I’m sure this has been done before, but recommend me a decent running watch for around £100.

Just want to be able to map my runs and monitor pace etc. Not worried about heart rate monitoring. I’m assuming most of them will map on to google maps?

Was looking at the Garmin Forerunner 10, which seems to get some reasonable reviews for the money.

Any experience / advice?

Ta

I use a Forerunner 10, If you just want a simple watch to map runs then its ideal.

+1 for the forerunner 10.

It does the basic stuff you list, and is fairly small and light compared to some of the monstrous efforts I see at my run club!

Take a look at the next model up, the Forerunner 15. Does a whole lot more for not much more money.

The forerunner is a decent watch, but the battery only lasts for 5 hours. Obviously not a problem if your runs are always less than that. Another slight issue is it doesn’t seem accurate when measuring total ascent.
Just bought a TomTom runner for £100 from Argos,smaller, 10hour battery life and faster to pick onto satelites.

Forerunner 15

Forerunner 10 here. Never been any bother, but I’ve never used anything else.

Is TomTom compatible with Endomondo and Strava (without having to faff around with gpx files and the like)? Garmin is…

DC Rainmaker for reviews.

With regards to the monstrous efforts. I have a 310 XT and to be honest I usually forget I’m wearing it, they’re not really that obtrusive.

Your phone with the map my run app. Works for me.

Cheapo option FTW: standard digi watch with stopwatch and plot the route on gmaps pedometer when you get home 🙂
Divide the distance by the time for your pace calculation. Takes about 3 minutes and gives you a certain sense of satisfaction seeing how far you ran on the map
With so much tech available free on t;internet and apps it amazes me how we convince ourselves we need half the gadgets we buy

With so much tech available free on t;internet and apps it amazes me how we convince ourselves we need half the gadgets we buy

Boring.

Caher – Member
Your phone with the map my run app. Works for me.

Would you please stop using my phone! 😐

The cheap Garmins are good and do the basic stuff well. My wife uses a Forerunner 110 which was bought for £40 via Ebay. It has a couple of things missing that I want in a watch (compatability with a footpod and the ability to show current pace, not just average pace) but my wife doesn’t care about those (she’s only interested in distance, time and the being able to upload the session to Strava).

Slightly higher up the range is the Forerunner 220 (which I have) which brings vibration alerts instead of beeps if you go out of pace / zone or if you use it as an alarm clock.

you can get the garmin 610 off ebay, manufacturer refurbished for £100 (plus import etc) off ebay

Just bought a TomTom Multisport (£104 in a one day sale).

Pros:
– Very compact
– Simple to use
– Straightforward to sync with Endo/Strava/etc
– TomTom seem to put out regular updates with new functionality

Cons:
– It’s intended to be a normal watch so never switches off! I can guarantee when I next want to use it the battery will be dead (the GPS is disabled when in watch mode so I think the battery life should be about a week)…
– My wife and I bought it to share, but it’s intended to be a single user thing, so I can see we’re going to be accidentally uploading each others activities to our Endo/Strava/etc.
– I’m still carrying my phone when I run (used to use that to track) to use as a walkman…