I've been considering buying a GPS watch to help with training, and would like some help with best features to get the right model.
I'd like to get distance, pace, and HRM, but what do I need to be able to upload to Routegadget? Are there other features that would be worthwhile? I've also read some reviews that suggest that some models are over-sensitive and can change menus during a run. Any advice on model?
GPS watch
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Re: GPS watch
I have a garmin forerunner 305 which I decided on after posting a thread on gps watches in "discussions" so it will be searchable. Most GPS watches should be downloadable to routegadget. You get a wire with the GPS that allows you to download stuff to your computer and if you go to the garmin connect website you can upload activities to it and get all the info and graphs on your run and see a map either street or google earth of your run and can export the activity file as a gpx file to your computer which you then upload onto routegadget. I rarely upload my gpx files to routegadget though as it takes ages and is only helpful in dense forest when I really have no idea when I went. Otherwise looking at the map on garmin connect and manually drawing it is much faster. Paul Frost has done a video on routegadget that gives an idea of how fiddly and rough transferring gpx files to routegadget is.
I went for the 305 rather than 406 because it has a larger face and nice big buttons. It does look chunkier than the 406 though. I spent much of last xmas antisocially reading my manual and playing with it. Tesco sold me a kit for under £10 which means I can recharge it in my car as well. It's never changed menus during a run and is usually reliable provided I remember to wear it and switch it on. It can take a couple of minutes in built up areas to pick up the satellites, but I think all models are like this. This is a pain if it's cold and rainy and you want to leave your house and start running. I now start my "official" run 5 minutes from my house so the watch warms up whilst I do.
I went for the 305 rather than 406 because it has a larger face and nice big buttons. It does look chunkier than the 406 though. I spent much of last xmas antisocially reading my manual and playing with it. Tesco sold me a kit for under £10 which means I can recharge it in my car as well. It's never changed menus during a run and is usually reliable provided I remember to wear it and switch it on. It can take a couple of minutes in built up areas to pick up the satellites, but I think all models are like this. This is a pain if it's cold and rainy and you want to leave your house and start running. I now start my "official" run 5 minutes from my house so the watch warms up whilst I do.
- frog
Re: GPS watch
Thanks, frog, I did a search on the discussion forum and there was some good stuff there, although as Garmin has upgraded models this year, the market is changing all the time.
Comparing models on the Garmin site, I don't think I am really going to use most of the features of the "high end" models, and I like the relative simplicity of the 110 or 210, with HRM.
Comparing models on the Garmin site, I don't think I am really going to use most of the features of the "high end" models, and I like the relative simplicity of the 110 or 210, with HRM.
- AndyO
- green
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Re: GPS watch
Ordered a 110 with Halfords online at £122 - bargain. Arrived just after Xmas, and setting it up was a doddle, as was downloading the data from the watch to my PC after my first run. Now to get fitter
- AndyO
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Re: GPS watch
305 for simplicity, my dad has a 405 and it baffles him completely!
Andrew Dalgleish (INT)
Views expressed on Nopesport are my own.
Views expressed on Nopesport are my own.
- andy
- god
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- Location: Edinburgh
Re: GPS watch
I have a110. At a couple of events this year, the distance recorded has been over 1km shorter than the advertised course length. At all the other events it has recorded distances longer, or similar if my routes have been straight. My suspicion is that the course lengths have been incorrect and the gps is right. How say you?
- drobin
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- Location: Boringstoke
Re: GPS watch
GPS isn't 100% accurate in all conditions - see http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/06/2011 ... depth.html for some detailed testing, & http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/06/2011 ... th_09.html for the second instalment, under forest conditions. My FR210 gives slightly under 5Km for local parkrun courses which should have been measured accurately - maybe the smart recording system cutting corners in places? A whole kilometre seems a lot - but as a proportion of what? If at an orienteering event, can't you measure/calculate the distance from the map to see if it was advertised correctly? Proper road races held by running clubs are measured & certified, but some off-road events (running & biking) staged by commercial companies in our forest areas have been proved to be well under the advertised distance, unfortunately!
- alder
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