GPS running watches
Discussion
Thinking of getting the Mrs a GPS watch for her birthday, but I know naff all about them. She does a lot of 5k and 10k's, and so far 2 half marathons and a marathon, and is booked in on a team endurance 24 hour race. Do they all have sufficient battery life to last all day or that going to be a consideration?
She uses the Nike+ pedometer built in to her iPod to track distance, so a watch that works with that might be a good idea, but one of her mates was commenting the other day that his watch, which looks suspiciously like a Nike+ Sportswatch, was really struggling to get a GPS lock when someone else Garmin as doing fine.
I intend to make sure it's the one she wants before buying, but it sould be good to have an idea what I'm talking about before I start looking at them. Any suggestions?
She uses the Nike+ pedometer built in to her iPod to track distance, so a watch that works with that might be a good idea, but one of her mates was commenting the other day that his watch, which looks suspiciously like a Nike+ Sportswatch, was really struggling to get a GPS lock when someone else Garmin as doing fine.
I intend to make sure it's the one she wants before buying, but it sould be good to have an idea what I'm talking about before I start looking at them. Any suggestions?
stoocake said:
I use a ForeRunner 305 which isn't available new any more, but I highly rate it. Good set of features and easy to use. I'm sure Garmin do an equivalent in the current model range.
Exactly what I was going to say, although the new Garmins are more 'watchlike' not quite so bulky. Not that the 305 is massive. Also, not sure of the functionality of the new Garmins, but very happy with mine.
I have a Garmin Forerunner 405, the quoted battery life is 8 hours with GPS on, it's a few years old now, the other day with about 40% charge it lasted about 2.5 hours before it died... The 610 is its replacement and they don't look to have improved battery life. To get it to charge to 100% from being flat takes about 2 hours.
If you want to get her something that actually looks like a watch rather than a bar of soap I think you'll struggle to find anything with a better battery life than that.
I haven't used anyone elses software, but the Garmin online training centre is very slick and easy to use
If you want to get her something that actually looks like a watch rather than a bar of soap I think you'll struggle to find anything with a better battery life than that.
I haven't used anyone elses software, but the Garmin online training centre is very slick and easy to use
I have a Garmin 910XT: pricey, but I can't fault it.
D C Rainmaker is an excellent source of product reviews and info.
D C Rainmaker is an excellent source of product reviews and info.
Another fan of the Garmin 910XT; can't really fault it and it has all the features a runner could ever want. I have girly sized wrists and it sits fine whilst I run.
You won't need the battery to go all day in the 24 hour race (Adidas Thunder Run?) where they'll be running in shifts, so she simply activates it when it's needed and powers it down when not in use to preserve battery life.
The Garmin FR610 has all the run features of the Garmin 910XT, but is almost 100% running focussed compared to the multisport/triathlon approach of the 910. If she can get on with the touch screen of the FR610, then happy days because it'll give her all she needs for potentially years to come.
Don't bother with the Nike watches; I'm just about to take delivery of my second replacement which is going straight on to eBay.
You won't need the battery to go all day in the 24 hour race (Adidas Thunder Run?) where they'll be running in shifts, so she simply activates it when it's needed and powers it down when not in use to preserve battery life.
The Garmin FR610 has all the run features of the Garmin 910XT, but is almost 100% running focussed compared to the multisport/triathlon approach of the 910. If she can get on with the touch screen of the FR610, then happy days because it'll give her all she needs for potentially years to come.
Don't bother with the Nike watches; I'm just about to take delivery of my second replacement which is going straight on to eBay.
I hadn't thought about the difference between triathalon and running ones, she does cycle a fair bit but not racing, so don't think I need to worry about that kind of functionality.
Dhanks for the DC Rainmaker link, loads of useful stuff on there
Other than the touch screen what does the Garmin 610 do that the 210 doesn't? Is it really worth the extra £100?
Do the smaller ones like the 210 suffer from having a smaller GPS antenna than the the bigger ones like the 910?
Dhanks for the DC Rainmaker link, loads of useful stuff on there
Other than the touch screen what does the Garmin 610 do that the 210 doesn't? Is it really worth the extra £100?
Do the smaller ones like the 210 suffer from having a smaller GPS antenna than the the bigger ones like the 910?
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 8th July 13:18
RizzoTheRat said:
I hadn't thought about the difference between triathalon and running ones, she does cycle a fair bit but not racing, so don't think I need to worry about that kind of functionality.
Dhanks for the DC Rainmaker link, loads of useful stuff on there
Other than the touch screen what does the Garmin 610 do that the 210 doesn't? Is it really worth the extra £100?
Do the smaller ones like the 210 suffer from having a smaller GPS antenna than the the bigger ones like the 910?
