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Like many others on here it seems Madam Strava has me in her evil thrawl, and while logging rides (and the odd run) with my mobile is a perfectly acceptable way of doing it, I can't help thinking something thats a bit more convienient, accurate, robust and that perhaps tracks Heart rate as well would make good sense for me.
I'd rather not add yet another item to my bars so I'm thinking one model or another of garmin forerunner (or any other manufacturer's equivalent product) would be ideal, I don't tend to monitor my progress while on a ride, but the convienience of having something on my wrist that I can start at the beginning and stop at the end of a ride seems about right...
So which model of HRM/GPS wrist-watch for a Starva using, 90% MTBist, 8% Road-cyclist, 2% Run-ist?, Middling fatness user...
My key concerns would be accuracy/log rate, if it's no better than my phone then there's not really much point, battery life again my phone can comfortably manage 5+ hours of logging on a full charge I'd really expect a pukka device to exceed this by a good margin anything less than 8-10hrs of useful logging time on a single charge/battery would be pretty poor to my mind... Oh and it shouldn't cost the earth either...
So who Know what about dem ting then?
I was going to suggest...
Garmin Forerunner 305 with a couple of QR bike mounts.
Kits from CRC [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=52426&gclid=CImU_pLUnrACFYt-fAodaR8lYQ ]here[/url]
Had mine for years now and if broke I'd replace it with the same.
I bought mine for £70 ish about 3 years ago as the newer 405 was released However a quick search on new ones show very few around and those that are are way too expensive. I'd look for a second hand one as they seem very reliable.
I use a Forerunner 110 with an HRM.
I do a lot of other stuff, where I don't have somewhere to mount a Garmin box, so the watch is fine.
5hrs is about 50% battery use I have found when MTB'ing.
If you want it for 98% cycling get an Edge. They sit on the stem and aren't particularly obtrusive, particularly the 200/500.
Cheers, I'd looked at the Forerunner 305, but prices online did seem to vary massively from £100 ~ £300+! maybe I'm missing something (are there different packages including different accessories?) anyway the pricing seems a bit variable...
I'd rather have a watch than buy the bar mounted 'edge' equivalent and need to keep mounting it on different bikes, the one constant across all my bikes is of course me being sat on top so I may as well just attach a tracking device to my wrist than the bars...
Is there anyone other than Garmin worth a look for GPS/HRM?
But presumably you generally only ride one bike at a time? If you want to look at it while you're riding then you'll want it on your bars anyway, and will thus be buying multiple bike mounts. If you don't want to look at it while you're riding, why bother? 😕
Well if I really wanted a bar mounted computer there are adapters available for the Forrunner... but I don't, that's why I asked about watches.
The reasoning for choosing a watch over a bar mounted computer is laid out in my previous posts... but if we must:
I really just want a tracking device that's a bit better than using my phone, I'm not looking to become a mid ride stato, I may take a look at the screen if I stop but it's far more use for me as a logging device.
TBH if a combined GPS and Heartrate logger with no information display (and a proportiantely lower price) were available it would certainly appeal to me, but I've not seen such a device available yet.
I actually quite like not really knowing how I've performed until I get home....
I've had bar mounted computers in the past and glancing at my bars rather than the trail or the views still doesn't appeal.
There's are Garmin 310XT going on the classifieds on tritalk.co.uk at the moment for a decent price. Its not mine. I have one for doing tris. I really like it. It has the battery length that you are looking for. Its pretty chunky on your wrist but I manage OK.
Cheers cu_dubh, a lot less than RRP but more than I was looking to spend really, I might keep an eye on 305s on fleabay for a bit...
TBH if a combined GPS and Heartrate logger with no information display (and a proportiantely lower price) were available it would certainly appeal to me, but I've not seen such a device available yet.
What phone do you have?
You can get an ANT+ dongle and HRM strap for an iPhone (and probably for others) for less than a Forerunner.
Hmmmm, that's a thought
no iPhone her though just a crappy old Nokia it's got GPS and will apparently work with a bluetooth HRM of some sort, I use Sportstracker on it but Endomodeo works too...
I did consider getting a BT-HRM strap before but they seemed quite pricey for what they are, have they come down much? can't imagine they are very common, Bt is all but dead isn't it?
ANT+ ? can this improve GPS perfomance?
What would all of this do to battery life having the BT on as well as GPS, I can see that spanking the battery...
Still worth a punt though maybe, I shall investigate the option a bit further, cheers.