I just picked up the Ambit2 last week during the big REI sale. I was sick of running out of battery with my Garmin 405 and wanted the better navigational features over the more running oriented watches. So far I really like it. My longest test has been a touch over 10 hrs on 1sec gps recording and it was showing 33% battery left when I finished. Distance was spot on as well, where my Garmin typically measured short. Only complaints so far are the size(pretty big for my scrawny wrists, but not really noticeable) and I am having a terrible time getting the moveslink program to sync my activities to movescount website. I have to mess around with it quite a bit every time I want to upload.
That seems to be a theme with Ambit. I think that they make really great hardware, but the software is kind of sketchy! I'm glad you like the new watch. It's always fun to get a new toy. I used the 305 for many years and just upgraded to the 910xt. Fun to play with.
Someone had made a comment on the Ginger Runners review of the Ambit2 that Strava now syncs up the Ambit so I might use mine more if moveslink isn't real user friendly.
I will definitely. I wasn't expecting to make the purchase so quickly as I just kind of got in the market for a new one. I really couldn't pass up REI's sale price though.
^ yup- external devices let us know what you think of the watch, I'm still in the market- just not sure what's going to be the best for my needs
^ yup- external devices
let us know what you think of the watch, I'm still in the market- just not sure what's going to be the best for my needs
I used a Fenix for Leadville and changed the sampling rate part way through, I believe. Not optimal Strava track, but I did enjoy having real time elevation and other data. For a long ultra you either need two watches or be really fast for real accurate data. I need two watches ...
I do like the features of the Fenix better than the 910, but the 910 has better battery life on the most frequent sampling rate. The new Fenix also has all the run metrics the 610 has.
Regarding the Fenix 2, if you don't use ultra trac (i.e. use normal once every second GPS sampling), how long does the battery last? You will get 20 on the 910xt. I'm wondering how much you get with the Fenix? I'm a slow runner and need to make sure that it would work for a 50M race. I would hate for the battery to die at 10 hours or whatever.
Note: I have the new 910xt, but I'm a bit miffed because it wasn't picking up my footpod or HRM this morning. After 10 minutes (I was running outdoors) I turned it off and restarted. After acquiring satellites, which took a few minutes, I was off and running again, but still no HRM. I played withe settings trying to get the watch to search for it. Yes, it was wet down before I put it on and of course at that point I had been running for 10 minutes and sweat was not an issue. I rinse it after every use. Anyway, after another 5 minutes it started working again. Kind of. The rate seemed too low when considering my pace. For that much money, I want it to work every time. I had that my training run as boogered up a bit by this as my coach has me run different sections at different HR's. If it keeps happening, I may swap it for a Fenix 2. But who's to say it won't happen with it as well? It never happened with my old trusty 305 I used to have.
*sigh* I have to get a new watch
My trusty Nike+ watch is finished after almost 3000 miles....so I'm in need of a new one.
Have wanted to upgrade for a while but that thing had worked so well I really couldn't justify getting a new one. Have to give it some love and I'll miss the old thing
As much as I loved it, I missed having gain/loss, so that is definitely something I want in a new one. Also like the idea of a watch being able to use it for different pursuits, the barometer, compass, hiking features all sound fun, and better battery life is a must have.
Looking at the 910, 620, Fenix 2 and they are all roughly the same price (minus a $50 rebate on the 910) (at least on runningwarehouse and my watch would fail after the sale at rw as well wouldn't it?).
Looking at the features of the Fenix 2 it does the most, but reading some the reviews it sounds like it is having some "growing-pains" so it makes me a little nervous about buying it (although I have read a lot of positive reviews as well). Sort of put the 620 down the list due to the lowest battery life?. At least from what I read. The 910 seems like a very solid, dependable watch as well. Sort of debating between it and the F2.
Looked at the Ambit2 R but the battery life pushed me away from it.
Anyone know if I go with the Fenix 2 and discover it is really buggy or something, that I can return it?
Yeah, the Fenix 2 is probably more than I need (is more than I need) but if I invest in a watch I would rather just spend another $100 or 2 to get what I want, especially when it is roughly the same price as the 910. (The $50 rebate won't sway me, probably not even a $100 off...now if I found one half price then maybe )
Thanks for any info. Enjoyed reading through this thread.
My Garmin 305 is not holding a charge very well - over 3 years old. I was going to send it in and pay the $80 or so for a refurb. But instead, I ordered the Magellan Echo watch. It is a smart watch with a standard coin battery. It syncs with a smartphone and displays the info from your running app. I will be getting it in the mail this week and trying it out. As long as my iPhone has juice, it will last any length ultra. I use a Annker charge unit and stuck it in my running vest, so I am good to go. Hopefully this will work well for me.
I've been wearing the Ambit2 R as a watch and have done 2 runs (one 10 mile TM run and one 14 mile road run) and the battery is still at 75% and it's been 1 1/2 weeks. One complaint I do have about it is that you can't adjust the display on the fly. Luckily I had read enough reviews of the watch and set up my 5 display options beforehand. I believe you can set up 5 displays that will have 3 lines similar to this
My case for this watch is that it seems to be A LOT more accurate than my Garmin 205 when comparing maps to MapMyRun, MovesCount, and RunKeeper. I ran with it on the TM with no pairing to a foot pod or anything and the accelerometer was short .07 miles from the 10 miles