Garmin Forerunner 201 Waterproof Running GPS
by Garmin
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Our Price: $299.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $99.95 (click here) Category: GPS or Navigation System See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Forerunner 201 Waterproof Running GPS
Customer Review: I found my true love!
Summary: 5 Stars
Since knowledge is power and the Forerunner 201 is full of information, I am now running with power.Look, this is the best thing to hit the market for a runner since shoes. I can finally start and stop running anytime and anywhere without the dreaded "how far have I gone, guess I'll hop in the car and check". I no longer drive around to get distance information, ever. Not to mention, I can't drive on half the places I wanted to run and wouldn't run those places because I couldn't drive it to determine how far I was running. I've heard others complain of GPS signal strength and I did have a problem once, but I was running about 1 foot away from a 15 ft wall and on the other side were 2 story townhomes about 30 feet away with huge trees overhead, so I think the GPS works fine. It took about 3 minutes to get a signal after I opened the box and charged it up. I can't imagine why you would not buy this other than you don't exercise. My wife commented that she couldn't believe all the features it had and the information it provided for the price, and she is not an easy sale. No comment on bike problems that people have had. Garmin has been great with software updates. The logbook could have more options but that is no reason to not have this. I LOVE IT!
Customer Review: Very Inconsistent
Summary: 2 Stars
The 201 does all it says but loses signals in built up areas and therefore measures each run differently. I have had never had the same distance reading for the same run after months of use. Run distances vary by up to 1 mile in a 10 mile route measured by car and bike. Yor favourite 5 (you think) miler will be 5.29 one day and 4.76 another.
Also turn it on at the same time as your trusted stopwatch. Again, I have never had the same reading as my stopwatch. The Garmin time is always less than the stopwatch because it loses the signal during the run and so has sleep periods.
The pace counter is a joke. Tonight my run was 42 mins. My average pace was 7.27/mile. It said my fastest pace was 3.23/mile. Dream on! Sometimes the pace showed 14+ mins/mile! I can assure you I was never running that fast or that slow during the run.
Get a Garmin if you run away from trees and buldings on the flat. Otherwise, if you buy it it will tell you a different story every time you go for that same run.
Dont buy it if you think it will work out the exact distance of all your runs. It simply does not do this.
In its favour its user friendly, has a fun training partner mode and it makes you look like a fast man even if you're not.
Customer Review: Great product with tip for improving accuracy
Summary: 4 Stars
The Forerunner 201 is proving to be very helpful in adjusting my runs without a training partner. While I prefer running with another person, it's hard to find someone at the right time who wants to run the same pace that day. Features on this unit like the virtual training partner help me overcome that issue.
NOTE FOR IMPROVED SIGNAL/ACCURACY: On my first several runs, the unit lost signal about ten times over four miles. The solution was to have the Forerunner "Autolocate" the satellites again.
To run Autolocate again, turn the unit on indoors and cover it with your hand to prevent it from finding any satellites. After a minute, the unit will ask if you are indoors. Answer "No." Then it will ask if you've moved the unit more than 100 miles since the last use. Answer "Yes." This causes the unit to reacquire all available satellites.
Take the unit outside and position it in an open area. This time I made sure that it was clear of any obstructions (30 feet from the house) and put it on a tree branch about eye height. After about 15 mintues it had acquired more satellites than the first time.
When I power it up now, it acquires the signal in about a minute and I have yet to lose signal on a run.
Customer Review: I loved mine until...
Summary: 2 Stars
I had no complaints about my 201 until last week. I did my usual daily run with my (new, barely one month old) Forerunner, came home, turned it off, put it on the table, and that was that. A couple of hours later, I heard a bleep. Funny, I thought, that was the sound the Garmin makes when I power it up. Curious, I went to the table and sure enough, my Forerunner was on and searching for satellites. It had turned on by itself. Furthermore, none of the buttons responded when I tried to turn it back off or scroll through the different modes. The only button that worked was Reset--so the unit kept searching for satellites and then remaining frozen in Timer mode. It suddenly shut off when I was at UPS, preparing to send it back to Garmin for repairs. As I said, I had my 201 for about one month and I loved it. I never submerged the unit in water, and I cleaned it occasionally with a damp cloth; nothing more. I was very disappointed when it went on the fritz. I'm training for a marathon and kinda depended on it for measuring my distance and pace. It's a great training aid but it lost a lot of points with me when it suddenly (and weirdly) broke.
Incidentally, I just got off the phone with Garmin and they're sending me a new one, no problem. That's good.
Customer Review: Nice training aid and cool toy; suprisingly inexpensive
Summary: 4 Stars
If you like gadgets (like me) and if you like running (like me) then this is a fun little pickup at the relatively inexpensive price...Mine has been quite accurate calculating distance and average pace, but I find that real-time pacing leaves something to be desired. Maybe I just haven't figured out the pace-averaging function yet (the manual doesn't explain it in the depth I would like, and I haven't had time to consult with a Garmin support tech). I like the autolap function, but wish that the little dialog box that pops up would go away quicker. I also like the superbly legible display, and the unit is comfortable on my wrist. I wear a Polar S720i HRM on the other wrist, so I have all kinds of data to keep my mind off of my pain on the long runs! I have not had any difficulty attaining GPS signal, and battery life on my unit has been excellent. I am training for a marathon at present, and probably am going to pick up the Fitsense-1 unit...as well which uses a foot-pod to measure stride and calculate pace and distance. I am thinking it will be more accurate on a real-time basis for pacing. I would rate the forerunner 5 stars if I judged the real-time pacer to be consistently reliable, but I still think it is fun and relatively inexpensive.