Suunto X9i

After two weeks of side-by-side usage, I've concluded that these watches are targeted at very different markets. Furthermore, in many respects, it seems like neither watch is totally ready for prime-time. Both have nice feature sets, but they each seem to be lacking some very important features to make them truly useful across several sports. The Suunto X9i seems to be targeted and more useful to the climbing crowd, whereas the Garmin Forerunner 405 seems targeted at the fitness/jogging crowd. Neither has the complete feature set that the above-average hiker/trail runner/mountain biker needs. Thus, if you purchase either, you have to accept the compromises inherit in one or the other.
If I was pressed to recommend one over the other, I very hesitantly lean towards the Garmin Forerunner 405 due to smaller size, better battery life, faster GPS synch, slightly better navigation screen and of course, lower price. I'm hesitant because of several important cons which I elaborate on below.
STATS:
Battery Life (w/ GPS): 4.5hr (X9i) vs. 8hr (405)
Battery Life (w/o GPS): 16d. (X9i) vs. 12d. (405)
Size: X9i is larger in every dimension than 405
Weight: 74g (X9i) vs. 60g (405)
Water Resistence: 100m (X9i) vs. 3m (405)
Heart Rate Monitor: No (X9i) vs. Yes (405)
Outside Temperature: Yes(X9i) vs. No (405)
CONS: Garmin Forerunner 405
Q) Does not display raw latitude/longitude position on standard screen. You can save a waypoint, which they call 'location', and then edit that point to see the latitude/longitude (displayed in non-decimal format).
R) Does not have On/Off button to save battery-life.
S) Comes with very basic software with limited maps. Cannot export tracks into GPX format.
T) Difficult to upload waypoints for future route.
U) Limited to WGS84 map datum (limits international usage of tracks)
PROS: Garmin Forerunner 405
Q) Easy to use menu system.
R) Fast GPS satellite synching.
S) Can connect to heart rate monitor.
T) If you can get waypoints loaded, there is a nice screen that shows the direction/distance to the selected waypoint.
U) Great fitness monitoring screens and many are customizable.
CONS: Sunnto X9i
Q) Large physical size.
R) Poor battery life with GPS on.
S) Slow GPS satellite synching.
T) Difficult to use and complex menu system with 5 buttons.
U) Does not have On/Off button to save battery-life.
V) GPS tracks, which they call 'logs', tend to have jumps/errors when GPS drops out, which is often.
W) Comes with very basic software with no maps.
8) No screen to show direction to a selected waypoint.
9) Limited to WGS84 map datum (limits international usage of tracks)
Q0) Suggested Retail Price is 25% more than the Garmin 405.
PROS: Suunto X9i
Q) Does display raw latitude/longitude position on Position screen, but in non-decimal format.
R) Does have temperature feature.

Well I usually give rave reviews to products I write about, but this one just does not cut it. I bought mine for a great price (new) only $330 about a year ago, but I have sent it back for repair twice. First the GPS did not work properly with incredible inaccuracy, then I got a replacement and the face literally separated from band! The glue had melted away, now that is some shotty construction on a watch retailing for over $500. Under ideal conditions the GPS fix takes forever! If you want to go out and run with this thing you had better set it up about 15 minutes and leave it still somewhere if you want a chance at the GPS fixing, otherwise youve got one badass stopwatch for your trip. Now lets say that actually worked, make sure you stear clear of any trees! The signal goes away easily and will leave you baffled about either your super human speed according to GPS, or the opposite where you ran say 7 miles and it says you only did 4. I could go on about the shortcomings of this watch but I think you get the point.
To say something positive.. it is great as a digital compass, and barometer (just cool feature, looking at the sky gives you pretty much same info), and thermometer, however if youre wearing it the reading is never accurate due to body heat! The altimeter is highly inaccuarate too, there I go again I tried to say something nice and I got sidetracked by more negative stuff. Bottom line, this is not useful device for anything other than playing around. A very awesome toy for grown-ups, but dont count on it saving your life or accurately giving you any information other than the time, date, barometer, and compass readings.

I purchased this watch/"GPS" a few weeks ago and I must admit, I'm pretty disappointed. I intended to use it to track routes and keep up with my training (trail run, bike, paddle, etc.) but it turns out that this is probably not what this device is best suited for. It seems that it would be best used strictly as a traditional GPS unit to track routes while hiking/camping. I would however highly recommend the Garmin Forerunner 305 (see my review for it) for anyone wanting a good (not perfect) GPS unit to track progress while training. Overall the X9i only gets 2 stars from me mainly because 1) It is not intuitive (included instructions help some, but keep them close at hand), 2) The distance it recorded for my run was way off (I ran approx 4.5 miles; it recorded 7.75) and 3) It is gigantic (I understand this is necessary to cram all of the circuitry needed for GPS) Bottom line: If you want a compact GPS training device, go with the Forerunner 205 or 305. If you want a GPS for hiking/camping buy a real GPS. Sure, it won't be quite as small, but it will work much better.

X9i GPS Watch has two deficiencies, The first, this is big and heavy to move the long trips, and the second battery life is very short to last a full day.

This watch can do a lot of stuff, so it takes some practice learning all of the functions and menus.

GPS signal acquisition is slow getting locked in initially but then maintains the signal well. Obviously, you can't take it in dense trees and expect the GPS to still work.

The battery will last about 3-4 hours in GPS mode at 1 second update intervals. If you remember to power down the GPS when you don't need it, you can easily extend the battery to last on multi-day trips. I primarily use just the altimeter mode and don't need to recharge the battery for weeks.

The included software is OK for looking at altimeter logs, but not much else. The good thing is that you can export the GPS logs into Google Earth or your topo software.