Sports watches

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speedybundy

speedybundy

All Australian
Jun 12, 2013
916
736
AFL Club
Geelong
Gday everyone, in the market for a sports watch. Got my eye on a few cheaper ones and was wondering what peoples thought's where, and if other options like the Garmin forerunner 210 or the Nike+ range are worth the extra price.

Navig8r S10 and S20
Timex Marathon Mens watch
Garmin forerunner 10

Cheers for any responses
 

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speedybundy said:
Gday everyone, in the market for a sports watch. Got my eye on a few cheaper ones and was wondering what peoples thought's where, and if other options like the Garmin forerunner 210 or the Nike+ range are worth the extra price.

Navig8r S10 and S20
Timex Marathon Mens watch
Garmin forerunner 10

Cheers for any responses
Click to expand...
I've got a Garmin 405 forerunner had it for 6 years, Great watch i have got a caddence sensor for my bike, a foot pod for indoors & a heart rate strap. Highly Recomened by me.
 
depends on what you want to do.

not much difference between the FR10 and FR210 except for HR monitor and footpod compatibility.
210 has been discontinued recently though so you might be able to get one cheap.

havent heard many good reports about the Nike+ watch and i dont know anything about the Timex or Navig8r

it all depends on what sort of training you are doing and what sort of data you want from the watch.


if you've got a few spare hours go to
[url="http://dcrainmaker.com"]dcrainmaker.com[/URL]
and read his reviews. all the info you could ever need is there.....except he hasnt reviewed the Navig8tr
 
PoopingHindi said:
depends on what you want to do.

not much difference between the FR10 and FR210 except for HR monitor and footpod compatibility.
210 has been discontinued recently though so you might be able to get one cheap.

havent heard many good reports about the Nike+ watch and i dont know anything about the Timex or Navig8r

it all depends on what sort of training you are doing and what sort of data you want from the watch.


if you've got a few spare hours go to
dcrainmaker.com
and read his reviews. all the info you could ever need is there.....except he hasnt reviewed the Navig8tr
Click to expand...

:thumbsu: Just read on that site a Sunto usb is compatible with Garmon. Woohoo, made my day.
 
Training Mad said:
I've got a Garmin 405 forerunner had it for 6 years, Great watch i have got a caddence sensor for my bike, a foot pod for indoors & a heart rate strap. Highly Recomened by me.
Click to expand...

Also when you upload your data it comes up with a google map of your run, with all your speed, heart rate & elevation graphs on the screen, you can pause your run to see we're you struggle and excel, my favourite thing is the virtual partner you can set it at your pb and you will improve your times so quick.


Longer taps Savage Goal. Centimetre perfect by the Saints from the boundary 50m out!
 
Alex Romance said:
speedybundy I've got a Casio Calculator watch if you're keen. It has a few numbers that don't work, band won't adjust anymore, only 31yrs old and two small scratches on the screen. Will let it go for $20 or a huge favour. PM if interested :)
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Aha cheers for the offer mate... think I'll keep hunting though :D
 
Alex Romance said:
speedybundy I've got a Casio Calculator watch if you're keen. It has a few numbers that don't work, band won't adjust anymore, only 31yrs old and two small scratches on the screen. Will let it go for $20 or a huge favour. PM if interested :)
Click to expand...
Mate you joke about it, but mine serves me extremely well haha
 

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If you have the extra coin to spend, the Suunto Ambit 2 is a great bit of kit.

Can do as much as my old ex physiology lab and it sits on your wrist. Far better than Garmin in terms of features and capabilities, but not quite as user friendly.
 
Folks Garmin forerunner 10 on sale for 110 down from 150, does GPS, Timer, Predicted calories but nothing like HR or anything. If anyone has any thoughts/experience love to hear it, appreciate the responses to!
 
Really does depend what you want it for.

If you want it to do the impressive show off sort of stuff, like track your run and give you stats, it is probably fine.

If you want it for exercise benefits, you really need a HR component. Anything that is first and foremost GPS is to impress people. Anything that is first and foremost HR focussed is for fitness benefits.

All depends what you want it for. Keep in mind, the basic Garmin will do the same as a free app if you run with a smart phone.
 
Andronicus said:
Really does depend what you want it for.

If you want it to do the impressive show off sort of stuff, like track your run and give you stats, it is probably fine.

If you want it for exercise benefits, you really need a HR component. Anything that is first and foremost GPS is to impress people. Anything that is first and foremost HR focussed is for fitness benefits.

