TomTom Runner Cardio Watch (bye bye Garmin!)

Yay for new running gear!!  My birthday is coming up and my husband asked what I wanted for my day;  I had been eyeing this watch for a couple of weeks.  It was perfect timing as my (sometimes) trusty pink Garmin was on its last miles (bad pun intended.)  The Garmin had a hard time picking up a satellite signal and had a very short battery life.   I was really interested in this watch as it has a built in heart rate monitor (no pesky strap!) and it measures your cadence,  pace, distance and elevation gain.   It also allows you to train in certain heart rate zones and race yourself compared to past routes.  It's functional jewelry!

       

The watch!   The green light is the built in heart rate monitor

The TomTom watch arrived early and of course, I didn't want to wait until my actual birthday to open it up and take it for a run!  The set-up was pretty easy once I read the directions; I had to charge the watch overnight (it has up to 10 hours of battery life!)  I played with the watch before test-running it;  I love the big display and despite it being noticeably larger than my Garmin, it feels lighter.

   I took the TomTom out for a run at lunch today; usually, it takes at least 5 minutes for my Garmin to get a signal.  With the TomTom, it had a signal within 2 seconds of hitting the 'go' button! The green light turned on immediately for the heart rate monitor.  As I didn't read the directions in-depth, I forgot to program in my weight, age and height.  The watch had me automatically defaulted to a 5'11, 167lb. man (who was 64.)    Throughout the run, I could clearly read my heart rate, pace, distance and time.  It was nice to have all my stats on one screen.  After the run, (again, because I didn't read directions), I had no idea how to stop the run and save the data.  I didn't figure out how to stop the watch until 5 minutes after ending...and it was by accident (turns out you have to hold down a button for 5 seconds.)  

   I read the directions when I got back to my desk and ended up programming my height, weight, sex and age into the watch.   I uploaded my data from this afternoon's run easily onto the TomTom activity (all based on me being a tall, thin 64 year old male.)  The heart rate zone had me in the 'speed' zone but my average cadence was pretty synonymous to what my PT had calculated during a running trial (around 176.)  

   Now that my watch is programmed, I am excited to try it again (as a younger, shorter female!)