While all of those features mentioned above do help in making the running watch more accurate and comfortable to use, the fact is that some of them can be considered as bonuses. When it comes to running watches there are some necessary characteristics that should be there in order for you to be able to train well.

We can divide these characteristics into two groups, the physical characteristics and the software features.

Physical:

-          Durable but comfortable Wriststrap or band

As many runners know by now, running can be an extremely physical activity. The vigorous movements by your arms as you run can damage or dislodge the wrist strap of the running watch. This risk is even amplified if you start running in not so desirable weather conditions.

That is why you would want your watch to have a durable but comfortable strap. You would want it to be able to remain firmly attached to your wrist without hindering your movements or making you uncomfortable.

-          Easy to use start and stop buttons

You would usually use a running watch to take your lap splits and other time related data. Having a watch that has difficult to reach or use start and stop buttons can make you take inaccurate data.

In a sport where the tenths of a second is highly regarded, you should be able to start and stop your timer as soon as possible. Having buttons that are hard to press may add or subtract a few seconds of your actual time.

Software Feature:

-          Memory function

A running watch should be able to keep track of your laps or miles during a span of training activities. This would help you recognize if your constant and continuous training is effectively improving your pace.

There are actually some watches that can track up to 500 training sessions but leisure runners may opt to go for those that can track a lesser number of sessions since those are usually cheaper.

-          Computer connectivity

Computer connectivity is a relatively new trend and feature in running watches that is slowly becoming more and more important. A watch that has computer connectivity is great for two things.

The first is that you would be able to record your data and use training analyzing software for them. This would help you learn more about which training you should be doing.

The second is that computer connectivity means you would be able to upload your training and send it to people all over the world. Again, this would help in analyzing and comparing your data with real life performance from other running enthusiasts.

Related posts:

1. Running Watch Favorites
2. Personalizing Your GPS Running Watch
3. Running Watch Training Tips

However, this may not be as efficient as one thinks. In fact the practice of over exerting one’s self is potentially harmful. It could lead to complications because of overtraining.

When it comes to training, there should always be a proper way to do things. The proper way would be to train within your limits, and to slightly improve on them. To be able to do this, you would need to have good equipment, proper discipline, and good coaching.

Garmin Forerunner 405 Wireless GPS-Enabled Sports Watch with Heart Rate Monitor

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $373.32

Amazon Price: $272.85

For starters, training properly would mean listening to your body and adapting to its needs. For runners, this might mean that you should only work out for a set amount of time. That’s why a good running watch is ideal for this purpose.

The Garmin Forerunner 405 can display your time, splits, and laps taken in order to know whether you have already done the requisite number of laps, or logged enough minutes in your workout. This would help you in determining whether you are over training or under training.

Aside from distance or time, another thing to consider while training is the level of intensity of the activity that you are doing. Some bodies are not able to keep up with highly intense physical training while some would need more strenuous activities before training takes effect. For this purpose, having a heart rate monitor would be ideal.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Receiver With Heart Rate Monitor

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $299.99

Amazon Price: $143.54

The Garmin Forerunner 305, with its built in heart rate monitor functionalities, is exceptional in serving this purpose. You would be able to check whether the activity is enough to get your heart pumping or if it’s too much that it is already becoming a strain to your overall health.

The Forerunner 305 even has a heart rate zone feature that ensures that you are always in tune with your heart rate. It gives audible signals when you are not performing in the range that you specify. This would help in making sure that you are always doing what your body needs.

They also say that training involves a lot of tweaking. One should always analyze training data properly to ensure which elements of the activities that they are doing should be reinforced or eliminated from the training program. That’s why it is a good idea to check with training analyzers or comparing with others.

Fortunately, the Garmin Forerunner models are very easy to share and transfer to computers. Once connected to computers, the one who is training could easily run a battery of software to check whether his training is up to par with what his body needs. Alternatively, you can also upload your training and running data to websites and share it with other users.

Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS Receiver and Sports Watch

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $267.99

Amazon Price: $134.86

Of course, even if you have the entry level Forerunner 205 or the advanced Garmin Forerunner 405, they would all be useless if you do not have the discipline to stick to your training.

That said, with equipment like these that provide you with nearly everything you need, just a little ounce of discipline and you are well on your way on being able to train in the most proper way possible!

Related posts:

1. Running Watch Favorites
2. Garmin Forerunner 305 Review
3. Garmin Forerunner 205/305/405 – Top Running Watch 2009

Nike

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $69.00

Amazon Price: $49.00

The no hassle Nike Triax fury features the necessary functions that you would expect from a sports watch. It displays time and date, and other basic timekeeping features.

More training oriented features of the Nike Triax Fury 50 allows you to see your pace, total time, lap time, with the simple press of a button. The Triax has a 50-lap chronograph and It also allows you to create target times for you to be able to set goal splits and you will get notified whether you are keeping pace with your goals.

