I was fortunate enough to come into possession of one of the new Garmins a little while ago (thanks Al!) and it really does deserve a post of it’s own. While this particular piece of kit doesn’t seem ‘peculiar’ to me (as the title might suggest) I can see how other people might find a GPS watch for running quite odd (namely Scribs).
I had the Garmin Forerunner 305 first and loved that. Not only was the GPS a lot more accurate than the glorified pedometer in Nike+, but it also had the heart rate monitor. The screen was big enough that I could display 4 different things and still be able to read it easily. I’d often have the stop watch, heart rate, distance and pace when I was running and then stop watch, time of day, distance and speed when I was cycling. The size of the screen was also the biggest disadvantage. The unit itself is huge, meaning my little wrists were swamped by it and running was a tad lopsided. As a result I would only take Steve (the 305) out when I needed to measure a distance on a regular route and I felt guilty for not maximising it’s potential.
Forerunner 405CX. Picture courtesy of wiggle.co.uk.
The 405CX is much smaller, but unfortunately not small enough to be worn as a regular watch (it displays the time in Sleep Mode instead of just turning off but needs charging every few days if using the GPS a lot). The face and surrounding strap (where the GPS is stored, what’s shown in the picture) is still too wide but this really is it’s only downfall, and as soon as Garmin make a GPS HRM that fits me I’ll be queueing to buy one.
So where to start? Well it took me a few days to come up with a name for the new Garmin. As you may have noticed from previous posts I called it ‘the CX’, which then became Charlie X-Ray, which was then shortened to Charlie. So the new Garmin is called Charlie. It does pretty much everything you could want. Turning it on to training mode it will pick up a satellite signal in seconds. Unlike Steve (the 305) which could take up to a few minutes, I’ve had Charlie take less than 2 seconds, no exageration.
It’s incredibly simple to use. I managed to set up my custom displays on the fly as I was about to start a run. Everything is controlled by touching the bezel, which works a bit like the scroll wheel on an iPod but doesn’t depress. When I’m running I have my distance, time and speed displayed on the screen. By tapping the bezel I can scroll through pre-set screens. Tap once and my heart rate will appear, tap again and I have a diagram of my ‘virtual partner’ (or imaginary friend in my watch, as Scribs calls it) – a virtual pacesetter, complete with time and distance you are ahead or behind by. The last tap will bring up the time of day.
I can also display any of about 35 other elements, in a combination of screens of my choice. I can work to heart rate zones and pre set routes. I can mark locations using the GPS and then use the feature to find my way back to one of these locations (I swear I’ve never got lost in the woods whilst running, regardless of what Ally might say!) I haven’t really begun to explore all the different things I can do with this thing, and that’s only the running setting, just wait til I get back on my bike!
10k run on Tuesday 16th
When coming home I stop the timer, reset the fields ready for next time and put it on to time mode whilst I’m collapsed on the floor in a red sweaty heap stretching properly. When I take the watch back upstairs it’ll automatically send my run information to my PC (which I tend to leave on) due to the USB stick I have permanently plugged in. The Garmin Training Centre will display anything and everything that you might want to know. Pace and heart rate show up on the graph, but I can also add in HR as % of max, elevation, speed etc. There’s a whole table of information available as well. I have set my laps to 1km so I can get accurate times for each km (which you’ll see in Monday posts), as well as my average and max speed, calories burnt, average and max heart rate and total ascent and descent (for each km as well as a total).
Charlie does have a bit of a problem when going through tunnels and might randomly spit out that I’m running at 23km/h, but otherwise it’s pretty accurate. I’ve sat here for a few minutes trying to think of other things that are wrong with it (this ‘review’ is somewhat one-sided) but I can’t really fault it. The price is maybe a bit hefty but everyone should have a boyfriend that buys them graduation gifts!
