GPS Watches for Triathletes

A GPS watch can be an extremely valuable tool for triathletes. There is just one problem, most have been designed with single sport enthusiasts in mind. Very few of them are waterproof, and who wants to add an extra 10 seconds onto their time to put a watch on after the swim? When I was shopping for a new GPS that I can safely swim in I had a very difficult time finding a site that listed which watches could be used underwater, so I figured I would use my contacts in the industry to help me decide which watch would be best for triathletes. Here is what I learned about options. NOTE: All of these watches can be worn during the swim.

Garmin Forerunner 310XT - The Garmin 310XT was Garmin's first crack at creating a watch made for triathletes. This watch can handle the water. It does not have the swim metric readings that the 910XT has, but it usually will be able to show your open water swim route on a map. It does of course provide excellent biking and running data, as all Garmin Forerunners do. The average price is $300. Overall, this is a great watch. However, if another $100 won't kill you, I would jump up to the 910XT.

Garmin Forerunner 910XT - The Garmin 910XT has raised the bar in the development of multisport watches. At $400 this watch becomes an investment for most people, but it is all you need for the swim, bike, and run. No more bike computer, run watch, and swim watch. What makes this watch stand ahead of the rest is that it has the ability to monitor swim metrics such as stroke count and distance, as well as providing the great running and biking data characteristic of most of the Garmin Forerunner fleet of watches. This is an incredible watch that will give you plenty of numbers to crunch following each workout. The 910XT is undoubtedly the cream of the crop of GPS watches available to triathletes at the time of this writing.

Polar RS800CX Multisport - Like the high end Garmin watches, this is another feature packed watch that doesn't seem to skip a bit of information for the serious number crunchers. At a retail price of $520 this watch tops the price scale, but also comes with a lot of flare. If you are the ultra-analytical type that loves spending hours crunching data, this watch will give you plenty to crunch. Excellent watch, but at a price range outside of what most people are willing to spend.

Nike+ Sportwatch - Nike kept their first attempt at a GPS watch simple. The benefit of this is that it is also affordable. At $200, this is the best deal of the waterproof watches. This watch is waterproof up to 5 ATM (this is a pressure term), which is the amount of pressure found in an underwater depth of approximately 165 feet. The watch is very basic compared to the high end Garmin, Polar, and Suunto watches in regards to the information it provides. It is made for running, however can suffice for biking. The data includes distance, time, real time pace, average pace, miles per hour, and calories. The Nike+ software does not breakdown data as well as the other manufacturers. The software is not as advanced and watch does not update as often, which results in inaccurate real time pace numbers, but the averages come out correctly at the end of each lap. The watch is more comfortable and smaller than the other watches. If your on a tight budget and are not overly concerned with real time pace, this is a decent watch. One important note, the buttons on this watch are not well thought out for triathletes. During my tests, my wetsuit kept pushing the buttons. By the time I got on my bike I had to reset everything.

Suunto - Suunto makes watches that are able to handle swimming, however I could find enough opinions to come up with an opinion of my own and could not get my hands on one to give it a try.

Timex Ironman - The Timex Ironman watch is a great watch, and more affordable than the Garmin watches. It breaks down data how triathletes prefer it and provides plenty of it. The only big problem for most people, including my friends that own this watch, is the screen is hard to read when you are running. The numbers are small, and there are lots of numbers on the screen. The numbers are also not as bold, so in certain light conditions it makes it hard to read as well. Hopefully Timex will fix this in upcoming years, as it is a deal breaker for me. If they do fix this, Timex may become a top choice.