Garmin forerunner 405 is a GPS device which also doubles up as a digital wrist watch. You wear it on your wrist as you do with any watch.
From a technical point of view it is packed with very usefull features for running, cycling or any other dry land and distance based sports. Like the Iphone based apps the forunner uses GPS satelite link to track your runs. It relies on up to 22 satelites and is therefore very reliable and up to date it has not failed me. It delivers what it says on the tin.
Some notable features are;
* setting up training targets in terms of distance, calories to burn and time.
* You can also set up a virtual buddy who basically kicks your ass each time you fall behind him/her. This bootcamp buddy can be set to suit your needs. Each time you fall short of the given target range the forerunner emits an audio beep to alert you of your, shall we say incompetence.
One of it's biggest advantage over the iPhone based GPS apps is that the forerunner has hardware accessories namely the Heart rate monitor and a footpod. If you are a cyclist you could have a cadence instead of a footpod. These accessories gives the Forerunner some extra dimensions and experience to running workout. Heart rate monitor which is strapped across your chest, will record your heart bit per minute in real time. This allows you to set heart rate training limits in order to achieve your specific target. For example you can set workout zones for either aerobic or anaerobic targets.
* Heart rate monitor also allows for a more accurate burnt calorie calculation. Needless to mention that the heart rate monitor helps you keep focused on maintaining a safe workout by way of ensuring that your heart rate remains within the safe zone
The other accessory is the footpod which really is like a step counter. The footpod is attached to the laces of your shoes and literally count your steps as you jog away. It is caliberates using the GPS or a known specific distance. The footpod is very useful when training indoors for instance if you use a trademill. Because GPS does not generally work indoors this is a usefull replacement for GPS function when indoors. All your vital statistics except a route map of course, will be collected as normal. Of all the 4 applications that I am reviewing here the forerunner is the only gadget which has a footpod accessory.
If satelite link where to fail while running outdoors the footpod will provide adequate backup. If caliberated correctly it can record amazingly accurate statistics. []
Garmin like the other apps has a website where you upload your workout data for personal use or sharing it with friends or better still the wider world. The Connect Garmin website is really cool. It has a provision for you to replay your workout on the computer and you can analyse and see how your perfomamce was at each and every point in time. If you worked out with a heart rate monitor and footpod the respective data is also uploaded and becomes part of the record.
The garmin forerunner doubles up as a digital wrist watch. While Garmin might want to market it as a alternative to a fashion wrist watch I find it's appearance to be rather geeky despite claims to the contrary. I would not feel comfortable wearing it anywhere other than during workout.
It's a pity that this is case especially given the fact that it does not come cheap. It's introductory price was €300.00 minus the heart rate monitor and footpod. Heart rate and footpod can fetch up to €60 depending on where you buy it from.
You would have thought that Garmin could have spend a little more energy in working out it's austhetic appearance.
Other than that the gadget is superb and most of all very reliable.
The new kid on the block at least for me is the Nokia Sports Tracker Beta. As it's name suggest it's still in it's early infancy. I would like to believe it's compatible with most smartphone nokia phones that have inbuilt GPS The Nokia Sports tracker like it's competitors is a GPS based application which uses satelite link to track your outdoor distance based workout. I have used this application on the latest Nokia n97. Though not yet officially available for Nokia N97 if one is resourceful enough they can download a version that is good enough. While the version I use may not be optimized for N97 it still does it's job very well.
Nokia Sports Tracker essentially works the same way as the other applications. The Sport Tracker application can work in the Background unlike iPhone based applications. This will allow you to do other things with your mobile phone while recording continues in the background. For example you can shuffle your music on the go. The battery for the Sport Tracker seems not to be a power hog. I completed a 10 mile run yesterday using this app. I also played the music on the Nokia for entire 1 and half hour workout. No significant battery drain occured. I also recorded the entire run on the garmin forerunner
During the same workout I had the runkeeper on the Iphone. I only managed to run 15km before the battery ran out.
In fairness the iPhone was not fully charged. However this was at the end of the day after normal daily usage. You would therefore want to fully recharge your iPhone before you go out for more than an hour's run. A little bit inconvenient if you want to do a spontaneous work out. According to the documentation for the Nokia Sports tracker one should be able to take Geotagged photos as they run and these photos will appear on the corresponding position on the map on the Nokia site. I have not yet used this feature and I will certainly review when I have done so. I presume with the generally high camera quality on Nokia's upper end smartphones the pictures should be of high quality too. This feature compares with a similar feature on Trailguru. I have used this feature and it's really cool. The only thing with this types of feature is that you generally have to stop in order to take a good quality picture. If you are running for fun this is no big deal but if you take your running very seriuosly then stopping to take a pictures would be an inconvenience.
