Ever since buying this watch, my running experience has transformed. I now know enough stats about every run I complete to satisfy my inner stats geek. Life has never been the same.
Comfort
When I was researching the watch, I heard that one of the drawbacks was the size. This was not enough to put me off (evidently) and I am glad. The watch is actually very comfortable to wear. It is a bit big, but I like that, it allows me to see all the important information when running, and I think if it was any smaller, it was loose some of its functionality.
Functions
There is a nice review here which shows you some of the functions in action. I will just go over the functions I use and like best. The beauty of this watch is the fact you can personalise the screen you see when running to suit you, so whatever functions you like best can be on display.
The watch does everything you would expect (Monitors heart rate, speed, distance, pace, and calories burned) but the virtual partner is the function I use most, it really is amazing.
I run home from work fairly often, and the virtual partner keeps me going. It is really easy to set up, you just save a run the first time you run it (e.g a run home from work), then the next time you run set up the virtual partner and it tells you how you are doing against your best run on the course.
The other function I use regularly is the Interval training option. As I keep mentioning, my goal is to become a faster runner, and Interval training is great for this. You can set up the watch to help you with your intervals, by entering either distance or time you would like to run, and time you would like to rest. Once you hit start your watch bleeps and tells you when to start and stop running. This is great, and really helps motivating you through the gruelling Interval sessions.
Mutli-sports
If like me, you enjoy several sports, the watch comes in very handy. Unfortunately it is not waterproof enough to allow you to swim with the watch on, so triathlons are out of the picture (at least while wearing the watch).
I do however enjoy mountain biking and there is a great attachment for you bike that allows the Garmin to be mounted on your handlebars.
Heart Rate Monitor
The watch comes packed with a Heart Rate monitor ban that you wear around your chest. Again this is very comfortable and I got used to wearing it very quickly. I still need to figure out exactly what I am meant to be doing with the monitor and what my heart rate sold be (any tips on this would be greatly appreciated).
Cons
The only major draw back for me with the watch is the time that it takes to find satellites. This can take up to a few minutes depending on where you are. However if you plan it right you can turn the watch on 5 mins before your run land out it on the window ledge, this works a treat for me every time.
