Les Croupiers Running Club

Need some help....

I'm buy my 1st Garmin, I'm not looking for something makes me a cup of tea while running, just something that shows the route, height, distance and calories. Not really interested in knowing heart rate either.

Your help and advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Mark

Whichever one you choose DO NOT - I REPEAT DO NOT put it in the microwave and then turn it on !!!!! Cos that would be stupid. Really stupid. Ok ????

Mark - You can pick up the 410 on Amazon for £135. The 610 is the newer model with the touchscreen but until Garmin sort out the tiny gap between the bezel and body of watch you're going to get possible 'fogging' on the screen which then renders watch unusable.

When i get my 610 back from the 'Microwave Repair Man' !!!!!!! you're quite welcome to borrow my 405 for a week to give it a go.

If you wait a few weeks then I hear Panasonic are entering the market offering a fre microwave with every watch bought.
Evatt will be first in the queue no doubt!
Sorry Mark but I know nothing about Garmins other than not to put them in a microwave should condensation appear!
Evatt will never hear the last of this.

I have a 305 and I love it. It's not one of the newer models but it does what it says on the tin. No fancy twiddly bits to break (don't go for the 405 which was meant to be a bit of a let down). It can't wake you up in the morning, make you a cup of tea or microwave itself, but it is very reliable...

If you go for the 305 you may as well wear a microwave on your wrist !!!!! They're about the same size !!!!! Lol. My first 405 did go back to Garmin but they replaced it within 3 days. They have great customer service. My second one has had no problems at all. Probably because i haven't tried the microwave trick with it yet !!!!!! Lol.

I have had a 305 for about 3 years, it always under estimates my long runs, totally reliable.

If u don't need a HR function then why not save a few more quid and just get the 205 (blue body). It's the 305 (red body) without the HR fucntion. I loved my 305 but it died eventually so I've been using a 405cx for the past year without any issues at all (it's more accurate than the 205/305 and some of the functions are more flexible but functionality wise they're pretty much all alike. I paid £162 for my 405cx off Amazon but a 205 will be alot cheaper as thye're a few years older in design.

Evatt. I've got to ask. Why did you microwave it?

Mark,

its a personnal Choice.. i love my 305.

. i dont use the heart rate monitor.. but did at first.. for some reason when i started running it read 220 for the first 1 minute when i put it on.. but apart from that its good.. so for me if your not going to hear a heart rate monitor i think the 205 is the same as the 305 (but please check).. so it depends on what you want..

i do find the 305 chunky on the wrist.. but at my pace that cleary does'nt make any difference..

i do hear some of the new models for the garmins the charge lasts much longer so you can wear it as a watch.. with the 305 it is never going to be your daily watch.. so you have to remember to charge it..and bring the charger.. etc.

hope if helps

happy shopping..

incidentally i love my garmin.. and find it a great training aid..

James thats a good point, the biggest difference I've found with my 405 is that the charge can last almost a whole week even with daily runs (and is small enough to be worn as a normal watch) where as the 205/305 charge will last a max of 14 hrs.

As a novice runner I got a Garmin Forerunner 110 because being a cheap sake that I am.. I wanted a watch that looks like a watch so I can wear it wherever I go and not a 'beam me up scotty' thingy on my wrist.

The Garmin Forerunner 110 tracks pace, distance and calories. It can also do HR, just have to wear the strap which I used to but it keeps falling off me and damn uncomfortable so I don't use the HR anymore.

I love my 110 cos it's simple and love the fact that I can download routes etc.. see elevation and also being a bit OCD, it helps me keep a running log. The battery lasts me a few days. So I charge it maybe once every 2 - 3 days.

Cost without the HR is between £110 - £120. Check it out on Amazon.

Hope this helps!

Mike - Bit of a long story. After my run in the 'Castles' last Saturday i finished and noticed there was a big moisture patch on the inside of the screen. The 610, being touchscreen operated, became unusable because this patch was right across all the functions. Over the weekend i tried a number of things like leaving it on window ledge with window open, putting it in a bowl of rice, shouting at it (!!!!!!), etc. I rang Simply Run where i bought it from and they said as it was still under warranty send it back. I then went onto the Garmin Forum to see if anybody else had had this problem. There were many. A number of suggestions were on there about possible fixes and one of them was put it in the microwave with the light on BUT DO NOT START IT !!!!! I did this and after a couple of seconds the light went off so i just thought "ahhhh well lets give it a go and see what happens" WRONG !!!!

