First Race With The Timex Global Trainer-Review

Triathlon Forum
1

Hey all,

Just did the Rock & Rollman Half-Iron Distance race in Macon, Georgia, yesterday with the new Global Trainer and thought I’d share my thoughts on it. After check-in, I drove straight to the REI in Atlanta to get it, so I had not even tested it before race day. I know, big no-no, but it worked out.

Battery Life/Recharging:
The watch comes with a connector that can either be plugged into the wall or into a USB port. The connector clamps onto the back of the watch and the watch indicates the amount of charge remaining. The quick-guide that came with the unit states that it takes 2.5 to 3.5 hours to get a complete charge, but I didn’t stay up late enough to verify. It also states that the watch has a solid fifteen hours of battery life under “performance” mode, which seems fairly accurate, given that I had about sixty percent power remaining after a six hour HIM (It was about one hundred degrees and hilly, give me a break!).

GPS accuracy:
The watch wouldn’t pick up a signal for about twenty minutes, but once it gets one, it doesn’t ever lose it!
The watch showed that the swim was 1.9 miles, which I’m pretty sure was off, given my thirty minute swim time. The bike was right on, 56.07 miles and the run was pretty close, right at thirteen miles on the dot. I’m gonna go ahead and say that the course was off, rather than my watch. If someone who knows about GPS can chime in on the fluke with the swim, I’d sure like to hear it.
On the bike, the indicated speed seemed to lag behind my true speed, but only took a few seconds to catch up. I didn’t notice my pace on the run so much, as I was more worried about not melting.

Appearance:
I’m not trying to exaggerate, but it’s a beast! It’s about one and a half times the size of my Suunto T6C and noticeably bigger than the Garmin units I observed at the race.

Overall:
I’m very pleased with the watch. Large appearance aside, the watch looks good and isn’t as gaudy as some have worried about here. The accuracy was very impressive, but I was sad to learn that I’m not near as fast as I thought…
I love that I have four panels of information available in the bike and run windows, respectively. I didn’t have time to customize it, but I’m gonna try to get my total time to show in place of the cadence information while in the bike window. One thing I didn’t like is how easy it is to accidently hit the start/lap button when fighting with my speedsuit draw-string, as I was apparently on my fourth lap by the time I hit T1. I will obviously correct this by switching hands next time.

If anyone has any questions, I’ll try my best to answer you, just keep in mind, I’m no techie!

Edit to add: or fast triathlete, just so I beat all you smart asses to it!

2

Thanks for the review! Had you ordered the watch prior, or did the REI have them in stock? Care to share any pictures of the unit on wrist?

3

I ordered it prior. When I went to pick it up at the Atlanta REI, they said these were the only ones they had, so I’m thinking it’s a REI online exclusive thing for now.

I would post a pic, but I’m on a Mac and can’t for the life of me figure out how post a pic with Safari(I don’t have the image icon that is usually seen on a PC).

4

You didn’t say anything about a power meter, so I’m assuming you didn’t use it for that?

5

Thanks for the review! Had you ordered the watch prior, or did the REI have them in stock? Care to share any pictures of the unit on wrist?

You can check out some pic’s on the Timex facebook fan’s site. I believe they are on page 2 or 3 of the fan’s photo’s-

http://www.facebook.com/TimexSports?v=wall&ref=ts#!/TimexSports?v=photos&sb=0&so=30

Check them out!

6

So same technology used in the garmin, and same limitations with HR and GPS in water, but it’s bigger than the Garmin?

Why would you get one over the 310?

7

I don’t have a power meter yet, but as long as the one you’re going to be using is ANT+, you can set the watch to “scan” for it.

8

I really had no interest in getting a GPS unit until around the time that the Timex watch came out. I was happy with my Suunto, but hated recalibrating it everytime I switched shoes or batteries.

I went with the Timex over the Garmin because, IIRC, the Garmin does not have ANT+. Please correct me if I’m incorrect on this. Otherwise, there was no other reason.

9

It does have ANT+. You stand corrected.

chris

10

Thank you, sir.

11

It’s a gift I have :slight_smile:

chris
.

12

Does the Timex use a separate speed/cadence sensor for the bike like Garmin offers to get a more accurate speed reading? One of my beefs with my 305 is that even with the speed sensor, the current speed reading is pretty much worthless. How does the Timex compare?

I was in Macon, too, it was my first half (5:38, slow swim, mediocre run, 2:36 bike). :slight_smile:

13

they have their own combo speed and cadence system.

14

Congrats on a good time for your first HIM! I couldn’t seem to find my legs on the bike and just melted on the run. It was my sixth HIM and by far my worst performance.

