99% of Triathletes I know use a sports watch to help monitor their training and competition performance, and many use one with a heart rate monitor. But, there’s a multitude of leading brands and models to choose from.
I already own a Garmin 305, which I mainly use for running as it has a built in GPS, which is a must as far as I’m concerned for finding out how far you’ve run and seeing what pace you’re running at. However, I couldn’t use it as a normal watch or in the water as it’s not waterproof so I was on the look out for a new all round Triathlon watch.
After spending hours on the Internet comparing the functional specs of the different sports watches on the market, I came to the conclusion that there was no one watch (currently) on the market that met with what I was looking for, namely a watch that you could wear and use as a normal watch, had all the usual sports monitoring features e.g. time, intervals, stop watch etc, had a heart rate monitor, had gps built in (without having a gps brick on your wrist), was also water resistant to a reasonable depth, could load the data easily onto your PC for analysis and was reasonably priced/within my budget of £150.
Eventually, my search boiled down to different Garmin, Polar, Sunnto and Ironman Timex models but none met with all of my requirements and the ones that were close, were out of my budget. So in the end, I settled for a combination. I’m using my Garmin 305 for running and have bought the new Timex Ironman watch for normal everyday wear, use on the bike and in the pool and using it to time runs and run intervals (if I don’t need to know distance or pace in a session).
The Timex Ironman Race Trainer HRM (the name says it all), has everything I’ve been looking for apart from the GPS and was £149.99, just within my budget! The Garmin 405 was a close contender but was not water resistant enough and is more bulky on the wrist for casual wear.
Manufacturers Features
The Timex Ironman Race Trainer Kit is a downloadable HRM system that includes:
• Race Trainer digital heart rate monitor
• Digital 2.4 heart rate sensor and strap
• Data Xchanger USB device
• Free access to Timex Ironman online training site at www.timex.com
Track your training calendar, performance, personal data and nutrition with the ability to modify your HRM and watch settings from your desktop, all in one step.
Rating: 9/10
Pros: Everything you need to monitor your performance and great value for money.
Cons: So many features that we have to refer to the manual to make even simple changes, like changing the time. Could be more intuitive.