GPS Sports Devices

 

Reviews
ADEO Fitness Trainer
Garmin Edge 205 GPS Personal Trainer and Bike Computer
Garmin Edge 305 GPS Personal Trainer and Bike Computer
Garmin Forerunner 101 GPS Personal Training Device

Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS Personal Training Device
Garmin Forerunner 301 GPS Personal Training Device

Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS Personal Training Device

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Personal Training Device

Articles
Polar Or Garmin - Which Heart Rate Monitor Is Best?

Archive

Can You Keep a Homing Pigeon Inside the Watch?
Gizmodo is not especially impressed with the MainNav MW-705 GPS Watch. Nor are its readers.

Here's Gizmodo:

The MainNav MW-705 isn't just an extremely bulky sport watch. It's an extremely bulky sport watch that features SiRF Star III GPS....Between Bluetooth and GPS, we'd recommend packing an extra battery, or four...along with a compass. That is, if we can get this bad boy in the US at a decent price.

And some reader comments:

* This product is rather ridiculous. Why would anyone buy this instead of a dedicated GPS unit, a PDA with integrated GPS, or a Bluetooth GPS receiver + a PDA.

* Doesn't the Garmin 305 watch have all of that already (minus the bluetooth)? The Garmin's rechargeable batteries also last 10 hours and the watch itself looks a lot better. This thing looks as ugly as Garmin's first generation device.

* Can you keep a homing pigeon inside the watch?
February 19th, 2007

Navigates Like a Pro -  But So Do Sea Captains
Wired magazine's Gadget Lab likes the performance of the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS sports device. It's less keen on the aesthetics:

The 305 provided the fastest fixes and most accurate location, speed, and distance readings of the units we tested. But there’s the obvious aesthetic trade-off: It navigates like a pro, but so do sea captains, and we’re not eager to strap one of them to our wrist, either.

February 6th, 2007


 

Garmin Forerunner 305 - An Excellent Tool
Digital Media Net likes the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS personal training device:

I'm also highly impressed with the Forerunner’s improved and highly sensitive SiRFstar III GPS receiver, which has yet to lose its satellite signal once in my three weeks of testing on a daily basis. Its wireless heart monitor is also an improvement, whether it's managed to consistently stay locked onto its signal without fail. The strap that holds the heart monitor in place is also more flexible and comfortable than its predecessor. Overall, the Forerunner’s receivers and sensing devices are greatly improved.

...Overall, there is a growing selection of software that can help you manipulate your training data generated by the Forerunner 305, giving you an accurate and comprehensive look at your exercise progress.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 is an excellent tool for novice exercisers and serious trainers as well. It generates huge volumes of data, and can help you reach your fitness goals, and it's easy to use at the same time. Highly recommended. 9.6 out of 10 stars.
December 16th, 2006

Garmin's Great, Says Motley Fool
The best international stock to buy for 2007? GPS specialist Garmin, according to Motley Fool:

It's one of the world's great stocks. Since its 2000 IPO, Garmin has grown sales at an annualized 30.6% clip. We've seen that growth accelerate over the past 12 months to 59.5%. But growth is not just top-line. My free cash flow estimate has grown at a compound rate of 38.9% since 2000, which provides Garmin with scary flexibility. All growth initiatives are completed using cash on hand. Need a new European headquarters? Done! Another new production facility in Taiwan? No problem. Want a nice bolt-on acquisition? You get the idea.

Garmin offers the perfect combination of "it-product" growth, shareholder-aligned management, international exposure, and high-quality earnings. The company is a cash machine, recently doubled its dividend, engages in opportunistic share repurchases, sports $461 million in cash and short-term investments, and has no long-term debt.
November 25th, 2006

Tremendous Little Device
Great review in Business Week of the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS
Personal Training Device. The conclusion:

The Forerunner comes with some other features that will appeal to the geek in every runner. One is the Training Center software that organizes data on your runs.

Even better, the 305 is compatible with Garmin's online service MotionBased.com. Think of it as Training Center on performance enhancers, opening a world of interactive maps and graphs that catalog everything about your run, from pace, distance, and heart rate to the weather in the areas you covered. A database of past runs makes your entire exercise history available at the click of a mouse. It makes great use of Google maps to display your routes. Never have I been so thrilled looking at a set of maps.

All in all, the Forerunner 305 is a tremendous little device, even for the price. The GPS technology isn't bulletproof, but the combination of precision tracking and voluminous postworkout reporting is a real winner. It's enough to encourage longtime runners to keep going—or beginners and others to kick it up a notch. It very well may be the best thing to happen to runners since Pheidippides strapped on his sandals.
October 10th, 2006
 

ADEO Fitness Trainer
Thank you to local Melbourne company Satellite Fitness for notifying me about the ADEO Fitness Trainer, a new GPS product from Motion Lingo. I don't know enough about it to make a comparison with the popular Garmin devices, but I hope to write more in due course.

Here's a brief description:

You can track and store your workout through GPS technology. Verbal cues update you through your earphones as you go. Your total distance traveled is computed, as is average speeds, elevation, current and elapsed time, calories burned, and more. Three workout routines can be customized and stored for your jogging, biking, walking or other fitness routines. And at the end of the day, you can synch with your computer to chart progress over time.
October 2nd, 2006

 

Garmin vs Timex vs Nike+iPod
An AP writer compares the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS personal training device with the Timex Bodylink:

Forerunner matches Bodylink in basic features and accuracy, and it bests the Timex system as a training buddy. Try to keep up with a Virtual Partner at a specified pace; add speed training by alternating between periods of intensity and rest.

Navigation is also better. The Forerunner automatically remembers your starting point and can give you the path back - not the shortest point across a pond, as Bodylink sometimes does.

