Fossil Wrist Net Smart Watch for MSN Direct (FX3001)

I was quite interested in having a 'news ticker +' on my wrist all day. I would like to say that the MSN Direct service is pretty good for what is is meant to do, and that is provide interesting information in an otherwise boring day.

BUT- Fossil needs to figure out what is wrong with the Wrist net watches. Like clockwork, I have had to return two (and as of tonight, three) of the Wrist net-Round watches for the exact same symptoms. The watch will 'reboot' itself randomly prohibiting your ability to tell time until a signal is again received. The event seems to occur approximately 45-55 days after you activate the watch. Perhaps it is just circumstancial, but it is the exact pattern that I have encountered three times over. I hope the warranty will cover and honor my third claim, as the warranty only covers a 90-day period and I was told "Oh yea, this is happening alot with those."

If you must have MSN Direct, consider other brands. I cannot recomend the Fossil/Abacus watch line.

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.

This is perhaps one of the most innovative (yet imcomplete) inventions since the watch (time piece). Incomplete in that, it is also the most unconfortable thing to where. Not to mention very bulky. A leather (or some kind of elastic) band would have solved all of that. I returned it in one week. ...did I mention it needed a leather band. Oh yeah, LEATHER BAND PLEASE.

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.

I live in Chicago at the very edge of the coverare area. I found the watch setup to be quite easy and configuring channels via MSN Direct is easy as well. It took a bit of time before the data started flowing to the watch, but once the initial "download" was complete it updates quickly. The screen is very readable even for news articles, which is remarkable given the screen small size. The watch is a bit bulky, but given all the it does (time, stop watch, alarm, news, weather, calender and appointments) it is pretty amazing. I have loaded the Outlook addin that allows appointment to sent from Outlook to the watch. This is very, very cool. I really love my smart watch.