Garmin Forerunner

Mentioning the GPS training watch that I bought a while back, I thought it might be useful to write a bit of a review. I'm not overly technical, so I'll tell it from a simple users perspective. The watch I bought is a Garmin Forerunner. There's a few different models around and I don't recall off the top of my head which model mine is, but the base functions are the same across the range. The biggest problem I had initially was figuring out exactly what it could do, or couldn't do. It comes with a small instruction manual but it seemed to me that the manual only covered about 80% of the functions. I found the rest of the information from internet forums which had been set up to address the issue of the instruction manual only having instructions for about 80% of the functions.

The watch connects to your computer with a USB cable and the packet came with a software programme. The programme downloads your training information from the watch, displays it in various forms, and stores it into the computer. With the computer you can also upload future workouts back onto your watch again.

Obviously the watch works out speed, position, etc, from satellites. So the first thing that happens when you turn it on, is that it starts searching for satellites. That's fine if you're outside at the time, but if you're sitting at the kitchen table with the 80% instruction manual, trying to figure the thing out, it can be a right pain being hit with "unable to locate satellites" messages on the screen. There is a setting in the menus which allows you to switch off the satellite function, which is handy. It resets automatically to outdoor (satellite) mode when you switch the watch back on again, so you don't have to worry about having to scroll through the menus again to do so.

The display has 3 active screens when you're out training, and you can scroll between these by clicking a button on the side. Each screen can by customised to show different areas of information. My first screen shows 3 things: Total time, Total distance, and my current pace in minutes per kilometre. The second screen I have Total Time, Current Pace, and my overall Average Pace for the entire distance so far. The 3rd screen I don't use very often. It shows my Current Pace, Current Heartrate in beats per minute, and my Current Step Rate in steps per minute. That last field is a bit unusual and not many people use it, but I find it to be a good training tool at times. As I said, you can set each screen up to show more information, less information, and from any of the about 20 different types of information. It is all set up using a scroll menu operated by the side buttons. Once you've got the display set up the way that you want, you just click the big START/STOP button on the front and you're away.

The front of the watch has only 2 buttons: "Start/Stop" and "Lap". Start/Stop is pretty self explanatory. Click once when you start and once when you stop. If you take a break along the way for some reason, you can click Stop. Clicking again when you carry on will pick up the time and distance wthout having a gap in the middle when you were having a sit down. So it acts as a Pause button as well. there is an internal option to automatically start/stop if your speed drops below a certain level. Such as if you are stuck waiting for traffic lights to change.

The Lap button serves 3 purposes, only one of which is in the instruction manual. The first purpose (which is in the manual) records a fixed point along the way when you click the button. Let's say that you want to jog or cycle around the block 3 times. Every time that you pass your house, you click the Lap button. When you are finished, you will not only have your total time, distance, speed, etc, but also that same information for each lap you completed. That's quite handy. The other 2 purposes served by the Lap button go together. Once you have finished your exercise, and clicked the Stop button, you need to press and hold down the Lap button. A 3 second countdown timer will appear on the screen. once the timer has reached "0", you can take your finger off the Lap button. Your exercise workout has now been saved into the memory of the watch and the watch information has been reset back to zero again ready for your next workout. This is really important and wasn't shown in the manual. If you turn off the watch once you've clicked Stop, without first pressing and holding the Lap button, you'll lose all the information from your latest workout. Why something so vital is not in the instruction manual is a mystery, but it seems to have annoyed new users around the world.

So those are the basic functions of the watch for normal use. But there are a few special and rather clever things also. Instead of having to press the Lap button to split up your workout information into parts, you can preset it to happen automatically. You can set it to a particular location for example, outside of your house. The watch will remember that location and automatically log the time etc every time you pass by it on your jog around the block, without you having to click anything. You can also set the Lap function to reord the information between set time or distance intervals. Every 10 minutes, for example. Most people, like myself, set it up to record a set distance. In my case, I've set the Lap function to "one kilometer" Every time I run one more kilometer, the watch records all the information about the previous kilometer. As well as continuing with the running total. You can see that information live while you're working out, or later on while sitting at the computer.

My watch has a rather neat function called "Virtual Partner". With VP, you programme in your desired result into any 2 of the following fields: Time, Distance, and Pace. Say you want to run 10km in 60 minutes. Simply key in the desired Distance and Time using the scroll menu, and then select the "Done" option. Return to the main screen, click the Start/Stop button, and you're off. What you are doing now is racing against a theoretical person who is going to complete 10km in 60 minutes. With the VP training option selected, you get to scroll through to an extra screen. This screen has a little graphic showing 2 figures, and the distance between the 2 figures, in metres. Obviously, you are one of the figures and your Virtual Partner is the other figure. If you are ahead of the VP, the distance between you both will be shown on a white screen. If you are behind the VP then the distance to the VP will be shown on a black screen. This is a really good training tool, although it does have a few drawbacks. Firstly, the VP runs at the desired tempo right from the very first second. For most of us, that's not very realistic. Even if we are planning to complete 10km in 60 minutes, we will often start off a bit slower and gradually build up a bit of speed. So, with the VP, you often find yourself suddenly 50m behind the VP at the start. Don't panic about this, you'll slowly drag them in. It's the distance between at the end which counts. The VP is also immune to the effects of going up or down hills so again, don't panic if the VP suddenly zooms away while you're heading up hill. You'll catch them going down the other side.

To have a more realistic virtual training partner, the Forerunner allows you to compete directly against yourself. This is a brilliant function and worth the buy just on its own. Having previously saved one of your workouts, you can recall that workout and run the same course again, competing against yourself exactly as you ran the course last time. If you were a bit slow going up the hill last time, the VP figure on the watch will also slow down to the exact same tempo you were running at the last time you were running up that hill. You can store about 30 of your previous wokouts as training option, and select the one you feel like on the day. I try to give them easy to understand names, so that I know exactly which route I took and how fast I ran, like "Lake 40 minutes" or "Lake 45 minutes".

That main thing to remember if you choose to compete again one of your previous workouts, is that you have to run the exact same route, or your VP display will become meaningless. Using the automatic VP, which I wrote about in the earlier paragraph, you can run wherever you like and the VP will follow you at the set pace. Using one of your pre-recorded workouts as your VP means that you have to start and finish at the same point as before, and you have to follow the same path as the VP. Simple enough, and you can see why both training options have their uses.

So there's the basics of a GPS training watch. It sounds like a lot at the start but once you've handled it a few times, it's pretty idiot-proof. To date I haven't had any real problems with it. Sometimes it can be a bit slow to pick up the satellites when you turn it on. There is a memory buffer which you can clear that supposedly helps. What I do instead is to turn the watch on and then sit it outside on the balcony while I'm getting changed. Once I'm ready I find that the watch has found the satellites it's been looking for and is ready to go when I am. I'm most often out in reasonably dense forests and I've never found the watch to lose it's GPS connection. Likewise under bridges, it's clever enough to know where it was, where it is now, and what most likely happened in between. If you're like me and have lost the ability to know your pace over the years, this watch is a great way to retrain yourself. You do have to be reasonably commited to regular exercise, otherwise you're jsut buying a gimmick. It's not much use if you're not walking, running, cycling, swimming, horseback riding etc. There are good prices to be had as models phase out, so shop around.