GPS Watch (Nike+ Sport Watch, Garmin, Motorola Motoactv)

Jacwhite22

OK, Anyone used any of these personally? Your thoughts? Experience? Not really interested in "Well I heard......". Really interested in real experiences anything you have to add.....good or bad.

dannyweatherly

I use a Garmin 405 and love it! It is very dependable, decent battery life, and very accurate. Downsides, because everything has them, the touch bezel is sensitive to sweat, so be sure to lock the controls. Overall, very satisfied with it. Have had it for almost 2 years.

daveinlancs

I used a Garmin Etrex for a few years and recently upgraded to a Garmin GPSmap 62s. Both machines are great for geocaching and for tracking my routes when out walking. Ah just realised you are talking about GPS watches, my devices are both hand held, sorry.

LeenaRuns

I use the Nike+ and love it. Days when I forget to charge the battery, I use the app on my phone. Works well for me.

dragonfly_em

polar rcx5 - with GPS. love it. wear it all the time. expensive but got at discount thru health insurance policy who monitor my use and give me points accordingly. only thing it lacks is an interval timer kind of thing which i think some have but use my phone for that.

perpetual98

I've been really close to pulling the trigger on a MotoACTV lately, but I have over a years worth of data with Runkeeper from my phone and am reluctant to start over. I'd rather not carry my phone with me all over the place, but I still want the data. Not making up my mind on a device has kept me from getting an HRM too because I don't want to get one and then find out the device I settle on isn't compatible with it.

griffx12

Love my Garmin - sometimes takes longer than I would like to find a satellite. Great for trail runs when it's hard to measure distance. I've used it for many races and it very accurate.

macattack99

Garmin 305 /w Heart rate monitor and I love it. Biking, running, walking I use it a lot and you can sync up with sites like Runkeeper and download your runs.

jillybeanruns

Garmin 405CX and I love it. I had a battery issue (after the warranty ran out) and grabbed replaced it with a brand new watch for free - and it only took less than a week between when I shipped it and when I received the replacement. They have excellent customer service and have been around for a long time. They are the leader, undoubtedly.

Nike+ is crap, honestly. I have friends (yes this is anecdotal) who have tried Nike vs. Garmin and Nike overestimates your distance and significantly. The GPS is just not spot on for the Nikes.

Polar is up and coming, I have a Polar HRM but I don't think their GPS is quite up to par with Garmin, maybe in two years time.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I'm curious about this too. I purchased a Garmin 305 or 310 a year or two ago and returned it because while it reported my hr it based my estimated burns on distance. I suppose if I was only an outside runner and did no other activity it would have been fine, but I do a ton of indoor work too so it wasn't a good fit for me. I've been having problems with my current hrm and am back in the market looking for something that has the GPS but bases my caloric burn estimate on my hr, age, height, and other similar factors and not distance ran so I can use it indoor and outside. Right now I use a hrm + the runmeter app on my phone.

kulchic72371

LOVE LOVE LOVE Nike+ . I have both the sensor for my iPod touch that I use on the treadmill mainly or on trails that I know where I am going. When I run on new trails or in more public area's I use the android app on my phone. They both sync to the nike+ website and you can track from year to year and month to month.

I can't say enough good things about Nike+

perpetual98

LOVE LOVE LOVE Nike+ . I have both the sensor for my iPod touch that I use on the treadmill mainly or on trails that I know where I am going. When I run on new trails or in more public area's I use the android app on my phone. They both sync to the nike+ website and you can track from year to year and month to month.

I can't say enough good things about Nike+

From my research, it appears as if the Nike+ is just taking a swag on data though. More like a glorified Fitbit since it doesn't use GPS

jillybeanruns

Garmin 405CX and I love it. I had a battery issue (after the warranty ran out) and grabbed replaced it with a brand new watch for free - and it only took less than a week between when I shipped it and when I received the replacement. They have excellent customer service and have been around for a long time. They are the leader, undoubtedly.

Nike+ is crap, honestly. I have friends (yes this is anecdotal) who have tried Nike vs. Garmin and Nike overestimates your distance and significantly. The GPS is just not spot on for the Nikes.

Polar is up and coming, I have a Polar HRM but I don't think their GPS is quite up to par with Garmin, maybe in two years time.

Here's what I'm talking about...Nike vs. Garmin - Nike showed 4.26 miles, Garmin showed 3 miles.

saxmaniac

Ouch, that's a pretty stunning lack of error correction on the Nike.

perpetual98

How easy is it to get the Garmin data into Runkeeper? I do enjoy the updates that I get from the Android app, but now that I think about it, I could probably get the same info from just looking at a watch.

Dark_Roast

Garmin 405CX and I love it. I had a battery issue (after the warranty ran out) and grabbed replaced it with a brand new watch for free - and it only took less than a week between when I shipped it and when I received the replacement. They have excellent customer service and have been around for a long time. They are the leader, undoubtedly.

Nike+ is crap, honestly. I have friends (yes this is anecdotal) who have tried Nike vs. Garmin and Nike overestimates your distance and significantly. The GPS is just not spot on for the Nikes.

Polar is up and coming, I have a Polar HRM but I don't think their GPS is quite up to par with Garmin, maybe in two years time.

Here's what I'm talking about...Nike vs. Garmin - Nike showed 4.26 miles, Garmin showed 3 miles.