I'd just like to let people know i'm not really that thick ok !!!!!! I had covered myself by reporting the fault and thought there was nothing to lose. At least now i can provide valuable information about the use of Garmin's in a microwave !!!!! Such as............DON'T !!!!! Lol.

Mark - If i was in the market for a Garmin now i would definitely go for the 410 as it's the upgraded version of the 405 with the bezel problems ironed out. Cheers.

I've owned Forerunner models 101, 301, 305, 405, 410, 610 and honestly each model has been a significant improvement over the previous one, having said that I do a job where there is no room for nostalgia and you quickly find out why the latest revision of hardware or software is better so maybe I'm not typical.

This chap is the bees knees about Forerunners Garmin Reviewer (Click Me)

Mark,
I use a 205, which I bought from Amazon earlier this year. Its a fantastic running aid and I'd be lost without it, and its not that big really. I have it set to display four screens, Time, distance, average pace and current pace. It also has a pace alert to tell you to speed up or slow down depending on what range you set it to. You can also set intervals on it, but I already had a gymboss for those. I also already had a heart rate monitor so didn't need the 305, but it means I have to wear two watches if I want to know my heart rate, but it also frees up a screen on the 205. Whats great with any gps watch is that you can run where you like and not worry about following a set route and having to remember mile or km waypoints. I set mine to auto lap every km but you can also set it to lap at a fixed point if you're running circuits. It really has so many features and its not complicated to set up. I hope this might be of some help.

Thank you for all your words of wisdom. Evett, an easy mistake to make, the microwave is a quick and easy device to use.

I had a similar run-in with the microwave after walking the dog on a very wet day... the vet sadly said he couldn't put it back together, I should have read the small print!!! ;-p

I will let you know what I buy.

Thanks all.

Mark

Hi Mark

I use a 205. It is bulky, but it's not that heavy in my opinion. I've always been very happy with it.

Oh Thank God i'm not the only one who experiments with microwaves !!!!!! Lol.

For future posts i think it would be best if you can state whether the Garmin you're referring to has passed the 'Microwave Test'. It's best if Mark has all the information at his disposal !!!!!!

Happy Microwaving to you all !!!!!!

Have you ever scalded yourself on McDonald's coffee? They put warnings on the side of the cups especially for people like you ;-)

Coffee ?? From McDonalds ?? Are you mental ???? Lol.

As a former McDonald's employee, I was debating putting "coffee" in inverted commas, but decided against it.

Ive done extensive research on the subject and it is as simple as this.

305 most accurate (doesn't look great though)
405 (best all around)
610 (the best but poor value for money)

The Nike watch powered by Tom Tom could be quite good, here is a link to an in depth review.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2011/04/nike-sportwatch-gps-in-depth-review.html

I think the 405 is probably your best bet though as its great value for money and tried and tested (also one did me great for 4 years until the battery died).My 610 is smarter and I like the fact it vibrates on my wrist every mile to alert me of my pace.It has umpteen features that sound great which I don't really use though.

£15 watch from argos/asda and a brain has always worked for me! but then i don't train much!!

At last! Well done, Rob - the B word.
The brain is an amazingly sophisticated mechanism - vastly superior to a Garmin - whichever make you buy.
And it's free!
And for the benefit of Evatt "Garmin Guinea Pig" Cummings - even you will never be able to get your brain in a microwave and switch it on!

On a serious note - the danger about using technology - Garmins, Heart Rate Monitors etc. is your potential to become dependent upon them and believe everything they tell you.
I read a lot on this Forum about people believing things.
The brain is about judgment - and when you're in a racing situation - judgment is key!

Mark.

Mick is spot on with the comments about running how you feel... i remember look at my Berlin marathon photos.. i was looking at my watch every time.. and forgetting about running.. in london I did'nt get what i wanted but i more or less ran a good time and listend to my body.. how i felt.. but i will say i used the average lap time on the garmin to judge how i was on that lap or rather to check myself from going to fast....

and if you'd have your garmin on tonight you will have seen 67 over the full 10 miles at 640 is'nt bad for a thursday night considering we were averaging 7:05 or so pace at half way.. you'd have seen you must have been doing 6:10's ish for the last bit..

When someone asks me what an unmarked, off path fell race was like, the exact route I ran, where the climbs were and exactly how long they went on for, how far it was etc etc I could suggest an OS Map and a lot of guessing or I can link them to my Garmin plot. I suppose there is the argument that I had to find out the hard way so why shouldn't they but that's not cricket really.
Many people have suggested to me that a Garmin dictates how one runs, I'm not that good, even if it occurred to me to try to do that.