Hooked on GPS

It must have been eleven years ago when I bought my first GPS watch. It was a Garmin 301 Forerunner.  It was love at first run and immediately became an essential part of my training runs. Now this thing was about as big as a Texas belt buckle and almost as heavy, but I did not care and could only see the beauty of it's stylish lines. I would power it up, take it outside and leave it to sync to the satellites while I got dressed for my run.  I had plenty of time, yes plenty.

But how it tracked those miles and my pace.  It was a wonder.  This miracle device showed me that I sometimes, way to often, gave myself credit for more mileage than I was actually running. This was not good when training for a half or full marathon and those long runs mean so much. So, I could overlook the 15+ minutes to lock up and the short battery life. (Oh the pain I suffered when it would die during a run and I was out there on my own.) This thing still works, it is in the bottom of running junk trunk, but it still operates.

After a lot of research and taking with fellow runners I got the Garmin 205 next. Much much faster lock up time.  It tracks well, no trouble with big rainstorms or the sweat of southern humid hell runs. (a foreboding of future troubles). I am using this now one and like it.

One of my logistic challenges is that I need two sets of running aparati (aparatasis) because I sometimes run at work and also run at home.  It is a drag to carry my stuff back and forth; so that is my justification for 2.

So, after research, looking at runners wrists, and talking with runners I bought a Motorola MOTOACTV.  Now this is a thing of beauty. Smallish, light weight, and just extremely cool.  I got the Bluetooth headsets to use with it because it is a Bluetooth enabled MP3 player as well (I said it was cool). I really loved this thing, until.  After getting caught is a pitiful little rain in the last mile of a 9 miler it died on me. I could (can not) believe it. Oh the pain of my loss.  Do I get another one? This one lasted about a year. Amazon had it, but it showed as discontinued by the manufacturer.  A bad sign.

So, back to Garmin.  I got the 310 and it works great.  Two weeks and already race, rain, and sweat tested. This model locks up fast and claims 20 hours on a charge. She is kind of a big girl, but I am sure she will be as faithful as her sisters. It gives me mileage, pace, total time, and a breakdown of my pace per mile.

Garmin 301 eleven years, 205 two and a half years, 310 two weeks, and the Motorola about a year.

What do you think?
Zippy