Home > Consumer Reviews > Fossil Wrist Net Smart Watch for MSN Direct (FX3001)

No, this won't replace your cell phone, and you can get more current info off the internet, but if you want to have sport scrores or stock quotes or brief news items available to you wherever you are, at the push of a few buttons, then this might be for you.

For me, the two most useful items are perfect time-keeping, linked to US national standard time, and MSN messaging.

I don't leave my cell phone on, and I don't give out the cell number, because I hate it when people think I'm at their beck and call. But this gives me the ability to get some messages, at MY convenience, wherever I am. A lot like email, but portable, and on MY terms.

I bought one at CES from the Fossil booth, and it took all of 20 minutes to register it, set up preferences and get my first message.

One small note: the antenna in the Fossil watches is in the watchband, so you're stuck with the watchband they provide. Suunto makes a SPOT watch with the antenna in the watch's rim, so you can change bands. They lose a little reception strength due to the smaller antenna, but it's a trade off.

As far as the Fossil's reception -- I've had good reception in places (like buildings) where my cell phone doesn't see signal. That's all I can ask.

The watch has a rechageable battery. THe claim 2 days between recharges, but, even with my excessive new-toy usage, I still had 35% battery after 3 days, so a good 3 days is a better estimate.

Oh, the bulk of the watch isn't as bad as some say, although the fx-3000 model is bigger. I have a Nike sports watch that is substantially larger.

Pros
-Use it like a pager
Only those who you let know your email can send you messages
For $59/year, not too high cost for the option. Users of MSN can send as many messages they want, with several lines of text.

-Better than a PDA if you're looking for just a calendar
Less clunky, easy to synch with Outlook. Great for someone who would rather carry around a watch, than a PDA.

-Great for News / Weather / Stock Hounds
Keeps you updated on the latest of all three, and does it very well. Even gives you tiny stock chart.

-EXTREMELY easy to set up.

Cons
-No ability to communicate with others
Calendar/Month view doesn't show notations or offer ability to move through month view.

-Large (not for women at all! unless you're big boned)

-Not as many channels as I would like to choose from

-Stopwatch/timer feature not as advanced as it could be

Overall, for the price, it's not bad, especially if you like to be an early adopter. And it shows lots of promise. Had no problem in an office building in Alaska receiving messages. Some people may end up getting 'early lemons', which I assume is the reason for the other bad reviews.

It's perfect for technology challenged types who would like to have a pager, cell phone and PDA, but really doesn't need all the overkill and hates being 'electronically chained' to a cell phone. PERFECT for delivery people!

I'm a techno-geek, and become interested in any new device that features a microprocessor of some sort. After reading posts and reviews across the web about the Microsoft SPOT watches, I finally decided to take the plunge. I am absolutely delighted with my purchase, and am finding it far more useful than just a simple geek-gadget.

I love the fact that my Outlook calendar syncs with the watch. Sure, a PDA an serve the same puprose, but I hate carrying a PDA everyhwere I go. Plus, the SPOT watch is automatically updated within minutes of making a change to my calendar. No cradle or hotsync required...the watch udpates wirelessly while it's sitting on my wrist, anywhere I might be in the local area. My wife can update my calendar to let me know she wants to have dinner tonight, and it would show up on my watch while I'm at work. Personally, I think that's pretty amazing. When an appointment time nears, it pops up on the watch along with a countown timer (in 15min, 14min, etc...). Neat!

Stock updates are great also...a quick glance at my watch tells me how my stocks are doing today. Again, all wirelessly no matter where I might be. While the quotes are somehwat delayed (maybe 30min), still useful for keeping general track of how you might be doing for the day.

Everything was easy to set up, the watch really isn't much bigger than my Seiko (though I have big hands and wrists), and I don't find anything about the watch's materials to be cheap at all. First time charging went smooth as silk, and set up took 5 min with content arriving on the watch within 30 min of activation. Charging is cool to...you just set the watch on the included charging stand (I do it when I go to bed at night). No wires to plug in or anything...the watch charges by induction. A full charge is supposed to last 3-5 days, but I guess that would only come into play when going out of town. Of course you must take the charger with you, so that's a bit of a hassle I suppose.

Overall this is a great watch and represents some cool new technology. As far as service charge goes, I don't find $59 for 12 months to be unreasonable at all. If you want to buy the watch and try it out, you can sign up for monthly service and get the first month free, then switch to yearly. That way if you decide to return your watch, you won't be stuck with the service.

The short story---I returned the watch 3 days after receiving it.

Now here's the long versino.

Originally, this watch had been on my Christmas list, and so it was with great anticipation when it finally showed up at my door on January 19th.

I opened the box, followed the directions and immediately signed up for the $59 MSN Direct Annual subscription (mistake #1). Within about 20 minutes, I had my MSN channels setup, and I was receiving signals and the watch was working fine. Setup was quick and easy.

I waited until the next morning, after letting the watch charge overnight, to try and get it on my wrist---much as I tried, the watch was just too clunky to fit suitably on my wrist. Now when I ordered it, I realized the watch wasn't going to be a fashionable one---but at this point, its clunkiness really bothered me and made me doubt my purchase. It was just either too loose or too tight.

Second problem. I follow a group of about 20 fairly large size companies on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Only 3 of them were available on the Stock channel of MSN Direct. And there seemed to be no rhyme or reason. 2 mid sized companies and one small company were all I could add to my Stock Watch list--leaving me 17 short.

Third problem. I realized I wasn't getting any Sports information displayed on the watch. Guess what? The Sports Channel is coming soon...

For nearly $200, plus a $59 annual subscription to MSN Direct, I expected to be able to get up to the minute Stock reports and Sports in addition to the News and Weather channels. Unfortunately, I couldn't, and so I returned the watch.

Amazon refunded my money yesterday (minus the shipping charges since the return was 'my fault').

I've been trying to get Microsoft to refund my $59 with less success. They claim they have issued me a credit card refund, but all I have on my credit card statement is a charge for the annual subscription and now a new monthly charge for the service. I'm about to make my 3rd phone call to them.

In summary, for me anyway, the watch didn't fit, and the MSN Direct Service didn't meet my expectations.

Great idea, $5/month (annual subscription) is good deal for news, weather, your Outlook calendar, 15 stock tickers, very good user interface BUT:
1. My watch suffered up to 4 resets in 24 hours - it would just go to 12:00 noon and forget everything.
2. Once I returned the watch and cancelled my subsription, MSN kept charging me even though they acknowledged I did cancel the account. They also said they "can't" delete my credit card information from their records so they can't guarantee they won't "accidentally" charge me again... Also, over 10 minutes of waiting on line for a person to speak to. Really awful service.

In short, great technology and I'll try it again but not for another 6-12 months - let it mature first on both technology and service.

Also: watch design is VERY dorky and was too geeky even for for geekiest friends. you might want to wait for more "earthly" desings to come out.