 Good while it lasted |
| Review Date: March 29, 2010 |
| Reviewer: K. O'Callaghan, |
This is a perfectly good product and served me well for about 8 months, then it started go a bit funny. After the initial niggles with pairing the Footpod and Heart Rate Monitor (try changing batteries in footpod to correct the pairing problem) the watch worked perfectly. Using the Garmin software was good too and soon I was monitoring my runs with all the stats available and really enjoyed having the watch as a useful running aid.
But then, after the first 8 months it started to go wrong, it started with the odd Run not being recorded, I would look down mid run to check my time and distance and it would have reverted back to displaying the current time and all record of the run up to that point was lost and I would have to start it again. This then became more regular until only about 1 in 10 runs actually recorded in its entirety. I too thought the start/stop button being on the side was the cause, but when I tried to operate the button by flapping my wrist around or shaking it I found there was not enough pressure to activate it.
The last straw came recently whilst on a lengthy run. The watch appeared to be fine in its normal time display so before my run I chose the TRAIN option, the Footpod and HRM paired perfectly and the display was showing the zeroes of the stop watch, as soon as I pressed start/stop the display turned into undecipherable characters and refused to work, I pressed start/stop again and it returned to time screen. I tried numerous times during the run and the same thing happened and it almost found itself at the bottom of the lake I was running around. Needless to say it no longer works. |
Garmin's disposable watch
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| Review Date: March 13, 2010 |
| Reviewer: C. Carroll, Heidelberg |
Great product until you try to replace the battery. There are countless sites and discussion boards out there where users have tried to replace the battery and then the watch just fails. This happened to me . I followed carefully with excellent tools and magnifying glass the exact steps to replace the battery (after low bat sign on display) , all goes well until the next day the display is blank. I must have used up 5 new batteries and they all failed. I do not recommend this product to anybody who expects to get more than 6 months out of it.
It is a disposable watch, make no mistake. |
Keeps running out of battery - had to have a replacement after a month, and now battery is low again!
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| Review Date: December 9, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ms. Leticia Golubov, London |
I bought this in September 2009 and whilst the product is great for keeping track of my runs, after only a few weeks (and about five jogs) the battery on the watch itself was showing as 'Low Battery'. I asked the retailer RPM Investments Ltd (t/a Direct Web Retail) for an approved battery dealer who could replace this battery for me, but instead they wanted to send me a new watch, which they did very promptly.
However, after only another five 30 minute jogs, the battery is once again showning as 'Low Battery'! One person can't be that unlucky, so I'm wondering if these watches have been in storage for a long time and many are already running low on battery even before leaving the warehouse.
I would rather have the battery replaced than get yet another watch which may run out of battery after four weeks, but the retailers haven't been able to point me out any places where I can get it replaced. |
Excellent piece of kit - the best running purchase I've made!
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| Review Date: December 4, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Dr. E. Heardman, Kent, England |
This is my first running gadget, and I've now been using it for three months. I did a fair bit of research - I didn't want to jump straight into spending upwards of £150 for a GPS that could be a bit unreliable around some of the places I run (two running partners have different makes of GPS, one can take up to 15mins to find a signal in heavily built up areas, and the other keeps a really poor track of pace). I looked at the newer FR60, but decided on this FR50, as I reckoned on it being more than enough for my purposes - for the extra cash, the virtual partner did not interest me and the storage capacity is more than enough. I went for the bundle of watch + foot pod + HRM.
The foot pod did need pairing with the watch and calibrating straight out of the box, but once done (I had no problem doing either) this gadget is great, and it's pretty responsive to changes in pace. Also, it is not imposing on the shoe at all. Being aware of other users' concerns, I had bought spare batteries ready to use. I suspect the despatching process activated they pod, so I think it was effectively working all they time it was travelling to my house - an on-off switch or one of those plastic tabs to stop battery connection and prevent the pod working during transit might be in order. I tend to take the battery out of the pod after each use, so all has been fine since. Likewise, I changed the watch battery recently, but there's no way knowing how old the battery was in the first place, so I'm not going to quibble about that - if this one lasts much less than 12months, I might get upset! I read someone having trouble with the watch not working properly after changing the battery - I had an issue where it kept resetting itself and not storing data, but this was because I had changed the battery myself (contrary to advice in the book!). In doing so, I must have slightly bent the metal frame holding the battery in place (you'll know what I mean if you've tried this yourself!). I simply re-shaped it to re-form the battery connection and it's been fine ever since. The manual might be minimalist, but I've not found it a problem.
The HRM seems fine - I've not used it for training as such, although I wear it for most runs and it provides HR data through my exercise and is a good way of monitoring my improving fitness levels. The watch can be set to records loads of data, pace, distance, time travelled, laps times (that can be changed, and records average figures for each lap), and setting alarm zones, although I've not used the interval timer yet. There's probably other stuff as well! The Garmin software is a bit clunky, but easy to set up on your PC. However, it is pretty good for analysing your runs and keeping a record of your training, of your training, offering reports for various timescales etc. You can also see local run routes that Garmin GPS users have uploaded if you fancy going somewhere different! I don't uses it as a watch, simply only when running, and I've had no issues running in the rain - even the foot pod has been fine running through puddles.
In short, I think this is great - I feel like my running has come on leaps and bounds now that I have a better check on my pace. Yes, there are other ways of doing it I'm sure, but I just love this - my Timex GPS-owning run buddy is likely to get one for himself! |
Excellent value for money is somewhat limited feature set
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| Review Date: November 16, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Belcher, Lund, Sweden |
I brought this for the running functionality and ease/low cost of being able to extend it to use on a bike. For the running side of things this is my second HRM/footpod combo, my previous being a Polar RS200. So there is a bit of a comparison in my points below...
The Forerunner 50 is I think, extremely good value for money. Considering what it costs you get an awful lot. It all worked for me out the box and it does what a good HRM should; pace, speed, distance, heart rate, zones, etc. It even does cadence when running. The footpod is small and sits easily on the shoe. The chest strap is functional, if not particularly robust - its a one-third plastic in length (as opposed to just a small transmitter in plastic that one gets with similar straps from Polar and others). You probably need to be a bit careful with the fastening on the strap as I managed to split the plastic with a careless yank. Its not effected the fastening but if I'd been more careless then it could have. Probably a feature of the cost coming in.
The watch also comes with a USB stick and once you've downloaded and installed some simple to use/set up software, then the two talk to each other no problem. The reporting tool that comes with this is very nice for the price and really brings the data to life. Compare this to the Polar RS200 that I never managed to sync with my computer (and I'd consider myself pretty IT literate), so this is a great improvement.
So basically, you set it up, go running and it records/reports and saves data as you go. The display of the watch is pretty good, although limited in only being able to display one option at a time (e.g. only speed or heart rate or distance, etc.) This is quite a limitation when compared to more expensive HRMs (e.g. the RS200 reports 3-4 levels per screen so is much better in that regard). You can also add bike options that allow this to be extended for cycling and eveything there is equally as good. So all round a very good functional watch. Highly recommended considering the functionality/pricing. I'd recommend it.
There are some limitations worth noting though:
- the construction quality is not great (the chest strap issue above)
- the limited display functions at any one time
- waterproofness - whilst I have had no problems with this yet, when using the buttons after a shower there was an alarming escape of water from within the buttom when compressed. I now no longer wear it in the shower, which is fine but what about out in heavy rain?
Still well worth it considering the price - you get the same functionality in a much more expensive watch for about half the price. |
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