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Advice on watches/HRMs
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 2008-07-30 9:49 AM |
Extreme Veteran  1942     In front of computer when typing this. |  Subject: Advice on watches/HRMsHi. I was hoping to get your advice on something. I need to get a watch and am not sure what to get. At first I thought a Garmin forerunner 405 HRM, but it is not waterproof so not necessarily practical for a tri. I love the options for graphing results, etc. There are lots of options out there and I thought I would see what the preferred option is amongst the group. What I would like to get is a watch that is:
Any thoughts welcome. Thanks! |
| 2008-07-30 9:58 AM in reply to: #1569596 |
| Regular 134 SF Bay Area, CA | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs I had a Garmin 201, then upgraded to the 305 about a year ago. I looked at the 405, but I think the display on the 305 is better. The 305 can show more data on the screen at one time. I love my 305 because, it gives me continuous display HR and Pace. Plus I dont have to map out my routes. I dont like to run on a treadmill, so the few times I do does not justify the foot pod. While the 305 is not waterproof, some people put it in a zip lock bag in their swim cap during the swim. I have not tried that, but I might at my next tri. I use a Sportcount for counting laps in the pool. It works great. |
| 2008-07-30 10:00 AM in reply to: #1569596 |
Expert 724 Simi Valley | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs If tracking swimming effort and heart rate is important to you - the Polar F6 works in pool and openwater, it lacks the other features you mentioned though. |
| 2008-07-30 10:08 AM in reply to: #1569596 |
Master 3022 | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs I just recently bought a Polar RS400SD. I love it. The SD has the foot pos and out of the box I have found it is very accurate. -Has the lap functionality though I don't wear the heart rate strap in the pool I find the lap fuction very useful there. -As stated above out of the box the foot pod is very accurate. You can also calibrate it by running a known distance, etc. I have used the BT route mapping to check the distance I on a 6 mile run I'm off about 1%. Granted the mapping of a route is also probable inaccurate. The pace function while running is great and you can customize the data you see on the screen. Has auto lapping function that you can set to predetermined distances (i.e. 1 mile). -Allows you to input your 5 heart rate zones and graphically displays what zone you are in. -Comes with good software that plots heart rate and running data. You can also upload workouts to the watch etc. As I said, I love the watch and am happy to answer any questions about it. |
| 2008-07-30 1:26 PM in reply to: #1569596 |
Regular 96 | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs In my experience there just isn't the perfect watch that does everything, so you might what to think of a couple different devices that you use for different purposes. I have yet to find a good watch for lap counting while swimming. Most are not waterproof and the ones that are (Polar) say not to press the buttons while under water. Ok, press them while above the water, but you will quickly find that it is a ackward, and do you really want to risk you $200 watch? Also I have yet to find a good HRM for swimming. Most non-2.4ghz straps will work, but the signal is spotty and the strap moves around unless it is under a tri-top or wetsuit. It is just not worth it. If you really need something to count laps, get a Sportcount. Garmins are great and you can use just about any model on both the run and the bike. Lots of features and measures averything important. Polars are great too, and because they are waterproof you can wear them in the race from start to finish without trying to swap them out during transition. But most Polars can't do both running and biking. The ones that do are very expensive and you have to fiddle with buttons during the race to switch from biking sensors to running sensors. So I would either get a Garmin and just plan on using it during the bike/run portion of the race or use a simple Polar HRM throughout the race and having a seperate bike computer to give you pace for the Bike leg. |
| 2008-07-30 1:37 PM in reply to: #1569596 |
Expert 834 Medina, MN | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs I have a Polar with a footpod and wish I'd bought a Garmin. I think the GPS is more accurate than the footpod, which in my experience at least became less accurate as time went on. I know I have to recalibrate it, but would rather not have to deal with it. I think it's nice to have that functionality though, to see how far you've run, or how fast you're going. I haven't found the "current pace" function on the Polar to be consistent with the overall pace, meaning that when I watch the readout, it might say that I'm running between 8:20 and 8:40 pace most of the time, but then when I get to the end of my run and use the total distance and time, it comes out to 9:00 mile pace. I have no idea why that would be so. As a general comment, you're going to use your watch/HRM 50x more in training than you will in races, so pick the one that will work best for you in training (post-workout data manipulation falls here too). If you have to take 4 extra seconds to put on a watch in transition, it won't be that big of a deal. Just my opinions of course... -Matt |
