Does anyone have any experience of GPS watches?

I’m looking at the Suunto X10 specifically but maybe a Garmin Forerunner for my wife and I to share and just wondering how they shape up in practical use? I’ve heard varying things about issues with watch GPS’s battery life and problems gaining / losing a signal and I’m a little concerned that performance suffers at the expense of jamming the GPS into a small unit.

Maybe we’d just be better off sticking the 705 into a backpack or getting one of the ipod armbands and using that…

had a play with one a few years ago, ant it was rubbish compared to handheld ones, which seeing how bad the magellan 2000 we were comparing it to is by todays standards is pretty woefull.

I’ve got a foretrex – not really a watch, more a wrist mounted GPS – but it’s ace. I also want a new forerunner ie a 305 or 405 (that right?), they seem ace for running but they’re not really a nav tool.

The 405 is the one that looks like a watch. Bloke at work has one and really likes it, but he says that you need relatively large wrists to stop it looking silly.

To be honest, the only thing putting me off buying one is the cost. Oh yes, and the fact that I have a perfectly good GPS somewhere in my garage. In a box. Somewhere.

not after it as a nav-tool, more a recording device of where we’ve been / speed etc – waypoints would be nice (I know the Suunto’s allow waypoints and you can use the inbuilt compass etc) but not essential..

You could install Trekbuddy on a mobile phone and add a dinky bluetooth GPS and record your route that way? Works pefectly well and is easy to view in memory map or whatever. Might not be as portable as you want though.