The Running Thread

The Running Thread

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ewenm

28,506 posts

244 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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Anyone use a Garmin Fenix? I've got frustrated with my cheapo GPS watch and discovered that I have a friend at Garmin who can get staff rates... so obviously the "Shiny Kit!" alarm has gone off and I've been browsing their webshop...

Any feedback on the Fenix or their watches in general (positive or negative) is welcome. thumbup

Cybertronian

1,516 posts

162 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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Ewen, a few tidbits and anecdotes about the Fenix from Garmin.

A few friends of mine have the Fenix 2 and the Fenix 3. All of them really regret their decision on the Fenix (the 3 users particularly, more so than the 2 users).

All of them think they're great looking watches, but the GPS accuracy is crocked. One particular friend is pretty swift as a sub-17 5k runner and runs a clean line as someone near the front. For 5k, his Fenix 3 regularly clocks 2.9 miles and for 10k, 6.0. The latest update appeared to have brought the Fenix much closer to actual distance, but he's now back to clocking 2.9 mile 5ks again.

Some feel it's the extensive metal casing that's causing issues. The 920XT shares many of the same internals, but is all plastic and seems to have none of the GPS issues.

ewenm

28,506 posts

244 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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Interesting thanks. The 920XT seems to do nearly everything the Fenix3 does anyway.

KTF

9,788 posts

149 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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ewenm said:
Anyone use a Garmin Fenix? I've got frustrated with my cheapo GPS watch and discovered that I have a friend at Garmin who can get staff rates... so obviously the "Shiny Kit!" alarm has gone off and I've been browsing their webshop...

Any feedback on the Fenix or their watches in general (positive or negative) is welcome. thumbup
My brother works for Garmin and I have had a play with the Fenix a few times. Its a nice looking watch (cant vouch for its accuracy as I didnt use it in a race or parkrun). Unless you really need all of the features of the Fenix, I would suggest looking lower down the range and picking one that is a bit closer to your requirements - maybe a 220 or 620 if you just do running rather than tri or 'proper' off road events.

Whilst you can wear the Fenix as a watch I have never seen the point of that as I dont see the appeal of going out for a run, getting all sweaty, then sitting around with a sweaty watch on your arm smile

On Garmin stuff in general, I have always used them for running and found their watches (205, 305, current 310XT) easy to use with good backup - the cases on the 205 and 305 had a habit if splitting but each time it happened they replaced them for free,

Other brands have started pushing GPS watches more but I have never looked at them so no idea how they compare plus the staff pricing is enough to keep me loyal wink

Cybertronian

1,516 posts

162 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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DC Rainmaker is a great resource for GPS watch reviews.

Also worth skimming through the comments towards the bottom of each review. In the instance of the Fenix 3, the main review doesn't really highlight how bad the GPS accuracy is, whereas various comments from users does.

ewenm

28,506 posts

244 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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KTF said:
My brother works for Garmin and I have had a play with the Fenix a few times. Its a nice looking watch (cant vouch for its accuracy as I didnt use it in a race or parkrun). Unless you really need all of the features of the Fenix, I would suggest looking lower down the range and picking one that is a bit closer to your requirements - maybe a 220 or 620 if you just do running rather than tri or 'proper' off road events.
Your surname isn't Fletcher by any chance?

Got a Bob Graham Round on the horizon at some point and woefully low on shiny kit recently so I think a 920XT might be the target itemscratchchin

MC Bodge

21,552 posts

174 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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ewenm said:
Got a Bob Graham Round on the horizon at some point:
I'd always thought that the Bob Graham would be far beyond me, but a run and a chat with a bloke who had done it made think that it could well be possible -given the opportunity to recce the routes and do enough long training days in the hills, which I admittedly don't have for the foreseeable future.

MC Bodge

21,552 posts

174 months

Tuesday 21st July 2015
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john2443 said:
MC Bodge said:
I did an interval session earlier.

17 x 1:00/1:00 hard/rest.

It did give me 17 minutes of fast running, but I'm wondering whether I should have only had 30s rest between hard efforts?
I don't think there's a correct answer to that - if you have a longer recovery you can go harder in the efforts so a short recovery helps stamina and a long one helps speed (I think!?) - so whatever the length of recovery is there is good value in the session, you could probably have 5 mins recovery.
I've since done a couple of sessions of 4x4mins with 2 mins recoveries. These would appear to be "better" than the 1 minute intervals. I will probably try upping the intervals to 5 minutes and then begin increasing the number.

Combined with longer long weekend runs, I'm hoping to see some improvement in speed endurance.


SHutchinson

2,040 posts

183 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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I run pretty much every day, either harriers sessions or (my own) easy paced runs. I'm a run leader for a local running club and take a speed improvement session for them where I work on intervals, hills and pyramid splits etc. last night I had a free night so went along and ran as a tail runner for the distance group. I did 9 miles at approx 12min/mile pace and feel broken today! Trying to run at that pace puts loads of additional pressure on everything it seems, I even got chafing from my shorts which has never happened even during my ultra-marathon training! No wonder joggers always look knackered, it's bloody tough!

Smitters

3,995 posts

156 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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ewenm said:
Anyone use a Garmin Fenix? I've got frustrated with my cheapo GPS watch and discovered that I have a friend at Garmin who can get staff rates... so obviously the "Shiny Kit!" alarm has gone off and I've been browsing their webshop...

