Preference for a 3- or 5-Button Configuration?
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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.
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dedicated backlight button is very nice, adds options for user to have more control over the watch
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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.
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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.
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@northeast_trekker I find the 5 buttons layout better for my personal needs. I use the touch when working with the maps.
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3 by far.
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Like every time I try to use a 5 button watch I am like WHY?
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@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)
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@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.
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@Brad_Olwin
or after a crossfit w.o.d. with full power, and out of breath at the end.One button rotative ?
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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
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@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
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@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.
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@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.
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@aroo7 I also vote for 4 buttons. I really like having a dedicated back button during workouts, I hate circling around the pages. The fifth button was for light I think, but now that raise to wake actually works it’s not that important. But I would rather have all 5 than just the 3.
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@TrailEyes said in Preference for a 3- or 5-Button Configuration?:
However, I don’t ever remember them really complaining about this with watches like Coros’ Vertix, so the complaints seem to be a bit of a stretch and lacking in an appreciation of individuality.
Actually, I’ve long said that usability on the COROS lineup with the digital crown is a dumpster fire. Basically in every review ever. Here’s a line from one of my earlier COROS APEX reviews:
“You can scroll through the data pages using the digital crown, which is about the most impossible thing ever when doing intervals. It’s just not good. While Apple uses a digital crown on their Apple Watch, you typically change data pages by just swiping the screen. But the COROS APEX isn’t a touch-screen, so no swiping here. I get that when sitting in a conference room the digital crown might be fine, I find it just annoying when running hard – or cycling.”
The only time it’s finally become useful is map zooming (for one single feature). However, one thing that COROS does have here is a dedicated quick-tap back button, which Suunto lacks (because COROS uses the dial to horrendously scroll up/down).
My point isn’t so much for 5 buttons per se, but to have a dedicated back button that’s not a long-press. The long press today is ‘slow’ in terms of quickly navigating the user interface, not to mention inconsistent. For example, if you’re in the Map widget/app on the Suunto Vertical, you actually can’t long-press the middle button to go back. Instead, it’ll toggle between pan/zoom and “…”. Rather, you have to first get back to the “…”, then press down, then press down like 8 more times to get to ‘Exit’. Versus other watches it’s just a single button out of map.
Point is, the Suunto 5 has 5-button UI, and it works really well. I’d love to see that layered atop the Veritcal for faster navigation of the watch. You can then choose buttons or touch, as needed.
If we look at the trends across the industry (Apple, Garmin, heck, even Fitbit), it’s actually towards adding buttons, not removing them. And specifically, we’re seeing a shift towards ‘parity’ of touch vs buttons.
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I have seen that Video too, and I think Dave from CtS is fair in that he might be slightly biased since he is a “Garmin guy”.
Personally, I am in favour of a 5-button layout. I have used Suunto watches since 2005 and have always been a huge fan. My first T3C did not have 5 buttons, and that was perfectly fine. But my X-Lander already had 4. And today’s watches have way more features which in my view shows the limits of a 3-button layout.
One might say that Apple is very successful with few buttons, which is true. But to me, it depends on the use.
When I am swimming, it is raining or am running, I just want buttons I can press without having to look at the watch or depending on a touch screen. And I want buttons to work as shortcuts I can program to access some functions directly. And I want a dedicated LIGHT button that really only adds some light to the screen when I need it.
When Suunto released the 9PP I also bought a Garmin Epix2 and have compared both for 3 months. Both watches have touchscreens, and the 9PP has 3 buttons whereas the Epix2 has 5. And after 3 months of use, the 5-button layout is the better one for me and the Epix2 has become my main watch, mainly because of the buttons … and the fantastic screen :-).
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@dcrainmaker Thank you for coming to the forums and sharing your perspective on this. I, for one, appreciate it!
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What if we get an ability to simply turn the touchscreen on and off during the workout? So when it starts raining it’s not a problem to disable it. Like - make it a separate option in workout settings that’s not tied to battery modes.
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@Łukasz-Szmigiel I think the watch uses more battery with the touchscreen on.
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@Łukasz-Szmigiel said in Preference for a 3- or 5-Button Configuration?:
What if we get an ability to simply turn the touchscreen on and off during the workout?
Here, hear! Honestly I was sure I remembered seeing Enable Touch toggle in the activity options, but apparently that was wishful thinking. Or was it? I get why you might want to lock the screen for some of the activities, but I totally agree there’s no reason this should be the case for all activities. Let the user decide!
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@dcrainmaker I agree, a dedicated back press is needed. I would prefer to keep the buttons and have a long press of a button allow backwards scrolling.
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@Brad_Olwin yes, me too. I would love to have it opposite to the index finger button (so basically on the lower left side). For me that’s the antagonist to pressing ‘ok’ / confirming etc. As @dcrainmaker said, if the system is not consistent, it will always bother you, either because it takes too long, or - in my case - I just forget how it works, which ends in desperately pressing all buttons for me
