There is currently a battle in the running watch scene between two high-tech devices that achieve the same thing, but in different ways. On one side is the pedometer watch, which is cheap and basic, it gets the job done and provides a number of functions that are not present in a standard running watch. On the other hand is the fancier, feature-rich GPS watch, it is bulkier, heavier and a lot more expensive, but is the ultimate running tool for runners who want to push their training to new heights.

If you’re a keen runner, or an enthusiast in another sport for that matter, then choosing between these two watches is a tough job. This is especially true if you’re not the sort who is easily coaxed into buying into the latest “fad” gadget. To state the fact bluntly, a pedometer watch will nearly always provide you with the functionality you need for basic running at only a mere fraction of the price of a GPS watch like the Garmin Forerunner. A pedometer watch provides you with relatively accurate readings for distance, pace and other useful running metrics and some even feature advanced pace reminders and can provide you with advanced features above this, but on the other hand, the majority of pedometer watches are targeted mostly at those who are aiming to lose weight and get fit rather than active runners who seek to improve on their running times.

While in the past pedometers were far less accurate than the high-precision readings provided in a GPS watch, with the introduction of advanced accelerometer technology it is now possible for a pedometer watch to provide speed and distance readings that are exceptionally accurate, thus the pedometer watch is no longer the slouch that it used to be and holds up much better under tunnels or around large buildings or tree that would otherwise obstruct the GPS signal.

To be fair to the GPS watch, however, a really good GPS watch for runners provides you with some high-level features that are not offered in cheap pedometer watches. The Garmin Forerunner for example offers you advanced, structured workouts, the courses feature that allows you to run against previously recorded times for a pre-set course and the popular Virtual Partner feature, that allows you to “compete” against a computerised competitor at a pre-defined pace. The Garmin will display how far behind or ahead you are placed in comparison to your virtual partner during a training session or even a race.

GPS watches also provide you with pace alerts (some pedometers offer this too), which allows you to train within a lower and upper pace limit. The watch will sound an alarm when you breach this zone, alerting you to the fact that you need to adjust your pace. Most of the high-end GPS watches, feature the ability to transfer your training data to a computer and imported into software that comes standard when you purchase the watch. Most software allows you to keep an electronic training diary and to perform advanced analysis on your workouts. You can also import the courses you have run and view a 3D representation of them in the software.

At the end of the day, the choice between a pedometer and GPS watches will come down to your personal preference as well as the type of training you do on a regular basis. The most important thing is to ensure that if you are paying a lot of money for a watch that it has all the features that you need and that you will use them in your day-to-day training program. If there are a lot of features that you won’t ever use then you are wasting your money which may be better spent on a cheaper product. Even a cheaper product like a pedometer watch may be overkill, although it won’t cost you nearly as much money this does not mean it is money well spent if you only use the basic chronograph stopwatch timer and not the step counter, speed and distance measure and other unique features that these devices offer. As with all major purchases, do your research, buy what you need within your price range and have fun!

Price: $99.99

Over the last decade or so, GPS technology has become more commonplace in the world of consumer electronics.

It was only a matter of time before GPS caught on in the world of sports watches and now athletes are reaping the benefits of the GPS Sports Watch.

GPS became prominent on the sports market and the last few years has seen the emergence of GPS-capable products from all leading sports watch brands.

The Garmin Forerunner GPS watches are almost universally thought of as “THE” GPS watches of choice, but there are other options available which are often quite a lot cheaper than the current model Forerunners.

A lesser known company called GlobalSat offers one such alternative. GlobalSat’s latest GPS watch, the GH-625 comes in two versions, one with heart rate monitor included (GH-625M) and one without a heart rate monitor (GH-625B). This GPS watch features the SiRFstarIII chipset, making the GPS signal strength equivalent to Garmin Forerunner’s watches, which use the same chipset.

The GH-625 is GlobalSat’s third generation GPS watch and replaces the GH-615. It excels over the GH-615 due to a slightly longer battery life and the ability to store up to 6000 laps. A feature runners sorely missed in the GH-615.

