Triathlon Watch

[JGR]

Someone swam into the Garfs line of sight and naturally I "clawed" him (aka as "konynkap" in afrikaans). Upon contact the band broke and despit making 2 dives down after it, it could not be saved.

 

Thanks Dave. Can you imagine how fast I will be with even better technology?

 

In the end for me, the HR is the most NB. The polar I had the CS300 would miss beats or stop alltoghether for a minute despite battery changes and ervices at the polar store.

 

I want a HR monitor that is 100% accurate.

I have my old polar f11 that ive replaced which ill probably sell but its only a HR monitor - no gps

[JGR]

What if I want to go train in a cave or a deserted mine?

Then you have a bigger problems than not having a watch ...

[Garfield2010]

Then you have a bigger problems than not having a watch ...

[SwissVan]

 

 

Someone swam into the Garfs line of sight and naturally I "clawed" him (aka as "konynkap" in afrikaans). Upon contact the band broke and despit making 2 dives down after it, it could not be saved.

 

 

 

Haha must have been a moerse klap, u sure the guy didn't go down with the watch as well

How did the swim go otherwise?

[Garfield2010]

I have my old polar f11 that ive replaced which ill probably sell but its only a HR monitor - no gps

 

Thanks but I dont like that watch. No offence, its just ugly as hell. You know us Tri athletes. Bring on the bling

[JGR]

Thanks but I dont like that watch. No offence, its just ugly as hell. You know us Tri athletes. Bring on the bling

There is also the Timex IronmanGPS watch ... also quite good - around R3000

[sluiper]

I've got the Suunto Quest. I pair it with the heart rate monitor, the mini footpod, the bike skewer and the cadence monitor. Then I use my android device to map my GPS through Strava. I guess if I wanted to I could get the Suunto GPS device, but I like Strava and Suunto isn't compatible with Strava.

 

Anyways, that's enough data for me.

 

Suunto has been very good in terms of honoring their warranty, even where it's been my fault they were pretty cool about replacing stuff. They actually gave me the Quest for less than a R1000 after I fell off my bike, cracked my T3D's face and went swimming with it afterwards.

 

I do like Suunto's online app (http://www.movescount.com), but I have to be honest and say that I know nothing about Polar's equivalent offerings.

[scotty]

What about the Garmin 910XT?

Would be my choice

[davem]

But Garf, are you sure they have satellites in Bloem?

[Garfield2010]

But Garf, are you sure they have satellites in Bloem?

 

Good point Dave! What was I thinking?

[Robvee.rv]

very late response here, sorry guys, only read the thread now.

 

I use a 910xt and it's simply increadible! 20hrs worth of pure training tool, not an everyday watch like many other non gps variants. Onboard accelerometer so it detects what stroke you're swimming, how many strokes per length, counts lengths and records intervals and break periods between, distance swum, pace and average pace and efficiency. You just need to select indoor swimming and select 25 or 50m pool length, start at the beginning of your session and stop afterwards. Then downloadable to your garmin Connect account and added to your training log for veiwing anytime.

 

Outside, select outdoor swim. It then uses the GPS to track distance. I have intervals set of 100m so it logs data in 100m buckets and for the overall session --- strokes, pace, stroke rate, efficiency etc etc etc. The GPS plots a the route you've swum which can then be viewed on a map or salelite image on Garmin Connect.

 

You can use your last open water swim record to create a "swim route" the next time you swim this route you can swim against this route as a reference to compare progress.

 

Cycle wise, it compares to the garmin edge 500. Can link to HR monitor, cadence and speed sensors and an antennae+ compatible power meter. You can once again create training routes and follow them or ride against previously ridden routes to gauge improvement.

 

Run wise, all the normal data--- NOTE : I run with a foot pod as well so that I can track my cadence. In poor reception areas such as in deep valleys or under thick brush, or indoors on a treadmill, the watch automatically uses the footpod to track distance and pace. So, as much as I may loose GPS signal once in a blue moon or if I'm indoors, I always have a complete log of my training.

 

Finally, for triathlon or any multisport combination as you prescribe, I press start at the start of the swim, all swim data is reflected on screen and logged accordingly, I press lap when I finish the swim and enter transition, it automatically changes to cycle profile with all cycle variables and logs data accordingly, and same again after the cycle, press lap and it changes to my running profile and logs. My full triathlon log including 100m data splits for the swim, 1km splits for the cycle and 1km splits for the run are all logged and ready for download and review afterwards.

 

So, lots of cash but 100% worth every cent.

 

 

Heart rate monitor is the new Garmin variant which is faultless. My previous Garmin monitor would "loose" contact and give erratic readings which was a PITA..

 

Altitude or rather Ascent and decent are through barometric pressure sensor vs the generally used GPS calc so far more accurate. Can be calibrated by yourself if so desired.

 

 

Long winded but hopefully helpful......

Edited November 15, 2012 by Robvee.rv

[GSNieP]

I agree 100% with everything Robvee has said. Great training aid. I love my Garmin 910XT

[Garfield2010]

very late response here, sorry guys, only read the thread now.

 

I use a 910xt and it's simply increadible! 20hrs worth of pure training tool, not an everyday watch like many other non gps variants. Onboard accelerometer so it detects what stroke you're swimming, how many strokes per length, counts lengths and records intervals and break periods between, distance swum, pace and average pace and efficiency. You just need to select indoor swimming and select 25 or 50m pool length, start at the beginning of your session and stop afterwards. Then downloadable to your garmin Connect account and added to your training log for veiwing anytime.

 

Outside, select outdoor swim. It then uses the GPS to track distance. I have intervals set of 100m so it logs data in 100m buckets and for the overall session --- strokes, pace, stroke rate, efficiency etc etc etc. The GPS plots a the route you've swum which can then be viewed on a map or salelite image on Garmin Connect.

 

You can use your last open water swim record to create a "swim route" the next time you swim this route you can swim against this route as a reference to compare progress.

 

Cycle wise, it compares to the garmin edge 500. Can link to HR monitor, cadence and speed sensors and an antennae+ compatible power meter. You can once again create training routes and follow them or ride against previously ridden routes to gauge improvement.

 

Run wise, all the normal data--- NOTE : I run with a foot pod as well so that I can track my cadence. In poor reception areas such as in deep valleys or under thick brush, or indoors on a treadmill, the watch automatically uses the footpod to track distance and pace. So, as much as I may loose GPS signal once in a blue moon or if I'm indoors, I always have a complete log of my training.

 

Finally, for triathlon or any multisport combination as you prescribe, I press start at the start of the swim, all swim data is reflected on screen and logged accordingly, I press lap when I finish the swim and enter transition, it automatically changes to cycle profile with all cycle variables and logs data accordingly, and same again after the cycle, press lap and it changes to my running profile and logs. My full triathlon log including 100m data splits for the swim, 1km splits for the cycle and 1km splits for the run are all logged and ready for download and review afterwards.

 

So, lots of cash but 100% worth every cent.

 

 

Heart rate monitor is the new Garmin variant which is faultless. My previous Garmin monitor would "loose" contact and give erratic readings which was a PITA..

 

Altitude or rather Ascent and decent are through barometric pressure sensor vs the generally used GPS calc so far more accurate. Can be calibrated by yourself if so desired.

 

 

Long winded but hopefully helpful......

 

I can concur. Best purchase I have made in a while.....