Maybe some of you who still peek into RWOL might have seen my post there whether to choose between a running shoe or a GPS watch and my post here at RA also if what type of GPS watch to get. I am seriously looking into the Forerunner 10 which should be affordable but it turned out that the price from here is very very expensive and the only affordable option is the Soleus GPS 1.0.
So I guess I would continue to run for the meantime with my phone using the Nike Running app or just run with my Ironman watch. I am just wondering, do anybody here still run with your smartphone utilizing it's GPS?
I'm old school. Probably because I'm old and have been running longer than a lot of you have been alive.
I use a stopwatch and map my runs using Google Earth and USATF's route mapper.
Since I love gadgets I would love to get a GPS watch, but right now it's an expense I don't need to make.
Wouldn't use a smartphone on a run since I don't want to carry it - in my hand, on my arm, in a spibelt-type thing, etc.
You, though, need to get and use what will work for you. And, of course, what you want.
Wait - is the choice b/t shoes v. a watch, b/c in that case it is shoes FTW. If the question is Smartphone v. GPS, well my Garmin is a gajillion times better than my phone, so I vote Garmin.
delicate flower
What kind of budget are we looking at here? $129 for the FR10 is very reasonable as GPS watches go. It's not that much more than a good pair of running shoes and will last a lot longer.
I vote GPS because I am a gadget nerd. However, I agree with RMTB in that I'd buy shoes before I'd buy the watch.
<3
Thanks. I will for the meantime stick to the smartphone option or just use my old school stop watch.
Baboon, I agree that the Forerunner 10 is reasonably priced at $130 in the US, but here since there are still very limited dealers, the price goes to an absurd $230 for the Forerunner 10. I will have to wait for the price of the Garmins to stabilize here in the Philippines.
No more marathons
I have used the garmin connect app on my smartphone but only when both my 210 and 205 were in for repair/replacement. Aggggggg. Garmin's work great except when they don't.
Boston 2014 - a 33 year journey
Lordy, I hope there are tapes.
He's a leaker!
I ran with my Nike+ on my iphone until last month. I loved it and I still miss some of the features. I found that once I started running longer than 14 miles my phone would run out of battery so I bought a Garmin 610. I also found out that I could use my healthcare spending to pay for it so that was a big incentive. It depends on what you want it for, how long your'e running and what features are important to you.
Thanks. I will for the meantime stick to the smartphone option or just use my old school stop watch. Baboon, I agree that the Forerunner 10 is reasonably priced at $130 in the US, but here since there are still very limited dealers, the price goes to an absurd $230 for the Forerunner 10. I will have to wait for the price of the Garmins to stabilize here in the Philippines.
Ahhh, gotcha. I did not realize you were in the Philippines.
Skirt Runner
I envy people who can run with a smartphone. I don't do well carrying a lot of stuff with me on my runs. I lock my keys in my mailbox so I only have to deal with a tiny mail key, and can't deal with anything larger than an ipod nano. I have a spibelt but the phone is too heavy and drives me nuts! Until I got my Garmin I used Nike+ for my ipod nano which has a foot sensor that sends info to a receiver in my ipod. No matter how many times I calibrated it though it would get horribly inaccurate. So Garmin all the way!
PRs: 5K- 28:16 (5/5/13) 10K- 1:00:13 (10/27/13) 4M- 41:43 (9/7/13) 15K- 1:34:25 (8/17/13) 10M- 1:56:30 (4/6/14) HM- 2:20:16 (4/13/14) Full- 5:55:33 (11/1/15)
I started a blog about running :) Check it out if you care to
Are we there, yet?
I voted for GPS but only because I was given one for a Christmas present years ago and that's what I use, otherwise my Timex Ironman works just fine.
Is ordering on the internet from a US dealer at US prices not an option?
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
I never liked carrying a phone in my SPIBelt, but since I've gotten a FlipBelt I don't even notice it is there. I tried using the Garmin Fit program once when I had forgotten my watch and it worked well enough on that day. However, I tried it again for a 15 miler the following week while also wearing my 910xt. The problem with the phone is that it will on occasion lose connectivity. It only registered 14.5 miles instead of the 15 that I ran. It tends to lose signal on overcast/cloudy days.
Fortunately for me, my runs so far with the phone's GPS is fairly accurate when I map my run. The problem for runs longer than 3 hours, my phones battery will barely last.
@wcrunner
I have one online dealer who will ship the watch from the US. The price is much lower but still a bit high for the Forerunner at about $180 to $190. I am still looking for other options. The fairly affordable option I have right now is the Soleus 1.0 in which I will only be able to use for pace and distance. Anyway, I still manually log my miles using the training log here in RA which I only recently did since the Exodus from RWOL.
Fortunately for me, my runs so far with the phone's GPS is fairly accurate when I map my run. The problem for runs longer than 3 hours, my phones battery will barely last. @wcrunner I have one online dealer who will ship the watch from the US. The price is much lower but still a bit high for the Forerunner at about $180 to $190. I am still looking for other options. The fairly affordable option I have right now is the Soleus 1.0 in which I will only be able to use for pace and distance. Anyway, I still manually log my miles using the training log here in RA which I only recently did since the Exodus from RWOL.
What other features would you be interested in besides pace, distance, and elapsed time? I'm a little surprised the Soleus 1.0 wouldn't have lap times as well.
Ultra Cowboy
I still need to try the RA Android app. Handyrunner. I downloaded it yesterday...
WYBMADIITY
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For the record, handyrunner was not developed and isn't maintained by The Man. The developer (cat named derek) kind of stepped back from it for awhile. Not sure what the current status is or who (if anyone) "owns" it. However, if you post questions in the main forum, sometimes someone can answer them.