Important news concerning our digital services

[A Former User]

@andrewjknox said in Important news concerning our digital services:

new Suunto owner here. As of today, just ordered a 9 Baro …

Congrats!

Watch out for an email in your inbox 2 years later (after your international warranty is due) starting with
"We are excited about our digital future … " and ends with “… devices are not supported longer.”

Typically the first part is formatted in big bold letters there the latter one is smaller and lighter text, so a bit harder to read/grasp if you have a short attention span.

[ChrisJT]

As an Ambit2S user this news - while understandable - is disappointing.

Can I suggest that to continue to support users like me, Moveslink be updated to allow:

• continued automatic uploading of activity data to third-party sites (strava etc); and
  *.gpx etc routes created in third party applications to be loaded onto the watch.

This would retain 99 per cent of the functionality of the watch for me, without the need for a Movescount front end.

Chris.

[gunship01]

I both two Spartan Sports (wife received the other as a gift) to be able to get feedback of athletic performance over terrain. The watches are great and I am pleased with Moves Count and the information displayed. Greater insight than I had years ago. Nonetheless, the route planning and route recording aspect is KEY reason I/we are customers. Routes need to be a part of the technological migration. A GPS-based watch is for navigating as well and it has helped us traverse European cities. I would hate to think I need to stare even more at a small screen and finger-flick the device to see the information that is much more pleasing on a 27-inch monitor. A computer-based method of accessing our training information is imperative. Not shooting the messenger, but asking the messenger to relay. Finland can be different and not implement this “New Coke” idea. It works now and is a great product. ADD features to a phone app - fine, but the degradation of a good product (computer-based access) runs counter to a viable CRM plan.

[Eric Escande]

I’m very disappointed with this announcement!
My Ambit 3 Sport watch is still working fine and if I can’t change further my settings it will be a big loose! The new app is far away from Movescount with an Ambit you can’t see as many details in the SApp…
The Movescount website is useful to for me and SportsTracker is just a joke beside it!
I don’t ask to do more updates to the existing system, just keeping it like now is fine for me.

[Philippe A.D.]

Very disapointed at suunto:

• when buying a suunto watch, we are also buying the services from MC - this all in the advertising. It is like 50% of the value of watch. I feel like I paid too much now.
• SSU and later watches are finally stable with a consistent functon / user interface. User experience was also consistent from the watch to MC, with similar graphic color and style. New app is breaking again the user experience consistency. Even some core functions of Spartan watches like feeling/POI are not supported by the app.
  Since I got the SSU, there was like 2-years of “under development” and in 1.5 years, user experience will be again inconsistent.
• moving to the apps and telling more third party services, why not, but many users are concerned about data pricacy. Telling go to third parties, some buyers trusted suunto for that point : many didn’t want a smartwatch, but a sport watch.
• when suunto via Mr Kanellopoulos sells mapping solutions that involves import / export many times, are you realizing how much of a downgrade it is after movescount - tell that to any potential customers in store, they jump into Garmin (even casio) who have maps on the watch. This is a total disgrace to even reply with such solution. (nothing personnal Mr Kanellopoulos no worries, i am pointing at suunto).
• selling quality watch with titanium bezels meant this product will last. When 50% of the associated services are externalized, this is just lying to customer to sell products, such as ambit 1 and 2.
• how can suunto lives with planned obsolescence of many of its watch ambit 1 and ambit 2 and partial ambit 3? maybe it is not the most used watches but this kind of planned obsolescence is perfect exemple of what no one accepts anymore. Are you realizing there are tv shows on the topics: does suunto wants to side to side with xerox, canon and on …? For outdoor enthousiasts, for watches sold in the mountains gear stores… what a stupid advertising.

In term of strategy, suunto is just digging its own grave:
(i) killing its highest strength with a quality analysis tool that is widely appraised, mapping tool on large screen, regardless of customer computer equipment, UX consistency…
(ii) breaking up user experience accross the product line
(iii) planning obsolescence (why shall I buy a new products like the S9 knowingly suunto will not be support it, and not offer part of the adveritized functions?)
(iv) selling higher priced products with similar services that subpriced watch companies also offer.
(v) breaking trust a historical customers who used to buy every 2-3 iterations of watches (stable demand), who actively made recommandation (cheap and effective advertising) - maybe there is new demand from Asian countries, but can you really compete in the long term againt the locals or the very large companies?

No business analyst can understand how a company can breaks its ecosystem this stupidly. (i am a financial analist, i known exactly how some of my large coporate customers jumped into brankrupcy).
Keep working on your niche market: simple reliable precise effective outdoor and sport entousiasics. Do not compete against the cheaper offers with little services and the smartwatch industry!

In the end, I still have the X9 suunto watches, the application still works on win10. Very old products are more reliable.

[eerofinland]

I registered here on the forum today just to express my disappointment and frustration caused by the announcement. I don’t have anything constructive to say, for now I will just wait what the next 15 months will bring. However, if support for Ambit2 will not be provided, I will make sure that no one I know will ever buy Suunto products again. That said, let’s wait and see. Hopefully they come up with some way to support the customers who bought their expensive products. Anything else would be a customer-trashing brand suicide and on top of all unecological.

[Brad_Olwin]

@DmitryKo said in Important news concerning our digital services:

@Brad_Olwin said in Important news concerning our digital services:

And you know this personally because???

… I can read?

So please show me where it says the old Suunto is gone.

