Advice on Garmin 310 or 910

Lisa

 Hi - I've recently lost my Garmin 310xt - sad....  I need a new garmin - should I stick with the 310 or splurge on the 910.  

 

Here is my deal  - I use the Garmin for running and biking and I have a powertap that I want to use with the garmin - I am not fancy and do not upload my data anywhere so don't care about that functionality - just want to use GPS to get pace and watts.  I wouldn't mind using it for swimming distance too but my 310 never seemed to be very accurate in Open water so I kind of gave up on it.  My question is it better to just order another 310 or splurge on the 910 because the swimming functionality is so much better?

 

Thanks for any and all feedback.

 

Lisa

mgraffeo

Lisa, I still use a 305, so I'm probably not qualified to offer a suggestion on the two, though if you do a significant portion of your swimming in a pool, I'd suggest the 910. I don't expect it to be a lot better in open water.

I did want to comment that you say you have a powertap, but aren't downloading your data. I realize that not everyone is a geek like me, but that seems like a terrible waste. There are free programs that let you do basic analysis, and then there's WKO, which is the standard around here. Both allow you to both have a record, as well as see your progress, and most importantly, analyze whether the training you're doing is working, and why. Coach Rich is fond of saying that a PM without downloading and analysis is like having spent $1500 for a cateye computer.

It's not complicated, doesn't take a long time, and there's a great introduction called the Power Webinar which will show you everything you need to know. Worth considering, based on the investment you've already made.

Lisa

 Thank you for the feedback. At some point I'd be interested in the analysis piece. However as the single mother of 3, full time math teacher, working on completing my masters degree while also training for an ironman I feel I can't afford to spend any more time on training related activities than I already do. I do not agree with the comment that I pretty much have an expensive Cat eye. I use my pm on every ride and train with my power zones. This has helped my cycling a great deal and helped me do much better overall in my last half iron. I ride much differently using my power zones than I used to with hr.

 

Wcan u clarify for me what I would learn from the download that would change my riding? I'm just an average age grouper not someone trying to qualify for kona but do enjoy data so if there is something compelling that I'm missing perhaps I'll see if I can find some extra time for the data analysis.

 

Thank you

Lisa

rtagher

I am mostly a runner. I do not train with power (yet!), but have the 910 and love it. There are a lot of upgrades. The vibration feature alone makes it worth the money for me. It's great because you no longer have to look at the watch all the time - it vibrates each mile ( or @ whatever distance/pace you dictate).. This frees you up to concentrate on running, especially if listening to music. If you want to use your older heart rate monitor $399 is not that bad. I would highly recommend the newer model.

coop6

I'm an average age grouper mom of 4, and I'm not headed for Kona either. I download every ride, it doesn't take as much time as you might think, and the info has been helpful to me. I use WKO, which is super easy to set up and use. I would consider myself a basic user, and I don't spend a lot of time poring over my data. I assume if you don't download, you are only getting average power, which doesn't tell the complete story. I'm not terribly good at talking about this stuff, but my two cents is that it's worth the initial set up time, and you don't need to spend hours looking at numbers.
What I've found helpful is the ability to look at my ride on a graph over time. I don't look at every ride, every time because like you I'm crunched for time. But being able to look at key rides and see how I manage my power up hills, how my power varies within an interval, how my heart rate matches up with my power... Those are a few of the things I find helpful. I'll download every ride, sometimes all at once at the end of the week and spend 10-15 minutes looking at them. Sometimes it's every two weeks.
Since you have all of the equipment, you could start uploading to training peaks without purchasing any additional software.

Joseph Lombardi

 Mike...or others...just curious....I am currently test driving WKO....what are the free programs that you mention? and how do they compare?

Lisa

Thanks Sarah that is helpful. Where is the easiest place to get wko and will it work on a Mac?

GMAN 19030

Posted By Lisa McCauley on 11 Mar 2012 07:47 AM

Thanks Sarah that is helpful. Where is the easiest place to get wko and will it work on a Mac?

You can get WKO through Rich.  It "can" work on a Mac but you have to get some extra software to make that happen.  You'll need a copy of Windows for Mac and some emulator software like Parallels or VMfusion.

Or you could just use Golden Cheetah (free) and save yourself about $300 in software and a lot of frustration.

http://www.goldencheetah.org/download.html

coop6

Lisa, I have a Mac but honestly the thought of trying to run parallels and figure all of that out was overwhelming. I fortunately also have a cheap crappy laptop with windows 7, which is what I run WKO on. Sounds like Bob has a great suggestion with Golden Cheetah. It's hard to beat free.

