Philip Porter
Reviewed: 21 March 2010
SKEPTICAL AT FIRST, BUT I WAS WRONG!!!
Easy to use, very comfortable when worn on upper arm, ability to superimpose maps onto Google Earth images is great!
Accuracy isnt great when running alongside trees and in overcast weather - combine the two and things can get decidedly off track!
First time I tried this i was a disaster and I wondered if I had wasted £56 on it (though this was a bargain eBay price) - ran along a reasonably open track behind houses in my local area and signal vanished completely and didnt come back until 20 minutes later - hopeless! (or so I thought!)
However, I read a review elsewhere that recommended updating the software. After doing this (version 3.70 - from the Garmin site) I ran the same route and it tracked it all with no problems (aside from the odd wobble in and around thick tree cover). Never missed a beat since then and its pretty accurate too - put it on my car dashboard and drove to work - 0.1 mile difference between the Garmin and the car odometer. Similar accuracy when I repeat runs over the same route.
One tip I have found useful - switch it on outside and walk for a couple of minutes until it has picked up a signal (good warm up routine in any case) - then start running. Once its locked on it seems to stay locked on. Previously I had switched on and started running immediately without waiting for a lock and this seems to result in much lower accuracy all round - not sure why this should be the case, but thats my experience.