The no frills Triax Fury 50 comes in a convertible display with ventilated strap and is water resistant up to 100m

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Timex Men's T5K3419J Ironman Shock 30-Lap Watch

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $59.95

Amazon Price: $43.36

The line of Timex IRONMAN watches have evolved over the years. They began to add new features and amenities but the core premise of catering to an athlete’s need is always retained. This concept is prominent in the Timex Mens Ironman Shock 30 Lap Watch

A throw back to the renowned 1986 best selling original Timex, the IRONMAN Shock 30 lap watch retains the sleek and stylish design and rugged durability that Timex watches are known for.

However, The Ironman Shock 30 is updated with features that make it able to keep up with the demands of the modern athlete. Aside from the basic time keeping functions, the Timex Ironman shock 30 has all the timekeeping features such as chronographs, lap times, and splits, that aids the athlete during his training.

Sleek, Stylish, and Sporty, the Ironman Shock 30 Lap Watch is looking like another timeless time piece from timex.

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Nike Midsize WR0124-001 Triax Speed 10 Regular Watch

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $49.00

Amazon Price: View Sale Price

The Nike Midsize Triax Speed 10 Regular Watch is a serious running watch that is perfect for people who take their running training seriously.

A part of the Bowerman series, the Nike Triax Speed 10 Regular watch comes with the balance between functionality, simplicity, and ergonomics. This makes it an ideal watch for anyone who wants to go out and focus on their training rather than on how they track their data.

The watch is capable of providing runners with lap times, total times, a 10-lap chronograph that keeps splits and five interval timers. Runners can also create customized workouts to match their body’s physical fitness levels. It even has Target Time settings for runners to be able to compare goal times while racing.

The Nike Triax Speed 100 Regular Watch can also go into Data mode that can recall the training data such as best laps and average laps for people to further analyze how their training went about.

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User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Easiest to read Watch
This watch has the biggest, easiest to read, digits I have found….and I searched.

It is also easy to use.

A great watch.

4 Stars Does the job but should have better light
I bought this product because I needed a watch with a timer to start timing myself when I run. Nike makes quality products, and this is no exception. However, the night light doesn’t stay on long enough–you have to constantly press it. Other than that, the watch looks sharp and is the perfect size. Its alarm is also good. It is loud but not annoying. I recommend this product if you want a basic digital water-resistant watch with a chronometer.

3 Stars works very well
I wear it daily. the buttons depress accidentally though so it does not stay on the “time” screen.

1 Star NIKE WATCH
I purchased this watch on 8/6/08. I am currently in Iraq and I needed a backup. I already own one similar to this one. I just wanted one on standby in case my battery died or another mishap. This watch that I purchased on Amazon died on 9/7/08. It doesn’t work at all. I don’t know what happened. I only wore it 2-3 times because my other watch still worked. Watches are supposed to last longer than 30 days and this one didn’t. I’m not sure if its because I didn’t buy it directly through NIKE or because I took the short cut. Nevertheless, I’m still out of $40+ and I don’t have anything but a worthless watch to show for. I don’t recommend this product.

3 Stars BATTERY?
I received the watch quickly and was exactly what i wanted. Only problem is that within a month the battery dies on me and of course it has to be a difficult watch and they cant just put a new battery in i had to send it to some place to get a new one.

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Polar RS200 Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Black)

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $169.95

Amazon Price: $116.99

The Polar RS200 Running Heart Rate Monitor is created with the needs of serious runners in mind. Utilizing the built in inertia controlled accelerometer, the RS200 is able to give you accurate readings about the way you train.

The Polar RS200 Running Heart Rate Monitor Watch provides you with dependable Speed, pace, distance and heart rate data that can help you customize and adjust according to your training needs. It has a fitness indicator feature that allows the Polar RS200 to help serious runners create the workout that suits them best!

It even has Polar sports zones and event countdown timers to ensure that you are training properly for a specific intensity or event!

All the data that you gathered on your Polar RS200 Heart Rate Monitor can even be uploaded to your computer through the included Polar Running Coach Web Service. This would help you analyze your training better, and ensure that you are on the best training for your body type!

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User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars I love it!!!
It was just as told!! I really love it and very simple to use. Has given me no trouble. i would tell all of my friends to buy, it;s great!

1 Star Dont buy it.
Let see.

Shipped with a dead battery.

Put in a new battery. Sucked it dry in a week.

AlsoPlease note that I have read the directions:

Top left button is useless. Should illuminate. Never worked.

GUI. aka Interface is all over the place. You get to a section and it wont let you back out. Mine has been stuck in stopwatch mode for a week now. It has taken 48 separate time splits without my asking it to.

I hate my watch. Im ready to throw it out if it wasnt so dam expensive. Thanks for nothing Polar.