Lisa

Thank you all for your feedback and help - I will look into golden cheetah and also WKO (which now that I think about it is probably something I already purchased when I bought the whole powertap kit from Rich). I will try to make it a goal this year to look at some of my rides - currently I just watch my powermeter during my rides on my garmin and try to hold what I'm supposed to hold which has been working ok for me so far but if I can learn something from looking at some files, that would be great. I just already feel guilty sometimes about how much time my training takes up that I have always resisted adding one more thing to take me away from time with the kids...

thanks all and yes, I did go ahead and send Rich a check for the garmin 910 - .

Cary Blanco

Lisa - please don't take this the wrong way. Without having downloaded your data, how do you determine your zones that you hit during training rides?

Also, 910xt is new and still giving users some run pacing issues, I'm sure this will be ironed out at some point.

310xt has a swim mode that needs to be turned on that gives a much more accurate distance in OW swims, but it's not really useful for pool sessions.

kimmydct

RE: data analysis programs... I use Power Agent which is CycleOps software and does great for me! (I'm very new to Power and the software was pretty easy to use from the get-go) I get AP, NP, IF, avg cadence, etc. and pretty graphs too. Not sure what more I'd need and it is pretty quick. Probably takes me 10 mins to download after a ride, review, then post results on my EN OS group page.

Michele Cellai

Speaking from the perspective of someone that went form a 305 to the 910- I could NOT be HAPPIER!

I am an average age grouper as well. The 910 run pace issue shows up on download only, not during the run. For me, looking at lap pace, I have no problem during the run. I know it is a firm ware up date to fix, and to me, it is not a big enough deal to get the firmware update yet- and that is pure laziness.

Biking and pool swimming functions have been spot on perfect. If you swim steady laps, it is fine. If you do a Master's swim with different strokes and kick sets, well then it is an expensive lap watch. But I don't care. When I did my T-test, it didn't make my head hurt to get the data.

I almost went for the 610 this past summer when they had the $50 rebate if you turned in your old FR. Despite having a wrist band held together with duct tape, I was very attached to that 305 and opted against that upgrade. When I read the 910 specs in November, I was immediately sold on it. So that is saying a lot.

Very happy with 910. And not worried about losing it if I get knocked around during the swim.

Dino Sarti

Two quick thoughts:

1. 910 is great. I love it. I did a triathlon this weekend and multisport mode was really sweet and easy

2. Download the work! Don't worry about the analysis if time is tight, but some day many years from now you might KICK yourself for not having the records of your fitness and all the good memories! Saving my workouts, thoughts about my fitness and the day are the closest thing I have to keeping a journal. When your old and gray, thoughs kick ass 30/30s will impress your grand kids! Plus you can compare things across many seasons...

GMAN 19030

The pace problem on the 910 was corrected with the latest firmware.

Lisa

 Hi Bob - I looked into Golden Cheetah - do I have to have a powertap display unit to be able to use it or will I be able to download off my garmin?  I did not buy a display unit since i have a garmin (well I did until I lost it but will have the 910 as soon as Rich sends it to me - .)  Thanks!  Lisa

GMAN 19030

The Garmin will be fine.

Lisa

 Bob - I want to thank you for the info on Golden Cheetah - that was pretty easy to install and figure out!  I will now attempt (over spring break) to actually look at some rides and see what I'm doing.  Thank you very much for the great advice!

Keith Wick

Hi Lisa,

The main things you want to be concerned about from an initial analysis is your pnorm which tells you in watts how hard you worked for a given interval/ride. You always hear Rich saying, "Not all rides are created equal"....well this is what he's referring too. For example, if I ride steady at 200 watts for 1 hour, then my pnorm and ave watts will be 200 watts. However if I'm in a roadie ride where I'm fluctuating between a pull of 300 watts a rest of 100 watts and some steady stuff of 200 watts my pnorm will could likely be higher than 200 watts even though my average watts are at 200, which translates to having a much harder ride than the first one. You'll also want to look at your VI for the interval/ride as this helps you know how steady you rode. For your intervals you want it to be close to 1.0. When you test for FTP, your IF for the total 42' should be 1.01-1.02 which will translate to consistent intervals for both 20' segments. These are just some basic things to glance at when you initially start to analyze power.

Lisa

 Thank you Keith I will check that out!!

jhbinsc

The 910 is not that much more $$ than 310 now is it? $50 or 100? Much improved swim functionality and it works like a charm w/ ANT+ power meter! My understanding was that the 310 was not that great as a head unit for a power meter. They fixed that issue w/ 910! Pacing issue corrected w/ firmware 2.40 update and pool functionality is very nice.

Worth the upgrade if you lost your 310. IMHO.

Lisa

 Thank you Keith - Can I ask where I find the pnorm number?  I'm still pretty lost looking at all this stuff - I'm using Golden Cheetah after uploading from my Garmin but I can't seem to see where the pnorm number is - thanks so much for the help!