I don't get this at all, my Nike+ GPS watch has always been spot on mapping my runs. I use it every time I run and as long as I update the satellites before I go out, it's always correct. My map looks like the one on the right, clear and precise. I have also driven my runs in my car to check the mileage, and it has been right. My husband uses Endomondo, and sometimes his maps are wonky, but not mine.

jillybeanruns

How easy is it to get the Garmin data into Runkeeper? I do enjoy the updates that I get from the Android app, but now that I think about it, I could probably get the same info from just looking at a watch.

Why would you want to import Garmin data into Runkeeper? Garmin has its' own site that you can see more info about your sessions called Garmin Connect. It will shows HR, distance, pace for splits and now will even let you "play" your course and show you HR and pace as it varies along your session.

jillybeanruns

Garmin 405CX and I love it. I had a battery issue (after the warranty ran out) and grabbed replaced it with a brand new watch for free - and it only took less than a week between when I shipped it and when I received the replacement. They have excellent customer service and have been around for a long time. They are the leader, undoubtedly.

Nike+ is crap, honestly. I have friends (yes this is anecdotal) who have tried Nike vs. Garmin and Nike overestimates your distance and significantly. The GPS is just not spot on for the Nikes.

Polar is up and coming, I have a Polar HRM but I don't think their GPS is quite up to par with Garmin, maybe in two years time.

Here's what I'm talking about...Nike vs. Garmin - Nike showed 4.26 miles, Garmin showed 3 miles.

I don't get this at all, my Nike+ GPS watch has always been spot on mapping my runs. I use it every time I run and as long as I update the satellites before I go out, it's always correct. My map looks like the one on the right, clear and precise. I have also driven my runs in my car to check the mileage, and it has been right. My husband uses Endomondo, and sometimes his maps are wonky, but not mine.

I see more instance of the above, than not. And I have a lot of running friends... I don't know why yours doesn't do it, but it's not a uncommon occurrence.

perpetual98

Why would you want to import Garmin data into Runkeeper?

Mainly because I have over a years worth of data in Runkeeper.

LeenaRuns

Garmin 405CX and I love it. I had a battery issue (after the warranty ran out) and grabbed replaced it with a brand new watch for free - and it only took less than a week between when I shipped it and when I received the replacement. They have excellent customer service and have been around for a long time. They are the leader, undoubtedly.

Nike+ is crap, honestly. I have friends (yes this is anecdotal) who have tried Nike vs. Garmin and Nike overestimates your distance and significantly. The GPS is just not spot on for the Nikes.

Polar is up and coming, I have a Polar HRM but I don't think their GPS is quite up to par with Garmin, maybe in two years time.

Here's what I'm talking about...Nike vs. Garmin - Nike showed 4.26 miles, Garmin showed 3 miles.

I don't get this at all, my Nike+ GPS watch has always been spot on mapping my runs. I use it every time I run and as long as I update the satellites before I go out, it's always correct. My map looks like the one on the right, clear and precise. I have also driven my runs in my car to check the mileage, and it has been right. My husband uses Endomondo, and sometimes his maps are wonky, but not mine.

I see more instance of the above, than not. And I have a lot of running friends... I don't know why yours doesn't do it, but it's not a uncommon occurrence.

I've also not had a problem with this.

shoby68

I have used the garmin 405cx for almost a year. Great watch, love the accuracy training partner and options for the display screen. The ability for the watch to upload wirelessly to my computer is great, and the garmin connect makes it a complete package.
The only real downside of the watch is the touch bezel..., needs to be locked during a run.

Barbellsandthimbles

I have a Garmin 160 that I love for the HRM and for distance (needs foot pod) and a Garmin 610. The 610 has done some really wonky things with the screen (freezing, going blank) and it's a little much for what I use it for. Too many extras I don't utilize.

I had the motorola Motoactv and loved it, for the most part. I took it back though because the interval timer wasn't working. You have to set all of that up on a computer. You can't change it up on the device itself when you're going to do your run (unlike Garmin and probably Polar although I'm not positive about Polar). I was running/walking intervals and since I had to keep looking at the time instead of hearing a prompt it made the runs much more irritating.

Also, I like that my Garmin will buzz at me. Sometimes I don't want to hear a beep but still want to know when I've hit a mile marker. The buzz works great in those instances. The Motoactv doesn't have that ability. They just discounted the Motoactv too, which leads me to believe they may be releasing a new version. So, you may want to see if there is anything else coming down the pike.

macattack99

How easy is it to get the Garmin data into Runkeeper? I do enjoy the updates that I get from the Android app, but now that I think about it, I could probably get the same info from just looking at a watch.

Super easy hook up the 305 via usb to a PC and "post new activity" and select import map.

macattack99

How easy is it to get the Garmin data into Runkeeper? I do enjoy the updates that I get from the Android app, but now that I think about it, I could probably get the same info from just looking at a watch.

Why would you want to import Garmin data into Runkeeper? Garmin has its' own site that you can see more info about your sessions called Garmin Connect. It will shows HR, distance, pace for splits and now will even let you "play" your course and show you HR and pace as it varies along your session.

RunKeeper offers all the same features as Garmin except you can only import 1 "session" at a time on RunKeeper vs Garmin will let you import all of the sessions at once. I like RunKeeper because it will link with Fitocracy, Earndit and a few other sites (I'm an addict)

*Ok RunKeeper doesn't offer "All" the same features but most are the same.

gpstrucker

Really like my Nike+. I love the fact that the usb connector is built into the band, no need for any additional device or cable to sync the data.

AmandaTheNewMe

Does any use or have any thoughts on the Motorola MOTOACTV?