My first GPS was was Garmin's Forerunner 405. "Who needs more than eight hours of battery?" I thought as I plunked down my credit card.
Turns out ... I did.
After signing up for my first 50-miler, I knew I either had to get a lot faster -- three hours faster -- or get a new watch. Since a sub-eight-hour 50-miler was out of the question -- for me -- I went for the next best thing: Garmin's Forerunner 310xt watch.
I didn't buy it for it's mutlisport capabilities, I only wanted one thing: the 20-hour battery.
Battery: At the time, the 310XT was the only GPS watch with a battery life longer than eight hours. Now, you can pick from Garmin's Forerunner 910, Magellan's Switch series or Suunto's Ambit -- all have at least 20 hours of battery.
Review: Suunto's sleek, shiny Ambit GPS watch and its 50 — yes 50 — hours of battery
Basics: Garmin has been in this game a long time, and the company certainly knows what it's doing. Those familiar with Garmin's other watches won't even need instructions. Turn it on and the watch will lead you through the setup process; you just need to know basic information, like how much you weigh.
Alerts: The 310 has auto lap, something my old 405 didn't have and a feature I've come to love and rely on. I have mine set to lap each mile, which it great for when you want mile splits instead of an overall average pace. It also has auto pause (I love this less, but it seems like a very useful feature for some). You can configure the distance and time alerts to be either a chirp, vibration or both (The chirp is annoying. Don't do it).
Display: You get four screens -- and up to four data fields on each -- and can scroll easily between them. I have one screen with just my heart rate, one with just the time, and two more with combinations of average pace, current pace and elapsed time. And unlike some other watches -- ahem, Timex -- I can easily change then on the watch while I stand at the trail head.
Operation: I love that this watch has one button for start/stop. There's only one button to hit, and in my opinion, the simpler the better. Reset the watch -- and save your workout to memory -- with the reset button. Easy, right?
GPS: This watch, like every other on the market, will not be as accurate on the trail, under dense tree cover or on switchbacks. It was spot-on during my one-mile National Mall road test.
Fit: This watch fits me like every other GPS watch -- except the Soleus -- meaning the 310 is too big for my little girl wrists. The display is too wide, so no matter how tight I make the band it will still roll from side to side on my arm. The heart rate strap is soft and very comfortable, plus it will fit even the most petite runners.
Swimming: I quit lap swimming in high school. Here are the specs, according to Garmin:
The Forerunner 310XT times your swim in the pool or the lake. And while the GPS signal does not track distance while swimming like it does on land, thanks to a recent software update, it now accurately estimates open water swim distance and average speed. Simply enable the Swim mode and press start as you begin your swim. When finished, press the lap button and the 310XT automatically processes a combination of the time and GPS data to compute an estimate of distance covered and average speed while swimming.
Even though I'm not a swimmer, I like having a watch that is water resistant to 50 meters since we end up in torrential rains -- or fall in streams -- more than I'd like.
Online platform: Garmin Connect
The watch will wirelessly connect to your computer with Garmin's ANT device. It's roughly the size of most USB drives and works about the same way. Plug it in, make sure the watch is close by and watch the data fly. The watch gets reset with every upload, though, so if you encounter any sort of hiccup while transferring, your run could get lost. There is a manual upload option, which is more cumbersome than the quick upload, but it could salvage your data.
Garmin Connect, the company's online training tool, is a breeze to use. I use it as a training log to track my runs and note things like temperature, pace and how the run felt. Once you upload runs and you can see them mapped out, calculate splits, see calories burned and elevation graphs. I like that you can share certain workouts with your social media world without having to share all of them (including the embarrassingly slow ones). I have my default set to locked, so I have to manually unlock the workouts I want to share.
Want to geek out? Here's a past race.
My wishlist for this watch is short: I want a standby mode -- so I can see what time it is without turning on the GPS; and I want a temperature display.
Overall, I love this watch. It's easy to use, easy to read and easy to upload. If you don't need all that battery, then you could get away with something that costs less, but I'll be in a monogamous relationship with this watch for a long time.
Buy it at most outdoors stores, or Garmin.com, for $249.99 without HRM or $299.99 with an HRM.
Sara Davidson is an ultrarunner and our resident women's gear destroyer.
