Best Sports Watch: How To Find Best Watch For Running
So you're looking to splash out and spend a bit extra on a sports watch. How can you be assured of getting the best sports watch for your money? What exactly can your money buy?
It is certainly not difficult to spend a lot of money on an advanced fitness tracking watch, but how can you make best use of your money? What are you looking for exactly?
Let's take a look at some of the more advanced features money can buy.
Heart Rate Monitor Device
Almost all advanced sports watches support heart rate monitor devices. A heart rate monitor device is a strap that wraps around your chest and measures the rate your heart is beating at a given point in time.
Most heart rate monitor watches allow you to define your training by specifying a set of upper and lower heart rate limits called "heart rate zones". If your heart rate falls outside of these zones, a warning alarm is sounded. Most advanced sports watches also record how much time you spend inside or outside these zones.
Speed and Distance Tracking Capacity
The best sports watches are capable of tracking speed, pace and distance via GPS or foot pod devices. A foot pod device works by measuring your leg cadence and must be calibrated to your stride length. A GPS device works by linking to a system of 24 satellites that orbit the earth. By locking onto three or more satellites your exact location can be accurately calculated from which speed, pace, distance traveled and a map of your actual route can be determined.
Food pods and GPS devices both have their advantages and disadvantages. GPS devices can perform poorly without a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. Foot pods can work in all conditions, but require calibration and cannot produce a route map.
Data Transfer to Computer and Bundled Software
The best sports watches facilitate the transfer of stored session information to computer. The data can then be analyzed in a proprietary software package, or third party system. Among the best sports watches the quality of software can vary. Fortunately there exist many good quality third party options around that can interpret the data of the leading sports watch manufacturers.
Session History Recording Capacity
If you are spending a lot of money, the sports watch you decide on should be capable of at least storing 15-30 sessions of training. Sessions typically comprise of one or many lap times and can often include a lot of other sophisticated fields and data. When purchasing your watch, decide how much session and lap memory storage you require and which proprietary fields are the most useful to you.
Avoiding Unnecessary "Fluff" Features
Unfortunately spending extra money does not always equate into extra value. Many watches come bundled with superfluous features that do not offer any real practical advantage to the tracking and analysis of your fitness program. Be wary of features that are emphasized in the advertise copy, especially ones that appeal to the "WOW THAT'S COOL" factor as these are the features that often "hook" us into making a purchase we later regret.
Be Wary Of Add-Ons
High performing watches will often cost a lot in the first place, yet require you to purchase add-on pods and devices to get the features you really require. Examples of these are additional memory devices, PC transfer devices, heart rate monitors, GPS tracking devices, foot pods and cycling cadence devices.
The standalone watch piece may be all you think you need, but be aware of the extra add-on features that you might require later on that require you to spend more than you bargained for.
Conclusion
If you are going to spend a lot of money, you should demand a lot of value in return. The leading sports watches above $150 can offer plenty of features that can help take your fitness and performance to a new level. At the same time if you're not careful your can end up dishing out for much more than you bargained for, without a lot of actual benefit.
It is certainly not difficult to spend a lot of money on an advanced fitness tracking watch, but how can you make best use of your money? What are you looking for exactly?
Let's take a look at some of the more advanced features money can buy.
Heart Rate Monitor Device
Almost all advanced sports watches support heart rate monitor devices. A heart rate monitor device is a strap that wraps around your chest and measures the rate your heart is beating at a given point in time.
Most heart rate monitor watches allow you to define your training by specifying a set of upper and lower heart rate limits called "heart rate zones". If your heart rate falls outside of these zones, a warning alarm is sounded. Most advanced sports watches also record how much time you spend inside or outside these zones.
Speed and Distance Tracking Capacity
The best sports watches are capable of tracking speed, pace and distance via GPS or foot pod devices. A foot pod device works by measuring your leg cadence and must be calibrated to your stride length. A GPS device works by linking to a system of 24 satellites that orbit the earth. By locking onto three or more satellites your exact location can be accurately calculated from which speed, pace, distance traveled and a map of your actual route can be determined.
Food pods and GPS devices both have their advantages and disadvantages. GPS devices can perform poorly without a clear, unobstructed view of the sky. Foot pods can work in all conditions, but require calibration and cannot produce a route map.
Data Transfer to Computer and Bundled Software
The best sports watches facilitate the transfer of stored session information to computer. The data can then be analyzed in a proprietary software package, or third party system. Among the best sports watches the quality of software can vary. Fortunately there exist many good quality third party options around that can interpret the data of the leading sports watch manufacturers.
Session History Recording Capacity
If you are spending a lot of money, the sports watch you decide on should be capable of at least storing 15-30 sessions of training. Sessions typically comprise of one or many lap times and can often include a lot of other sophisticated fields and data. When purchasing your watch, decide how much session and lap memory storage you require and which proprietary fields are the most useful to you.
Avoiding Unnecessary "Fluff" Features
Unfortunately spending extra money does not always equate into extra value. Many watches come bundled with superfluous features that do not offer any real practical advantage to the tracking and analysis of your fitness program. Be wary of features that are emphasized in the advertise copy, especially ones that appeal to the "WOW THAT'S COOL" factor as these are the features that often "hook" us into making a purchase we later regret.
Be Wary Of Add-Ons
High performing watches will often cost a lot in the first place, yet require you to purchase add-on pods and devices to get the features you really require. Examples of these are additional memory devices, PC transfer devices, heart rate monitors, GPS tracking devices, foot pods and cycling cadence devices.
The standalone watch piece may be all you think you need, but be aware of the extra add-on features that you might require later on that require you to spend more than you bargained for.
Conclusion
If you are going to spend a lot of money, you should demand a lot of value in return. The leading sports watches above $150 can offer plenty of features that can help take your fitness and performance to a new level. At the same time if you're not careful your can end up dishing out for much more than you bargained for, without a lot of actual benefit.
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