Features:

• 100-lap memory with average heart rate per lap
• 4 Linked Interval Timer Workouts with warm-up and cool-down
• 3-Line Display with customizable format
• 8 Target Heart Rate Zones – 5x preset, 3x customizable

While loaded with advanced features, this is not to say the watch does not have a certain amount of aesthetic flair in it’s own right, sporting a striking silver face, durable black resin strap, and large buttons for easy access to timing functions – suitable for both men and women, the T5F001 is a looker as well as a performer!

This training watch includes 100-Lap Memory with Recall, a clear 3-Line Digital Display and 4 Linked Interval Timers plus a few extra Timex goodies thrown in for good measure!

Interval Timer Mode is a flexible six-interval countdown timer that is perfect for timed repetition training and can record five different sessions of up to four intervals that can be repeated up to 99 times. Optional heart rate zone goals can also be set for interval groups, the groups also include warm-up and cool-down intervals – a nice touch that caters to the natural structure of an athlete’s sessions.

This heart rate monitor watch has great support for setting heart rate goals with 8 target heart rate zones – 5 pre-defined and 3 custom. When a heart rate zone is in use, the watch will alert you if your heart rate rises too high, or falls too low, ensuring you are in your optimal zone. Heart rate recovery is supported as well – an important indicator of overtraining, so of particularly interest to athletes.

All Timex heart rate monitor watches use Digital FM, synchronized transmission preventing cross-talk from other heart rate monitor devices. The monitor transmits readings continuously and features user-replaceable batteries.

The watch is very easy of use out of the box and presents a clear, digital display with three data lines and selection of real-time data fields that will vary depending on the watch’s mode of operation.

The T5F001 watch presents three, clear
data lines in the format above

GPS Tracking (not included in all buying options) is supported and when in use can display speed, pace and elevation data. Auto-start and auto-stop features will start/stop the chrono timer based on your movement alone, saving a button press. An auto-split option records a lap split when you cover a specified distance – did we mention this watch is extremely convenient to use?

Detailed summary modes present workout data at the end of a session.

Summary Mode, summarizes your most recent activity, including Total Session Time, Speed/Pace/Distance, Elevation and Heart Rate Information.

Lap Data Mode, displays a summary of stored session laps including, lap and split times, pace, distance, elevation and heart rate data of each lap.

Timex Data Recorder Compatibility

If you wish to download your session data to PC for later analysis, the watch is compatible with the Timex Data Recorder. The recorder interfaces Heart Rate Monitor and GPS devices recording data continuously when activated.

The Data Recorder offers the following benefits:

• Records multiple workouts
• Simultaneous collection of Heart Rate and Speed + Distance data from Heart Rate and GPS Sensors
• Stores up to:
  • 72 hours of heart rate data
  • 26 hours of speed and distance data, and
  • 14 hours of combined heart rate and speed and distance data
• Easily clips onto your shorts or slips into your pocket
• Includes Timex Trainer software with USB cable
• Logs navigational data including altitude, elevation, latitude, longitude, ascent and descent
• Has up to 2 Year of battery life
• Is Splash-resistant (but NOT designed for heavy water useage)

Please Note: The Timex Trainer Software is only compatible with Microsoft Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP and Vista operating systems.

Starting from $81.95 on Amazon, the T5F001 gets a big thumbs up from us! In fact, in terms of features and price, the T5F001 is one of the best running watches we’ve seen! While probably a bit complicated for absolute beginners, this watch is highly recommended for athletes who are training at the next level.

The following configurations are currently offered on Amazon for purchase:

• Timex Ironman Unisex Heart Rate Monitor Watch T5F001 NO GPS or Data Recorder ($81.95 USD New)
  
• Timex Ironman Bodylink Heart Rate Monitor Watch T5F011 with Navman GPS ($167.65 USD New)
  
• Timex Ironman Bodylink Heart Rate Monitor Watch T5F011 with Navman GPS and Data Recorder 2 ($265.97 USD New)
  

Please Note: This watch does NOT record calories. This should not concern athletes training for performance, but those purchasing for diet and weight-loss might consider one of the other Timex Ironman heart rate monitor options:

• Timex Ironman Men’s 30-Lap Heart Rate Monitor Watch
• Timex Ironman Women’s 30-Lap Heart Rate Monitor Watch

For a comparison of Timex heart rate watches, check out our Timex Ironman heart rate monitor comparison page.

