Quote Originally Posted by colby View Post
Do you wear the Garmin on your wrist? Some of those GPS units look pretty large. I've debated between a nice HRM (like the high-end Polars) or a GPS unit (like the Garmins with HRM) before, but never really came to any conclusion. The Polar units seem to cram a lot of information into a tiny screen, and the Garmins seem big.

Nice work on the running. Hopefully your radiators died down and you got a good night's rest.
Colby,

The Garmin is HUGE. And I am not big boned, read - the monitor is actually wider than my wrist. So I carry it in one hand like a stop watch. I actually like this better - it's easier to see the data because I don't have to rotate my arm to see the screen and I have better access to the buttons. I use the garmin for running only and I mostly use it for intervals so I'm constantly pressing the lap button and changing mode screens. Although the Garmin is fun, especially for working pacing and speed drills, the HR information is in a tiny corner of the screen and is pretty hard to see, so I don't like that.

I also have a Polar S120 that I bought before I was given the Garmin. The HR information is much easier to read on the go so I use it for the bike and for my LSD runs. The watch is comfortable and the information on the screen can be changed from larger to smaller for different factors depending on what you want for that workout. For eg: for intervals I might use a mode where the lap time is prominent but for LSD I would have HR at the forefront. One word of warning about the Polar, if the battery in the transceiver (the chest strap) dies, you have to buy a new one (the last one I bought was $75) and if you need to replace the battery on the watch, it has to be sent to Polar to be done. Polar will not honor their warranty if you do it yourself. This is related to maintaining the waterproof nature of the unit.

Lastly, no matter what unit you buy, if you use it in the water do not press any buttons under the water or if the watch is quite wet. Even if it's "waterproof" moisture will get in this way.

I think that's enough procrastination for one day. Time to go swim. My legs are a bit sore from yesterday and I'm tired from lack of sleep. That'll teach me for putting off a workout until the later evening.