Running Watches

allycavs

Hi Guys

Im after getting into running over the last year and I want to take it more serious. I want to get a watch. nothing over the top but certainly like to know distance, current speed, average speed and heart rate.

Garmin forerunner 10 seems to be the watch I should go for. I dont want to be paying way over the top either. What would ye recommend?

Thanks
Alan

rom

Garmin 10 does not do heart rate. You will need to pay more for that. http://www.dcrainmaker.com/p/product-reviews.html will explain the pro's and cons of each. personally i think http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-MOTOACTV-Sports-Watch-Player/dp/B007C1KKW8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349262364&sr=8-1&keywords=motorola+motoactv and you can get a bluetooth LE or ANT+ HRM. Works fine with wahoo BT LE (Bluetooth Smart) or Garmin ANT+ HRM. You can even get a nice pair of bluetooth earphones to listen to your music also. Not suitable for small wrists but it does almost everything I need bar a lap button.

sconhome

allycavs wrote: »

I want to get a watch. nothing over the top but certainly like to know distance, current speed, average speed and heart rate.

What you need is a GPS watch / combo coupled with a Heart Rate Monitor.

Garmin do this with the Forerunner 110 range and from there upwards to 210, 410 etc. All have the option of pairing with a Heart Rate Strap.
Polar RS300 will focus on the Heart Rate side of things and use an arm pod GPS unit to give you pace, distance info.
Polar RC3 GPS is an integrated GPS (part of the watch) with option of Heart rate strap.
Soleus 3.0 will also do the same thing but with integrated GPS.

My money would be on the Polar RC3, Expect to budget from €180 to €300 odd for these kind of watches.

As ROM says the FR10 is a nice little unit but does not give option of HR add-on.

Krusty_Clown

You can pick up the Forerunner 410 with HRM for ~€199 delivered (Amazon). Occasionally this price drops to €170.
Three posts. Three different opinions.

spurscormac

I ain't recommended the Timex Run Trainer in a while, so there's another in the mix. It has a HRM option.

Cheaper in the states than this side of the ocean, but you need to consider import charges.

Can see it here from the UK for ~€250

Make sure its the Black & Orange watch and not other timex stopwatch/hrm that may not have the GPs, and not the bulkier GPS Timex Global Trainer.

Willie_Power

I only started running recently I have the Garmin Forerunner 110 and I'm very happy with it, easy to use, gives me exactly what I want, distance and time, comfortable to wear, not too big. haven't got into using the heart monitor yet so can't comment on how good/bad that is. But all in all it gets my vote.

allycavs

Hi Guys.

Thanks for all your contrinutions. Will does the fore runner 10 have the option of heart rate?

I most admit the Motorolla watch seems like a great one too. I like the idea of blue tooth music and it plays songs that it knows picks you up when you are struggling



Alan

Krusty_Clown

allycavs wrote: »

Hi Guys.
Thanks for all your contrinutions. Will does the fore runner 10 have the option of heart rate?
I most admit the Motorolla watch seems like a great one too. I like the idea of blue tooth music and it plays songs that it knows picks you up when you are struggling
Alan

The Forerunner 110 does. the Forerunner 10 does not. Make sure you read the full review of the Motorolla (or any other watch) before you make that purchase. You should be aware of any shortcomings and limitations. Based on feedback from AmphibianKingwest (who works in a shop where they sell these things), the Forerunner 110 has a high failure/high rate.

rom

"I like the idea of blue tooth music and it plays songs that it knows picks you up when you are struggling" - this is a gimick that you don't need. It is a good,not great watch and like all has its short comings. If it was smaller and had a lap button for interval training then I would use it rather than my garmin 610. For value for money it has less shortcomings that other watches of similar prices. As you can get it for about 130 euro on amazon.com (you can get free shipping codes) then it performs better than any other watch for that price. The file format it uses is not .FIT so you have to convert it to use runkeeper or etc but you can simply use the motorola portal which ain't too bad. It does give better HR readings than my 610 with the same garmin strap. For someone for their first watch it ain't too bad. My 610 which is at least twice the price has more bugs in it. I am seriously considering moving to polar as HR readings on the garmin are crap.

Krusty_Clown

rom wrote: »

In my opinion it has less shortcomings that other watches of similar prices. it performs better than any other watch for that price that I have tried. You can get it for about 130 euro on amazon.com plus shipping, plus VAT/duty, if Amazon.com will ship it to you (which they won't).

I fixed your post rom. You have to compare like with like. If purchasing from Amazon.com in the US, you have to factor in VAT/duty, if indeed they will ship it to you at all (which is not the default position for Amazon.com with regards to electronics goods. It doesn't matter if you know someone who you can ship it to in the US, who will ship it back to you in Ireland avoiding VAT/Duty. That is irrelevant to someone else who is making a purchase.

The actual price on Amazon.co.uk for the 8Gb model is: £166 (€206). At that price, the Forerunner 410 is in my opinion, a far better purchase, and you'll save €15.

