The Iron Yuppie

Thought[ful|less] coverage of news, politics, technology and anything else that catches my fancy.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Garmin v. Suunto v. Nike v. Other?

I've been looking for something to help me train. Everytime I go out running, I always feel like I'm just thrashing about. I had a heart rate monitor which I used on the treadmill but, alas, that has failed me because 1) it's out of batteries and 2) it only measures heart rate, not how fast you should be running.

I'm currently debating between one of the following:

Garmin 301 (GPS, no footpod needed) - $325

Suunto t6 (footpod extra) - $449

Polar M61 (footpod extra, but very cool fabric heart electrodes) - $169

Nike Triax Elite (footpod included) - $360

I'm not particularly partial to anyone based on brand name, but I am leaning towards the REALLY expensive Suunto, only because it has the nice feature to really focus my workouts... to be as hard as is useful but no harder. Anyone tried any of these for coaching?

posted by Iron Yuppie # 9/06/2005 05:12:00 PM

Comments:

I own a Pacemaster ProSelect treadmill, which is a kick ass home brand. Comes with a heart rate sensor which doesn't require batteries. The treadmill has a couple settings which let you enter your age and then it adjusts the running speed to your target heartrate. For example, you program in that you want to run at 85% of max heartrate for your age (based on those famous charts in every gym).

OK, now that that's out of the way, I hardly ever use the feature. I always found I could run harder and longer than the machine recommended, and it was simply a lot more fulfilling to go for a certain time/distance target. Sure, i used to keep a chart of my heartrate recovery rate at rest, but in the end, I think these things are best left to olympic athletes. For the rest of us, I'm not sure all this extra data gets you any further than simply satisfying the need for MORE DATA in all us computer/business nerds. My advice Dave is to save your money on these watches and buy high quality running shoes.

# posted by

Rob S : September 16, 2005 3:34 PM

Archives

10/01/2003 - 11/01/2003 11/01/2003 - 12/01/2003 12/01/2003 - 01/01/2004 01/01/2004 - 02/01/2004 02/01/2004 - 03/01/2004 03/01/2004 - 04/01/2004 04/01/2004 - 05/01/2004 05/01/2004 - 06/01/2004 06/01/2004 - 07/01/2004 07/01/2004 - 08/01/2004 08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 05/01/2005 - 06/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 02/01/2006 - 03/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 04/01/2006 - 05/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 08/01/2006 - 09/01/2006 09/01/2006 - 10/01/2006 10/01/2006 - 11/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007 01/01/2007 - 02/01/2007 02/01/2007 - 03/01/2007 03/01/2007 - 04/01/2007 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007 05/01/2007 - 06/01/2007 06/01/2007 - 07/01/2007 08/01/2007 - 09/01/2007 10/01/2007 - 11/01/2007 11/01/2007 - 12/01/2007 12/01/2007 - 01/01/2008 01/01/2008 - 02/01/2008 02/01/2008 - 03/01/2008 06/01/2008 - 07/01/2008 07/01/2008 - 08/01/2008 08/01/2008 - 09/01/2008 10/01/2008 - 11/01/2008

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]