5 Stars Accurate Heart rate monitor
Accurate and an important part of my routine, it calculates everything I need to account for my work out. It works with both gym’s I work out in equipment I use; from elliptical to the stair master. It is calibrated for use with my body weight index, and heart rate and it gives me the greatest accuracy for my work out. I highly recommend anyone who both works out in the gym and jogging. I do not have the foot accessory for this, but will invest in it later on.

5 Stars A lot of information, but not complicated
This watch is working very well for me. I really like looking at my statistics after a workout. There is a lot of information available through this watch, but it is not complicated to understand or navigate. I wish that Polar offered a female-sized version of this watch; it’s a bit chunky for a female wrist.

3 Stars Works, but glitchy
I’ve been using the Polar RS200 for a little over a year, and on balance, I have been happy with it. It has done precisely what I have asked it to do until recently when I have been trying out more complex workouts. More on that in a second.

I believe I got a defective unit, because the watch will spontaneously emit these strange sounds, similar to a static or old-school modem sound. I guess it’s some software glitch that causes the WebSync speaker to fire off. It comes and goes without any kind of pattern. The downside of it is that the battery discharges after 6-8 months instead of the 2 years or so the manual says. Also, the noise prevents me from wearing this as a watch, day-to-day, because it would be too annoying to have it go off all the time. This sound glitch must also cause the battery to drain. I’ve scoured the web looking for answers, and the answer seems to be ship it back to Polar for evaluation and repair, at my expense. But I’m not going to do that because of the expense and my compulsive need for a running watch.

Another annoyance is that, although you can create custom exercises so that you can do — for example — interval training, you can only configure a maximum of three exercise segments. So you can configure a warm up, effort, and a cool down. Or you can configure a typical interval workout of a hard effort and recovery [no warm up and cool down, however.] But if you want to run, for example, a ladder-type speed workout where you run a 1600, 1000, 800, and a 600 with 400 meter recoveries, then you are out of luck. [I should mention that I bought the S1 foot pod separately, and I use that to gauge my distance in these sorts of workouts. I guess I should have bought the RS200sd package to start with. Oh well.] I suppose I need a more advanced watch since I am now doing more advanced training.

Apart from these complaints, I am happy with the unit. It’s a decent watch with good features and a reasonable price for most recreational runners. If you plan on doing more advanced training, then I would look for something else.

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Polar F11M Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Grey Pepper, New Design)

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $179.95

Amazon Price: View Sale Price

People looking for the best training possible for their body needs the best equipment and training program. The Polar F11M Heart Rate Monitor Watch aims to provide both of these needs in a single device.

The F11M is an innovative heart rate monitor that not only tracks your data, but also has functions that enables you to create a workout program. Like any heart rate monitor watches, the Polar F11M is able to provide you with speeds, lap times and splits, calories burned and heart rates. However, it truly shines in the way that it uses these data to make personalized workout program.

The Polar F11M Heart Rate Monitor watch features various innovations to give you the best training that you can get. It has features such as the Keeps U Fit – Workout Program that will help you reach your fitness goals. It has the Ownindex and Owncal feature that determines your fitness level, and counts the caolories and fat that you burn.

With all these features packed into the Polar F11M Heart Rate Monitor Watch, having one is the closes that you get to having your own personal fitness trainer!

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User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Worth the money
I have owned my unit for 2 years now and have loved it. If you want to do the work outs that come with it after you put in your stats, you can do that, it is very helpful and keeps you on task & motivated. If you don’t want to do those, you can silence the beeping and do whatever workout you choose and it still records your stats. I think some people who are saying it was giving strange readings or none at all don’t realize that you have to moisten the sensory pads BEFORE you put it on and some times have to move it to the right spot on your lower chest area. It is extremely easy to adjust the chest strapm, I am not sure what that review was about. I had one time where it kept giving me a strange heart beat reading, I simply took off the strap, ran it under the faucet again, and restarted my workout on the watch and didn’t have another problem. Sending it in to get the battery replaced is a pain, but you can take it to a local jeweler if you don’t care about the waterproofing of the watch. The one feature I wish this watch had was a GPS unit to track your distance. Other than that, I wear this watch/strap for my daily work outs of running, lifting, riding and everything in between and love it.

5 Stars Hate to work out WITH OUT my F11
I lost 60 lbs and have kept it off for 2 years using this F11 Heart rate monitor. The built in trainer is very motivating to me. It lets you know when you need to pick up the pace, and also lets you know when you can back it off a bit and “stride it out.” I love the fact that when you get tired and want to quit you look down at the watch and it looks back at you and says come on man, 6 more min. or 85 more calories. You can do it.

