A watch with GPS
Garmin 910XT
Garmin
910XT
GPS
watch!
Today, I am
writing about a watch with GPS function, GPS watch! I have been running as a part of my daily
life and joined a few race last a few years.
When I run, I usually ware a watch with a GPS watch that was bought
three years ago. I have been using
Garmin GPS watch (405CX) as my partner during my training. With this watch, distance, pace, heart rate
during the training can be recorded and logged to the internet. This is a good motivation to continue the
training as a part of life. I had some health
problem such as overweight and etc.
After I started running regular basis, those problems had been going
away and I am healthy nowadays.
Talking
about the watch, due to GPS function, it cannot use a typical small button battery
like a regular watch. The GPS watch is
using a rechargeable buttery embedded in the watch. Because of so many re-charge cycles, the
discharge time is getting shorter nowadays.
I think it is a time to buy another one.
Some internet articles say it is possible to replace the battery, but I
decided to buy another one. The last
weekend was Memorial Day weekend and many shops did a special sale. One of outdoor shop has a GPS watch on
sale. I thought it was a good deal and I bought a new one.
Longer
battery discharge time!
Since I also interested in “ultra marathon” that is a race longer than full marathon (26.2 miles). I am getting old and cannot run very fast, therefore I may take longer time to finish such race. So the previous model is not good enough to log an entire race. That is one of reason I pick this Garmin 910XT. The previous one can be operated up to 8 hours based on its specification. This new one can be operated up to 20 hours that is usually long enough time to finish except some very long “crazy race” like 100 mile trail race. That is one of big reasons I picked this model.
Since I also interested in “ultra marathon” that is a race longer than full marathon (26.2 miles). I am getting old and cannot run very fast, therefore I may take longer time to finish such race. So the previous model is not good enough to log an entire race. That is one of reason I pick this Garmin 910XT. The previous one can be operated up to 8 hours based on its specification. This new one can be operated up to 20 hours that is usually long enough time to finish except some very long “crazy race” like 100 mile trail race. That is one of big reasons I picked this model.
Large
display
Since I am
getting older and need reading glasses to see small fonts. The previous one has very small display and
fonts. It is sometimes hard to read the
information on the display. However,
this new model has a large display and it is much easier to read all
information without reading glasses.
That is a big plus for me!!
No
sensibility problem !!
One of a
big problem on the previous one that is so sensitive for the bezel
operation. The previous one needs to use
bezel to change / set the device. It is
somehow a nice feature and design. But a
problem is it is so sensitive. Some time
sweat or rain is a cause to activate an operation during running, such as
switching display unexpectedly. This new
one does not have such problem since all operation is based on buttons, no bezel
operation or touch panel and all minimum operation during running can be done
with buttons very easy.
What
is getting worse?
There are
some minor problems, but they are not really big problems at all.
First thing is a problem to use it as a watch in a
daily life. Since this model is not
designed to use it as a regular watch without GPS function. It is still possible to show a time on the
display with customizing the data field on the display. For longer operation time, users may want to
disable GPS function every time to use it as a watch. There is no stand-by mode like the previous
model. This model is really focusing on
training / logging the training long.
The
supported training modes are also less than the previous model. The previous model has three training menu, “simple”,
“heart rate” and “interval’. This new
one has only two, “interval” and “custom”.
Basically all previous function can be covered by “custom”. But the setup is a little tricky. Since just set a custom workout as distance
10km, then it works. But lap time cannot
be captured with this simple setup. We
need to set 1km x 10 with repeating to trace each lap time. As long as users understand the structure of
the custom workout, it should not be a problem and it can be done on a PC as
well.
I think there won’t be a perfect one. So that this new one has cover most of
function I need. I will use this “partner”
for my training to improve my performance.
(End)
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