Forums >Gears and Wears>In the market for my first GPS watch. Tips?
RA's cranky old teenager
So my birthday is, as it is every October, coming up. I'm looking at either a new pair of racers or a GPS watch. Right now, I'm angling more toward the GPS watch and save the racers for Christmas. I've been getting along fine with just using RA and trail maps, but buddies of mine really like their Garmins (they either have 405s or 110s). The 405 is pretty pricey, and the 110 is more modest, but I've heard good things about the Nike GPS SportWatch and it's cheaper than both.
Thoughts? Musings? Concerns? What do you think would be the best option? Also, I do run on trails a lot. There are some pretty thick tree covers in Delaware, so I'm sure that will have an effect on satellite reception.
Thanks in advance!
That's probably maybe mostly true.
I can't tell you what to get, but I can steer you away from the 405. The touch bezel is not well-liked by most owners. Garmin has mostly fixed it with the newer 610 (also touch-screen, as I recall), though.
Post up what you'd like to be able with it (e.g. deal-breakers, nice-to-haves, don't-cares) and people can give more focused input.
Personally, I think anyone running trails would be better served using a footpod instead of GPS. Not for the satellite reception, but because the steeper slopes tend to be under-measured by GPS (in the experience of the group I run with, anyway). Wrong distance also means wrong pace data.
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau
Well the Nike one can do footpod or GPS, so I'd see that as a plus. But I, too, thought the touch bezel was impractical on the 405. I don't want anything too expensive, under $200. I need it to be able to deal with sweat. Some friends of mine have had trouble with sweat getting in the nooks and crannies of their watches and messing everything up. I thought that would have been a first priority for something like an athletic watch. The only things I absolutely must have are distance and time (and, as an extension of that, pace). I don't care about laps, heart rate, cadence, etc., but it seems like all that stuff comes with a GPS-enable watch anyway.
The footpod thing is kind of a turn-off for me. For some irrational reason, I don't like things attached to my shoes. But for practicality's sake, perhaps a footpod + GPS enabled watch would be the best.
Consider the Garmin 205, inexpensive, simple and reliable.
PBs since age 60: 5k- 24:36, 10k - 47:17. Half Marathon- 1:42:41.
10 miles (unofficial) 1:16:44.
+1 for this watch.
I use it trail running as well - in the Pacific Northwest - and actually so far the tree canopy hasn't caused any issues for me. The thing to know about running trails though and wanting to measure your distance run with a GPS watch is that vertical mileage doesn't translate to the watch. So your total distance won't be true; it will always be short. I don't consider this to be a big deal myself. I don't know what a footpod is - maybe it solves this issue?
Also, I wear my watch over a sweatband for comfort since I don't have a lot of natural padding on my wrists...but that would help you with the sweat problem.
Don't make excuses for why you can't get it done.
Focus on all the reasons why you must make it happen.