Best tool I have ever bought for myself![[

ASIN:B0009HN5Y2 Polar F11 Heart Rate Monitor Watch (Grey Pepper)]]

5 Stars Polar rules!
So glad to be back with Polar. I used up one of their basic models and then gave Suunto a try. Suunto monitors have big and bold designs and their belts used to be more comfortable than Polar’s but for some inexplicable reason mine got moisture inside it and began a slow dying process. It may be a pain to have to send your Polar monitor away to an authorized service center for simple things such as battery changes but they may have some valid reasoning behind it. The F11M is simply my best HRM so far. Easy to use, very accurate and (thanks to a completely new belt design) very reliable and comfortable. The belt really makes this product. It is soft and most importantly the contact points are of a spongy material that retains moisture and guarantees an uninterrupted transmission to the monitor itself. I am a cyclist and with all my previous monitors I’ve had problems with static and dryness interfering with the belt to monitor communication. No such worries here. It looks great and works great. I’ll never try any other brand ever again.

4 Stars Reliable all around heart rate monitor, but lacking certain features for running
I’ve been using this HRM nearly daily for 5 months and it has proven to be reliable and helpful. I had no complaints, it has worked every time I’ve wanted to use it. I’m using it to run, and in that category it is lacking certain features like laps and the ability to measure speed. Therefore I’m going to a better model which includes GPS features, even though I’m pretty satisfied with the product.

5 Stars Highly Functional
I purchased this on the advice of a well respected personal trainer with many years of experience. It is JUST GREAT! The belt that I wasn’t excited about having to wear is very comfortable and even works when I swim. I can come home and load my information onto my computer with little effort and this helps motivate me more than I realized. When I meet my goals for the week I even get a trophy to look at for the entire week that follows.

Be sure you look at the functions and those of the higher end and more expensive models to make sure you choose the one suited for your needs. The computer program has the ability for me to add in distances and modes of exercise even though it idoes not track distance itself. You can even add in your medical information such as BP, HDL and LDL levels, as well as any particular personal information of your own choosing to track with the computer.

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NIKE

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $89.00

Amazon Price: $75.00

Built with the concept of simplifying things for runners, the Nike Triax Fury 100 Super Watch makes it easy for runners to focus on their training rather on being befuddled by their training equipment.

The very easy to use Nike Triax Fury features the necessary functions that you would expect from a sports watch. It displays time and date, and other basic timekeeping features.

More training oriented features of the Nike Triax Fury 100 super watch allows you to see your pace, total time, lap time, with the simple press of a button. The Triax has a 100-lap chronograph and It also allows you to create target times for you to be able to set goal splits and you will get notified whether you are keeping pace with your goals.

The no frills Triax Fury 100 Super watch comes in a convertible display with ventilated strap and is water resistant up to 100m to ensure that you can take it with you, no matter what training you do!

Buy/More Info

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Nike Midsize WR0126-001 Triax Speed 100 Regular Watch

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $79.00

Amazon Price: View Sale Price

The Nike Midsize Triax Speed 100 Regular Watch is a serious running watch that is perfect for people who take their running training seriously.

A part of the Bowerman series, the Nike Triax Speed 100 watch comes with the balance between functionality, simplicity, and ergonomics. This makes it an ideal watch for anyone who wants to go out and focus on their training rather than on how they track their data.

The watch is capable of providing runners with lap times, total times, a 100-lap chronograph that keeps splits and five interval timers. Runners can also create customized workouts to match their body’s physical fitness levels. It even has Target Time settings for runners to be able to compare goal times while racing.

The Nike Triax Speed 100 Regular Watch can also go into Data mode that can recall the training data such as best laps and average laps for people to further analyze how their training went about.

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star still have not recieved this item
I still have not recieved this item, and it has been over a month since I ordered it.

2 Stars Nice watch, hard to see what time it is.
The watch is great, fits fine, lots of great features but the black background and the grey numbers make it very difficult to read especially if you were running!

5 Stars awsome watch
i have had it over a year now and i love it it been one of my fav watches i ware it to all my sport games and the back ground is a little heard to see but alls you have to do is hit the light and u can see it

1 Star Too dark to read
I never return items, but this is unusable. I can hardly read the display. I attempted to adjust the contrast setting, but it had no noticeable effect.

I had a triax and love it. just dont get the black on black.

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NIKE Triax Speed 50 Super 50 Lap Alarm Running Watch WR0083-002

Overall Rating:

Retail Price: $59.00

Amazon Price: View Sale Price

Getting and analyzing your training data becomes much simpler with the NIKE Triax Speed 50 Super 50 Lap Alarm Running Watch WR0083 029. The Nike Triax Speed 50 makes do without the convoluted interface on training that other watches seem to have. 

Instead the Nike Triax allows you to immediately see training data with the simple touch of a button. Now you can easily customize your watch to see total time, lap time, goal splits, and even your training pace, with just a few simple clicks.

This easy to use interface of the Nike Triax Speed 50 watch makes it highly recommended for people who want to focus more on their actual training rather than in keeping track of their data.

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