The watch comes in a streamlined case, but will not suit smaller wrist types. This watch is big and bulky, more so than the latest Forerunner 405CX, the advantage of this is that it boasts a much larger screen size.

It also supports a top-down map function which the Forerunner 405CX lacks.

Battery life has improved from about 9 hours to 10 with the 3D GPS signal recording every second, heart rate monitor and backlight on. The battery extends to over 20 hours with 2D GPS, HRM off and backlight off. The GPS tracking frequency can also be reduced to conserve power.

This GlobalSat watch can store a vast amount of data including 60,000 tracking points, 100 way points and 6000 laps. Tracking points are used to track your route using a crumb method, marking and saving your route via a special algorithm. Waypoints allow you to mark your current position and later navigate back to this saved waypoint.

This is a handy feature if you are on a trek and wish to flag waypoints that you will return to at a later stage.

The support of lap memory storage, is a huge addition for athletes who wish to record their interval training sessions. The GH-625 maintains a date-stamped history of all training sessions.

GPS Passions have covered the GH-625 with an in-depth review that includes a pictorial comparison of the GH-625 next to the Garmin Forerunner 405. Check it out here. GlobalSat GH-625 vs Forerunner 405.

Comparison Between GH-625 and Garmin Forerunner 305, 310XT & 405CX

	Forerunner 305	Forerunner 310XT	Forerunner 405CX	GlobalSat GH-625
Amazon Price	$226.99			$99.99
Specifications
Unit dimensions, WxHxD	5.33 x 6.86 x 1.78 cm	5.4 x 5.6 x 1.9 cm	4.8 x 7.1 x 1.6 cm	7.6 x 6.5 x 1.7 cm
Weight	77 g	72 g	60 g	73 g
PC transfer	(USB)	(USB/Wireless)	(USB/Wireless)	(USB)
Battery Type	Rechargeable	Rechargeable	Rechargeable	Rechargeable
Battery Life	10 hours, typical	20 hours, typical	8 hours, typical	8 hours, typical
Heart Rate Support
Map Navigation
Display Data Fields	4	4	3	3
Bike speed/cadence support
Foot Pod support
Device to Device Transfer
Touch Sensitive Bevel
Memory
Lap History	1000 laps	1000 laps	1000 laps	6000 laps
Waypoints	100	100	100	100
Routes	50	0	0	Unlimited 60,000 points
Software Package
	Garmin Connect, Garmin Training Center	Garmin Connect, Garmin Training Center	Garmin Connect, Garmin Training Center	GS-Sport Training GYM
Mac Support
Features
Virtual Partner Feature
Courses
Auto Pause
Auto Lap
Auto Scroll
Sports Profiles
Simple Workouts
Advanced Workouts
Pace Alert
Time/distance Alert
Interval Training
Customizable Screen(s)
Heart Rate Based Calorie Computation

Perhaps one of the most innovative and useful technology to become widely available for athletes of all levels are watches with GPS.

By receiving satellite signals that allow them to calculate your precise three dimensional location and then detecting subtle changes in motion over time, a GPS can provide a host of useful features that has a practical implications for your training and fitness goals.

For more information visit our GPS Watches Information Page.

Currently Garmin’s Forerunner is at the forefront of the GPS sports watch market by a long shot. The company revolutionized the GPS fitness watch with their early models, the 101, 201 and 301. More modern models feature better GPS sensitivity, more modern features and a smaller, more comfortable watch form factor.

Garmin have just released two models:

• The Forerunner 405CX
• The Forerunner 310XT

These are upgrades of the Forerunner 405 and Forerunner 305 watches.

You can see how the different Forerunner watches differ here

We have discussed the Garmin Forerunner (GPS running watch) Workout Types and have examined the Garmin Forerunner (running GPS watch) Interval Workout mode.