I would read the reviews (both DCRainmakers and Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk before buying any product).

rom

Buy it on ebay so. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorola-MOTOACTV-8GB-GPS-Fiteness-Sport-Watch-Smart-MP3-Player-Moto-Actv-/350580643833#shId 137 euro shipped new. This is no different than buying it on amazon market place. https://www.clevertraining.com is 181 euro for a 410 shipped to Ireland and its like 197 on amazon.co.uk shipped. Just price around. I normally look who is selling it on amazon.com and then go to their direct site as they may ship when amazon don't.

+1 on reading all reviews.

monthehoops

I got the Motoactv about 6 weeks ago having previously had a Garmin 305 Forerunner. I can't praise the Motoactv enough, a lovely piece of kit.

rom

monthehoops wrote: »

I got the Motoactv about 6 weeks ago having previously had a Garmin 305 Forerunner. I can't praise the Motoactv enough, a lovely piece of kit.

How do you do interval training with it as I could never figure it out and is the main con for me.

monthehoops

rom wrote: »

How do you do interval training with it as I could never figure it out and is the main con for me.

Ill have a look, I just run and go mostly.

PaulieC

Can you compare and contrast the 305 and the motoactv ?

I was looking at the motoactv today in elverys and it looks like a nice piece of kit. The missus is going to the states next month and it's down to $155 on amazon and I was thinking of getting one with a pair of the Bluetooth headphones.

Astonishingly, they are selling it in elverys for €325, so it's almost three times more expensive ( yeah, I know about all the ins and outs that push the prices up here, but that margin is outrageous, especially for a discontinued product).
Also the guy in there told me that the supplied headphones have a built in HRM. I think he thought my disbelieving expression was one of amazement as he took that as his cue to tell me all about how it learns your favourite music etc. etc. I had a look and I can't find any reference to those phones having a HRM function

rom

The main thing is the lap button. If the Motoactv had the lap button then I would actually use is ahead of my garmin 610 for training and use the garmin for races (just cause you are less likely to reset an activity with it/ more idiot proof). The lack of a lap button means for me that I can't do something like mile repeats with recovery with the watch. Say you want to do something like
2 miles warmup and cooldown
4x 1m with 2:30mins recovery and you want the results to show clearly each mile lap then there seem to be no way to do this as you want to get a readout in the end like

Lap Time Distance (miles)
1 9:00 1
2 9:00 1
3 6:30 1
4 2:30 0.3
5 6:30 1
6 2:30 0.3
7 6:30 1
8 2:30 0.3
9 6:30 1
10 2:30 0.3
11 9:00 1
12 9:00 1

As you can see above you can clearly see what you did each mile lap cause you pressed the lap button and autolap starts a new lap at the end of it. Then you pressed lap again to start your next lap. There seems no way to do this on the Motoactv watch.

In comparing the 305 to the Motoactv. The 305 is the best watch ever made. Reason why ? because it does close to anything you need it to do and all the bugs have been fixed from years of bug fixes. My 610 is way more buggy. I bought the 610 because I thought that it would be much quicker to lock onto satellites but it ain't much faster. The 305 has alerts for different things that are a beep which can be handy if you are trying to keep under a certain HR for example or pace. HR on the motorola watch seems better (presume that is smooths out the graph if it does not get a reading for a few secs), The gps locks very fast. Battery is fine. Some of them lack a plastic gromit that is needed when you ain't using wired earphones to keep it safe from the rain.

So in summary the motorola is a great watch but lacks some of the advanced (would consider lap button a basic one tbh) features of the garmin watch but for the cheap price I would use the one I have for the winter with a Bluetoothe headset if there was simply a lap button.

According to the manual "Manual: Tap the Lap screen to transition to the next lap. To adjust tap setting so you can tap the device, go to Settings > Workout > Device Tap." So that means you must put the workout in and tap then to go into each lap which is not much good. You need to be able to use one of the side buttons for lap.

PaulieC

does the web site still work for uploading activities ?

event

Rom, monthehoops, in the review on DC rainmaker his main concern is battery life. What can you say about this?
Whats the longest you have taken it out for and would it be suitable for a marathon ie able to last 4 hours?

rom

event wrote: »

Rom, monthehoops, in the review on DC rainmaker his main concern is battery life. What can you say about this?
Whats the longest you have taken it out for and would it be suitable for a marathon ie able to last 4 hours?

yes - to have to change it like that is silly tbh. DC rainmaker was correct but it has got a software updates since then. I have used it to 3 hours on every sec recording with just a HRM (no audio) but this should give you more info. http://www.amazon.com/review/R313X2THYZMQ2W/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_3 http://www.amazon.com/review/RG7UMYDOOPTXX/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_5 http://www.amazon.com/review/RE9CAMKSXK5VT/ref=cm_srch_res_rtr_alt_6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXCtX07pn8w

again the lack of a lap button is a deal breaker for me.

rom

http://motoactvjunkies.com/2012/05/12/motoactv-interval-training-tutorial/
Interval training can only done if planned. That is no good for anything other than a basic workout.