Garmin 110 or alternative... - Gear

pursuedbyangrybees

16/03/2012 at 08:41

Looking for opinions from users, as I'm a bit baffled by the whole GPS/HRM watch thing.

What I need, is a watch that will track where I go, with altitude (not necessarily displaying the altitude), and also tell me my pace. Not too fussed if that pace is a last 1/4 mile average, though I'd prefer current, but I gather the 110 doesn't do that. HRM would be handy for training, I figure, though to be honest I don't know whether all HRM is much of a muchness across the various watches, or whether there is more functionality on more expensive watches?

I need to be able to upload and analyse my run, and with Runmeter I've been able to link the details to my blog - not so concerned about the linking, though it's a nice touch.

I've been pretty happy with Runmeter, well no, I've been very happy with it, but I'm getting to the point where it would be nice to be able to look at my wrist and figure out how I'm performing, so that (for example) in a 10k, I can tell how I'm doing against my estimated time/pace.

I've looked at Suunto, Soleus and Polar models around the £100 and can't see that there's a lot to differentiate, other than that the whole world seems to use Garmin.

Any advice, comments or suggestions of alternatives would be cool.

OneManBrawl

16/03/2012 at 09:25

Really good blog (not mine) that reviews all types and makes of GPS watches in a fair bit of detail:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/p/product-reviews.html

pursuedbyangrybees

16/03/2012 at 11:35

Yup - had a look at his blog, but not much detail on the 110. Having scoured the web this morning, I'm thinking a Soleus 2.0 might be the way to go - no HRM, and little in the way of reviews, but the main gripe with the 1.0 is that there's no data upload, which the 2.0 puts right.

KingKenny

16/03/2012 at 12:03

How much more detail do you need I've been looking into just this recently as well, guessing you went to the very short bit about the 110 as I did.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/07/garmin-forerunner-110-in-depth-product.html

110 looks almost perfect for me, only thing I would like is current pace (1/4 mile probably good enough though) and virtual partner...think the 210 has both of these but then you're in 405\305 pricing.

I've not played with a hrm (yet), so I'm tempted by the 305 or the 405cx..the latter looks nicer.

OneManBrawl

16/03/2012 at 13:15

I was after something similar to you PBAB, and plumped for the 405CX (which comes with HRM). Got a 'newly-overhauled' one from HandTec and to be honest, other than the box it comes in, I can't tell any difference at all from a brand new one. Included all the accessories and manuals and comes with a warranty too.

exiled claret

16/03/2012 at 15:37

TBH last 1/4 mile is probably far more useful than "current pace". Your current pace fluctuates all over the place and is too erratic to be very much use.
Many users of other forerunners (myself included) set it to do the ave. pace of the current lap.

pursuedbyangrybees

16/03/2012 at 16:27

Well, I plumped for the Soleus 2.0 in the end - will review it once I've given it a shot tomorrow or Sunday. Tried it out walking about, and it seemed pretty decent - one gripe is that I don't think (though I may be wrong) that it provides altitude from the GPS - as a trail runner that would be pretty nice... not sure if the Garmin does.

Nykie

16/03/2012 at 21:52

KingKenny, the 410 has the virtual partner and current pace and it's hovering at about £160 on Amazon at the moment. I bought one last week for £150 but it's been up to as much as £200 in the last 2 weeks. It comes with a HRM for that price and it's the same size as a 405.

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