UKC

Evening all,
my wife is after a recommendation for a running watch.

Needs to tell her fastest mile, fastest km, distance, elevation, total time, well you get the jist.
I don't think she is too fussed about GPS tracking although on her iPhone it shows her the route ran and I think she quite likes that :0)

Budget wise, I'm guessing abput £100-150 at a push.

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance, Den

In reply to Denni: The GPS on the iPhone isn't great, and you'll not get a watch that does that stuff without GPS, so your best bet at that price would be a Forerunner 10 or 15 - you can get them from Amazon for under £100 - they're also a bit smaller than a lot of them, so perhaps better for a woman's wrist.

In reply to andy:

Thanks a lot Andy, will have a look at them.
Den

In reply to Denni:

second the forerunner 10. It's mapping is much better than anything on a smartphone, although it takes a bit more faffing to set up on Garmin Connect.

In reply to Denni:

Garmin Forerunner 220 GPS Running Watch with Colour Display is at the top end of you budget if you shop around and will do everything you have asked for.

In reply to Denni:

Third the 10.

Great basic little watch.

In reply to Denni:

I have a tomtom runner with HR strap. Cost less than £90 from sweatshop.
The watch has some big buttons and a big display (so handy if using gloves and if you need glasses). The best bit is the web site link up. The tomtom mysports site is good, lots of splits and interactive roll overs. (do a google images search for "tomtom mysports screen shots"). It shows you on the map, where you hit max hr/ speed/ altitude and it allows you to upload to strava or mapmyfitness etc. The HR strap is bluetooth and works with an iphone as well.
There are the usual 'fitness zones' and you can set up races over a route you do regularly. You can also change the strap colour, to match your outfit. (Because no one wants to be seen when muddy, sweaty and wet with a watch strap that clashes with ones socks.

This is a rather excessive review, but you get the idea.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/07/tomtom-runner-multisport.html

In reply to SouthernSteve:

The 220 is much better but for a really basic watch the 10 is great.

My wife has it and I use it a fair bit.

You can pick up re-conditioned ones which work fine a fair bit cheaper, I paid £50 for my wifes in the US but 70-80 GBP should get you one.

I've not used a TomTom so cant compare but as a small, light, cheap, very easy to use and computer interface I think the forerunner 10 is a superb piece of kit.

In reply to Roadrunner5:

Hi folks,
really appreciate all the replies.
My wife is off out with her local running club tonight and they all seem blinged up to the max with watches so she's going to quiz a few of them but she did look at the 220 the other day and she quite liked it.
Thanks again, Den

In reply to Denni:





I have the 220, and if you're going to go for that sort of price point it's a great watch. If you're spending that much it's worth checking if your Mrs' iPhone or iPad has Bluetooth LE. If so you can download to Garmin connect without having to plug the watch into a PC, which is a big plus for the 220 over cheaper watches, (well, it is for me anyway).

In reply to Ridge:

Garmin just announced the 225 a couple of days ago - additions to the 220 are optical heart rate reader ( ie no chest strap, but optical sensor in back of watch reads the pulse from your wrist ), plus a step counter thing. End of Q2 until it's available.

In reply to steelbru:

And this news has nicely reduced the costs of the 220

In reply to Denni:

I've got a Forerunner 610, which I've found pretty good. I'm thinking about selling it and getting a Fenix 3 as I am easily seduced by shiny shiny. If you're interested drop me a message.

In reply to Denni:

Are you aware of the Fenix 3 GPS tracking problems that some users are having ?

Have a look at the Garmin Forums https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?492-fenix-3 and lots of very disgruntled people saying the GPS tracking is unacceptably poor, compared to other Garmin and non-Garmin products. Garmin seem to accept there is a problem. Hopefully they can resolve with a firmware update. Seems to be at its worst on switch backs, in more enclosed areas, eg forest trails. Pretty much OK if you do all your running on open straight roads

Almost bought one myself a few days ago, but reading of the problems then think I'll wait a bit and see if they can get it resolved.

In reply to alexm198:

I was playing around with a colleagues' fenix 3 today - it's certainly impressive but it's HUGE! I do have pathetically skinny wrists, but no chance would I want to wear it on a run...

Love the Garmin 10, does what it says on the tin.

In reply to Denni:

Slight hi-jack. Any decent cheap runners watches?

In reply to goldmember:


We all have a different view on what cheap means , so do you have a price range for what you would be willing to spend?

In reply to goldmember:
For example: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Forerunner-GPS-Running-Watch/dp/B00996VQD6

If you don't mind the colour (the green version), this was recommended earlier in the thread as a basic running watch and is £59.38

Check the features it has matches what you need though.

In reply to steelbru:


I wasn't, but my mate was less than impressed with his yesterday when it took about 30 minutes to find a signal in Ecclesall Woods. I've had the odd issue like that with my 220, but generally it's been pretty good.

The latest version of the Garmin Connect app is just terrible though - they've actually managed to make it even worse than it already was. And does anyone use the "modern" version of the Garmin Connect website ?

In reply to Chris the Tall:


I quite like the "modern" version of the website now that I have found my way around it. I agree that the app is pretty bad though!

In reply to Chris the Tall:

I've had no problems at all with GPS on my Fenix 3 - running on known routes it's spot on, and it picks up a GPS signal dead fast even when I've moved thousands of miles.

In reply to Chris the Tall:

I do use the modern version occasionally, but I'm not sure it's much of an improvement for what I want to use it for. The biggest problem I have is uploading activities from my 610 using the ANT+ stick. It seems entirely hit-and-miss whether things get uploaded, and the watch has frozen completely a few time in the middle of an upload.

In reply to tony:

Other than using it to upload my runs which then are shared automatically with Strava, I don't use Garmin connect at all. The app seems to work fine for a straight Bluetooth upload.

In reply to Ridge: That's the big benefit of the new wifi/BT enabled devices - walk in, and the activity goes straight to GC, then automatically to Strava.

In reply to andy:

Hi again folks,
many thanks for more advice and replies, much appreciated.
The other half had a look at the weekend and managed to try a few out and she is now sporting a second hand Fenix from a fellow runner who works for the company so she is a happy chapess.
Thanks also to the offer above of a watch, only just seen this so thanks but will pass :0)
Cheers, Den

In reply to mountainbagger:

£60 is a bit out of price range at the min, wee one is on the way, prehaps for joint christmas/birthday.

thinking around 20 quid