adventures and expeditions where battery life is paramount.
In comparison, the Suunto 9 Baro offers a still respectable but slightly shorter battery life of up to 25 hours in training mode with GPS and 14 days in time mode. This should still be more than sufficient for most users' typical training and activity needs.
Suunto Intelligent Battery Modes
Both watches also feature intelligent battery modes that allow you to customize the power consumption to your specific requirements. The 9 Peak Pro offers Performance, Endurance, Tour, and Custom modes, while the 9 Baro has Performance, Endurance, Ultra, Tour, and Custom modes.
These modes help you optimize battery life by sacrificing certain features and functionality that you don't need during certain activities. The more battery modes that the 9 Baro offers give you better flexibility in managing your watch's battery life.
Suunto 9 Baro vs Suunto 9 Peak Pro
Final Thoughts
Suunto 9 Peak Pro
The choice between the Suunto 9 Baro and Suunto 9 Peak Pro ultimately comes down to your specific needs and preferences.
If you prioritize a sleeker, more versatile design, the 9 Peak Pro may be the better option. Additionally, the 9 Peak Pro's advanced health and fitness tracking features, as well as its exceptional battery life, may be worth the higher price tag for some users.
However, if you're looking for a more rugged, sports-focused watch with a larger display and more affordable pricing, the 9 Baro could be the better fit.
If you like to read more on smartwatches, check out our other relevant guides here:
Best Garmin Watches
Suunto Vertical vs Garmin Fenix 7
Suunto 9 Peak vs Peak Pro
Suunto Race vs Vertical
Suunto Core vs Core Alpha
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