The unit didn’t come with anything but a recharge/PC sync cable. As far as speed goes, I think there was a bit of a lag when I accelerated and what was displayed on the watch.

15

GPS accuracy:
The watch wouldn’t pick up a signal for about twenty minutes, but once it gets one, it doesn’t ever lose it!
The watch showed that the swim was 1.9 miles, which I’m pretty sure was off, given my thirty minute swim time.

Garmin just released a firmware upgrade for the 310XT that improves the accuracy during the swim. It has to do with telling the watch that you are swimming and to compensate accordingly for the swinging motion of the arm. We did a lake swim in which we swam and then drove in a boat the exact route and the distances were very spot on. Does the timex have different training modes like the Garmin? swim, bike, run

16

I don’t have a power meter yet, but as long as the one you’re going to be using is ANT+, you can set the watch to “scan” for it.

Couple of random thoughts after doing a bike/run workout tonight with it (including power meter). I’ll be posting something later tonight far more in depth…

Bike:

Power meter support blows.

  1. No calibration option
  2. No data smoothing option (i.e. 3s, 30s, etc) - though, it does appear to be about a 10s smoothing built in
  3. No 1s recording (Everything is 2s).
  4. No utilization of cadence on PM’s (such as Quarq, PT having either direct or indirect cadence).
  5. No NP/TSS/etc…
  6. No Lap power, only ride avg. power

Other:

  • Doesn’t support multiple ANT+ bike profiles, meaning, if you have two bikes, while it’ll remember wheel sizes, it won’t remember ANT+ sensors
  • Significant dropouts on speed/cadence sensor (had a Edge 500 at same time, not a single recorded dropout)

Run:

Pacing is clean and even, and you can smooth the data even more (pace/speed), which is useful. Though, no ability to do lap distances, which is annoying. Significant HR dropouts again, nothing on 310XT using at same time.

General:

Holy options batman. You’ve gotta see all the options in the software. And best of all - you can export it to a file and import it back in again. Making it super easy to backup settings. Very cool. Oh, and it’s big.

There is no ‘Evil’ Smart-Recording, just everything is 2-second recording. So many will like that…unless you have a power meter.

Overall:

Hmm, kinda a wash. It’s mostly a clone of the 310XT, minus a few features, and with a few other ones tossed in (you can do autolap by time as well as distance). Given it’s the same price as the 310XT (actually, it’s $50 more right now with the rebate), I’m struggling to see the appeal today. Perhaps with some firmware updates/fixes it’ll be better.

17

[reply
Hmm, kinda a wash. It’s mostly a clone of the 310XT, minus a few features, and with a few other ones tossed in (you can do autolap by time as well as distance). Given it’s the same price as the 310XT (actually, it’s $50 more right now with the rebate), I’m struggling to see the appeal today. Perhaps with some firmware updates/fixes it’ll be better.

Do you have the prices switched around? When I looked at REI’s site yesterday, the Timex w/HRM was $75 cheaper (only $25 after Garmin’s $50 rebate) than the comparable 310XT w/HRM. Are the prices on REI’s site going to stay the same once more stores start carrying the Timex in September? or do they have some special pricing (cheaper or more expensive) since they are the only ones exclusively carrying it?
-Nick

18

[reply
Hmm, kinda a wash. It’s mostly a clone of the 310XT, minus a few features, and with a few other ones tossed in (you can do autolap by time as well as distance). Given it’s the same price as the 310XT (actually, it’s $50 more right now with the rebate), I’m struggling to see the appeal today. Perhaps with some firmware updates/fixes it’ll be better.

Do you have the prices switched around? When I looked at REI’s site yesterday, the Timex w/HRM was $75 cheaper (only $25 after Garmin’s $50 rebate) than the comparable 310XT w/HRM. Are the prices on REI’s site going to stay the same once more stores start carrying the Timex in September? or do they have some special pricing (cheaper or more expensive) since they are the only ones exclusively carrying it?
-Nick

Hmm, sorta. The problem is REI is overpriced for the 310XT.

Timex With HR: $325 @ REI
Timex w/o HR: $275 @ REI

310XT with HR: $360 (minus $50 rebate, so $310)
310XT w/o HR: $320 (minus $50 rebate, so $270)

Hmm, a little closer than I thought.

19

I just looked on the rei site and the price of the 310xt was 349, and I didn’t see a rebate. I thought I’d decided.

20

I just looked on the rei site and the price of the 310xt was 349, and I didn’t see a rebate. I thought I’d decided.

Rebate form: http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/trisports/garmin-310xt-rebate