@AndyD2574 Clunky may be a personal opinion, the UIs are quite different for Garmin vs Suunto, funny I bought and returned a 5x because it was difficult to navigate the UI and seemed “clunky”:). During navigation there is a red arrow that points north, that is the best you will get for now. If you charge the watch, the charger is a strong magnet and will require a re-calibration of the compass. In fact, I have found the magnets on hydration tubes to hold them in place a PIA as every time the watch goes near one I have to recalibrate. The other questions have been answered I think.
The Suunto is rock solid with its features, mine does not crash and works effectively, whether I use Navigation or Intervals. The S9b does not have the features that a fenix 6x Pro will have so you need to decide which features are essential. However, Suunto is constantly updating the watch and likely will continue updating until a replacement comes out. Typically the updates contain new features and occur quarterly. The firmware updates undergo extensive field testing by real users…I am one of them, and typically the updates have few bugs.
Try the Navigation features, they are well integrated with the app, it is simple to find and upload a route or to draw one. I draw most of my routes on my iPhone, it is painless and quick. Long, complicates routes I do on Gaia on my iPad and drop them into a folder where I can easily import into SA. This is one area where Suunto is well above anyone else imo.