| 2008-07-30 2:50 PM in reply to: #1569596 |
Extreme Veteran 1942 In front of computer when typing this. | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs Thanks for the input. Acually I have a bike computer so not too worried about a watch that can tell me what my bike computer can. It was more the swim/run combo watch that I was interested in. Point taken about the lap counter. I'll cross that off my list and count in my head :-) The main thing I have against Garmin is that it is not waterproof which is a big pity (I love what I have read about the 405 so far) so can't really train in the water with it (was not planning on HRM in the water, so it was more a "how long did that swim take me?" kind of a need. What about Suunto? How would they stack up against Polar and Garmin in terms of price, features (speed, distance), etc. |
| 2008-07-30 3:52 PM in reply to: #1569596 |
| Regular 134 SF Bay Area, CA | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs I just wear a regular sports watch with a timer, to measure the time on the swim portion. I wear it on my right hand, then in T1 I put the 305 onto my left wrist. |
| 2008-07-30 5:40 PM in reply to: #1570771 |
Master 1222 Lafayette, IN | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs louiskie - 2008-07-30 2:50 PM Thanks for the input. Acually I have a bike computer so not too worried about a watch that can tell me what my bike computer can. It was more the swim/run combo watch that I was interested in. Point taken about the lap counter. I'll cross that off my list and count in my head :-) The main thing I have against Garmin is that it is not waterproof which is a big pity (I love what I have read about the 405 so far) so can't really train in the water with it (was not planning on HRM in the water, so it was more a "how long did that swim take me?" kind of a need. What about Suunto? How would they stack up against Polar and Garmin in terms of price, features (speed, distance), etc. If you want to count laps in the water, a Sportcount works great! If I am doing a steady 1000-2000 yd swim, I wear the Sportcount and click a lap off for each 100. At the end, I can scroll through and look at each split, slowest split, fastest split, ave. split, and total. I still mis-count, but I can see this by my split times. Other than that, I am in the same position you are. I want a HRM that I can wear for all three legs of the tri, plus track my distance on runs during training. For races, I mainly use the HR functions and let the race chips take care of the timing unless it is not chip timed. I have been using a Polar S410 and it worked fine until this season and it started leaking so I can't wear it on the swim anymore. I am looking at the RS400SD like the poster described above. So far, that looks to be the best of all worlds. |
| 2008-09-15 10:56 AM in reply to: #1569596 |
Extreme Veteran 511 Budapest, Pest Megye | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs I can get the Garmin ForeRunner 405 for $299 if someone needs one. I have them in green or black. |
| 2008-09-15 12:17 PM in reply to: #1569596 |
Master 1790 | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs I wished I had gotten a heart-rate monitor with GPS. It's on my Christmas wish list. Is HR really important to you in swim training? If you're only interested in times, you can get a basic waterproof watch for $10 or even a fancier one for $50 or less. |
| 2008-09-15 3:46 PM in reply to: #1569596 |
Extreme Veteran 373 | Subject: RE: Advice on watches/HRMs My timex ironman watch is great for keeping track of laps in the pool. I will just start the chrono and swim on 60's or what ever and record the laps. On most sport watches the lap button is okay to press while in the water - they do recommend not pressing the other buttons. On my Polar S625X (and many other Polar watches as well) you can take a lap simply by bringing the watch to the heart rate monitor strap. This is the easiest and fastest way to take a lap in the pool. I can even hear the beep of the watch underwater to confirm that the lap has recorded. You can then download the information to your computer and go nuts with all of the data. In practice, however, I get very little value from tracking heart rate in the pool. During OWS I just wear the timex. I do take "laps" with the timex so that I can compare them to previous "laps" in the lake. |
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