Sports watch advice

scarn

Hi,

My boyfriend's birthday is coming up and he recently broke his sports watch so I was hoping to get him a new one. The idea is that it will be a part of his present rather than the whole thing so I would be looking for something around the €60 mark if I could. I couldn't stretch to over €100.

I'm not a runner so I don't know what features he would want. He was into athletics but now runs more just for exercise but is still competitive with himself so I know he needs to know if his run was better than his last run. He also does some adventure races but it would be more day to day running that he does.

So if anyone has any ideas of what would be a good watch, if a heart monitor or GPS (I know, expensive) would be needed or if a simple stop watch would be sufficient that would be a great help to me.

Thanks

Krusty_Clown

A GPS-based watch is likely outside of your budget, unless you'd consider trying to pick up a second hand watch.
Can you find out what his last watch was?

scarn

Not really without asking him directly. It seemed a pretty basic watch from the look of it.

To be honest I didn't think I would be able to get GPS at that price. Is tracking heart rate important or would you think just timing it would be enough?

Krusty_Clown

Hi scarn, it really depends on what he was doing in the past. If his old watch featured a heart rate monitor, then getting him a new HRM would be an ideal present. Do you know if he wore a heart rate strap around his chest when he was out running?

If it's just a standard sports stop-watch type of thing, than any kind of stop-watch will do the job. Maybe try Argos? Look for something with support for multiple laps.

lway

If it's just a stopwatch you need without the Heart Rate Monitor or GPS then i'd recommend this one: http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/2839750/Trail/searchtext%3ETIMEX+IRONMAN.htm

I bought one and it served me well until I invested in a GPS watch. You can ignore the Ironman branding on it but it is waterproof to 100m and has a 30-lap memory and the Start/Split button is on the face of the watch which makes it very easy to find and press with just one finger as you run. It also has a countdown timer with a repeat alarm so you can set it to beep every 5 mins or so (for example) if you want to do intervals. It also has the usual features, dual time zones, stopwatch, multiple alarms and has a resin strap which doesn't absorb sweat. I then used a site like gmap pedometer to map the distance of my runs and the distance to various landmarks along the way at which I hit the Lap button so could later calculate my pace.

Fits into your budget too.

scarn

That sounds pretty good alright and I think would meet his needs. Thanks!!

Krusty_Clown

lway wrote: »

If it's just a stopwatch you need without the Heart Rate Monitor or GPS then i'd recommend this one: http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/2839750/Trail/searchtext%3ETIMEX+IRONMAN.htm

I had a quick look in Argos and was thinking that it would be a suitable watch too. The only thing is, €54 seems very expensive, for what is essentially a plastic digital watch, but I suppose if it's reliable... If you've got time scarn, the watches are a good bit cheaper from amazon.co.uk. This watch (same brand and features) is €20 cheaper.

scarn

Thanks to both of you for the help. I had a look on Amazon alright because I thought the same thing. I decided to just go for it and buy that one. thanks again