Which GPS watches do you guys recommend?
When I'm swimming in open water, I want to know the straight-line distance of the course. I'm not nearly as interested in how much extra I ended up swimming by veering off course. That's an interesting data point, but I don't get credit for the extra distance in a race, so I don't count it in training either.
Because of that, I don't care too much about the swim correction feature. I'm fine if the data ends up with a bunch of zig-zags. As long as I can hit lap to pinpoint landmarks on the course, I can figure out the straight-line distance in Google Earth.
I do care about how quickly it can get a signal.
A lot of my triathlete buddies have the Garmin 310XT. That seems to have a bunch of features I don't need. Plus, I think it's really ugly. I truly hate the idea of spending that much money on a humongous gray and orange watch.
The reviews I read on Timex and Polaris GPS watches don't look that great--I see a lot of complaints about them being slow to connect and the software being a pain to use. Have any of you had good experiences with them? What about lower-end Garmin models?
If I did break down and get the 310XT, would I ever even be wearing it on my wrist, or would I have to wear it under my cap?
My engineering firm uses GPS for land survey, and the accuracy of the location depends on the quality of the GPS equipment and the number and quality of the satellite positions. The USAF lifted their public restrictions on accuracy many years ago and you can now survey locations using GPS to within hundreths of a foot with survey accurate equipment and network RTK GPS that adjusts the data location without post-processing. If you don't have network RTK GPS then you have to post process the data to correct for satellite signal varriations.
That said, the GPS equipment in watches is probably only accurate to about one to five meters when satellite condions are best, and falls off from their if you aren't getting good satellite reception. Because you don't post-process the data, there is no way to make corrrections for satellite variations (not that you would want to given the accuracy of the this equipment. I'm guessing the watches are typically accurate to about 20 -40 meters horizontal (about the same as for a car garmin, again depending on satellite conditions). This is why when you swim laps in a pool you see a lot of fuzz and it plots some the locations in the parking lot. HOwever, it should be plenty accurate for OW swims as long as you can keep it out of the water.
I've been using the swimovate pro (no GPS) in the pool and it works well, except kick and drill sets which you have to edit into the database after you upload. Most of my pool swimming in NJ is indoors so GPS won't work anyway. Probably will get a GPS watch for running and biking to try some triathlons.
My engineering firm uses GPS for land survey, and the accuracy of the location depends on the quality of the GPS equipment and the number and quality of the satellite positions. The USAF lifted their public restrictions on accuracy many years ago and you can now survey locations using GPS to within hundreths of a foot with survey accurate equipment and network RTK GPS that adjusts the data location without post-processing. If you don't have network RTK GPS then you have to post process the data to correct for satellite signal varriations.
That said, the GPS equipment in watches is probably only accurate to about one to five meters when satellite condions are best, and falls off from their if you aren't getting good satellite reception. Because you don't post-process the data, there is no way to make corrrections for satellite variations (not that you would want to given the accuracy of the this equipment. I'm guessing the watches are typically accurate to about 20 -40 meters horizontal (about the same as for a car garmin, again depending on satellite conditions). This is why when you swim laps in a pool you see a lot of fuzz and it plots some the locations in the parking lot. HOwever, it should be plenty accurate for OW swims as long as you can keep it out of the water.
I've been using the swimovate pro (no GPS) in the pool and it works well, except kick and drill sets which you have to edit into the database after you upload. Most of my pool swimming in NJ is indoors so GPS won't work anyway. Probably will get a GPS watch for running and biking to try some triathlons.
