My New Toy: Garmin 910xt

 

A watch that will do it all: swimming, biking and running. 

Multisport
For triathlons, the watch can be switched to multisport mode, which means I just have to push one button to move from swim to bike to run.  It will even track transition times, although if your checking your transition times during a race you need to reevaluate your priorities. 

Swimming
Does everything the Finis Swimsense does: pace, stroke, SWOLF, distance, etc.  However, the GARMIN takes a step further and will track open water swimming. I’ve used it in a pool with the Swimsense on one wrist and GARMIN on the either.  The data matched.  I haven’t done and open water swim yet, but that’s on the training plan for tomorrow.

“Designed for open water and pool swimming, Forerunner 910XT is water resistant to 50 meters. It’s our first multisport watch to offer extensive swim metrics, including swim distance, efficiency, stroke identification, stroke count and pool lengths.

Forerunner 910XT even captures the path you traveled so you can view it on a map later in Garmin Connect™. Just think how your open water swimming could improve if you could analyze your path and efficiency to this level.” – GARMIN

Biking
The GARMIN does come with a quick connect so I can transfer it from my wrist to my bike with a simple twist.  The 910xt will replace my GARMIN Edge 705.  The Edge was a dedicated bike GPS computer.  There are some features I’ll miss such as the mapping.  When doing 100 mile rides, it’s nice to have turn by turn.  I believe the 910xt has something similar but not as in-depth. 

I haven’t used it with my road bike or power meter yet, but I have taken it mountain biking a couple times. Some people say it shuts off with road vibrations.  I’ve had zero issues on the mountain bike and there was much much more than just vibrations. 

“For advanced training, the 910XT is compatible with ANT+™ sensors, including the optional speed/cadence sensor, heart rate monitor (included with some models) or power meter. It moves easily from wrist to bike with the optional quick release kit, making your transition between sports effortless.” – GARMIN

Running
The running part is nearly perfect. Some people complain that the pace jumps around, but I don’t normally care about my current pace.  I care about my average pace. However, with the last software update, I believe GARMIN has solved the pace issue. 

The watch does use GPS, but I also have a footpod which stabilizes the pace perfectly.  The watch will beep and vibrate when I’m not in the proper training zone, which is extremely helpful, especially swimming. 

“When mere seconds separate the winner from all others, you need a watch that’s accurate and so easy, you don’t have to sweat the details. Forerunner 910XT delivers with advanced features like a vibration alert so you can get a silent nudge when you hit a split or it’s time to take nutrition.” - GARMIN