Suunto and Fossil Smart Watch Comparison Author: Talon Date Posted:15/12/2004 15:26.28 Suunto N3i SLRating: Fossil FX3005 SLRating: Bottom Line: Smart watch technology has progressed a long way. We compared Suunto’s original N3 and Fossil’s first Wristnet to the N3i and FX3005. The new watches are more functional and compact. Will your choice will come down to functionality or style? Article Navigation Introduction First Impressions MSN Direct Design Functionality - Watch Faces Conclusions (Fossil) (Suunto) Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 Discuss This Article

Functionality - Watch Faces

Fossil and Suunto stayed consistent with their separate design goals when determining the functionality of their watches. Again, the capabilities of each watch mirror the audience they were built for; the N3i for the sport-oriented and the FX3005 for the more elegance-minded.

First, let us look at the areas – okay, area – in which the FX3005 has an advantage over the N3i. Two words: Watch faces. Fossil’s FX3005 comes loaded with dozens of quality watch faces (I counted somewhere around 27); the N3i comes preloaded with six. And not only does the FX3005 have more watch faces, it has noticeably better ones. Below are pictures of only some of the watch faces that Fossil includes with the FX3005. Keep in mind that each watch face also has an “inverse” (the black and white colors are interchanged) face which I did not bother to take pictures of.

Now let us take a look at the watch faces that Suunto bundles with the N3i. Note that the pictures below show all the watch faces that were included on the N3i. The N3i does not have any inverse faces.

Functionality – Performance and Features

A nice-looking timepiece is always a plus, but it is worthless if it does not perform well. Fortunately, both the N3i and the FX3005 exhibit no major performance flaws. Even so, a closer look at the performance and features of both watches reveals that the N3i holds a few advantages over the FX3005.

The first area in which the N3i excels over the FX3005 is in speed. While neither Fossil nor Suunto give clear designations of the speeds of their watches, I have noticed that the N3i is just slightly more responsive than the FX3005. The difference is not a big one, but after using both watches, the FX3005 seems to “lag” a little bit when buttons are pressed, something that I have not noticed on the N3i

Also, the N3i has an edge over the FX3005 in the number of alarms that it can store. While the FX3005 can only handle two programmable alarms at one time, the N3i can handle three.

Finally, the N3i also has a much more advanced “chrono” feature than does the FX3005. Suunto has always been a leader in designing watches for athletes, and its experience is obvious when it comes to the many timing abilities the N3i has. While the FX3005 has only basic stopwatch and timer abilities, the N3i boasts a programmable interval trainer, interval reminders, lap-time review, and a handy logbook feature that tracks and records your times.

Another feature that bears mentioning is the backlight. Again, Fossil and Suunto have styled this feature differently from each other. The FX3005’s backlight is a white light emitted from the upper part of the watch. On the other hand, the N3i features a more traditional inversed green backlight. Both are equally effective.

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Article Navigation Introduction First Impressions MSN Direct Design Functionality - Watch Faces Conclusions

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