Garmin 310XT - Review

What blows us away about Garmin’s latest GPS watch, the 301XT, is that it functions as a runner’s watch, a cycling computer, a swimmers watch, a power meter, a very accurate speed and distance measurement device and it allows you to set vibrating or audible alerts for dozens of different measurements. It is unrivaled as a multi-sport watch – period.

If there is a singular flaw it would perhaps be the size of the watch but it feels no different on the wrist than a normal watch as it is actually very light, plus the size gives you a nice, large readable display that is very easy to read and can display up to 4 metrics per screen with 4 screens for each sport.

We chose to display distance, speed, heart rate and pace when testing it running. The pacing feature, or Virtual Partner as Garmin calls it, allows you to put a pre-determined pace into the watch and then it tells you throughout the course of your run how far ahead, or behind, you are from that pacing goal. It’s a really cool feature.

For cycling, we chose to display speed, cadence, heart rate and watts, which can be displayed as long as the bike you are riding has an ANT compliant watts meter. A GPS cycling watch could literally take the place of your bike computer but we recommend the handlebar mount for safety.
For swimming, we set up a meters per minute pacing goal and turned on the vibrating alarm. Since you don’t have time to look at a watch swimming we found the vibrating alarm very useful and actually put the watch on over our wetsuit because it did not feel comfortable and would barely fit under the wetsuit.

In our estimation this watch is great for a whole bunch of different sports and not just the triathletes who served as the inspiration for its genesis. Pure swimmers will love it. It makes a great cycling computer and has versatility to be used for other things. Kayakers can measure speed, distance, heart rate and do all the Eskimo rolls they want because the watch is waterproof.

Power, calories, heart rate, speed, distance, and elevation: You name it, they're all there. It can also help make your workouts more effective. You can easily set up custom interval workouts right in the watch.

The vibrating alarm is a nice feature because it allows you to listen to an iPod and still know when you’ve gone outside the zone for your metrics. It also means that you don’t have to bother your friends with constant alarm chirping during group workouts.

If we were Siskel and Ebert we would have to say two thumbs way up but since we rate a GPS watch on a 5-star system we’ll give this powerhouse 4.9 out of 5 stars.

POLAR CS600X Bike Computer - Review

This Polar CS600X is a very serious bike computer that is GPS compatible, measures heart rate, speed, distance and even power. You'll see it a top a lot of handlebars in places like the Tour de France because it is serious team issue equipment.

This bike computer is pretty easy to get mounted, programmed and ready to roll with the exception of the power system, which is a bit quirky and takes some adjusting. Unlike most other power meters which focus on power generated in the rear wheel or crank - i.e. in the drive train - this power meter measures chain vibration.

While it is a lot cheaper than the $1,000 plus you'd drop on other power measuring devices its accuracy has been questioned in other reviews. To accurately assess this you'd need to run a dueling meters test on a bike equipped with a Cyclops or other high-end power meter and unfortunately we did not have that luxury.

On the road this bike computer worked like a dream syncing up quickly and consistently displaying speed, distance, heart rate and watts throughout the duration of the ride.

You can input data for up to three different wheel sizes so you do need to make sure that your wheel size selection is correct prior to departure or it will throw your distance off.

The oversized display provides excellent data readability regardless of weather conditions and the ability to add a Polar G3 GPS sensor to sync mapping to Google Earth for post-ride analysis is really cool and would be an exceptional feature for mountain bikers.

We really liked the incline measurement feature which accurately assessed the slope of the road quite accurately in our estimation based upon DOT and topographic maps. If you know what the gearing needs to be for a specific level of incline you will find this useful.

It is hard to compare Polar's line of cycling computers with Garmin's, but the differences can best be summarized as follows. Polar has a superior quantity of data and generally tends to have its computers driven by external sensors to generate speed data, although external GPS sensors are available and compatible with some units. Polar has the superior training analysis software and gets the nod for incline measurement.

Garmin, by contrast, uses internal GPS sensors in all of its cycling computers which make them inherently accurate for speed and distance. The other thing we liked about Garmin was its ability to pair with ANT compliant power meters to display power output. While most ANT complaint power meters are expensive they are also very accurate.

The Polar Pro Trainer 5 software that comes with this bike computer allows you to download your post-ride data to a piece of software wirelessly with a USB stick and perform a lot of high-end analysis.

All-in-all we'd give the Polar CS600X 4.75 out of 5 stars.