All depends what you want it for. Keep in mind, the basic Garmin will do the same as a free app if you run with a smart phone.
Click to expand...
Extremely good point, I'll go in and ask tomorrow but think it will give live updates about distance or only at the end of the run? Was thinking that would be very handy for intervals, but the HR component would certainly be very handy for HR zone training
 
Andronicus said:
Anything that is first and foremost GPS is to impress people. Anything that is first and foremost HR focussed is for fitness benefits.
Click to expand...
this is bullshit. both are useful when you use them properly and kinda pointless when you dont....both become less necessary as you learn to understand your own effort and pacing.


the FR10 will track distance and give you instant or avg pace. there are 2 data pages, each display 2 different metrics that you can choose.
you cant set intervals on it. (it has a run/walk function that you might be able to use to set up a really basic session)

given the choice between training with a watch or a phone i'd gladly pay $110 so i didnt have to carry the phone.
its not the sort of thing i'd buy but if all you want is something to show you distance and pace and record your workouts then go for it.
like i said before, it all depends on how you train and what you want to get out of the watch.
 
PoopingHindi said:
this is bullshit. both are useful when you use them properly and kinda pointless when you dont....both become less necessary as you learn to understand your own effort and pacing.


the FR10 will track distance and give you instant or avg pace. there are 2 data pages, each display 2 different metrics that you can choose.
you cant set intervals on it. (it has a run/walk function that you might be able to use to set up a really basic session)

given the choice between training with a watch or a phone i'd gladly pay $110 so i didnt have to carry the phone.
its not the sort of thing i'd buy but if all you want is something to show you distance and pace and record your workouts then go for it.
like i said before, it all depends on how you train and what you want to get out of the watch.
Click to expand...

Classy opening there champ.

For fitness benefits, splits, averages and distances are pieces of data that you need to know how to use and interpret. If you don't, then it falls well short of the physiological benefits that a decent HRM will give you.

As for you gladly spending the money so you won't have to take a phone, congrats. The vast majority of runners don't seem to share that opinion and run with some sort of music player, which is usually a phone that does more than the basic garmin and costs nothing with a free app.

Personally, I don't care to take my phone either, but I won't presume the same of others.
 
Andronicus said:
Classy opening there champ.

For fitness benefits, splits, averages and distances are pieces of data that you need to know how to use and interpret. If you don't, then it falls well short of the physiological benefits that a decent HRM will give you.
Click to expand...
a HRM doesnt give you physiological benefits it just gives data...you still need to know what to do with it.
 
PoopingHindi said:
a HRM doesnt give you physiological benefits it just gives data...you still need to know what to do with it.
Click to expand...

Far more personalised and relevant data that can be used instantly on the spot.

If you don't see how that isn't a physiological benefit, then perhaps you don't understand how hr gives better feedback than speeds.
 
Andronicus said:
Far more personalised and relevant data that can be used instantly on the spot.

If you don't see how that isn't a physiological benefit, then perhaps you don't understand how hr gives better feedback than speeds.
Click to expand...
training gives you the physiological benefit not the watch. no matter how many features it has, what it costs or what brand it is.

as for using pace or heart rate, both work. its mostly personal preference and how you like to train. (also what sort of a session you're doing)
for me there's too many variables that affect heart rate (sleep, heat etc) whereas a 4:30 kilometre is always a 4:30 kilometre so i mostly train by pace except when its hot
 
PoopingHindi said:
training gives you the physiological benefit not the watch. no matter how many features it has, what it costs or what brand it is.

as for using pace or heart rate, both work. its mostly personal preference and how you like to train. (also what sort of a session you're doing)
for me there's too many variables that affect heart rate (sleep, heat etc) whereas a 4:30 kilometre is always a 4:30 kilometre so i mostly train by pace except when its hot
Click to expand...

Pretty caught up on semantics aren't you.

Also, why would you mention the variables that affect HR, and not the variables that affect time? You mentioned that heat affects a 4:30 km, but not running surface, incline/decline, technical aspects, nutrition etc. I'd say that the variables that affect HR still give you a far better idea of real output than time.

It tells you how hard you are working. For most beginners and to be honest most of the elite runners I have worked with, that is a far better indicator than working off times. Sure they do all add up, and can be of use, but the key aspect that talks about output is HR.
 
Andronicus said:
Pretty caught up on semantics aren't you.

Also, why would you mention the variables that affect HR, and not the variables that affect time? You mentioned that heat affects a 4:30 km, but not running surface, incline/decline, technical aspects, nutrition etc. I'd say that the variables that affect HR still give you a far better idea of real output than time.
Click to expand...
all these things affect heart rate too.
my point was that you can run the exact same course in the same time in the same conditions at the same perceived effort and your heart rate could be vastly different

most goals are time/pace based so its easy to train that way. when people check their watch after a race its normally to check their time not to see how long they spent in Z4

if you want to do the last 3k's of your run at target race pace you need a gps.
interval training is largely done by time/pace....and you need something to measure the distance unless you're at a track.
etc
etc
etc
...
...
im not saying that hr training is bad, just that both a HRM and GPS merely provide data and its what you do with that data that counts.
and to say that gps is just for showing off is complete bullshit
 
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