Garmin Forerunner 201 Personal Trainer

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The Garmin Forerunner 201 is the latest in a series of speed and distance monitors that tracks the time and distance.

That's where the comparasion between FitSense, Nike SDM & Timex/Garmin GPS watches ends..............

Instead of a two piece system (foot pod or GPS receiver) the Garmin Forerunner is an all in one complete system.

I picked mine up last night and was told this is the third shipment of these watches (3 shipments 46 total) and my running store can't keep on the shelf.

What makes the Garmin Forerunner different from the others is the diversity in whice a novice runner, walker, biker can target their workouts.

Out of the box the lithium ion battery has a charge of 1 hour, but can be fully charged (15 hrs total) in three hours.

I took the watch out last night for a walk.

It take the watch anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes to aquire a signal (took me 8 minutes) but after that you're ready to go.

On my walk I use the time and distance mode just to see the various functions. Not only did the watch perform like the other watches but it also has a big display and mke cyclying through the various functions a snap.

The Garmin Forerunner claim to fame will be the the various way to set up a training program be it a runner, biker, or triathlete.

I used the "vitural training partner mode" on my run at 3:55 AM today.

Virtual Partner™
Set time, pace, and distance goals, and train with a "virtual partner".

I set the values to two miles with a goal finish time of 26 minutes.
Since I'm recovering fron a stress fracture in my right foot my upper running (recovery) limit is three miles.

So I set the values and off I went with my vitural partner. The watch not only counted the time of the run....but also counted down the miles needed and then ween so far as to count down in feet. By going up and down the various functions I could see my time, distance, pace and in virtural partner mode .....how far ahead (in my case over 500 feet) or how far behind I am in relation to my training partner.I finished my run 1 minute 30 seconds ahead of my goal time, telling me I need to lower the goal time values by 75 seconds next time.

For those people who do most of their runs alone this feathre alone with be a great way to gague your pace and time goals.

The other neat feature is the various distance built into the Garmin Forerunner. You can set your training based on 1 mile, 5K, 10K up to the 1/2 marathon. You can also set daily custome goals as well.

The other feature is the history function where you can cycle through various workouts (100 workout stored in all).

All in all I came away feeling I will get my moneys worth in this product.

I'll add more reviews of other function this watch has to offer.

Suggested retail price is $ 160.00.

Grade Very Happy

out of 4

S99

Adjunct

nice review it was a mattter of time before an all in one unit came out. I am sure it will be smaller soon

Member

Looks kinda of big, bulky, and heavy? I try to go light on runs, especially long runs. thoughts? How much does that thing weigh?

Member

my question is, what the bad point besides intial satellite aqquisition?

you gave it a 3 out of 4 what could be better?

i already ordered mine and want it NOW!!!!!

Member

Gone Fishin

Being a "workout only" watch wearer, my watch is never in clock mode anyway.

Can that virtual partner be programmed to use your pace from a prior workout/route?

Member

Member

thanks s99... I'm debating on getting one of these for the Spring or getting a FitSense heart rate monitor. Anyone have any advice here?

Member

Garmin Forerunner 201

DUE NOVEMBER 2003

The Forerunner 201 offers athletes an easy-to-read display, ergonomic wristband, and integrated GPS sensor that provides precise speed, distance, and pace data. It’s compact, lightweight, and waterproof—and packed with features for today’s serious competitor. The Forerunner 201 is easy to use right out of the box and delivers the benefits of GPS technology at an affordable price.

Working out with the Forerunner 201 means you're never alone in your personal training, because the unit provides a Virtual Partner™. This unique feature allows you to set your training goal by configuring your Virtual Partner’s pace and workout distance. You'll get a graphic perspective of your performance by viewing your pace in relation to your Virtual Partner’s pace, so you can always see at a glance if you're keeping up or falling behind.

Forerunner 201 features:

GPS sensor provides precise latitude, longitude, and altitude data for exact location information.
Mark specific locations, and then look-up and navigate to these points using an electronic map.
Retrace your steps to a starting point or reverse your normal route for routine variation.
Amount of calories burned can be tracked and calculated over the course of a workout.
Lap history—such as lap time, lap distance, and average pace—can be stored for up to two years.
Performance data can be automatically archived and calculated to provide an accurate record.
Automated stopwatch provides auto-lap and auto-pause features.
Lap timer indicates when a certain speed is reached or when you’ve fallen below a pre-set level.
Pace whistle sounds alert when you begin traveling slower or faster than your desired pace.
Distance whistle sounds when you reach a specified duration or distance in your workout.
Download free Garmin software to transfer data from your Forerunner 201 to your PC for storage and analysis.
Training timer features:

