In my opinion, there is a place on the market, but only for a relatively small group of people, for an uncompromising outdoor watch, but this is definitely too narrow a group of potential customers for Suunto, or even any other manufacturer, to be particularly interested.
What I mean is MIP, five buttons, the ability to use it entirely without the touchscreen, and full offline functionality – both on the watch and in the app. And clean, intuitive, and responsive maps, compass, as well as the whole interface.
And additionally, a few tools that would be desirable in this type of watch: compass access while following a GPX route or using multiple navigation tools at the same time (currently only one tool can be used at a time); the ability to use routes saved in the Logbook without syncing with the phone; a more intuitive, native Live Track function; night mode (Red light), and increased distance tolerance from the planned route for the Off Route function.
But let’s be honest – the chances of a watch like this hitting the market are slim to none. People actually prefer smartwatches: “scores” instead of precise data for analysis, steps, floors, challenges, navigation like Google Maps, music, payments and other gadgets. It’s a bit like most people who buy Arc’teryx or Patagonia jackets just to wear around the city. And you could say the same about a large group of Garmin users – this partly explains their position on the market.