Features:

This watch is currently available for ordering on Amazon in two configuration options, with and without the Timex Data Recorder:

• Timex Ironman 100-Lap Speed + Distance Watch T5E701 (from $99.99 USD)
  
• Timex Ironman 100-Lap Speed + Distance Watch T5E701 with Timex Data Recorder (from $179.97 USD)
  

Features:

• Large Size Digital Display
• 10 Run Memory Storage with 50 Splits per Run
• 5x Interval Timers
• Target Time

How can they make better watches when so many already have the features a runner needs? – stopwatch, lap storage and interval timers. A simple word – ergonomics, a sports watch that can offer more comfort and minimize wrist movement will do nothing but enhance your sporting experience.

The Nike Triax 50 WR0129-002 Super Digital Sport Watch is designed for serious runners and athletes. The watch features clear, large-sized, digital numerals and a unique S-shape design that not only fits your wrist perfectly, but sports an angular design presenting a natural view of your vital performance data with minimal wrist movement. The time-piece also lets you configure the display the way you want with a choice of lap time, total time.

The watch is also bundled with functional sports features including a 50-lap chronograph for taking splits while in your race or on the training track, five interval timers – a great feature for run/walk or hard/easy programs, Target Time that compares goal times with actual times and the Data Recall feature will display your total time, lap times, best lap and average lap at the end of a session.

The following, watch features are also included:

• Time and Date Display
• 2 Alarms
• Dual Time Zone
• 100m (330 feet) water resistance

This watch is priced at under $50 USD on Amazon making it an attractive option for both the casual or serious runner seeking a cheap, great looking, functional sports watch.

The watch allows 10 runs worth of storage, which might not be enough for some athletes. If you require more you might consider these options from Nike, that have the same ergonomic shape:

• Nike Triax Speed 100 Super Watch
• Nike Triax Speed 300 Watch

Buy the Nike Midsize Triax Speed 50 Super Watch on Amazon.

Features:

• 100 Lap Memory Storage
• Garmin Training Center Software
• Continuous, Digital Heart Rate Monitor
• Bike Cadence Sensor and Foot Pod options

The Garmin Forerunner 50 is ideal for running, cycling and other fitness activities. The 50 model is the non-GPS variant of the Forerunner series. Like the other Forerunner models The Garmin Forerunner 50 is compatible with a foot pod unit allowing accurate measurement of speed and distance. Unlike the other Forerunner models, the Forerunner 50 is light-weigh, sleek and fits comfortably on your wrist making it perfect for running or skiing. There is no need to worry about losing satellite signal with a footpod freeing you up to run anywhere you like, even indoors.

The Garmin Forerunner 50 is available for ordering at Amazon.

Check out the different combinations and price points below:

• Garmin Forerunner 50 with Foot Pod + Heart Rate Monitor
• Garmin Forerunner 50 without Foot Pod + Heart Rate Monitor

The Garmin Forerunner 50 comes bundled with a wireless heart rate monitor providing instant feedback on hard your heart is working. The digital heart rate monitor continuously tracks heart beats per minute which and includes heart rate zones to to assist you improve your fitness level. The sports watch can also be used for Cycling when paired with an optional speed/cadence sensor that attaches securely to your bike and measures your pedaling cadence and wheel speed and distance of your cycling workouts. Once you are home, Garmin’s innovative ANT wireless technology transfers workouts automatically to your computer when your device is within range. No cables are needed. The data is just there, ready for you to analyze, categorize and share through the Garmin Connect online community.

The Garmin 50 is great value for money and a very easy heart rate monitor to setup and use. All essential data is presented on two clear lines on the display. At around $80US on Amazon for the non foot-pod option and $120US with foot pod, you get a simple to use heart rate monitor that is a breeze to download to PC or Garmin Connect service with USB ANT “blue tooth” style download feature.

The Forerunner 50 is ideally suited to Triathletes due to it’s ability to seamlessly switch between foot pod and bike pod. Compare this to other makes and models of heart rate monitors with the same features and the Forerunner 50 is easily one of the cheapest around!

Physical & Performance:

Maps & Memory:

Features:

With hundreds of great looking sports watches on the market, it’s no surprise that runners often feel quite overwhelmed when buying a watch for their training.

The high level of complexity in many of the features supported in the latest watches only adds to the confusion.

Having options is nice, but makes choosing one tricky.

As runners, it also helps to realize that we have our own particular set of needs and requirements, while a standard digital watch with stopwatch timer is fine for a recreational fun runner or occasional jogger, it won’t cut it for those striving for peak performance.

In this article we outline the features needed by serious runners who are looking to improve their physiological condition for better competitive performance.