Any feedback on the Fenix or their watches in general (positive or negative) is welcome. thumbup
I have a Fenix 1. It's dreadful. My old Forerunner 305 is better in every aspect, except looks, where the Fenix is prettier, and GPS finding, where they're the same, despite about 5 years of development. It's also crashed several times and take a day to recover itself, often fails to be recognised when I link to the PC, and I've had to send the original back and get a recon unit because the top right button got sticky, only to have the same button go sticky on the recon unit, which is now out of warranty. Thus, I have to cycle through the menu downwards all the time, or I risk pausing my activity. Also, my main driver was buying it for it's "50 hour" battery life. I have no idea how you get 50 hours out of it and still use the GPS, HRM etc. Apparently, neither do Garmin, because they haven't released the settings you must select to get this battery life.

Not a glowing report.

On the flipside, I've heard lost of good things about the Forerunner watches, though I assume the GPS lock on still takes an age. Annoying when Strava on an iPhone gets you in seconds.

andy_s

19,397 posts

258 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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ewenm said:
Interesting thanks. The 920XT seems to do nearly everything the Fenix3 does anyway.
The Epix is worth a look, I considered one but went for the fenix; it over-reads consistently by about 10%, I can do the math so for my purposes it's fine but if you're anal about your training times/dist/speed/laps/sectors etc info then the data will carry that distortion across.
The Epix is like the 920xt but with the colour mapping on the GPS function; maybe useful for the BG...!

ewenm

28,506 posts

244 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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Smitters said:
On the flipside, I've heard lost of good things about the Forerunner watches, though I assume the GPS lock on still takes an age. Annoying when Strava on an iPhone gets you in seconds.
The latest Garmins (and others!) now use the satellite registry from a paired phone/computer to get lock in 3-7s apparently. Reviews of the 920XT suggest this is true. I've bitten the bullet on a 920XT with the HRM-Run add-on.

ewenm

28,506 posts

244 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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andy_s said:
The Epix is worth a look, I considered one but went for the fenix; it over-reads consistently by about 10%, I can do the math so for my purposes it's fine but if you're anal about your training times/dist/speed/laps/sectors etc info then the data will carry that distortion across.
The Epix is like the 920xt but with the colour mapping on the GPS function; maybe useful for the BG...!
That's cheating in my book! hehe GPS for data collection and emergencies only on mountain adventures, not for route finding #oldschool

Smitters

3,995 posts

156 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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ewenm said:
Smitters said:
On the flipside, I've heard lost of good things about the Forerunner watches, though I assume the GPS lock on still takes an age. Annoying when Strava on an iPhone gets you in seconds.
The latest Garmins (and others!) now use the satellite registry from a paired phone/computer to get lock in 3-7s apparently. Reviews of the 920XT suggest this is true. I've bitten the bullet on a 920XT with the HRM-Run add-on.
Cool - be interested to know how it works. I forgot to add that the original HRM strap was rubbish too £30 later for the newest Garmin strap and all is well. There is literally nothing to recommend a Fenix 1 aside looks!

I must say I've added a footpod for cadence which works well, but I believe the 920XT is compatible with, or may come bundled with, a chest sensor that measures cadence and vertical oscillation for additional geekery.

andy_s

19,397 posts

258 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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ewenm said:
That's cheating in my book! hehe GPS for data collection and emergencies only on mountain adventures, not for route finding #oldschool
Tongue in cheek.. wink #oldschool2

Hoping to get up to Glen Coe and do a bit of the Skyline route so my buddy can get his head around heights in a few weeks, we're also looking at doing a round next year after the Cape Wrath adventure.


Edited by andy_s on Wednesday 22 July 11:09

ewenm

28,506 posts

244 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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920XT + HRM-Run on it's way to me woohoo

Been quite a while since I had some new shiny kit hehe

ewenm

28,506 posts

244 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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andy_s said:
Tongue in cheek.. wink #oldschool2

Hoping to get up to Glen Coe and do a bit of the Skyline route so my buddy can get his head around heights in a few weeks, we're also looking at doing a round next year after the Cape Wrath adventure.
Nice!

I'm friends with a load of Ultra-nutters but have resisted so far. The BGR is an exercise in navigation, nutrition and luck (weather) rather than running, as demonstrated by Bland walking it within the 24hr limit.

ExV8

3,642 posts

214 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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Bit late and not Garmin..... Got a Polar V800 and the best bit about it that trumps my previous watch is the Gps lock - 2 to 3 seconds max which is minutes quicker. It also show 4 measures.


john2443

6,325 posts

210 months

Wednesday 22nd July 2015
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Due to my Mrs double booking herself I have a spare ticket for Saturday aft at the Olympic park if anyone's interested, lower tier near the end of the first bend. PM me.

Lotus Notes

1,197 posts

190 months

Thursday 23rd July 2015
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I have a Suunto Ambit 2S. By using the Movescount firmware, you can configure the watch as you like.

In running mode I've set the GPS to update every second and it shows instant pace etc etc. The battery will last 8 hours in this configuration. I can't fault it apart from the lively price!

The next model up has a built-in barometer for altitude, but it's bulky and moves around on my skinny wrists. I'll stick to my old Suunto for mountaineering.
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