Nokia also has a heart rate monitor, the Nokia Polar Heart rate belt which I have not laid my eyes on yet. Apparently it was originally made for the N79 but there is generally a belief among Nokia smartphone enthusiasts that it will be available across all GPS equiped Nokia Smartphones.
Nokia has a website where, like all the other reviewed apps, you set up a free account where you upload your data onto.
One cool feature of the website is that you can broadcast your workout live to Members or visitors of the website. This of course requires data connection. Basically you broadcast your GPS position via the website and people will be able to view your progression on your route map course in real time. Pretty cool hey? I have not personally broadcast my workout but I have watched other people's broadcasts and the feature is quite good.
You can see how others are getting on with their workouts and hopefully you should get inspired, get off your ass and go out and do the same.
The site like all the other sites reviewed allows you to analyse your data. Another feature on Nokia Sport tracker is the ability to upload the name of the music you were playing on your Nokia phone while you where running. I have not used this feature yet.
Among all the reviewed application the replay feature on Garmin is the best. Trailguru's replay feature is also good.
The garmin website tends to be less stable than the other websites. Too often you cannot access you data when you need it and sometimes it tends to be slow. Recently the synchronization of forerunner data with the PC/mac has been satisfactorily fast. It used to take forever to upload the data via the supplied USB wireless connector.
All the websites allow you to share your workout with friends on Social Network websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace etc.
All of the sites can make it possible to link your pages to your blog or email provided your data is categorised as public rather than private. Runkeepr does well in this aspect in that it allows you to embede a your map route to your own webpage. This makes it easy for the visitor of your blog to get the information on same page rather than having to be linked to another external website. You can see the example below.
Gold Medal
So which application takes the Gold among the 4 apps. Well each all the apps tend to have the basic features that are essential namely the GPS hardware and corresponding websites on which you can upload your data. It all depends what you are looking for as a runner.
Here are some guidelines to help you make a decision on what to use
Garmin Forerunner is reliable, light to carry and has fantastic accessories than can give you am extra urge. It has no MP3 player and their website is not the most stable that you can come across although when it does work it offers great features. Garmin forerunner 405 is relatively expensive. While Nokia smartphones and Iphone are expensive by comparison they provide vast other functions, the obvious ones being that they are mobiles and music players. Forerunner on the other hand is a dedicated running mate whose only other function is a
digital watch and possibly a campus.
Nokia Sports Tracker runs on most GPS Nokia mobile phones. The size of your Nokia phones varies and they are not the lightest mobile phones on the market. Nokia sports Tracker can also work with the inbuilt music player which allows you to play your music during workout. Most Nokia phones allow multitasking. The GPS link seems to be very good and reliable. The application seem not to use a lot of battery power and one can use accessories such as a heart rate monitor.
Runkeeper on Iphone is an ever improving applications which is very easy to use. If you are looking for a simple app thatbis easy and fun to use then Runkeeper is your app. The simplicity if the Iphone makes it a joy to use runkeeper and Trailguru.
Runkeeper has a cool website which is ever evolving and introducing new features. Because of the way the iPhone works there is no multitasking except playing your music on the inbuilt Ipod. Because the app has to be on screen while working out, the iphone based apps are compromised by battery. There is a high tendency of the application crushing especially following updates or upgrades. Runkeeper has a good audio feature that makes it easy to access your statistics in midflight.
Trailiguru is another iPhone based app which benefits from Iphone's user friendly features. Trailguru itself is a free application such that if you have at least an Iphone 3G then you can use Trailguru. Trailguru allows you to upload pictures onto te website as well. Like Runkeeper most of the problems with Trailgiru are because of the shortfall of the iPhone. No multitasking except for picture taking and playing music. Battery Consumption is high and no other accessories like heart rate monitor or footpod can be used with these two applications. So when the satelite link is not good on that day as is sometimes the case with me, then you basically cannot use these applications.
So I will leave each individual to make their own decision on which app they want to use depending on their needs and resources available to them.
Total tally since the blog commenced 66 km
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