We define the criteria for a runner that can be regarded as serious as one who:

• Races regularly, be it on an Olympic standard 400m running track, fun runs and road races on tarmac or cross country through mud and trails
• Most likely does frequent Interval Training
• Does several longer, slower runs every week
• Records their activity in a Training Diary

Unless you are training seriously, a complicated running watch is probably not necessary. If the extent of your physical activity is a couple of long run a week, then a cheap sports watch under $20 with basic stopwatch timer like the Casio Men’s Digital Sport Watch W756B-1AV should be just fine.

But runners who do take their training seriously can benefit from a more advanced watch. If you fall into this category then read on…

Like a recreational jogger, the serious runner’s most basic requirement is to track time over a run, but a serious runner also requires the ability to record and recall segments of a run or lap splits, both for their long runs and distance based interval training.

A countdown timer or interval timer can also be useful for athletes wishing to run time based interval training.

So the three basic features of a running watch are:

• A Stopwatch Chronograph
• Lap Storage and Recall for distance based interval training and long runs; and
• A Countdown Timer or Interval Timer feature for time based interval training

The Stopwatch Chronograph

The Stopwatch Mode or Chronograph of a running watch simply keep a running time in hours, minutes, seconds and fractions of seconds.

Cheap watch models usually only have start/stop and lap buttons that start, stop and pause the display without stopping the stopwatch. Few cheap watches have the memory capacity to store sessions or laps, so all times will be lost when the chronograph is rest.

Most good running watches can display two or more data fields on the screen. In the Chronograph mode, one half of the screen typically displays your overall time or split, the other your current lap time.

The more advanced the sports watches, the greater the ability you have to customize the real-time display and the larger the variety of data fields that can be presented.

When choosing a running watch, it pays to pick one with a digital display that is comfortable to read at arm’s length while on a run.

You will have to live with your watch for a long time, so it pays to compare a few until you are happy with the display.

The diagram shows the relationship between laps and splits

Lap Recall and Storage

Running watches with Lap Storage can save split (a snapshot of overall time)/lap (the segment of time since the last split) times in the watch’s memory. Some digital sports watches maintain a session history, while others can save laps in memory, but only store one session at a time.

Runners who wish to save their repetition times should seek a session history sports watch. Session history watches allow you to to cycle through a list of sessions ordered by date and time. Each session contains information about your workout such as overall time, lap times (if a multi-lap session), your best and average lap times and even heart rate and speed information over a lap, should your watch have the ability to measure heart rate and pace.

The number of sessions a watch can store typically ranges from 10 to 150 laps, but can be a lot more in the top line watches. While 150 laps of memory might seem like quite a lot, you’d be surprised how much you can fill over a week. The table below shows an example week.

The amount of session storage you need depends on what you are comfortable with. The more storage capacity on the watch, the longer you can wait before updating your diary. If the storage capacity is small, you will have to update every few workouts.

The Timex Ironman 30-Lap Watch is a probably the minimum you should look for – it’s enough for most people’s speed sessions and a few long runs.

Click here to view 30, 50, 100, 150 and 200 session watches.

Countdown and Interval Timers

A Countdown Timer lets you set a time and when started – counts down to zero. The classic Countdown Timer lets you specify if you want the timer to beep and repeat the countdown at the end of the first cycle, beep and stop or beep and count upwards.

The drawback is that it runs over a fixed time interval. In practice, most timed interval workouts require varying length time intervals.

For example 3 minutes of running, followed by 2 minutes of recovery, repeated 8 times.

Unless you plan on doing a continuous session of equal-length efforts and recoveries, you’d have to do a lot of button-pushing to make this feature work.

Fortunately some watches have an interval timer like Timex Ironman Watch’s Interval Timer mode. It allows you to program different-length segments into the same cycle. A Countdown Timer or Interval Timer feature is not essential, unless you are doing fixed time repetitions, but it can be an extremely useful feature.

View a comprehensive collection of Timex Ironman Interval Timer Watches here.

Some other things to look for are:

• A scratch-resistant watch face
• Buttons that are easy to press while running
• A comfortable band that is a good fit on the wrist

Some more advanced features you might also consider are:

• Heart Rate Monitor
• Heart Rate Zones and Alerts
• Long Battery Life
• Solar Power Battery Charger
• Training Measurement and Goal Tracking
• GPS Tracking
• Pedometer Tracking
• Altitude Measurement
• Pace/Distance Measurement
• Pace/Distance Zones and Alerts
• Customizable Display
• Calorie Measurement
• Cadence Foot Pod Option
• Computer Data Uplink and Software

Hopefully choosing a sports watch will now be much easier. Of course, what is mentioned here only scratches the surface of what modern sports watches have to offer. You will still need to shop around, but at least now you can quickly discard the watches that won’t be much use as a running watch.