[Jonathan Lander]

So in order to make sure Suunto hears another voice (mine) regarding features which I consider a must have when Movescont goes away, here you go;

1 - must have web access in order to do effective route planning, POI management and data review. I’m a mountaineer, climber and hiker and being able to prep ahead of time using multiple resources on my desktop / laptop is a MUST.
2 - ensure that I can continue to use my Ambit2. I happen to have an Ambit2 and a Spartan. My Spartan is my day to day watch, training device and often used on outdoor trips. However, when I am on extended backcountry trips I bring my Ambit2 thanks to being more rugged, less costly if it gets destroyed and better battery life. Please do NOT make my Ambit2 obsolete because there isn’t a non-Bluetooth way to connect to it.

[ItAintBroke]

@Tobias-F, @georgewreid
You are both right. I didn’t mean to imply that people were fine without a website entirely. I should have added that migrating from Movescount/Movelink to a Suunto site in conjunction with the phone app would make sense, and agree with other users that eliminating the site option entirely would hurt people who do not own (or wish to own) bluetooth-enabled hardware.

[SlaSh]

Wasn’t here long time and just got an email about future of services…
Build to last? Seriously how it is going to last without MC? I have in mind ambit series…
I still own Farmin 910XT and Fenix1/2 all of these still can sync to Farmin connect so who builds to last? That is…
My two cents…

[estevez]

@Jonathan-Lander said in Important news concerning our digital services:

must have web access in order to do effective route planning, POI management and data review. I’m a mountaineer, climber and hiker and being able to prep ahead of time using multiple resources on my desktop / laptop is a MUST.

Exactly. I can´t imagine to do that via mobile phone. And I am afraid, that even if Suunto implements features from Movescount to Suunto app (which is not sure for now for Ambit 3) it will be so complicated and user-unfriendly, that I will be forced to switch to Polar / Garmin.

[Proos]

I just registered specifically to voice my concerns. Pretty much everything that needed to be said has already been said in this thread.

I have an Ambit 2S which I use daily. It is unacceptable to stop supporting a product, which wasn’t cheap by any means, because it is deemed obsolete or too expensive to maintain support for. I mean, I can understand if you stop updating the firmware. But not being able to update GPS fix? Not being able to update settings or look into my moves? It’s making a product unusable and that’s just wrong!

I’m sure that Suunto will come with a proper solution.

[Anne Christine Lefort]

I bought my Ambit 2s 300 € 3 years ago, and thought I would keep this robust watch for years, as it is completely adapted to my pratice of several sports and activities. Furthermore, I like very much the way I can retrieve the info on my multiple sports in movescount, i cannot find the information presented that way anywhere else.
And now, I understand that I would ne be able to use any more my watch next year ? I do not want to buy a new watch either : this one works perfectly, and I am very happy with it. I have no bluetooth connection, only cable. So it means I would not be able to set up the screens of the watch, choose the sports I get on the watch…So the watch would be unusable, which is unacceptable for me !
Why throw out (and pollute the planet) objects that are still perfectly working 3 years after having them bought ? Please find a solution that allows all the users of non bluetooth watches to continue using them. If you believe that these users who cannot use their watch any more would buy a new Suunto watch, you are completely dreaming…because they would be so offensed that they would buy a competitor watch, me included.

[Oktan]

@someguythatruns said in Important news concerning our digital services:

couldn’t get along with the fact it would snap you to a path

BTW, you have also the option “Do not follow roads”…

[Droro]

@Emir-Karisik or the coros apex, no Web platform, but you get everything in the 9 baro, including sapphire glass for half the price.

[Oktan]

Suunto,
please keep your side in the “agreement” we have. Keep letting us enter & view OUR data on the watch (even if its old), load routes with POI, change settings & sports mode, using the beautiful Movescount site.

We will keep being loyal & happy customers. Will buy your new watches and will tell our friends & family that you create great, durable & reliable gear & software.

Thank you.

[Tryfgr]

@rsmacleod that’s true even if you forget the training plan (in free strava) thats it is important to me, but lets say that i dont need it. So i can do the same with a xiaomi watch or a cheap chinese watch. I do not want to use a 3rd part site. I dont compare movescount with strava, endomondo or even the pathetic sport-tracker. I want to compare movescount with garmin connect and polar flow. As i said before i had garmin for years and i bought suunto even if movescount was a little worst from connect because i was thinking that a serious company will develop their site and it will compete their competitors. My thoughts were completely wrong.

[stevena]

I sincerely hope there will still be an online platform and not just an app on a smartphone.
I actually really liked mc for making routes.
If I lose the possibility to make POI’s I I will lose some of the functionality for which I bought the watch.
Lets just hope the app gets more powerfull and we’ll get something to work with the watch on a decent size screen…
Should have stayed with polar?

[kimbotz]

Although a little slow, Movescount is awesome. I love the data, my ability to create and upload routes, I absolutely LOVE documenting my hikes with Suunto Movies, I like having both the app and the ability to use my PC. Some things are just easier to do on the larger screen with a keyboard. It is fantastic to have an app that is not third party and all of the functions I want are right there in one place. I have tried the Suunto App. It’s faster, it’s prettier… it doesn’t come close to the same function of what I’m getting on Movescount. I literally have no reason to stop using Movescount until I’m forced. If we all have to start using this app, at least give us the function. For me, I mostly miss the Suunto movie–I hike a lot, I lead groups and bring newer hikers with me. I really like being able to show a movie from a previous time I hiked and say, “Take a look, this is what to expect.” I have a nice little video library now. I also agree with so much that others have to say. Stay fully functional, practical and all in one place. Perhaps make Movescount just a little faster and we’d all be happy.

[estevez]

Does any competent person from Suunto / Amer read this topic (forum)? I would appreciate some feedback from Suunto / Amer relating to this topic.