All Garmin Forerunner watches support “workouts” which are structured training sessions that you can customize to your personal requirements.

There different types of workouts are:

• Simple Workouts allow you to do a run by time, distance and calories
• Heart Rate Workouts are simple workouts but with heart rate zone alerts
• Interval Workouts let you create repetitive sessions with recovery and the option of warm-up and cool-down
• Advanced Workouts, are structured workouts that let you set goals at each step of the workout

In this post we talk about Advanced Workouts.

Unlike other types of workouts, advanced workouts can only be created using Garmin Connect or the Garmin Training Center software.

The Forerunner 405/CX watches allow you to schedule workouts. Once in the memory of the watch, they can then be wirelessly transferred to other Forerunner watches.

Scheduled workouts can be viewed while in time/date mode. Tap the bezel to view today’s scheduled workout and activated by pressing ENTER to start the workout.

Alternatively, advanced workouts can be started by:

1. Touching and holding MENU
2. Then selecting TRAINING -> WORKOUTS -> ADVANCED
3. Then the specific workout you wish to start
4. Then DO WORKOUT and START

During the workout, the Forerunner displays each step of the workout including the name of a step, the goal (if any) and current workout data. An alarm counts down at the end of each step until the next step of the workout begins.

An advanced workout can also be halted early by pressing the LAP/RESET button.

Advanced workouts are ideal for multi-discipline workouts at the gym, or sessions like Fartlek training where you may wish to structure your workout in phases.

Advanced workouts are available in the following Garmin Forerunner watches:

• Garmin Forerunner 301
• Garmin Forerunner 205
• Garmin Forerunner 305
• Garmin Forerunner 310XT
• Garmin Forerunner 405
• Garmin Forerunner 405CX

The last post explored the different Garmin Forerunner (GPS Running watch) workout types. In this post we explore Interval Workouts, a feature that can be used for structured repetition training.

The Garmin Forerunner line, a collection of running GPS watch models that are tailored for endurance athletes and fun runners are by far the most innovative of these type of sports watches on the market today.

Garmin have just released two new models, the Garmin Forerunner 405CX, (an upgrade of the 405) and the Forerunner 310XT (an upgrade of the Forerunner 305).

Of the two upgrades, the 310XT is the more revolutionary, but the 405CX, unlike the 310XT is selling at a price very close to it’s predecessor the 405, so is worth the purchase if you are buying a new watch.

View the differences between all GPS Forerunner watches here

To quickly recap on the last post, all Forerunner watches support “workouts”. Workouts are activity modes of the watch, each activity mode allows you to structure your training in a different way. These workout modes are called: Simple, Heart Rate, Interval and Advanced.

Most runners who have trained seriously in a group should already be familiar with interval training or “rep training”. Repetition training involves running a number of hard efforts with a rest in between.

For example a rep session might go something like this:

WARM UP (20 minutes)

– Rep 1 –
1000m hard <-- The Rep
3 minutes rest <-- The Recovery

– Rep 2 –
1000m hard
3 minutes rest

– Rep 3 –
1000m hard
3 minutes rest

– Rep 4 –
1000m hard

COOL DOWN (20 minutes)

The Forerunner Interval Workouts mode can be used to structure a repetition workout. What’s more, by utilizing it’s GPS capabilities, the Forerunner watch allows you to run a repetition over a fixed distance in areas where distance is not marked, like trails and roads.

Unlike Advanced Workouts, Interval workouts can be created on the watch. Advanced workouts, however can only be created using the Garmin software.

An optional warm-up and cool-down period can also be set. If you select a warm-up then the Forerunner will switch to the warm-up phase of the workout when you start the Interval Workout. You must press LAP to end the warm-up and start your first interval.

If you selected a cool-down lap, it enters a cool-down stage at the end of your last interval.

An alarm sounds to notify you of the end of an interval and the watch counts down the time until a new interval begins. An interval can also be manually ended early with the LAP/RESET button.

