Garmin Forerunner 10

Garmin Forerunner 10

My Garmin Forerunner 610 was losing satellite signal a few times during my training runs and also the Penang Run 2nd Series at 14km. I just couldn't bared with it any longer. So I decided to sent the watch for repair. However, I was desperate to get a substitute as I have the Borneo International Marathon coming up on 25 August 2013. And I have still two weeks of training to go.

So I went to a Garmin dealer in Gurney Paragon to get the watch repaired and they told me they don't know when it will be repaired. But they were selling the lowest range of the Garmin Forerunner ie. Forerunner 10 which was priced at RM599. The Garmin Forerunner 10 is the entry level GPS watch for a runner.

This is what is stated on Garmin's website :-

Stylish, Simple GPS Captures Every Mile
Tracks distance, pace and calories
Start running with the press of a button
Identifies personal records
Virtual Pacer™ compares current pace to target
Plan, review and share runs at Garmin Connect™

Forerunner 10 is a GPS running watch that tracks your distance, speed/pace and calories. It also identifies your personal records and provides motivation along the way.

Ready to Run
Forerunner 10 is so easy to use, you can start your run with the press of a button. As you run, you can see your time and distance clearly displayed on 1 screen and calories and pace on another. You can also customize the settings to show pace and distance on the same screen.

It Fits
It’s our lightest, most comfortable watch yet and is available in multiple colors. The black/red and orange/black models have a slightly larger watch face and wider wristband. All models can be worn as a regular watch, so your running partner is always on hand. For typical use (with GPS on 30 minutes per day), the battery life is 10 days. If used continuously with GPS, the battery life is 5 hours.


Motivating Feedback
As you run, Forerunner 10 automatically alerts you when you complete each mile, giving you a friendly beep and a screen that flashes your time for that mile. When you complete your run and save it, you’ll see a summary of how you did, including your total time, distance, average pace and calories. The watch even lets you know when you achieve a personal record, such as your fastest mile or longest run to date.

Training Tools
For runners who want a little more, Forerunner 10 has a couple of simple training features. Virtual Pacer™ compares your current running pace to your target. It also has a run/walk feature that’s helpful if you’re just starting out or your running plan includes walk breaks.

Store and Share
With a simple connection to your computer, you can upload your runs to Garmin Connect™ to see your run on a map, get more detail on each mile and share it with friends — all for free. You’ll be even more motivated when you see your miles add up in Garmin Connect and can go back and see how you’ve improved from last week, last month or last year. 

Various display of Forerunner 10

So I have to get this Garmin Forerunner 10 as a temporary training watch. It is simple to use as compared to Forerunner 610 and light. But it is like kid's digital watch to me and the display is definitely as not as good as the Forerunner 610. With less features, it is really a simple watch to use for runners. My major complain of this watch other than the appearance of the watch is the 5 hours battery life on GPS which is really short. I will run out of battery if I run a full marathon. Secondly, the display of pace, time, distance is not all one page. You can only choose two of the items to display on one page. My biggest mistake is that I didn't do enough homework online when I purchased the watch. I should have purchased a Forerunner 210 which is 8 hours in training mode similar to Forerunner 610 but without the touchscreen and more sophisticated features of the Forerunner 610.

Just hope that I could get my Forerunner 610 repaired. If not, I will have to  purchase the Forerunner 210 and what to do with the Forerunner 10? Keep it as a training watch, I supposed.