I need (want?) a basic, GPS and ANT+ enabled watch for running. Nothing fancy other than basic S/D/T stats. Looking at Garmin Forerunner 110 but would rather pay a 2-figure sum.

What’s good?

I’ve read up a lot on the Garmin watches. If you plan on keeping it long term and going to be using all the functions the 610 get great reviews. Was looking at a 210 personally but decided I only really wanted the distance and time feature and just ordered a Garmin 10.

DCrainmaker has some unbiased reviews on GPS watches.

The 110 doesn’t have a touch bezel

£95 on Handtec is the cheapest I’ve seen though

ooops sorry your right 😳

It’s over your price-range but I’ve just bought the Forerunner 210. I used it for the first time today and it was brilliant.

The thing that put me off the 110 was the fact that it can’t display your current pace, only your average pace for the whole run.

I bought my Edge 500 from Handtec – good shout jota.

I’ve been using it for running, stuck in a back pocket, but it keeps dropping the signal. Today’s 3.3 mile run was only 2.7 miles last week.

I relate this dull anecdote merely as justification of my perceived “need” 😉

Love my forerunner 110. Not over complicated and does everything I need it to. Use it for biking and running.

I did the same: I started using my Edge 200 but found it pretty inaccurate, Hence why I bought the Forerunner 210.

The heart rate monitor works well on the 210 and is robust (just accidentally put the band through the washing machine).

Not sure how much that would bother me Mikey. Provided I can set it up to “autolap” every mile I can see the pace on Garmin Connect.

Perhaps useful as a motivational thing?

I thought the same thing, but the 110 has it’s limitations and I decided they may become annoying as I got more interested in running. I do feel I made the right choice. However if the 110 has everything you need then go for it.

Another plus is that they are really light: I forgot the watch was on after a couple of minutes. Also, it didn’t drop the signal once, over the course of my 12km run, despite being in woodland at times. I understand that Garmins are the best for this.

OK – cheers guys. Plenty to think about there.

SC

I use a Garmin 410. Think RRP was something like £350, but there were loads of places selling them for under £150 including the HR monitor. Great watch, loads of functions. The Garmin software you upload the data on to is pretty good too. You can change the settings between bike and run, plus you can buy a cadence sensor for cycling too (extra £50 ish). Think my only gripe is sometimes the sensor ring round the edge of the watch can be a little tricky to use. Lots of vids on the watch on YouTube, so well worth watching a few reviews before you buy.

the forerunner 110 is one of my favourite gadgets, and I appear to have lots of gadgets!

610 is quality.

My GF has a 110. She is on her second, first had 4 years of solid use before a button fell off and became a pain. She loves it, has all the features you want and is compact. the garmin connect upload system is easy and displays loads of info about your runs. It occasionally glitches and loses runs though. The touch bezel isn’t all its cracked up to be, easy to activate when you don’t want it to and the watch is next to useless if/when it fails.

610 here, got it second hand though. Very useful for me, fell running, normal running round work/home and as a general HRM for the twice weekly mandatory work PT sessions. Good just as a watch on its own as well. Touch-screen rather than -bezel and had no issues with accidental activation. The Virtual Partner is very useful as well – I have to do a six monthly fitness test, I ran the route of the run part of the test, saved it as a course and can now run against the VP with it set at the pace I need to go at to get a good score/pass (likewise with some of my fell routes – good measure of improvement to compare times).

Are any of the Garmins now Ipad compatible?

Are any of the Garmins now Ipad compatible?

Kind of…wouldn’t bother if I were you as you need to pair the watch with the iPad every time.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/10/garmin-iphone-ant-adapter-and-garmin.html

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/05/inside-look-at-downloading-fr310xt.html

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/05/first-look-at-wahoo-fitness-ant-iphone.html

Depends what ‘kind’ of running you want it for. If it’s for training for something, the features I would really care about are, in order of importance:

pace (live, not average)
distance
time
and to a lesser extent heart rate

I have a Forerunner 610, training for triathlon, and it’s the first two I really care about.

I have a very old forerunner 305 which looks like a brick strapped to your arm but has a huge screen and big rubber buttons. I would be pretty sure that some of the new compact models are pretty hard to read whilst running. You won’t want to have to scroll through screens whilst breathing out your arse on a sprint or hill climb. Just something to consider.

Stuart, you can buy a forerunner strap kit from amazon that the 500 will clip onto, so it’ll stop dropping the signal.

Suunto Ambit? Still looks like a comedy bling watch (as in HUUUUUGE) but works and works well.

If Santa is good to me this year, I might treat myself to one in the new year with christmas money. And my birthday money. And probably some of my savings.

Just as an alternative to Garmin (and having t charge yu watch) I would recommend the old polar rs 200 cd. Roles have one in red for 80 odd quite. The foot pod is IMO as accurate as a GPS, a lot less hassle and these watches jus go n for ever.

I have had one for 7 years and it does everything I need and no hassle with batteries plus waterproof.

Have you seen the pebble? http://getpebble.com/

Probably no use for “proper” runners but for people who use Endomondo it might be of use.

I pre ordered one as I am a sucker for stuff like that 🙂

you can buy a forerunner strap kit from amazon that the 500 will clip onto, so it’ll stop dropping the signal.

I bought one of these for my Edge 500, however it proved to be less accurate on the wrist than it was in a back packet – probably becuase of ‘arm swing’ which Garmin state the Edge 500 doesn’t take into account as it’s just designed for cycling.

So I’m in the same situation as stuartie_c and looking at the forerunner 10 or 110 as I’m only really interested in logging the run rather than any ‘real time stats’

Garmin 110 – easy to use can be used as an everyday watch – records route, heart, pace etc – pace is showing all the time

Fantastic piece of kit

got a 405cx (?)
touch bezel is a pita, sketchy use with gloves on, prone to do what it likes when it comes into contact with some fabrics notably anything water/wind proof
had it nearly two years and the battery life is now poor at best, when it was new it would cope with a few hours but couldnt be relied upon for anything beyond 4.

other wrist worn garmins ive used have been heavier and clunkier but you soon get used to it, most of the ‘features’ dont get used.

currently run and ride from my cheap casio.

Thanks for all the additional input, chaps.

As luck would have it, a work colleague gave me a barely-used Garmin FR60 today.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=27483&ra=true

Not GPS but it has a foot-pod and it’s HRM enabled so I’ll see how I go without my stats-fix on Garmin Connect for a while.

Also feel a cold coming on which is **** typical… 🙄

I would be pretty sure that some of the new compact models are pretty hard to read whilst running

Nope! My 210 is very easy to read while running, even when dodging branches and wading through gloop

pace is showing all the time

Yes, but it’s not “live” pace, it’s your average.

I’ve heard good things about the FR60, but I couldn’t be arsed with the foot pod, and wanted the simplicity of the GPS.

I still believe that the 210 is worth the extra £30 over the 110.