Suunto Watches Rule!

I have a friend who is a bit of a gadget guy and he has a major watch fetish. He has a collection of 4 or 5 watches, the most coveted of which is his Suunto altitude watch. Whenever we ski or dirt-bike together, he sets it, and at the end of the day he hooks it up to his computer and prints out a chart of our ascending and descending activities for the day. He never tires of analyzing the printout and identifying on the graph which run (or logging road) we were on, and where we paused throughout the day. He always prints an extra copy for all those who happened to come along, and we all accept graciously. After leaving, we quietly throw them away. What are we supposed to do, scrap-book them?

Anyhow, my friend (let’s call him Carmen) now has his eyes on another Suunto watch that he is all excited about. Never one to ignore the next gadget craze, I decided to investigate it. The new watch Carmen wants is called the n3i, and it connects to a new service provided by Microsoft called MSNDirect.

As I have written about in previous columns, I am not entirely certain that I want to become too “connected”, as it seems that there are already too many Crackberries/Palm Pilots around, and people with cell phones or some other device attached to their heads. However, the MSNDirect Service is certainly a compelling new idea. Here is how it works:

To exploit this new service, you need to qualify in three ways; you need to subscribe to the service (about $14 p/month or $55 annually), you need to purchase a compatible watch, and you need to live within the coverage area. Checking the website, we qualify here in Whistler; the only other places in BC are Vancouver and Victoria. If you live elsewhere in BC, the watch will be useless to you (though I presume it will still tell you the time).

Thus equipped, with the “Smart Plan” you can have weather reports, news headlines, stock quotes, sports scores, horoscopes, and lottery results sent directly to your watch. Now that’s cool! If you opt for the $25 upgrade (annual), you can also have one way MSN messenger messages and Microsoft Outlook appointments sent to your watch. Imagine, now your wife can messenger the last minute grocery list directly to your watch!

Wait a minute – maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all…

As it turns out, the Suunto is not the only manufacturer of watches that is compatible with the MSNDirect service. Suunto is just the brand that my friend Carmen likes, and when he likes a brand he simply cannot be dissuaded from it. Don’t get me started on his fanaticism for North Face clothing, but that’s another topic. Anyhow, you can get watches from Tissot, Swatch, Suunto, Fossil and Abacus according to Microsoft’s website. There are probably many more manufacturers at this very moment scrambling to produce their own versions of this watch. I have a feeling there will be a ready audience for it, judging from the public’s acceptance of cell phones and Crackberries.

When Carmen gets his, I’ll write a column about it. Meanwhile, if you want to investigate further go to www.msndirect.com, all the information you need is there.