Preference for a 3- or 5-Button Configuration?

[TonyG]

@Egika I have had the Coros Apex Pro, and the rotating button on that got gunked up with fine silt (work in intertidal sediments) and refused to turn, took only one outing in that environment to convince me that rotating buttons were not suitable for me I currently use a Garmin and 5 button or three doesnt bother me either way so long as the UI can navigated with ease, if I had to Pick then Three with Touchscreen as per Suunto solution.

[freeheeler]

@TrailEyes

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

The only thing I miss from my S5 after switching to S9PP is being unable to cycle back screens during the workout. This is insane when having an active navigation, 3 screens and an S+. The way I used to operate S5 is by having the most useful data screen as the last one before the navigation, which allowed me to simply switch +1 or -1 for most of the time. I can’t do this with S9 series.

3 buttons is fine but I’d like Suunto to come up with a solution to this particular problem while having only 3 buttons.

[DMytro]

What some other people mentioned: dedicated ‘back’ button and switch to rhe previous screen in workout would be nice. Hence, 4 buttons for me I guess.
Or, what I’d prefer even more is a rotating crown, like Coros has. That opens up the other two buttons to be ‘select’ and ‘back’. If the crown is also clickable, then even more functionality would fit.

[Freezer]

@Łukasz-Szmigiel @isazi in the current 3 button configuration a “medium” long press of the middle button could be used to move back a screen (up until you hold the button long enough to enter options).

[Kurt68]

3

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@Freezer I was also thinking about double click. But that would interfere with instances of clocking three or four times in a row.

But holding for back is not a bad idea. There’s an animation running when you hold the middle button. It could be redesigned to show what action a hold would trigger.

[A Former User]

5 button for me

[isazi]

I do not have a strong preference for buttons, but I would not give up on touchscreen. Since moving to the S9B I realized that for many things a touchscreen is more convenient than buttons.

[northeast_trekker]

I have used watches with 3 button plus touchscreen (Suunto Spartan and S9B) and 4 buttons (S7) and 5 buttons no touchscreen (Wahoo Rival) and I can definitely say although I think the 3 button approach works for the traditional Suunto sports app UI with breadcrumb navigation, I much prefer the 4 or 5 button approach. Having that extra button or two helps in some very tangible and practical ways esp when you introduce maps and the zoom functionality that becomes that much more information-giving.

• dedicated backlight button is very nice, adds options for user to have more control over the watch

• dedicated back button is just nice when you don’t want to swipe screen. on older 3 button devices I never used the long middle button hold.

• adding a 4 or 5 button layout adds ability for hotkeys. whereas current 3 button really limits because long hold of upper right is dedicated to a soft reset, middle button hold is (or was in old UI) dedicated to a quick menu start.

I agree with the reviewers, Suunto needs to add more buttons to compete and open up their UI to be more flexible esp now with maps. having to long hold to zoom out seems like a pain compared to how S7 worked with map zoom.

[Highlands]

@northeast_trekker I find the 5 buttons layout better for my personal needs. I use the touch when working with the maps.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

3 by far.

[Dimitrios Kanellopoulos]

Like every time I try to use a 5 button watch I am like WHY?

[mikekoski490]

@Egika I had the rotating crown on the Coros Vertix 2 and it was only ok at first but after awhile was a bit of a pain. It has to be unlocked to work of course so it doesn’t inadvertently scroll, so to do any functions you had to press it in for 3 seconds first, THEN scroll. It would be like if Suunto buttons were always locked, and you had to hold one of them down for 3 seconds every time to use the watch.

EDIT: I meant rotating crown not bezel (changed above)

[Brad_Olwin]

@TrailEyes It is hard enough to remember what the 3 buttons do after running a full day and night….5 are impossible. I would end up stopping my race or worse.

[cemoi71]

@Brad_Olwin or after a crossfit w.o.d. with full power, and out of breath at the end.

One button rotative ?

[MiniForklift]

I’ll be upgrading to the Vertical very soon, I currently have an S9B (3 buttons) and a Garmin Enduro (5 buttons)

FWIW I prefer the 3 button layout

[aroo7]

@Łukasz-Szmigiel It annoys me too, especially when I want to check the route and go back to the data fields.
therefore not 3, not 5, but 4

[Łukasz Szmigiel]

@aroo7 when outside the workout, holding the middle button acts as a back button. Why not make it the same in the workout, with opening options only on really long hold.

[DMytro]

@Łukasz-Szmigiel I feel like it’s impractical. However, this would be a reasonable workaround in present watches. Yet if I were to imagine a new watch from suunto, I wouldn’t mind a dedicated button.