So I have decided to bite the bullet and actually pay for a better running gps watch but it feels a little like walking into Sephora-overwhelming number of choices. Of course, I know what I am looking for with a running watch for the most part and have no idea what I am doing in Sephora!
Anyway, my husband and I have been searching all week and reading reviews of watches and I am still having a hard time deciding. He got the Garmin Forerunner 935 for himself but I still haven't decided because the sticker shock is a bit much for me.
I think I would have feelings of guilt if I spent that much on a running watch. On the other hand, I do run A LOT so it would be nice to have some of the cool features that these new watches have.
I have decided that I definitely want the wrist-based heart rate in the watch I buy. I have not really trained by heart rate much in the past because I just hate wearing the chest strap. I would like to play around with some heart rate training now that there is better wrist-based technology.
I would also like to have the feature of VO2 Max estimation. I know that it may not be as accurate as getting this done in a lab but for my purposes it would still be really cool. I come from old school where you just wore your watch with a timer on it and mapped out your route then hit "go" so some of these features sound amazing to me.
I feel like I don't need too many bells and whistles because I won't know how to use them and I hate reading instructions so it could be a waste for me to pay for some of them. It is like my car, I don't want the dash looking like an airplane cockpit because I will probably wreck trying to figure it all out. Plus, it is just more things to go wrong and have to be fixed!
I am trying to decide between forking over the big money for the Garmin 935 like my husband because he is loving his, (Seriously, it is his new BFF!) or going with something cheaper but still has quite a few features like the Garmin 235 or the Suunto Spartan Trainer Wrist HR. The 935 is the King of them all but again, do I really need the King?? (The King is dead, and has left the building. Sorry, that just came to my head!)
One other thing that I need in my next running watch is the ability to see the numbers while I am running and I don't not have my reading glasses on!!
This has been a problem with some of my cheaper ones that have smaller numbers. I can't read anything it says while I am running!! I only wear glasses for reading so it is a big problem when I am running and trying to read a watch (or a text!). Sorry for all the strange things I text my friends because I can't see what I am typing!
Here is a picture of my husband's Garmin 935 on my wrist. It is kind of big on me but looks totally normal on my husband.
What do you use for a running watch? Tell me what you like about it or don't like about it?
Kristi
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