GPS Watches Buyer Guide
GPS watches are now very popular. If you’ve been thinking of getting one, spend a minute and get the facts. They used to be just for atheletes, but that’s not the case anymore.
There are currently two manufactures that make GPS watches: Timex/Garmin and Suunto. Casio made one in the past, but they have been discontinued.
Timex/Garmin currently has eight GPS watches in their line up. They are being marketed as speed and distance devices for athletes. They currently do not provide location informaiton.
Garmin Forerunner 101 & 201
The Garmin Forerunner 101 & 201 is Garmin’s latest watch for athletes. The Forerunner 201 will display longitude, latitude and elevation, so you may want to consider it even if you don’t consider yourself an athlete. The best part of the watch is its price. It can be purchase for around $150.
Garmin 201
Garmin Foretrex 201
The Forerunner 201, which sells for about $160, even has a 100-by-64-pixel screen that can show you a map of where you’ve been and how to get back to where you started from a great tool for trail and road runners.
The Garmin Foretres also includes a unique application for sailing and paragliding racers that allows them to configure the start sequence of a race. The countdown is displayed in a large-number format that audibly alerts the user at each phase of the start sequence.
The Foretrex 201 weighs less than 3 ounces and is waterproof. It has all the features of Garmin’s handheld Geko 201. It will run for 15 hours on a single charge of its lithium battery.