GPS Watch or Suunto T6d with Foot POD

Hi,

Just wanted some thoughts and advice on a new watch I am considering and the pros/cons of a GPS watch verses a non GPS watch that uses a Foot POD

I am looking at the Suunto T6d with a 'Foot POD' so I can log speed and distance.

I like Suunto and as I already have a load of other Suunto accessories (such as the bike POD) it makes sense to stick with Suunto otherwise my accessories will become redundant.

A lot of my fellow runners have GPS watches, which seem to use a lot of battery power and I am therefore questioning what the benefits are of using GPS if a 'Foot POD' is able to measure speed and distance?

Thanks

I went from a Nike + footpod, to a Garmin FR50 with footpod to the Garmin 405CX GPS watch.

The Garmin footpod was significantly more accurate than the Nike one, The 405CX is even more accurate than the Garmin footpod.  TBH the main reason I bought it was to stop faffing about swapping the footpod between shoes, and also the extra features available on the 405 watch (intervals etc).

If your Suunto accessories are ANT+ compatible, then they should work with a Garmin watch.  I've no experience of the Suunto products, but they appear to be strongly focussed on heart rate monitoring and how it affects fitness, where the garmins are more pace/distance focussed with added heart rate monitoring. So the choice depends on your approach to training.

DCRainmaker's web site is a mine of useful info, but hasn't reviewed the T6d.  It does review the new Ambit model, so may have some insights into the Suunto range. 

I use a Garmin FR60 + foot pod, which I believe is fairly accurate. This provides me with information on distance, speed, pace, cadence, number of foot steps, etc. Stride length can be calculated from distance and number of foot steps. I'm sure there are advantages to GPS watches but with the FR60 I only need to change the battery about once a year and I don't have any issues with satellite connectivity.