Training data: User-customized display includes training time, pace, distance, lap pace, lap time, lap distance, average and best pace, elevation and calories
History: Stores up to approximately 2 years of training histories. Review lap histories todate, by day or by week. Download histories to your PC using free software from the Garmin web site.
Training assistant :

Auto pause: Automatically pauses the training timer when you slow down below a specified resting pace; timer resumes when you start running again
Auto lap: Automatically triggers a lap when you reach a specified distance. Allows you to run anywhere and still get accurate performance data
Virtual Partner™: Allows you to input training goals based on time, distance and pace. Forerunner displays a graphic "virtual partner" that will run with the set goal, so you can see at a glance if you are keeping up or falling behind.
Pace alert: Alarm sounds if you are slower or faster than the pace you've input
Time/distance alert: Alarm sounds when you reach the specified time or distance
Navigation Features:

Receiver: 12 parallel channel GPS receiver continuously tracks and uses up to 12 satellites to track your speed and distance
Antenna: Built-in patch
Mark location: Mark and save up to 100 locations
Find location: Look up and navigate to stored locations
Back to start: Navigate back to starting location
Map Mode: Electronic map shows your location, along with marked locations. Pointer arrow shows direction to travel when navigating back to start or to a stored location
Physical:

Size: 3.26"W x 1.71"H x .69"D
Weight: 2.75 ounces (78g)
Display: 36.49 mm x 23.35 mm, 100 x 64 pixels
Case: Waterproof to IEC 529 IPX7 standards
Temperature range: 5ºF to 158ºF (-15ºC to 70ºC)
Power:

Source: Rechargeable lithium ion
Battery Life: 15 hours

From Tracklogs.co.uk:

Product Reviews

GPS Forerunner 201 First Impressions

Sit around our office for a day and the idle chit chat soon turns to GPS features and what Garmin could, and should, be designing. So what's this then, a GPS for runners, must be worth a closer look.

A few months later and the first units have arrived in the UK, so what are our first impressions? It's both the smallest GPS and the largest box we've ever seen. Expecting the bare minimum we spill the contents of the big box onto the desk and straight away we're looking through the documentation to identify a collection of unfamiliar looking pieces. There's the GPS unit of course, more about that later, but there's also a wide fabric/velcro wrist strap, another piece of stretchy wrist strapping, a charger, UK adapter, cradle, interface cable, manual and quick start guide. In fact everything we needed to get up and running.

Plug into the wall battery charging.

Just a minute, did you say charger? This is a really good move by Garmin and it's been a long time coming. The Forerunner is the first recreational GPS to include an internal rechargeable battery. This is good because it does away with unreliable battery covers and terminal connections allowing Garmin to reduce the size and increase the reliability. The internal battery is Lithium-Ion, most commonly found in mobile phones and laptops. These are the most power to weight efficient batteries available today. A full charge is good for up to 15 hours (less in cold temperatures) and it takes 1 to 3 hours to recharge depending on battery level. Whilst we like integrated batteries and applaud Garmin for getting this far there are some shortcomings. Unlike laptops, or mobile phones, the Forerunner battery is not removable and therefore not replaceable. This rules out the possibility of carrying spares to extend usable life between visits back to the charger. It also gives no options when the batteries start to degrade in a few years.

The charger unit is reasonable enough, as an American company Garmin have shipped a charging solution for the whole of Europe. The charger block uses a European two pin plug (round pins) and bundled UK adapter. It's 240volt only so will not work in the US. Functional enough for a first attempt but not as good a solution as the dual voltage worldwide solutions from the likes of Sony and Motorola. At the other end of the wire is a clip-in cradle which secures to the back of the GPS unit. At the cradle end of the wire is a Y piece connector into which you can plug the supplied PC interface cable to allow access to the GPS from your PC whilst charging. It's a serial port connection so 21st century laptop owners beware, USB would have been better.

Tiny, wrist mounted GPS packaging.

Like we said at the start, small GPS. It's tiny. This is a good thing as it's designed to be attached to your wrist with the supplied velcro strap and the last thing you want is a bulky gadget swinging around as you run. Our scales show 80g including the strap, we can't tell you what it weighs without the strap as it isn't removable. The strap itself is robust so this shouldn't be a problem with wear and tear but might make washing it quite fiddly. There's a strap extension if you want to fit the Forerunner to something a little larger.

