Timex Global Trainer - Mini Review
It arrived today!!
Some initial thoughts and observations.
It's big, but I've had a ForeRunner 3-series on my wrist for a couple of years - this feels smaller than my 310xt (which I lost, so I can't do a side by side).
RTFM - A couple of hiccups due to my over zealous diving in...one must put the watch in PC Sync mode before the Training Peaks agent can find it. Oh, and I probably should have done more than casually glance at the buttons before taking the dog out at night for a walk around the block trial run. I think I ended up with 6 laps recorded because I thought the lap button was the stop button. 
I was able to load my "workout" into WKO+. It was a bit of a pain. I first had to upload the workout to TrainingPeaks (which was easy), and then had to download it from TP to my computer. But the file coming from TP was .gz compressed, so I had to quicky install 7zip so I could extract the .pwx file from the compressed file. WKO's file opener was saying it would import as a bike file, but it did come in as a run file. I did notice that the Corrections options were disabled for the workout though - not sure why.
More on WKO - first, true confessions...I'm still at version 2.2
. I tried telling WKO that I had a Timex Bodylink, but it couldn't connect. So for now, if I want to analyze stuff I'll have to do the upload+download dealio described above.
I'll reference the detailed review that Matt posted a link to: www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/06/timex-i...first.html
A couple of comments on his observations - mine arrived with a bike mount. It's basically a rubber 'C' whose outer dimension is about the diameter of a wrist, and the inner diameter is the size of a handlebar. He was right about the backlight being weak. At night I usually wear a headlamp these days, so this won't be too bad for me. Mine also arrived with a dead battery (but it also looks like it's serial number 667 - so I'm guessing this bad boy hasn't been sitting still for 3 hours EVER!)
Joy killer though - and one I'm hoping they will fix pronto...I wasn't able to find a way to do distance based intervals. What!??!? No mile repeats!??!
Truthfully, I've never really used the pre-planned workouts in my ForeRunners consistently, but it's an important feature. On the plus side, being able to set up EVERYTHING on the computer is a big plus.
To be fair, I'll need to read through the (download only) full manual before I do too much complaining. I'll take it for a real spin tomorrow, and see how it works "under fire".
Mike
Comments
If it was not for the lack of many important power features (i.e. 1 sec recording, rolling averages, etc) I would have picked one up to test out as well.
Mike, very currious how the rest of your testing goes. Thanks for sharing.
One potential advantage of the Timex product would have been (is?) that it can double as a watch if you don't have to charge it every day. I believe you can use this model like a cell-phone, i.e., that when the GPS is on it eats a lot of battery (like any of these things), but the charge lasts for multiple days in normal watch mode.
6 cm = 2.36 inches. Look at the top of a soda can - the raised rim is about the same diameter. Also, its fairly thick - 3/4"?
I think if you are looking for a replacement for your regular Timex watch, you'll be disappointed. If you've used a ForeRunner 300 series, I don't think you'll have a problem. Per the photos here: www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/06/timex-i...first.html you'll see that the face's are pretty similar in size, yet the Timex looks to be thinner (better under a wetsuit?).
From their spec sheets:
Watch Size (WxHxD):
Display Size:
A comment on the display size - the numbers on the Timex are smaller. One reason is that when it's showing it's data display, it's also showing a band across the bottom with status icons and the current time. I like having the current time there - it's kind of like having a fifth display window. Also, the times display milliseconds - yeah, I care about milliseconds in an ultramarathon or ironman
. I'm going to have a look to see if I can shut that off - it's just noise. I did a 45 minute run this morning in dawn light though, and I was able to see the numbers fine.
Weight (these numbers from a Timex rep's post on Slowtwitch):
So yeah, overall, it's bigger - but 3 minutes into today's run I forgot about it.
Oh, and it's not blaze orange
. I do hope the Garmin guy that picked orange is one of those we keep hearing about on the news - you know, the unemployed
.
Mike
The always thorough Ray Maker has generated a very detailed evaluation of the Timex Global Trainer on his blog at www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/timex-i...er-in.html
Used the Timex Global for Branson Half. It functioned well. I only had 3 days to learn to use it. I made some mistakes and skewed some data but it was operator error. It is big but other than finding a comfortalble position in the aero bars I didn't notice size.
I played with one for a couple of weeks and sent it back. I really do not have anything positive to say about it. It is an inferior product to the 310 in pretty much every way.
Mike
- Lance