Athletes are growing to recognize the advantages of the GPS Running Watch as a serious tool for accurately measuring and analyzing their training.

Once, a figment of science fiction, GPS watches are now becoming a hit among the endurance community, who are starting to realize the many benefits that accurate tracking of distance, speed, altitude and location can offer to a performance athlete in training.

Garmin, a main player in the mainstream GPS market has cornered the GPS sports watch market with their Forerunner watches.

Garmin stormed the GPS sports watch market with their early model Forerunner 101, 201 and 301 watches and soon after introduced the 205 and 305 watches which were bulky, but highly functional and utilized the SirFstarIII chipset. The new watches featured much more reliable GPS tracking.

The Forerunner 405 was introduced soon after, and featured a much sleeker, more stylish form factor, a touch sensitive bezel, wireless data transfer to PC and even unit-to-unit data transfer.

Garmin have just released two new GPS watches, the Forerunner 405CX which is an upgrade to the 405. The 405CX features superior calorie measurement, better GPS tracking and a replaceable watch band, making it suitable for more petite sized wrists. The other watch, the 310XT is an upgrade to the Forerunner 305. It features a big increase in battery life (around 20 hours from 10), wireless PC transfer and unlike the other Forerunner GPS watches, is waterproof.

The Forerunner watches have been designed to cater to the needs of runners and athletes. One of the benefits to runners is the concept of workout types.

There are four different workout modes supported in the Forerunners: Interval Workouts, Simple Workouts, Advanced Workouts and Heart Rate Workouts. We look at each in turn…

Interval Workouts

These are efforts run over a specified time, or a specified distance and then repeated a number of times with a rest component in between efforts. Interval workouts also allow you to perform an optional Warm-up and Cool-Down.

For example an interval workout might be structured like this:

WARM-UP
Rep 1. 800m (Hard), 2 minutes (Rest)
Rep 2. 800m (Hard), 2 minutes (Rest)
Rep 3. 800m (Hard), 2 minutes (Rest)
Rep 4. 800m (Hard)
COOL-DOWN

Simple Workouts

Simple workouts can be based on time, distance or calories. Simply set the type of simple workout, enter the duration, distance or number of calories you wish to target and then select DO WORKOUT. The watch will display the message WORKOUT FINISHED when you have completed your goal.

Simple workouts have been omitted in the new Forerunner 310XT, but is present in all other GPS Forerunner watches.

Advanced Workouts

Advanced workouts are complex workouts with workout “steps”. For each progression in a workout, goals can be set in advanced workouts as well as varied distances, times and calories. Advanced workouts must be set using the Garmin Training Center software that is included with the watch, or the online Garmin Connect service. Advanced workouts can also be scheduled ahead of time.

Heart Rate Workouts

Similar to a Simple Workout, Heart Rate Workouts are run against a heart rate training zone based on beats per minute (BPM). An alert will sound if your heart rate slips outsize a lower and upper heart rate limit. This feature is only present in Forerunner watches that support a heart rate monitor chest strap.

GARMIN FORERUNNER INFORMATION.

BUY GPS RUNNING WATCH

With runners undertaking their final preparations for the London Marathon of 2009, Garmin have released a new Forerunner model, the 405CX. Very much resembling the Forerunner 405 in both looks and function, the main additions in the 405CX are far superior calorie measurement, better GPS sensitivity and alternative webbing for smaller wrists that make the watch much more suitable as a ladies sports watch. Fitting the alternative wrist band is shown in this video from the official Garmin blog.

According to their website, Garmin worked with Firstbeat Technologies Ltd to perfect their calorie monitoring features. Firstbeat is a Finish company that specialize in heart rate monitoring and analysis equipment for exercise and sports, weight management and stress monitoring applications.

Aside from the fact that the 405CX is now available in a new deep blue color, the Forerunner 405CX contains most of the features of it’s predecessors, but at a very similar price, those looking for a new GPS watch, especially if you have petite wrists, should not look past the 405CX as a one-piece GPS watch with sports features that deliver.

