Print This Page
"It not only tracks heart rate, but V02 max and postexercise oxygen consumption as well. If you know what these things are, and tailor your workouts around them, this is the watch for you." - Men's Health Gear Fall 2005
from Reno, NV on 9/7/2008
I use this watch for indoor cycling and mountain biking with the Bike Pod. The great things are the ease of setup, ease of adding the bike pod and a good data output. I like that it records 1 second data, you need that level of recording to make sense of your workouts. PC interface is good, but for me a MAJOR drawback (you listening, Suunto?) is the lack of MacOS support. That and the fact that the "USB interface" is not USB compliant, but is a serial interface through a USB connector so while there is one hacked method of getting it to roughly talk to a Mac, the drivers are incompatible with another set of drivers I use (for my PowerTap) so I don't go that route. Instead I download the files to an old PC and transfer them to my Mac. I don't use the "training zones" or other training modes on this computer, although they seem pretty powerful, I use other methods to know where to workout and use this to try and achieve that and most importantly see if I did after the workout. My watch arrived with a totally dead battery, but EMS made not just good but better on that by sending me a 2-pack of batteries for my trouble. I suspect the unit was just sitting in inventory a while. Nice company to work with.
from NH on 5/30/2008
This is a very high end device- really designed for marathoners and others who are probably more acutely aware of their conditioning than most of us who climb. There are a few glitches. One is that there are occasional errors in the ascent/descent rate. The second is that the HRM transmitter strap can occasionally stop broadcasting for no reason. Finally, the software is somewhat glitchy- but impressive.
from Massachusetts on 5/30/2008
Nice watch overall but software is clunky, manuals are terrible, and no kcal readout on the watch. That has since been rectified with the t6c. Overall the watch is nice but the software needs a serious overhaul and since they go hand in hand it is a definite negative towards buying the watch. If you are a gym person or don't exercise outside I would recommend the watch, otherwise I might go for a different one.