The first and the furious

The perfect treat – or personal purchase – for the enthusiastic sportsman, the Garmin Forerunner 10 is an entry-level GPS sports watch that tracks the distance and average page of a run as well as how many calories you have burned.

The watch comes in two sizes with the red and orange models slightly larger with a 2.5 x 2.4cm display and the pink, green, violet and silver models boasting a 2.1 x 2.0cm display. 

Both displays have a resolution of 55 x 32 pixels, and show the time and date as well as distance, time, calories and pace in large fonts.

But the Forerunner 10 isn’t just for joggers. It supports a 5 ATM-rating of water resistance, allowing it to withstand pressure equivalent to a depth of 50 metres, making it an ideal choice for swimming and snorkelling.

It’s also the most affordable running watch because it doesn’t include expandable options. It cannot be linked with other monitoring devices, such as heart rate monitor or Garmin Foot Pod pedometer.

And it has limited memory, storing a maximum of seven activities. However, if you synchronise your running data every time you have completed your run, the limited storage should be no problem at all.

The battery tracks about five hours of running, which is more than enough because you normally run no longer than two hours at a time.

The package comes with a USB charging/data cradle that’s used to upload your run data to your Garmin Connect account. Garmin Connect is a free online community where you can share data with other runner.

You need to download and install Garmin Express software before uploading your run data from the watch and you need to register for a Garmin Connect account. The Garmin Express also updates the watch’s software when it is available from Garmin.

Forerunner 10 is simple to use. It has four controlling buttons – one for turning the watch on and off as well as managing its back lighting, another for starting and stopping the run time as well as selecting the highlighted menu items. Another button moves you to the next item on the menu and to the next data page when the run timer is operational. The last button is for going back without making a selection and for marking a lap.

When you press the run start/stop button, Forerunner 10 will search for a GPS satellite. When it is connected, it will prompt you to put the start button again. When you finish your run, you press the same button to stop and you can choose to either discard or save the run data.

The watch displays four data types – time, distance, burned calories and pace. The factory setting shows the time and distance on the first screen and calories burned and pace on the second screen. You have an option to customise the display, such as showing pace and distance or pace and calories on the first screen and the rest of data on the second. You can also choose to display speed instead of pace. The average speed is calculates how many kilometres you can run per hour while the pace is how many minutes you need to complete a run of one kilometre.

Before using the watch, you need to enter your height and weight for calculating the burned calories and select the unit measurement between mile and kilometre.

Another nice feature is the Virtual Pacer, which is a training tool to help you improve your performance by setting a pace and encouraging you to achieve it.

I tested it and found that it effectively tracked my 10-km run around my neighbourhood. It uploaded the data to the Garmin Connect and it showed an accurate map of my route.

The watch regards a full kilometre as a lap, though you can customise this, and beeps on completion of a lap, flashing your current pace and the number of the lap on the screen.

Garmin Forerunner 10 has a suggested retail price of Bt4,900.

 

Key specs:

Physical dimensions: 4.55 cm x 5.72 cm x 1.57 cm or 4.01 cm x 5.22 cm x 1.57 cm, depending on colour choice.

Display size: (WxH) 2.5 cm x 2.4 cm or 2.1 cm x 2.0 cm

Display resolution: (WxH) 55 x 32 pixels

Weight: 43 g or 36 g

Battery: rechargeable lithium-ion

Battery life: 5 weeks in watch mode; 5 hours in training mode

History: 7 activities