Had another day when I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about, but then my afternoon ended with a conversation with a good friend of mine about running watches. So I thought I’d talk about a couple of my favorite watches that I use for GPS tracking my runs.

First and foremost, I’ve always been a Garmin person since I started running. Their watches are solid tools for both a beginning and seasoned runner, and between my wife and I we’ve owned four different watches. The two latest watches that we own are the Garmin Forerunner 15, and the Forerunner 220. I’m not going to go into in-depth reviewing of each watch because dcrainmaker does a far better job than I ever could. I do want to just share a few brief comments on my thoughts on these two watches.

dcrainmaker reviews:
Garmin Forerunner 15
Garmin Forerunner 220

Forerunner 15

The first GPS watch that my wife owned was the Forerunner 10. She wanted a nice simple watch, without a lot of features. Something lightweight, and not too big on her wrist, that just did really good GPS tracking. Although the Forerunner 10 was a good watch, it had one fatal flaw for anyone trying to run for distance. The battery life when running in tracking mode was only 3-4 hours. Since my wife is still running 5-6 hour marathons, the FR10 just wasn’t sufficient. When the FR15 came out she jumped at it and has been tremendously pleased ever since. It’s a simple watch that tracks your runs and does it easily and well.

The FR15 also has a fitness tracker built into it that can track your steps without using GPS. This is a nice perk for people who are looking for a device that can serve multiple purposes. Overall the FR15 has been a solid watch and we’ve been quite happy with it’s performance.

Forerunner 220

I originally owned the Forerunner 210, and was very happy with it, except for the USB connector. So when it had a malfunction and had to be sent in for repair, I decided to take advantage of the trade-up offer and picked up a Forerunner 220. I’ve been tremendously happy with this watch. It finds GPS signals quickly, and I haven’t had any major issues with tracking. One of the things that I like about the watch is the customized screens for while you’re running. I can create screens with various data points such as overall pace, lap pace, speed and minutes per mile. There’s a ton of customization options and it’s a great asset when doing various types of training.

Another feature that is a nice bonus, is the ability to connect via Bluetooth to my phone to track and upload runs. This is a great feature when traveling since I can get my data uploaded to my various tracking sites without the need for a computer. Finally, one of the gripes I had with the FR210, the USB connector, was overhauled on the FR220, and is now easy to use and less prone to errors in connections.

Again, this is another solid watch that I have been tremendously happy with.

So that’s the GPS equipment that I use. I encourage you to check out the dcrainmaker reviews for more information, and happy running!