Running watch, garmin, etc.

[NileNellie]

Thank you all!

 

[GreatLakes]

My running watch is a 910XT but something else to consider is one of the new VivoActive HR watches. It is an activity tracker like a Fitbit but has an optical heart rate monitor on the back and has GPS. The GPS can be controlled by activity so it only turns on when you are running, walking, or biking outside. I got one because my employer will buy us one activity monitor a year and I wanted to try it and while I will still use my 910 on runs, while biking, and while swimming I would have no problem using this as my training watch if I didn't already have another device. It can also replace two watches if you have an activity tracker and old Garmin GPS watch.

I don't believe it does intervals though but I also didn't dig that deeply in it.

 

[Anisum]

Sorry I'm late to this, I also have the Forerunner 230. I am usually not an interval runner but when I do I find I don't even need the beep the vibrate functionality is good enough. I chose it over a 10/15/25 because it had some more goodies. At the recommendation of other members here I used dcrainmaker's product comparison calculator to pick what I wanted.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

I'll second this one! I use the FR235, which is essentially the same watch as the FR230, it just adds on-wrist heart rate monitoring. I don't think you can go wrong with either. Or, you could even look for the old FR220 model that should do what you need for significantly less than the "current" models.

I'm happy to see this good review of the 235. I just got one as a Mother's Day/birthday present and I'm super excited to try it out!

 

[camaker]

I'm happy to see this good review of the 235. I just got one as a Mother's Day/birthday present and I'm super excited to try it out!

What a great Mothers Day gift! I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed mine, which was a Christmas present from my wife. If you want a fantastic in depth review of it, be sure to check out dcrainmaker.com. I've learned a lot about the features on it from his review.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

What a great Mothers Day gift! I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed mine, which was a Christmas present from my wife. If you want a fantastic in depth review of it, be sure to check out dcrainmaker.com. I've learned a lot about the features on it from his review.

Cool! I will check that out!

 

[wilkeliza]

Of course went to go find my garmin and it is MIA. Will have to look better this weekend. I did find my super old Nike GPS watch so that is charging in case I want to run before I find my Garmin.

 

[arbie_m]

Sorry I'm late on this too. I have the forerunner 10 also. I should say I just wanted a basic watch for pace and distance. It does have some other features that I like like auto pause and it has interval timer. It takes a bit to find the satellite but states it finds it faster if you leave it in one place until it locates the location. No throw mine in the window ledge while I put on my shoes and its ready.

 

[Slogger]

I have a Garmin Forerunner 15 and it's usually good about locating satellites, but there have been a few times where it took more than 5 minutes.
I like the Garmin connect feature too as it logs all of my runs and gives a nice display of my pace throughout each run.
I just use the watch to track my distance and pace. As for intervals, I use a simple Gym Boss clip on and I love it.

I have the GF 15 too and haven't really spent much time learning what it can do.
Great for basic pace, distance, etc. but it disagrees with my RunKeeper app frequently about distances.
I know how to put in a pace goal but is there a way to put in multiple ones so I can warm up AND run without it telling me I am ahead or behind pace?

 

[arbie_m]

Sorry I'm late on this too. I have the forerunner 10 also. I should say I just wanted a basic watch for pace and distance. It does have some other features that I like like auto pause and it has interval timer. It takes a bit to find the satellite but states it finds it fasone place until it locates the location. No throw mine in the window ledge while I put on my shoes and its ready.

 

[jayfo]

I'm always last to catch on to anything...including these RunDisney events. Oh well. Can always try registering next year
But anyhooo...... what is the biggest difference for having a Garmin vs my Apple Watch? Sorry...newbie runner questions.

 

[opusone]

But anyhooo...... what is the biggest difference for having a Garmin vs my Apple Watch? Sorry...newbie runner questions.

There are many differences in my mind, but the biggest difference is that the Apple watch requires you to have your iPhone with you to use the GPS (hopefully this changes with Apple Watch v2) whereas Garmin has GPS built-in, so you only need the watch.

 

[Ariel484]

I'm always last to catch on to anything...including these RunDisney events. Oh well. Can always try registering next year
But anyhooo...... what is the biggest difference for having a Garmin vs my Apple Watch? Sorry...newbie runner questions.

For me, what made me choose Garmin over Apple Watch is that Garmin has stand-alone GPS, so you can run without a phone. Apple Watch connects to your phone via Bluetooth and uses your phone GPS, so you have to run WITH a phone.

There are other differences, but that was the biggest for me.

 

[croach]

Looks like Garmin is releasing a new watch - 735XT. I usually stick the lower cost, lower tech models(have a 220 now) but this one looks interesting. $440 though - yikes.

 

[opusone]

Looks like Garmin is releasing a new watch - 735XT. I usually stick the lower cost, lower tech models(have a 220 now) but this one looks interesting. $440 though - yikes.

Very unusual that they released it the same day that they announced it, but if I was still doing triathlons, I would definitely get the 735XT.

 

[Keels]

I have the Garmin VivoActive and love it! I started with a Forerunner 10 to see if I'd use it (I did), but it had many things I didn't like or it lacked features that I wanted.

I use my VivoActive for swimming and as a makeshift bike computer. I also love that I can read emails, text messages and all alerts that get sent to my phone on it without having to pull my phone out. I can use it to control my music and to get other updates, and I also have downloaded a couple of other GPS-related features like "Find My Car" that I use way more often than I thought I would.

Also, I use it for golf. So ... yeah. I'm not your typical GPS-watch consumer.

I haven't had the problem of the GPS taking a while to connect like I know others have mentioned, but I can see how that might be an issue.

 

[FFigawi]

Very unusual that they released it the same day that they announced it, but if I was still doing triathlons, I would definitely get the 735XT.

It's a nice watch, but I'm sticking with my 920xt for the bigger screen and the longer battery life. I find it hard to believe that four data fields will look good on the smaller face. Guess we'll find out when DCR writes his full review soon.

 

[SueInBoston]

For anyone that is interested in the Garmin 235, REI has it on sale for $249.99.

 

[dis_or_dat]

Regarding the Garmin 235, what do you guys think about the HR monitor? I read sometimes it reads cadence as the HR. Also, does it have problems picking up HR on small wrists/darker skin tones? Is it overwhelming on small wrists? I got an amazing deal on the forerunner 15 which is great since I just wanted pace/time/distance and the smaller size works well on me, but wouldn't mind a non-strap HR monitor.

 

[crewmatt]

Just got the 735XT. Having had other wrist based HRM I would say this one is very responsive - not quite as responsive as a chest strap but close. I would assume its very similar to the 235.