Short story: I'm getting back into Tri after about 15 years off. I have a full kit that was all pretty nice way back then. For example, a nice Polar HR monitor - it has both a stopwatch and an HR monitor!
All the shiny new toys look like fun (Forerunner 935 for example) but has anyone ever improved their run times because of using a device like this? It looks like my smart phone can do most of this ... setting up interval runs, cadence, HR, etc. I realize that the watches are optimized for this and might be more convenient, probably more durable than a phone ... but, for the run specifically, is that the only benefit that you get out of these expensive watches?
In other words, I guess I'm trying to figure out how much of the bells and whistles on these watches are just marketing gimmicks and how much they might actually improve my running.
All the shiny new toys look like fun (Forerunner 935 for example) but has anyone ever improved their run times because of using a device like this? It looks like my smart phone can do most of this ... setting up interval runs, cadence, HR, etc. I realize that the watches are optimized for this and might be more convenient, probably more durable than a phone ... but, for the run specifically, is that the only benefit that you get out of these expensive watches?
In other words, I guess I'm trying to figure out how much of the bells and whistles on these watches are just marketing gimmicks and how much they might actually improve my running.