After getting back from the TIMEX camp, I found myself sorting through many magnificent items.  It took some time to find new little homes for all of the products that still had the tags on them.  I have been eagerly waiting to get them all out on the road, or pool, or… wherever each one belongs.

I have to say that I was most excited to test out the new TIMEX heart rate monitor with speed and distance.  What I like the most about all TIMEX watches is that they are so easy to use.  They practically have the owner’s manual built in.  This made it very easy for me to simply open the box, put on the heart rate monitor strap, and that was that.  Oh, ya, I also had to put the AA battery in the GPS sensor (battery included).  So I was off and running, literally.

One of my first runs was with a group of 5 people.  They wanted to run about an hour and half after a swim.  I thought it would be perfect since I had just got back from camp and had not really done too much running.  I got the watch and GPS synched up while getting on my shoes and was ready to go.  A couple of the people I was running with wanted to see the ‘new swag.’  So I showed them the watch and the sensor.  They loved how small the watch was and how it looked so ‘normal.’  But a couple of the guys were skeptics, and did not believe that it would be as accurate as their devices.  Do I hear a challenge?  I think so.

We all agreed on the rules.  We would let www.mapmyrun.com be the judge.  That is, we would go off what it said was the actual distance of the run.  None of us really believe car odometers.  We also agreed to run the exact same run.  No running back to get something, or off the road to pee.  If one did, we all did.

The participants names have been changed to protect their identity.  They will be known as the P-lar 6 series with the foot pod, and the G-min.  I think it’s important to keep their identity anonymous to protect their reputation.  We ran below big power lines, buildings, open areas, covered areas, lots of traffic, up hills, straight roads, and twisty roads.  But when all was done, we stood where we started, and the numbers were revealed.  They were:

TIMEX: 9.813 miles
G-min: 9.95
P-lar: 10.02

So a variance of about a quarter mile.  Not much to most, but to many, that’s a big difference considering we ran the exact same distance.

So now it was time for the judge, www.mapmyrun.com.  I traced the run and was as accurate as possible.  I zoomed in as close as I could so that I was following directly the direction we traveled.  After all was said and done, and I clicked the last leg of the run, the judge said:

9.81 miles

Now, I cannot be too critical of mapmyrun.com for not having the same 9.813 that my TIMEX had because it rounds to the nearest hundredth.  The TIMEX watch carries to the nearest thousandth.  So I say we call it 9.81 and say that mapmyrun.com and my TIMEX were the same.

Final decision… the TIMEX GPS system was superior in this test.  I am sure I will be challenged more in the future on this, so I will be prepared.  I have to say that I think all the products tested are good ones, just that the TIMEX was the most accurate and performed the best in this test.