Comments on: Poll: Tracking the Love (Part I)

By: Poll: Tracking the Love, Part II: And the Winner Is … » Complete Running Network

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:13:31 +0000

[...] about their Garmin Forerunner. An astonishing 48 percent of the readers who voted on the GPS poll at CRN use some version of the Garmin Forerunner. Several of you have even lovingly named (and secretly [...]

By: Lake Runner

Lake Runner — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 19:55:42 +0000

My reply of ‘none’ is not quite true as I do own some kind of Timex sportswatch (no heart rate monitor or anything) – and I do measure the distances on a map (manually…so they are ‘about’ rather than ‘exact’).

But I keep forgetting to press the start / stop / split button on my watch…as I find myself out for a run, enjoying the scenary, and thinking about other things than my running times…so only get to actually time one out of every 2 runs!

By: iliketoast

iliketoast — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 04:07:25 +0000

It took me about 2 years before I could run without my Garmin ….. I had to let go …. I love this device so much, but it just isn’t good for me … too long pushing the buttons, checking pace, checking distance covered, seeing how the little virtual man was doing and then running smack into a tree or parked car

By: Mark Iocchelli

Mark Iocchelli — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 02:11:45 +0000

I want to go on record that I was the first person to actually name his gadget and she is called “Gretchen”.

By: Dawn - Pink Chick

Dawn - Pink Chick — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 02:09:19 +0000

If I wasn’t already married, I’d propose to Mr V. Mr V is my Garmin 301 and I’m very much in love with him. We spend a lot of time together and he’s almost always on my arm.

I do hate it when he yells at me to speed up and that does happen a lot. Doesn’t he realize I sometimes just have to take a break. He can be a very push fellow. However, he’s also not very patient when I get ahead. I think he hates that even more. I occassionaly hear him panting when he says “Slow Down”.

He’s great for interval training like 30/30′s, my fav. I like that I can set him to tell me how I do at each Km lap and how many calories. Hmmm that equals how much I can eat later…lol.

It’s also fun beating him when I set him up as a virtual partner and finally all those cool graphs I can post and impress my other slow blogging friend. Heh, I can actually see my progress and oh yeah, lack there of sometime.

He’s not perfect but then what guy is so I will keep him …. for now.

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 02:08:18 +0000

I run prairie trails and I love my Garmin. I even use it when we ride different pastures so I don’t get lost.

By: Joe Ely

Joe Ely — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 20:26:13 +0000

I use the Garmin 201, have had it for nearly 2 years. It just works. Plenty accurate for me and I really like the training assistant feature.

I’m not quite as infatuated with it as Runner Susan is but it is a cool tool.

And, like Jon, it doubles wonderfully for geocaching. Wow, two hobbies with one gadget.

By: Mark Iocchelli

Mark Iocchelli — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:41:10 +0000

I tried 3 or 4 heart rate/speed+distance+heart rate monitors.

My first was a base line Polar but it cross-talked with other Polar monitors (one of my friends ran with one) so I ditched it.

Then, I tried a Nike but the casing fell apart after a very short time.

In the end, I returned to Polar and bought their extremely durable, top-end 625X Running Computer. It does everthing including the laundry. It, like the Nikes, uses an accelerometer footpod and, once calibrated, is unbelievably accurate. It was about 300 meters off on my last marathon (42,200 meters). That’s only 0.7%!

By: massoman

massoman — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:09:53 +0000

i use a garmin 101. i thought it was the most straight forward tracking device without HR capabilities for the price. i now think the garmin 201 is probably the best value because, unlike the 101 which requires aaa batteries, the 201 is rechargable. i know the latest nike thing is inexpensive if you already own a ipod, but i do not. i prefer to run without music.

By: Jon in Michigan

Jon in Michigan — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:08:56 +0000

I used a Garmin 201(?). I got it because everyone said that the Timex ones sucked and I didn’t know there were other brands. Then I found out that Garmin makes the guts for Timex and that the Garmin’s break constantly. They have a very nice return policy, but you can almost count on having to send yours back. Mine has clunked out several times since then, but because its out of warranty, I have to knock it against something to “repair” it.

The Garmin does so-so with tracking. If you are in a big open field on a bright sunny day, there’s a good chance it will track well. Heavy clouds or trees? Forget it. If you run trails its almost useless. I’ve yet to get an accurate measure of a certified course.

It does do a very good job for Geocaching though.