If you are a professional athlete, you will definitely want to own the Garmin Forerunner GPS 201 watch. It has a huge selection of special components for the athlete. It comes with a GPS sensor, an electronic map, exercise session change and reversal capabilities, calorie tracker, lap details and record, performance archives, auto stopwatch with auto-lap and auto pause features, lap timer, pace alert, distance alert, free Training Center software, a flexible wristwatch strap, and an A/C desktop charger with a serial port.
The GPS 201 is perfect for a professional as well as a more casual athlete. It mostly takes care of the pacing and tracking aspects. This unit offers plenty of plus points, but its major design error would have to be that it does not work predictably. This is the reason why you would not consider it perfect. Its dimensions of 3.3 ? 1.7 ? 0.7 make it appear more bulky than a normal fitness watch; actually it is lighter than it looks, as it weighs only 2.8 ounces. The watch is waterproof and hence it can be worn by swimmers or by sports participants in rainy or wet weather conditions.
The GPS 201 can store a lap record history of up to 5000 laps and offers many more features that you should tinker with to match up with your own demands and personal requirements. One of the most important features the watch provides is the Training Center Software. This is the perfect feature for you to use to save your performance statistics and can also help you see ways in which they have varied along your path, particularly if you have worked out at different elevations. The Virtual Partner component helps you set goals that you want to reach. You simply have to compare your actual workout session with that of your virtual partner.
The GPS function of this 201 model is disliked by a number of buyers because the signal can be fickle sometimes. In addition to that, they also tend to find fault with the discrepancies in functions such as altitude and pace readings. This unit does not have a heart rate monitor. Today, when many of the computer interfaces can work with a USB, this unit is behind the times with a serial port facility.
The wristband of the Forerunner 201 GPS Fitness Watch is stretchy, enabling you to wear the watch by wearing it on your wrist or your bicep as you choose. Its LCD display screen is a joy to view in well-lit conditions as well as in the shadows. The rechargeable lithium alloy battery can remain charged for 14 hours before losing power. It appears to be just fine for runners, but may not be quite adequate for bicycling, etc.
On the whole, the Garmin Forerunner GPS 201 is a watch with a lot of virtues. The training Center software and the Virtual partner features warrant special mention. However, its unreliable GPS signaling is its only flaw.
Tags: fitness, garmin forerunner, GPS, Running