Can't vouch for what the 610 does over the 210, but the GPS reception on my 910 is rock solid compared to my former Nike watch. I can obtain signal lock sat on my sofa in my living room some 4-5m away from the window, whereas my Nike watch needed to be on the window sill to achieve lock on. The GPS chip the 910 uses is of a newer generation (same as that from the 610, I think), so is likely to be more stable and reliable.Dhanks for the DC Rainmaker link, loads of useful stuff on there
Other than the touch screen what does the Garmin 610 do that the 210 doesn't? Is it really worth the extra £100?
Do the smaller ones like the 210 suffer from having a smaller GPS antenna than the the bigger ones like the 910?
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 8th July 13:18
I've had a 305 and currently have a 310xt (previous model to the 910) - they are very clever but a little bit of overkill for most people (me included probably)
I bought my girlfriend a forerunner 10 and its brilliant - was 90 quid, does all the Garmin connect stuff - basically if you just want time / GPS distance and a means to keep a record of it then its all you need. Battery life is huge you can get it in a range of colours and it has proper buttons - i've had friends with some of the touchscreen / bezel type ones and really not gotten on with it.
I bought my girlfriend a forerunner 10 and its brilliant - was 90 quid, does all the Garmin connect stuff - basically if you just want time / GPS distance and a means to keep a record of it then its all you need. Battery life is huge you can get it in a range of colours and it has proper buttons - i've had friends with some of the touchscreen / bezel type ones and really not gotten on with it.
My other half has the Garmin FR10 and it seems a decent piece of kit, if a little basic at times.
I haven't compared it against my 910XT but I recently ran with both my Nike GPS watch and the FR10 around Birmingham city centre's tall buildings and I only had a 0.02 mile difference between them. Couldn't tell you which was more accurate, but they were close enough that they were either both correct or both wrong.
In terms of signal strength, the FR10 didn't lose signal at all, though the immediate pace did seem a bit jumpy which is a problem that plagues most GPS watches.
If your other half is worried about signal loss, quite a few of the Garmins support the use of a foot pod to carry on pace duty until a signal is re-established.
I haven't compared it against my 910XT but I recently ran with both my Nike GPS watch and the FR10 around Birmingham city centre's tall buildings and I only had a 0.02 mile difference between them. Couldn't tell you which was more accurate, but they were close enough that they were either both correct or both wrong.
In terms of signal strength, the FR10 didn't lose signal at all, though the immediate pace did seem a bit jumpy which is a problem that plagues most GPS watches.
If your other half is worried about signal loss, quite a few of the Garmins support the use of a foot pod to carry on pace duty until a signal is re-established.
Foot pod might be a good idea, she borrowed a gps watch for the London marathon and reckoned there was a lot of time when it had no signal.
Having assumed she'd prefer somethign daintier she seems to be favoring the 310XT at the moment which looks pretty good. I'll have to goad her in to having a go at triathalons thoguht if I get her a triatholon watch
Having assumed she'd prefer somethign daintier she seems to be favoring the 310XT at the moment which looks pretty good. I'll have to goad her in to having a go at triathalons thoguht if I get her a triatholon watch
Yet another 910xt recommendation here. I think you can't go wrong with any of the Garmins though.
For reference, the battery in mine managed to cover the 18 hrs 40 minutes it took me to complete an endurance run, both tracking and directing me, so I would hope it should be good for 24 hours just recording.
For reference, the battery in mine managed to cover the 18 hrs 40 minutes it took me to complete an endurance run, both tracking and directing me, so I would hope it should be good for 24 hours just recording.
Fourmotion said:
Yet another 910xt recommendation here. I think you can't go wrong with any of the Garmins though.
For reference, the battery in mine managed to cover the 18 hrs 40 minutes it took me to complete an endurance run, both tracking and directing me, so I would hope it should be good for 24 hours just recording.
Flipping eck, what distance was that?!!!For reference, the battery in mine managed to cover the 18 hrs 40 minutes it took me to complete an endurance run, both tracking and directing me, so I would hope it should be good for 24 hours just recording.
It can show a simple breadcrumb trail (which is more useful than it sounds), an arrow leading to the next way point, or some other screen I forget. You have to plot the route first using Garmin Connect, or find the GPX file on the net for the route/race you want to do and load it to the watch, but that's quite straight forward.
I used it for the Lake District 10peaks ( my route), and I'm pleased to say it was faultless. I on the other hand could have done with more sleep, more training, more energy, and less fat.
I used it for the Lake District 10peaks ( my route), and I'm pleased to say it was faultless. I on the other hand could have done with more sleep, more training, more energy, and less fat.
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