Watch Advice

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Disney Dawg88

Active Member
Original Poster
Hey guys. My trusty 10 year old $15 Timex All-Sport watch finally died out on me so I'm in the market for a new one. For years I've debated biting the bullet and getting one of the Garmin or Garmin-type watches, but I've decided to go for it as I want to get in better shape and become a more serious runner . . . my main goal is to improve my time for the 2012 Disney half by cutting off 30-45 minutes off of this years Disney half which I ran in 2:29. So my questions are:

1. Any watch recommendations?

2. Where's the best place to buy it? I have a couple of running stores here locally in Atlanta, but I'm sure I can get it much cheaper elsewhere/online.

3. For Christmas I got the small little Apple thing that you can put in your shoe, although I don't have Nike shoes I got a little holder that attaches to my laces and I slide the Nike item in it. Am I better off using that and then just buying a cheap watch? Has anyone ever used the Nike+Apple website to track your runs?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!
 
scorp111

scorp111

Well-Known Member
Disney Dawg88 said:
Hey guys. My trusty 10 year old $15 Timex All-Sport watch finally died out on me so I'm in the market for a new one. For years I've debated biting the bullet and getting one of the Garmin or Garmin-type watches, but I've decided to go for it as I want to get in better shape and become a more serious runner . . . my main goal is to improve my time for the 2012 Disney half by cutting off 30-45 minutes off of this years Disney half which I ran in 2:29. So my questions are:

1. Any watch recommendations?

2. Where's the best place to buy it? I have a couple of running stores here locally in Atlanta, but I'm sure I can get it much cheaper elsewhere/online.

3. For Christmas I got the small little Apple thing that you can put in your shoe, although I don't have Nike shoes I got a little holder that attaches to my laces and I slide the Nike item in it. Am I better off using that and then just buying a cheap watch? Has anyone ever used the Nike+Apple website to track your runs?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!
Click to expand...


I bought a Garmin 305 with HR monitor, about 3 weeks ago, and I don't know how I ever ran without it. I bought it from Amazon for like $128. Garmin does have a newer version, a tri version (waterproof for longer) etc, but the 305 comes highly recommended by serious runners, and has not disappointed me. I really use the HR feature more than I thought I would, it helps me decide how hard my body is working. The lap pace, avg pace, and distance are the other screens that I use most often.
 
Ariel484

Ariel484

Well-Known Member
I also have a 305...I would've went with the 205 but I wasn't sure that the included software was Mac-compatible. I also got mine from Amazon, and it's pretty sweet.
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
Disney Dawg88 said:
2. Where's the best place to buy it? I have a couple of running stores here locally in Atlanta, but I'm sure I can get it much cheaper elsewhere/online.
Click to expand...

Depends on who you want to support. If you want to help keep your local running resources in business, especially if they provide support back to the community through sponsoring races, offering training, stuff like that, then definitely go with your local guy. But if money is an issue, then you can probably save 10-20 bucks online somewhere.

Disney Dawg88 said:
3. For Christmas I got the small little Apple thing that you can put in your shoe, although I don't have Nike shoes I got a little holder that attaches to my laces and I slide the Nike item in it. Am I better off using that and then just buying a cheap watch? Has anyone ever used the Nike+Apple website to track your runs?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!
Click to expand...

It all depends on what you are trying to track. The Nike+ will help to give you a good idea of your distances, assuming you have it properly calibrated. It won't be as accurate as GPS watch will be. But if you are already running with your iPod, then the Nike+ is a much cheaper alternative to get you going for a while until you decide you really want a fancy schmancy watch.
 
Phonedave

Phonedave

Well-Known Member
I have used both. The Nike+ and the Garmin 305.

They measure distance in difference ways.

The Nick+ basicly counts how many times you step. You calibrate it to your stride lenght. So it just does steps * stride = distance. It is a little more advanced than that, as it does have an accellerometer in it, so it does try to compensate when extending your stride, but it is not perfect.

The Garmin uses GPS. It is pretty accurate, and will adjust if you adjust your stride length.

The thing is, the Nike+ will work on a treadmill or indoors (or under cover, such as a parking deck) The Garmin will not. They make a shoe adaptor for the Garmin that will allow you to use it on a treadmill or indoors, but then it is no more accureate than a Nike+

The big difference to me, that the Garmin does is in the mapping and in the ability to tell you elevation changes. The Garmin also records a lot more data points than the Nike.

-dave
 
lukacseven

lukacseven

Well-Known Member
Disney Dawg88 said:
Hey guys. My trusty 10 year old $15 Timex All-Sport watch finally died out on me so I'm in the market for a new one. For years I've debated biting the bullet and getting one of the Garmin or Garmin-type watches, but I've decided to go for it as I want to get in better shape and become a more serious runner . . . my main goal is to improve my time for the 2012 Disney half by cutting off 30-45 minutes off of this years Disney half which I ran in 2:29. So my questions are:

1. Any watch recommendations?

2. Where's the best place to buy it? I have a couple of running stores here locally in Atlanta, but I'm sure I can get it much cheaper elsewhere/online.

3. For Christmas I got the small little Apple thing that you can put in your shoe, although I don't have Nike shoes I got a little holder that attaches to my laces and I slide the Nike item in it. Am I better off using that and then just buying a cheap watch? Has anyone ever used the Nike+Apple website to track your runs?

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much!
Click to expand...

1,2. I bought a Timex Ironman 50-lap at Target for under $40.

3. I've been using Nike+ for iPod for about 4 years now. I'm on my second transmitter. I like the $20 price and use it primarily to track distance on longer runs. The website does a nice job of synching each time you connect the iPod to iTunes. I don't get into the challenges and some of the other features of the website. I use a watch simply to time races and to tell the time of day.

The problem with using the sensor in the Nike shoes is that it calibrates differently for each shoe. I also use the Nathan velcro chip holder (about $8 on Amazon), because I run in several different pair of shoes and it's easy to switch the sensor.
 
SleepingMonk

SleepingMonk

Well-Known Member
We just got the Nike Sportband and are really loving it.

No ipods here, since Apple is the devil so this works perfectly for us.

The Nike website, tracking feature and community are nicely done as well and help quite a bit.
 
Kristia

Kristia

Well-Known Member
I just bought the Garmin 405 on Amazon. I have only used it once so far and really like it. It takes a little getting used to. The reason I went with the slightly more expensive 405 was the size. I liked that it was quite a bit smaller than the 305. It is about the size of a large mens watch. The price has come down quite a bit since Garmin has another newer model out.
 
Fievel

Fievel

RunDisney Addict
I've actually got the Garmin FR60. It's not GPS enabled, but has a foot pod that is just as accurate instead. It's great for use indoors as well, or on a treadmill.
 

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