maurachace.com • 09 January 2012

Garmin Forerunner 210

For Christmas, I asked for the Garmin Forerunner 210. It’s the only thing I wanted. I’ve been thinking about getting a GPS watch for a while, and I finally decided to (let Santa) take the plunge.

I’ve been running with the Nike+ system on my iPod for years, and it got me pretty far, but it was lacking in a few key areas. I wanted to have a much better idea about my pace throughout the run, and I wanted something that would be more accurate overall. The main reasons I chose the 210 were its size and the fact that it has “instant” pace (more on that later).

The 210 is the smallest Forerunner I know of, and it is comfortable to wear during my run. I was hoping it could double as an everyday watch, but I have tiny wrists, and it is much too big for that. The interface is simple enough, and it has four buttons: start/stop, lap, menu (etc.) and light. I never even though about a light, but I’m so glad it has one for running at night.

On my first run out, I tried out the “instant” pace feature. You can set the face to show you one of a number of stats during your run: pace, average pace, average pace per lap or speed. I quickly learned that the pace feature is at least a little behind (maybe 15-30 seconds). It’s still useful information, but I’ve found that average or average per lap has been better for me. In fact, the Garmin has changed my thinking about running to considering laps (by default each mile is a lap) as well as the overall run. For example, I’d really like to run 3 miles in under 30 minutes. The other night I ran two great miles then blew the third mile because I had slaughtered the first in terms of speed. But I ran two miles in under 20 minutes, which is two-thirds of the way to my goal, which is good. I also see the Garmin helping me on longer races, like when I run my fourth half marathon this year, where I actually want to keep my pace down.

I’m extremely pleased with my Garmin, and I’m sure you hear about it a lot more in the future (like when I try out the heart rate monitor).