My Garmin 110 has just died after one rain shower too many and I want to replace it, perhaps with something water resistant.

I want something I can wear on my wrist, I don’t want any of that maps nonsense, just ability to record speed, distance time and cumulative climbing. The suuntos look good but apparently (I think) don’t do the latter. Farming do he’s em to have a reputation for bring hit and miss, but I suppose I have finally fathomed out garmin connect now.

Any real world experiences you care to share?

At the risk of saying “buy what I have”, I’m going to suggest what I have, which is the Garmin Forerunner 220. It’s waterproof to 50m, and does everything you ask. Garmin connect will give you elevation lost/gained and min/max elevation.

I guess the only downside is that it’s running focussed, and you need to change the activity type on Garmin Connect manually afterwards if you’re cycling. I believe if you buy the 620, you can change the activity type on the watch.

Thanks, Cheshire moggy. I’ll have a look at the 220 – hadn’t clicked it was water resistant/proof. Have you had it long?

The wife and myself use the Garmin 220 too. I can’t fault it. Simply to use such as creating workouts or training plans on the Garmin Connect website then sync to your watch. After completing your run it will sync via bluetooth and upload your details back to the Garmin Connect website were you can see much greater detail of your run or just see the basics on your watch. Battery lasts well too.
The new Polar watch gets some good reviews too.

Is it competeley dead? you may be able to revive it

http://undefinedvalue.com/2014/01/14/garmin-forerunner-110-blank-screen
http://nickris.co.uk/blog/?p=87
http://www.justanswer.com/gps/5l0py-garmin-110-watch-will-not-turn-on-won-t-charge.html

Sealing on these is not great but you can resuce the condensation by slackening but not removing the screws on the back and placing it in a jar of dried rice

Thanks abductee. It appears ok and fires up and acquires satellites etc, but the start/stop button has no function whatsoever (I spent a while attacking it with a stick etc). I will try the complete reboot tomorrow when I can fire it up outside but think it’s gone. Have had two years and hundreds of rides of use out of it, though. Cheers

I’ve used the Suunto Ambit 1,2 & now 3.

The 3 is great (they all are TBH). 3 has Bluetooth so no need to link to a computer anymore. Does cumulative climbs.

Sunnto Ambit 2 … excellent watch and bomb proof

I’ve put the new Polar M400 on my Christmas list.
Bluetooth. Waterproof. Dedicated cycling mode. Normal usb port – no silly docks.

Sounds like a winner to me!

Garmin Fenix? It’s in their outdoor series, though the Fenix 2 is aimed more at training now.
Works well as a normal watch, but you can also read your email/messages as well.
I mainly use mine to record where I’ve been. You can also download a route to it. Stick it on your bars is better for following a route.

I have the old sunnto’s non gps and they have been great, waterproof pretty robust having withstood various mtb, skiing and sailing accidents some of which have been harsh enough to scratch glass/body. They do have cumulative climbing using air pressure/altimeter. On that basis I would imagine the GPs ones would be good.

The Suunto Ambit range have barometric altimeters built in (except the 2R and 2S models), as does the Garmin Fenix. They are more expensive, but much more accurate for your climbing profiles than using GPS alone.

If you’d like to do some background reading, then grab yourself a brew and visit DC Rainmaker.

Thanks all. Dc rainmaker – what a site! I nearly never escaped!

After weighing it all up, I decided to stick with garmin as that’s where all my stuff to-date is. Also decided to give the forerunner 220 a go which seems to cover the bases.

Thanks for all the suggestions – appreciated.

Just caught this thread again. I’ve had my 220 since last Christmas. The first one failed within a month, but Wiggle replaced it without question.

Use it almost every day, and just one hard reset in a year.

Kiwi john – what’s the fenix like for following a route on?

@rob2, it’s more than adequate. Obviously the map isn’t super detailed, but as long as you keep the arrow on the dotted line, it’s fine.

The Fenix beeps just before you reach a waypoint and displays an arrow that shows you which way to turn. Great on the road and on tracks less brilliant at multi-junctions, but pretty good most of the time ime.

It’s reasonably easy to use once you get used to it, but I dislike Garmin’s various software iterations for their sheer feckless lack of an intuitive interface.

I’ve also used the TomTom multisport watch which I kind of like for its slim profile. No nav capabilities, but should do everything else and can upload direct to various sites including Strava as well as TomTom’s own MySports Connect site.

I’m also after a new watch, does anyone know which watches track by the second, I know my old forerunner 305 does, ideally I’d like to replace it like for like but open to other ideas, I used an edge 200 for a while but didn’t like it as it missed out half the trails due to its poor tracking abilities.

As does the 910XT, which is what I own – I chose it for that reason (it was the only sports GPS watch to have that feature at the time I got it).