Revision as of 15:06, 1 November 2014

The Garmin 310XT is the best value watch for most runners. It is available with a Heart Rate Monitor for around $50 more. The Garmin 910XT is better, but not worth the extra cost for most runners. If you want something smaller, then the Garmin 610 is also excellent value for money

Garmin 310XT

1 Garmin 310XT Pros

• The 310XT is great value for money at this price level.
• The 310XT is a sophisticated sports watch, but is no harder for a beginner to use than most alternatives. In fact, its size and physical buttons make it relatively easy to use, especially when compared to the 4xx series Garmin watches.
• A great feature is the ability to use the optional Footpod to display your current pace while using GPS for overall pace, distance and route. Only the 310XT, 910XT and Garmin 610 can do this.
• The 310XT has good GPS accuracy. When it starts up in the same location as the last run it will acquire satellites quickly. The GPS is more accurate than earlier watches, and has a faster startup time. The optional Footpod also improves GPS accuracy.
• The housing is fully waterproof (to 50m/160ft), so Running in the Rain is no problem.
• The display is big enough to show four readings. I often display current pace, average pace for the current lap, average pace for the run and either heart rate or distance.
• You can upload courses and display them. This is great when running somewhere unfamiliar.
• There are several optional extras for the 310XT, including the already mentioned Footpod and heart rate strap. For cyclists there is also a speed/cadence sensor and it works with various power sensors.

2 Garmin 310XT Cons

• Some people find the 310XT to be rather large, and it is much larger than a normal watch.
• The battery life is good for about 16-20 hours, which is enough for most people. Ultrarunners doing 100 mile or longer races will find this a problem, though it is possible to recharge it while in use.
• For races where the GPS track is not important, you can extend the battery life by turning off the GPS receiver and use the Footpod. After 24 hours of running I still have most of the battery left. If you're running on a reasonable smooth surface, the Footpod is often more accurate than GPS.

3 Comparison Table

I evaluate running watches in three distinct ways. Firstly, you can use a watch on its own, without any kind of Footpod. This is probably the most common way runners use their watch, but you miss out on a lot. The second rating is with a standard Footpod that is available quite cheaply. These Footpod's can be reasonably accurate once the calibrated, but calibration is a little tedious. The final evaluation is with the Stryd Footpod, which is vastly more accurate than any other type of Footpod, or and more accurate than GPS. The table below looks at the score, and the value for money of each watch for each of the three conditions. (I’ve also tested the Apple Watch 3, but I’ve not included it in these tables as it’s not really a running watch.)

The score is the sum of how well each watch can answer the four basic questions (how far, how fast, where are you, what's your cadence), plus some bonus points.

1. The "How far you've run" will be based on GPS only for "without Footpod" and "with Standard Footpod", but based on Stryd if supported in the "with Stryd Footpod" table..
2. How fast you're running assumes you're using a Footpod if it's supported, otherwise the rating is 0-2 based on GPS accuracy.
3. The "Where are you?" is based on various navigation features such as back to start, breadcrumbs, and preloaded maps. For some watches, you have to turn GPS off to get the benefit of Stryd, so those watches have worse "where are you scores" with Stryd than without.
4. The cadence score uses 1 point for an internal cadence sensor, 2 points for footpod support, 1 point for support from chest strap cadence, and 1 point for cadence alerts.
5. I give 1-2 bonus points for application support, 1-2 bonus points for data upload, 1-2 bonus points for Optical Heart Rate Monitoring, and 0-1 bonus points for battery life.
6. Value for money is the score divided by the price (at the time I last updated the table.) Your needs may be different, so you might weight the different aspects of the watches differently, or be basing your decision on different criteria totally. Hopefully this table will give you a good starting point for your decision.

3.1 Score Breakdown without a Footpod

3.2 Score Breakdown with a Standard Footpod

3.3 Score Breakdown with a Stryd Footpod

3.4 Basic Features

4 Navigation Features

For "navigation":

• Color Maps gives you full color maps, rather like a smart phone, with roads and paths marked out.
• Track Outline is a display of where you've run, rather like a breadcrumb trail. If there are maps, the outline is superimposed otherwise this is just the outline on its own without any context.
• Course Outline is an outline of a route that can be downloaded. I've found this useful during ultras or in unfamiliar cities where I've needed to know where to go.
• Back To Start is a simple arrow point to your starting point, so it won't help you backtrack.
• Back To Waypoint returns you to a previously marked location using a simple arrow to point.
• Compass. A magnetic compass can help you orient yourself or the map. Without a magnetic compass you have to be moving for the GPS to give you a sense of direction.

(Older Reviews: Polar RC3 GPS, Soleus 1.0, Motorola Motoactv.)