The first is my Garmin Forerunner 305, which I got for Christmas in 2007. Its first official race was the Rock N' Roll Arizona Marathon, and I've used it for every major race since then. It's very reliable. The battery lasted through all fifty miles of the Door County Fall 50, though it did have a warning indicator by the time I was done.
The second is my iPhone 3GS, which I got in March 2012. I checked out a few different running apps, and I decided on RunMeter. It's got great features and a lot of flexibility. One of my favorite perks is that it posts updates and a tracking map to Facebook in real time, and comments left are read to me while I am still out running. I've found the tracking ability to be a lot less reliable than the Garmin -- it totally lost me during last year's Minneapolis Marathon. Still, I recommend this app. You can't blame the app developers for the GPS issues, which are a part of the iPhone.
Yesterday morning, I used both tracking devices for an eight-mile training run to do a side-by-side comparison.
It's hard to say which is more accurate, but the Garmin paces me a bit faster than Runmeter.
My current plan for this Saturday's marathon is to use both devices, as I did in Minneapolis. I like using the Garmin because I can manually track when I cross each mile marker. I like using Runmeter because it keeps race fans informed. This time, I do not plan to wear headphones, so I probably won't hear any Facebook comments unless I happen to hear the iPhone speaker while on a quiet part of the course. In any case, I'll read them all after I'm done.
No comments:
Post a Comment