What do you think about them....do they have any merit? Brands? Battery life seems limited

i have a garmin forerunner 10. discounted price around 150$. i love it and use it for running and biking. works great. comes with a charger. for running it shows elapsed time as well as distance and 1 mi. times.

Cool marc do you ever use it on your cat? Garmin makes great gps's I got a chart plotter from them on my flats boat. I would want one with a compass, actual course rendered over a leg, max speed and average speed....also be able to enter waypoints for a route. I'd like to do a couple test runs on my new to me cat for the Steeplechase and Everglades.



Edited by flfingermullet on Aug 24, 2013 - 06:53 PM.

google them on the web. they probably have a watch that does everything that you want but more expensive than the 150$

I have an older Garmin Forerunner 301 and just recently upgraded to a Forerunner 310XT. The 201 is nice but isn't very water proof (1 m submergence). the 310XT is made for triathletes so it is rated for 50 m. The only reason I have these models is that I run and cycle a lot and need the heart rate monitor for training. As far as a sailing speedometer they both work great! With the software you can download your tracks and plot them on google earth and get a plot of your speeds. Not really useful for navigation, but awesome when you want to brag about how fast you were going.

If you want something to do navigation with you should look into the foretrex models. They are only waterproof to 1 m but I haven't had a problem with my 301 yet with the same rating.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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I recently got myself Garmin forerunner 301 for only $125 from Amazon. It is exellent for the speed and tracking. I have not figured out yet how to plot it on the computer.

Wolfman

...As far as a sailing speedometer they both work great! With the software you can download your tracks and plot them on google earth and get a plot of your speeds...

Dave, where did you get the software from? Mine came only with manual.

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Adam Bartos
Nacra 5.0
SolCat 18 (sold)
Lake Zurich, IL
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Google earth is free and will connect to most GPS system. Just search for google earth.

BTW, I prefer a handheld GPS because they tend to have better battery life. I like to leave my GPS on the entire sailing trip. You get more GPS features for less money with a handheld. I bungee mine to the mast. The watch more convenient I bet.

The software is available for free as a download from garmin. It's pretty slick, just plug in your GPS and it does the rest.

My wrist GPS units last basically a full day on 1 charge, I've never had one run out inconveniently.

--
Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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I use the Foretrex 201, now out of production, but I still find them used on 'Ebay for under $100. It has the rechargable lithium battery that lasts all day, and the case is truly sealed, allowing them to be immersed breifly and splashed a lot. I shoe goo or silicone the wrist strap to the back of the case(which can't be done with the removable back on the ones with replacable batteries), the tiny pins that come from the factory are worthless. And still it's possible to catch the watch on something, rip the velcro open, and have it go flying into the drink. An arguement for a cheap gps.

I have the Garmin Forerunner 910XT that I use for triathlon training. Battery is rated for 17 hours, due to the 17hr limit on IronMan distance races.

Anyway, for sailing it's basically a compass (based on GPS track), speedo and data recorder. Post-sailing you can view the data it records on Garmin's connect website.

The $400 price tag is pretty steep for sailing, especially without VMG or navigation of any kind. I definitely would not recommend buying one for sailing!

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1983 Nacra 5.0 Sail #10
Dallas, Texas area
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i wore my forerunner 10 on my bike for the first time and it displayed a new mile record 3min 42 sec for the mile. of course i was on the bike , not running.