Review of the Suunto n6HR MSN Direct Watch

Of all the MSN Direct watches I've reviewed so far, I clearlylike the Suunto charger best.The only real complaint I have with the n6HR is the screen. A great deal of itis unused. Sincethe face is round, and the LCD inside the face is square, the areas surroundingthe LCD are completely unused, and cumulatively account for probably a third ofthe size of the watch face. The screen could stand to have a little more contrast,as well.The case and the bracelet are a combination of metal and plasticwhich at first I thought looked a little funky, but I got used to it very quickly.The clasp is metal, sturdy, and inconspicuous as it masquerades as just anotherlink in the bracelet. I was able to easily remove four links from the braceletmyself, so if you buy one of these online, you shouldn't have any trouble gettingit sized at any reputable watch dealer.The buttons on the n6HR are very nice. They are metal, perfectly sized, and providegood feedback. The Fossil and AbacusWrist Net watches both suffer from substandard buttons where the SwatchPaparazziand Suunto n6HR have an unexpectedly nice set of pushers. It's especiallyimportant that the n6HR have crisp and precise buttons because of its many timingfunctions. The backlight on the Suunto n6HR is nice and even, but I don't like thefact that you have to hold it down for about three seconds to activate it. It'sdone that way to free up the short press for timing functions, which is fair enough.You certainly couldn't ask someone to hold down a button for two or three secondsto start or stop a timer. Whether this bothers you or not will have a lot to dowith what you primarily use the watch for. If you use it for training, you willappreciate the additional timer control. If you don't use the watch for timing,it might annoy you to have to hold the button down in order to see the watch faceat night. You can definitely tell that Suunto ran out of buttons when designingthe user inte***ce for this watch since holding down the backlight button in chronographmode starts the chronograph or records a lap time if the chronograph is alreadyrunning, and turns on the backlight two seconds later which means if you just wantto see the chronograph in the dark, you are out of luck because turning on thebacklight will actually operate the chronograph, as well. This is a minor point,though, since I'm guessing not a lot of athletes train in the dark.I like the charger that comes with the n6HR. It clips onto the side of the watch,and charges the internal battery through a set of four recessed contacts. The chargeris compact and easily portable, but sturdy with a nice long cord. The Swatch Paparazzicharger is compact, as well, but it's slightly harder to get properly seated, andthe cord is way too short. The Fossil/Abacus chargers are very cool (more likedocking stations) but are too big for anyone who plans to take their MSN Directwatch on the road.