That said, the input buttons are clunky, and more importantly, the Forerunner tends to have the most GPS troubles, especially in New York.

...It's a close call, but Timex gets my vote for city running, even though Garmin can do much more - it can even display sunset time based on your GPS position. Many mornings, I barely make it out of bed, and I'd prefer not spending precious minutes waiting for a GPS signal.

Then he looked at the Nike+iPod Sport Kit:

The device is quite limited in what it displays. You get current pace, but not the average until you finish, nor can you record split times, something core to most sports watches.

My biggest beef is the requirement for Nike shoes.

For one, Nike didn't have a "Plus" model yet for flat-footed runners like me who need extra stability. Within days, my left foot started aching - perhaps a coincidence, perhaps not.

...I may ultimately buy the Nike/iPod system as a backup, but for Sunday's Wineglass Marathon in Corning, N.Y., I'll be going solo with Timex - all 46,000-plus footsteps in my non-Nike shoes.
September 28th, 2006

New from Garmin - the Foot Pod
Garmin International has announced the Foot Pod, an accessory to the Forerunner 305 GPS personal training device. It is for indoor use, when GPS systems do not work.

According to the company:

The shoe-mounted device wirelessly communicates with the wrist-worn Forerunner 305 to provide accurate distance and speed while training on treadmills or indoor tracks.

...Once the accessory is turned on, the Forerunner 305 recognizes its wireless signal and asks if the user wishes to train using the Foot Pod instead of with the Forerunner’s built-in GPS. Once confirmed, the Forerunner 305 deactivates the GPS and the Foot Pod begins measuring the workout. The Foot Pod communicates to the wrist unit using Dynastream’s ANT +Sport wireless technology, a commonly available platform for connectivity and interoperability between sports accessories and equipment

The Foot Pod uses a pair of accelerometers to measure each stride to provide a runner’s speed and distance information. The unit features a simple and secure lace-mounted attachment, and runs on a single AAA battery (70 hours typical use). The Foot Pod is 97% accurate out of the box and 99% when calibrated, and it can be worn in tandem with the Forerunner 305’s wireless heart rate monitor.

Sales are scheduled for October, at a recommended retail price of $99.99.
August 11th, 2006

Garmin in the News
Garmin, which makes the Edge and Forerunner personal training devices, is in the news a heck of a lot lately. AP reports that:

...the number of GPS devices sold worldwide -- including personal navigation units and applications built into cell phones and handheld computers -- will grow from 18 million last year to 88 million in 2010. Garmin owns the U.S. title for personal navigation devices not built into dashboards, with more than 50 percent of the market.

The Wichita Eagle says the company will shortly open its first retail store.

And Motley Fool says:

In every quarter for the past year, Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN) has not just beaten, but creamed, the best estimates Wall Street analysts could throw at it. Tomorrow, the GPS-meister gets a chance to work its satellite-facilitated magic once again, as it comes time to report Q2 2006 earnings.
August 2nd, 2006

A Perfect Combination
Motley Fool contributor Jim Gillies explains why he loves Garmin (the stock, that is):

I believe that GPS-heavyweight Garmin, a Motley Fool Stock Advisor pick, may be the perfect combination of growth, shareholder-aligned management, and high-quality earnings. The company is a cash machine (though not a cheap one), has recently doubled its dividend, and sported cash and investments of $764 million on its last balance sheet, with no debt. It has the best-regarded products in the exploding personal navigation device (PND) space, dominates the market for aviation GPS, and produces a myriad of other GPS-related products for marine and outdoor applications. There are so many great aspects about this company that, unless shares get ridiculously overvalued, I'm happy to tuck Garmin's shares away for the long term.
July 12th, 2006

Garmin - Prime Position
Business Week tells us it's "time to home in on Garmin" (the shares, that is):

The maker of GPS-enabled products and other communications gear, Garmin is well-run and poised to grow. It has S&P's highest rating.

...We think the personal navigation device market is poised for mass consumer adoption, and believe Garmin, as a market leader, is in a prime position to capitalize on the upswing.
June 21st, 2006

 

Hall of Famer - the Garmin Edge 305
The Toronto Globe and Mail adds seven items to its "Travel Gear Hall of Fame." Among them the Garmin Edge 305, about which it says:

Three hours lost in the woods on a mountain-biking expedition made me realize I was no Daniel Boone. I tried checking the sun and reading the moss, but no dice — my wife and I came close to spending the night in the Ganaraska Forest. What we needed was the Garmin Edge 305, a GPS unit designed for cyclists. By looking at orbiting satellites, the Edge tells you how fast you're going, how far you've gone, how steep a hill is, and much more. And you can flip to the navigation page and find your way out of the wilderness — or around the city. It can be mounted on any bicycle (with the included clips), and it's super-accurate (since it uses the same technology the U.S. military uses to guide smart bombs).

June 12th, 2006

A Pretty Satisfied Lot
"All in all, Garmin shareholders seem to be a pretty satisfied lot," says the Kansas City Star, in a report of the Garmin annual general meeting. Sales of the company's GPS products, including the Forerunner personal health devices, continue to boom.

Reuters quotes the Barron's financial newspaper as forecasting that Garmin shares could rise 25% in the next year.

June 12th, 2006

Garmin Forerunner
A couple of articles recently have put the spotlight on GPS exercise training systems. I've already mentioned the excellent article in the Kansas City Star, which also included a "Quick Gear Guide" sidebar and a piece on the success of the Garmin Forerunner GPS training device.

The other article - a little muddled - is from Reuters, and also looks at recent trends towards GPS training systems.

In response, I've collected here a series of reviews on the Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS personal training device.
June 7th, 2006