So you've squeezed into your new Walshes, charged up your Forerunner, strapped it to your wrist, what can it do? First impressions are good. We were impressed to see that Garmin haven't simply ported the same old GPS software into a different shaped model. The initial screens are all new running orientated functions hinting immediately that this is a running gadget with GPS rather than the other way around.

Multiple running specific screens.

We quickly got the hang of what was required. The first screen covers the basics of running with elapsed time, distance and average pace. Page up and the next screen covers lap time, speed and distance. The third and final stats page has custom fields which you can configure to display any three statistics from a choice of 19 fields. Amongst others these include resting times, elevation, grade of terrain and calories.

Once the basic stats are sorted out we move onto the virtual training modes. Think "exercise machine" and your pretty close to the mark. The virtual partner is an onscreen graphic driven by a programmable combination of time, speed and distance. Your own progress is compared against these fixed goals for a tailored pace setter. There are also audible alarms for minimum and maximum pace to keep you within a target zone.

GPS aware yes, but this isn't a hill walking tool.

The Forerunner is measuring all these statistics and driving it's virtual partner screens using GPS signals to track your current position. We hinted before that this is a running gadget which happens to use GPS rather than a navigational GPS with running bolt ons. This is most evident when using the navigation screens. These are quite basic and show your position relative to pre-programmed waypoints. These waypoints can be transferred into the GPS from digital mapping software or marked manually. There is no compass or co-ordinate readout and at present we are uncertain as to the precise capabilities of the internal track storage. There is free software available in Jan 2004 from Garmin which will allow you to readback your running routes and store/log your times but at the time of writing this is not available to test. We did however hook the Forerunner up to TrackLogs Digitial Mapping software and transfer waypoints to and from the device so the basic functionality is available for marking landmarks along the course of your route.

Summing up what we think of the Forerunner.

The Forerunner 201 is a welcome diversion into sport specific gadgets with some long overdue new features. We like it's small size and uncompromising, running specific, features. It would have been nice to see USB on such a new Garmin design and a replacable battery pack but these are relatively minor complaints. The serious runner wanting trip computer readings from a realistically sized, strap on gadget will be pleased with the available functions.

Member

Member

That device looks awesome. Wonder how it would function if you did a run on the treadmill? Mr. Green

Member

I got mine today! $129 + $8 S&H, gps4fun.com. I was a little shocked at how big it is (much wider than my wrist), but at less than 3 oz I'm sure I'll get used to it. I haven't yet played with it as I've been cleaning most of the day. But it does look like I have a lot of reading to do before I test it on Tuesday....

Excelent

My Timex GPS takes about 30-60 seconds to acquire a signal. When I first got it, the instructions said the first time it would take about 5 minutes, but it would get quicker each use

Does the Garmin response get better from the initial 5-8 minutes?

Member

Scorch
in the Custom set up you can set one of the fields to be "clock time"

when switching the screen in the main mode you'll have the "training" screen, "cuctom" screen and "rest" screen to cycle thru.

my custom now is set up for Time of day, avg lap, and lap

Member

OOH YEAH, MIKEEE LIKES IT!!!!

ok, so my name is not MIKEEE but i stil like it.

set it up so that it would tell me mile intervals, at a glance i could see in VERY large number the Event time (sweet) and in the bottom two screen i can see the distance and pace. it took me just a moment to locate the distance but i contribute that more to me than the layout. i only had problems once with that. was nice to see the pace as well new rather i was on expeted or whatever pace ( hmm think that's why it there?

)

i had programmed it the night before to count a mile as a lap. and to repeatedly notify me. well the AUTOLAP feature is great. the repeat alarm setting with big gloves on, a big NO. my gloves were to big for the buttons and the alarm does not shut off until you tell it too. lesson learned.

the number are very large and i had nor prblem at all seeing the vitial info needed and the Event History had all the info nicely laid out for me with the ability to see the lap maker on the MAP page with a simple push of the View on Map option. complete with trail markers. start and end clearly marked as well. VERY COOL.

each lap has accumulated time next to it and when you high light the particular lap you get it's AVG pace and the Map option.

also gone are the days of accidental resets. it makes you hold the reset button for 3 seconds before all the EVENT info is cleared . BIG THUMBS UP on that.

CONS

unlike the other Garmins you can't make a route on this one (from what i can tell) you can't make a route on this. you can GO TO point A and upon arrival there you can GO TO point B but you can't hook them up prior to the arrival.

sofar that is the only con.

a 4 out of 5 skates review

Garmin Forerunner 201 Personal Trainer

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