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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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Garmin Forerunner 201 Waterproof Running GPS
Customer Review: Very satisfied in Oregon
Summary: 5 Stars
I got the Forerunner just in time to start the new year, and it has been a great motivational tool to keep me running on a regular basis. Just seeing it on my desk makes me want to go for a run! I run a number of different routes, and it is nice to be able to alter them on the fly to keep my distances fairly consistent. I've used it for walking, running and on my bike to check speeds and distances, and it's easy to delete workouts if you don't want bike or walk data polluting your running logs. If you're running in the dark you can press the power button briefly to turn on the (very nice golden) back light for about 15 seconds at a time.
The only problem that I've had is after changing my weight settings the calorie counter seems to be a bit whacked out - 216 calories to run 6.27 miles in under an hour at 175 lbs. doesn't seem quite correct. Hopefully new firmware or a reset will correct it, but I'll wait until after the PC log software is released before trying to correct it.
It's easy to strap onto a bike that has a thick cyclometer or light mount on the handlebar, so I can't imagine buying the bike adapter at this point.
Great product. Haven't been so happy on the bleeding edge since getting my first generation iPod.
Customer Review: a fun toy but not real useful
Summary: 2 Stars
I have had fun playing with the Garmin 201 that I got but I am not all that impressed by it. A couple things that I didn't like.
1. The pace display. This seems to jump around too much. On a recent run with this I was going along a flat road in the country with no trees or anything else to block the sky. I was running at a pretty steady rate, probably around 7:20 per mile, during a 30 seconds stretch the Garmin displayed my pace jumping around from 6:10 to 8:40, with lots of times in between. The pace reading is totally useless and that was one of the main things I thought I might use the Garmin for.
2. I run the same route everyday, when I use the Garmin I always start it at the same spot on my driveway and I always run on the same part of the road, there is never any traffic I need to avoid, etc. so my distance covered should not vary by much each run. However the distance Garmin shows to the first intersection I get to has ranged from 1.98 miles to 2.17 miles. This seems to be an awful large variablity, about 10% variation and I have only worn the Garmin about a half dozen times.
It is a fun toy but its inaccuracy/inconsistency is far too great for it to be a useful training tool.
Customer Review: very impressive
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a runner whose been carrying around a Garmin Legend for several years and have been waiting for a product like this. This little unit beats my expectations. Its user interface is simple and intuitive (much easier than the multitude of button clicks I'd have to do on their other products), and it has some great features: the auto-pause feature that pauses when you drop below a configurable pace is great, the auto-lap feature that beeps every mile (for example) and tells you what your pace was for that mile is also nice, and although I haven't used it yet, the virtual partner sound like it might be useful.I have had no problems with the unit losing reception once it has acquired (though it does take a little longer to acquire than my other gps units).
Overall a great product. The only reason I don't give it 5 stars is because the PC software isn't available, and so I don't know how good that will be. I've written software that downloads the tracks from my other gps units and let's me keep a training log complete with 3D course plots and associated charts. I hope the unit has enough resolution for me to be able to use it. But I can't find specs anywhere?? What is the memory on the unit? How often does it sample? etc...
Customer Review: High hopes dashed
Summary: 1 Stars
In spite of the reviews stating that the Forerunner has trouble with trees, clouds and tall buildings, I took a chance and bought it. I wanted the freedom to run where I wanted to run instead of having to stay on one of my many premeasured courses. The Forerunner enticed me with the lure of freedom to run in an unconstrained way, to be a kid again. At my age, it was a powerful and compelling message.
Unfortunately, it was also a lie. After 3 attempts to get this trinket to acquire and hold a signal I gave up. My north suburban Houston neighborhood has a good number of trees and we have our share of cloudy days, but it's not as if I am trail running through a national forest.
I'm a serious runner training to qualify for Boston and New York, so pace is important to me. In spite of all the warnings, I wasted three days playing around with the Forerunner instead of just getting down to work and grinding out my miles. My mistake, but it doesn't have to be yours.
Count me among the disappointed. I had high hopes for this product. Garmin assured me that it would work. It didn't. It's a great concept but it's not ready for prime time, at least not in my neck of the woods.
Customer Review: Disappointed
Summary: 2 Stars
I was very excited when I learned about this product, as I have been looking for a good way to get real-time running pace feedback. Unfortunately, between buggy software and poor GPS reception, this Garmin unit was essentially useless to me. In fact, I exchanged the first one I purchased because it worked so poorly, I assumed it was broken. The second one behaved almost identically: the display locked up on me when I first tried to initialize the device, and after hard rebooting and finally getting the GPS to lock on to a sufficient number of satellites (which took probably 30 minutes or more), the signal reception was intermittent, so I rarely had reliable pace data during my run. I have other GPS devices, and this is by far the worst in terms of GPS signal reception. Happily, I discovered the Polar S625X, which I heartily recommend. (It's available at Amazon.) The Polar uses a completely different technology to measure pace: instead of GPS, it uses a small accelerometer that ties into the laces of one of your shoes. It's extremely reliable and quite accurate -- it's been a game changer for my running. The Polar watch also has a heart rate monitor, which the Garmin 201 does not. (The Garmin 301 does.)