TECH SPECS
Display: 128 x 128 pixels
Water resistance: 50m
Heart-rate monitor: Timex Flex Tech HRM chest strap
Weight: 68g (watch only)
RATING
Features 3/5
Design 3/5
Performance 3/5
Value for money 3/5
Overall 3/5
The Timex Ironman Run Trainer 2.0 heart-rate monitor bundle consists of the GPS watch and the Timex Flex Tech HRM chest strap.
Without belt of trunk of
heart-spleen monitor, the watch costs $100 less. The belt does not
cause any so worn irritation while running. You ensure just that it is
a good adjustment.
Of the five watches in this round-up, the Ironman Run Trainer 2.0 looks most like a running watch.
It looks like the digital watches that primary school pupils are apt
to wear. It has "GPS" on the strap and the watch face. Below the
display, are the words "Ironman Triathlon".
All five buttons positioned around the display have their functions
clearly marked on the bezel. The one at the top left switches on the
Indiglo backlight. The lower button on the left takes you to
back/display. On the right side, the three buttons are, from the top,
for stop/save, menu/select and start/split.
The display is easy to read, even in bright sunlight. At night,
Timex's Indiglo backlight comes to the rescue. You can set the
backlight to be constantly on, which is most useful for nocturnal
runners like me.
Charge the watch using the bundled USB cable. The large clamp on this cable is meant to grip the left side of the watch tightly.
In an HDB environment, it took 10 seconds to connect to both
heart-rate monitor and GPS signals. On a stadium track, you are ready
to run in 6 seconds. Pretty impressive.
Heart-rate readings did not vary much from the other watches tested
here. But the GPS distance tracking did show a much higher margin of
error at 5 per cent.
You must first install the Timex Device Agent software on your computer to sync and upload your workouts.
A word of warning: This software is dated. The watch will appear as
a "hard drive" and you have to manually drag the workouts from the
"drive" to the software. The "drive" has space only for 15 workouts.
Existing ones must be deleted before more can be added.
The Timex Online Training centre website is also one of the most unintuitive I have ever experienced.
It works as a GPS running watch, but its software and Web service need a vast amount of improvement.