If you have read up on the Garmin Forerunner 310XT and liked it’s 50 meter water resistance and 20 hour battery life, unfortunately the Forerunner 405CX does not offer these features.

Purchase the Garmin Forerunner 405CX on Amazon

Garmin have just announced an upgrade of their Forerunner 305 watch, an upgrade that addresses several requests athletes have been asking for.

It will please Triathletes to know that new 310XT watch not only looks different, but is water resistant to 50 meters. The watch also features an optional quick release and bike mounts for seamless transitioning between the swim and bike legs of a Triathlon event.

We are not yet sure if GPS works in water. Water obstruct GPS signals, so while this watch may be usable in the water, the GPS tracking functions may not work when swimming. If you do wish to use GPS in the water, one technique swimmers use is to place the GPS watch under a swimming cap, so as the GPS aerial is above water throughout the swim. This might not work too well for backstroke however

Garmin are also releasing a more comfortable, waterproof, soft-strap heart rate monitor. It can be used in the water, but does not transmit heart rate data while you are swimming. While this is not what most triathletes are after, it might save time transitioning between the swim and run legs of an event by allowing an athlete to wear the heart rate monitor device under a wetsuit.

This watch also has much greater battery life than the 305, with the ability to run GPS for 20 hours, compared to just 8 hours in the older watch! This is a godsend to endurance athletes, especially those intending to compete in the Hawaiian Ironman or similar events.

Like the Forerunner 405, Garmin have fitted their new watch with wireless connectivity. With the ANT stick plugged into your computer you only have to enter the room and your data is automatically synced up with your computer. Unlike the Forerunner 405, this model does not support unit-unit transfer.

Unlike the Forerunner 305, this watch has heart rate-based calorie computation, but for some reason the 310XT lacks the Simple Workouts feature and Routes that were supported in the 305.

Overall the 310XT is a progressive upgrade of the 305, rather than a revolutionary new design, but is a worthy choice for endurance athletes who require extra battery life and triathletes who don’t want to worry about getting their timepiece wet while performing in an event.

Upgrade Summary

• New sleek, comfortable design
• High-sensitivity GPS receiver with HotFix
• Waterproof to 50 meters
• Wireless connectivity equivalent to the FR 405 via an ANT stick (but no unit-to-unit transfer)
• Battery capacity upgraded from 8 to 20 hours
• Heart rate-based calorie computation

The Forerunner 310XT is expected to be released in June.

Where to Buy
To find out more information about the 310XT. Visit the Amazon product page:

• Garmin Forerunner 310XT.

Video From the Official Garmin Blog

Other Details

	Forerunner 305	Forerunner 310XT
	$226.99
Specification
Dimensions (W,H,D)	2.1″ x 2.7″ x 0.7″ (5.33 x 6.86 x 1.78 cm)	2.1″ x 2.2″ x 0.8″ (5.4 x 5.6 x 1.9 cm)
Display (W,H)	1.3″ x 0.8″ (3.3 x 2.0 cm)	1.3″ x 0.8″ (3.3 x 2.0 cm)
Resolution	160 x 100 pixels	160 x 100 pixels
Weight	2.72 oz (77 g)	2.5 oz (72 g)
Battery	8-10 hours, typical	20 hours, typical
Water Resistance	IPX7 submersed to 1 meter for up to 30 minutes	50m
Memory
Lap History	1000 laps	1000 laps
Waypoints	100	100
Routes	50	0
Watch Features
Heart rate monitor
Bike speed/cadence
Foot Pod
Virtual Partner
Courses
Auto Pause
Auto Lap
Auto Scroll
Multi-sport
Advanced Workouts
Simple Workouts
Pace Alert
Time/distance Alert
Interval Training
HR Based Calories
Software & Analysis Features
Garmin Connect
Garmin Training Center
Wireless Features
Wireless Capable
Auto Sync
Unit-to-Unit Transfer
Displays Power Data