Garmin Gets Its Sports Groove On: The Forerunner Line
Posted by Jonathan in EQUIPMENT on 04-19-10 No Comments
Looks like the iPhone is having a positive effect on sports watches: Long-time GPS maker Garmin, feeling the pain of smart phones getting all navigational, is cranking off some sport watches.
And they actually don’t suck.
Earlier this month, Olathe, Kansas-based Garmin International (now that’s a small town where getting lost is just not an excuse) came to market with the Forerunner 110. A sport watch in a condom sort of thang which at first blush, could not be any more throwaway for GPS. The wrist-mounted unit comes with a positioning chip built in, some decent access and data technology branded as Garmin Connect, and some features like heart monitors and such. But with Suunto, Seiko and now Nike in the game, I personally was asleep before I finished the press release.
But …
The clipping sat on the desk and I finally got around to reporting on this thing and sure enough, Garmin is becoming a GPS-enabled training device sleeper. Besides being not bad looking, its line of wrist-mounted computers has some nice add-ons. Most important is the claimed 8 hours of battery life! EIGHT! Being the uber-nerd I am, I have been messing with GPS-enabled wrist computers for about a decade, and I can tell you as Dick Tracy as they all seem, almost all GPS watches share one sorry little secret: crap battery life. The idea that I could actually get a full day out of this sucker, well that’s a game changer.
What is even more interesting is Nike, Suunto and Seiko are, for sure, feeling this pressure. And you can expect them to fight back with slick nav watches of their own. So this summer, I plan to let my geek flag fly and start wearing more wrist-mounted nav.
It’s good to be a geek.
Leave a Comment
WEEKLY PODCASTS
New podcasts available every Wednesday!
Subscribe via iTunes
TSC is now on Stitcher!
Listen on your iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry
Episode 51: “The Pirates Really Are Broke!”
Seth breaks down the body mechanics for Strasburg’s Tommy John surgery. Yes, he’s effed. Blum takes a peak at the freshly leaked financial data for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yes, they’re broke. Dan does new technology at the USOpen. Yes, they’re new racquets. And Boise State is a BCS contender. Yes, Blum’s a stone cold idiot. (29.1 MB: [...]
Episode 50: “It really is a woman!”
Blum and Dan get into some sex … the sex of South African runner Caster Semanya, that is. Then Seth chimes in on the new NFL.com fantasy league, complete with in-game video clips. Blum breaks down FanPageList.com, the site that ranks the social networking power of athletes. And finally is oxygen during a mixed martial [...]
Episode 49: “Welker’s Not Cheating … He Really, Truly Is The Bionic Man”
Seth joins us for his take on the BlackBerry sports apps: 212 of em flat out suck. And Dan the Pats Fan only gets a touch defensive breaking down Wes Welker’s “remarkable” return from a torn ACL. While Blum digs into the cutting edge of TV sports technology from IBC2010 trade show. And everyone gets into [...]
Episode 48 — “Spain’s Putting HGH In The Water”
Dan makes it back from the beach alive, so we break down the cutting edge in NFL Preseason analysis: Old school print mags. Blum is agog at the Triple Crown winner in auto racing. Dan talks up the X-Games. And we wonder what drug is in the water in Span. They’re winning everything, everywhere. (24.1 MB. [...]
Episode 47 — “Lance is Gettin’ Screwed”
Dan takes a much needed vacation poolside so Blum flies solo this week. Seth The Technihilist calls in with the latest scoop on tech tools to keep his Pirates awful. Blum plays the Old Course, on Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online, that is. And we throw a techno-bone to Lance: There’s no way he doped [...]
Episode 46 – “Show Em Your Big Fly Stick”
Dan and Blum give it up to King George Steinbrenner. then Blum breaks down some big bats for big home runs. And Dan gives us the skinny on EA’s NCAA Football 11. And finally what a royal jerk Lebron really is. (7/15/2010. 29.1 minutes)
Episode 45 – “They’re All Takin’ Drugs”
Dan, Blum, and Seth wonder out loud what the world needs with Sirius’ new all fantasy sports channel. Dan gets sucked into the Back to the Future vibe and brings us sports technology in 2015. Blum sees an All-Star conspiracy in Kevin Youkilis not getting on the All-Star team. And with Floyd Landis spilling his [...]
Episode 44 – “The age of free stuff is over”
Can Sports Illustrated save themselves with a fancy iPad app? Plus: Why high school can’t afford to protect their football players with modern helmets, a look at what FIFA could do with goal-line technology, and Jonathan found some “interesting” items at the Outdoor Retailer Show. [7/1/2010, 30:29m]
Episode 43 – “This is the geek’s delight”
Seth, the tech nihlist, thinks 3D television is just going to be a rich guy’s thing and has a long way to go. Plus: Jonathan philosophizes on technology and the ever-changing sports medium, Dan got to play with the Xbox Kinect and wants to have its baby, and a little airplane tech from the Red [...]
Episode 42 – “We make the invisible visible”
TSC brings in Ron Imbriale from Flexxcoach to discuss their innovative software/video solution for regular athletes. Plus: The inflatable motorcycle crash suit, a discussion of Abby Sunderland’s failed around the world sailing trip, and we look at what ESPN on the Xbox really means for sports fans. [6/16/2010, 31:32m]
