Pros: Running history, accurate current distance and good runner specific features.
Cons: Loses signal a little too easy sometimes and questionable support service.
The Bottom Line: A great running tool for all runners out there who like to accurately track their progress. Good value for the money. Not good for those running in heavy tree cover.
szerfas's Full Review: Garmin Forerunner 101 Handheld GPS Receiver
We loved our Garmin 60cs so much we decided to give this Garmin product a try out. For a little background, I run a moderate amount and had wanted to start increasing the amount I ran. The problem I kept running into is either I had to take the car or the bike to chart a course. This product seemed like a great way to allow me the flexibility to run wherever I wanted and always know how much ground I covered. I also like the added benefit of knowing what my pace is.
The Unit
The product is shaped to be a rather large sized watch. The dimensions are 3 in. wide by 1.75 in. tall by about 1 in. thick including wrist band. The space accommodates the display (1.25 in by 1 in.) and 5 buttons along the front. It can be assumed that rest of the space inside the unit fits the electronics, batteries and the antenna. The unit is waterproof so no fear of taking it running in the rain. The unit is powered off of 2 AAA batteries. Garmin also sells the ForeRunner 201 for those who want a built in rechargeable battery. I preferred using my own charger and getting as many sets of batteries I wanted, plus I can always put in a set of regular alkalines if I had not remembered to charge up some batteries. Battery life for me out of the set of the AAA rechargeables has been about 10 hours of use.
Operation
With the push of the power button the unit starts up and goes right to finding satellites. The first time it is used in a new location it will take a longer time to acquire satellites then each subsequent startup. The first time it took about 5 minutes to get a lock on position, subsequent startup take 2 to 3 minutes.
You can go for a run or walk right out of the box but you may want to set a few useful settings the unit has first. For one you can set your weight so it can help approximate calories burned. There is also a very useful feature that will automatically pause the unit if you stop or drop below a set pace, this can be handy for when you are waiting to cross a road. I also turned on a feature that allows you to see a bread crumb trail of the path that you have run.
With those features set I simply push the start button to start my run and do not use the stop button till I am done with running for that session. While you are running there is a data screen that you can toggle to which will show you to see information such as pace, moving time, and dist. This mode has 4 screens worth of information that you can configure to tell you a wide range of information about your current run. Once I have completed my run I stop the watch and hold in the reset button which clears the last run from the display. The very handy feature is the run in cleared but not lost. The unit stores the run in a history log it keeps up. This history is wonderful tool to be able browse over all the runs you have done and see information such as distance and average pace. This is an added bonus I failed to appreciate when I bought the unit.
Performance
The unit operates very well overall with some limitations. It is impressive all the information this little unit is telling you. My only disappointment with the unit is in more heavily treed areas such as the bike trail near us you lose signal from time to time. The great thing is the unit at least gives you the benefit of the doubt and when it reacquires signals add the distance in from the point it lost signal.
Support
Normally I rarely have a need to contact a company's support department but in my case my Forerunner started losing track of satellites at intermittent points. I decided to call support and see how to best handle my problem. The support technician I talked to was helpful and after a few question suggested sending the unit back. Unfortunately the consumer gets stuck with the shipping. About 2 weeks later I got back a refurbished replacement unit for my original watch. This unit seemed great until it started randomly turning itself off and on. I was back to contacting support and sending another unit back. This time Garmin covered the shipping. Two weeks later I got another unit back. This time they sent me the wrong product. The Garmin ForeTrex 101. This model is more expensive then the Forerunner but unfortunately is more configured towards hikers then runners. I tried it but missed the running specific features of the ForeRunner right away. Once again another call to tech support and another returned unit. I requested a new unit which they told me they would try for. Two weeks later I got another refurbished unit that finally worked! The bottom line is support was always helpful and professional but I found it ridiculous that no one really checked these units before sending me another defective one. This product lost one of its stars for this reason.
Conclusion
If you are a runner looking for a great tool to help you out with the running this is a great product. The history is wonderful to help you track your progress. The real time information lets you know just how well your run really is going. I love the ability to see my distance accurately regardless of stride and I feel free to run wherever I want. For all you runners out there be careful NOT to order the ForeTrex, the ForeRunner uniquely has the features a runner wants such as giving you your speed in minutes/mile. The only two cautions I give to your purchase is hopefully you do not need your unit repaired as support has a lot of trouble doing this and if you running in very heavily wooded areas plan on losing satellite signal depending on the thickness of the trees.
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