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- The swim-proof Forerunner 310XT is waterproof to a depth of 50 meters, so you can wear it in the pool or the lake to time your swim.
- When you’re ready to jump out of the water and onto the bike, Forerunner 310XT moves easily from wrist to bike with the optional quick release
- When paired with the wireless heart rate monitor, Forerunner 310XT continuously tracks beats per minute and uses heart rate data
Product Description
Finally, a GPS-enabled training device that isn’t afraid of the water. The rugged Forerunner 310XT is the triathlete’s indispensable training tool — a GPS-enabled, swim-proof trainer that tracks bike and run data and sends it wirelessly to your computer. This multi-sport device has up to 20 hours of battery life, tracks distance, pace and heart rate, and goes from wrist to bike in seconds.Amazon.com Product Description
Finally, a GPS-enabled training dev… More >>
Garmin Forerunner 310XT GPS Enabled Sports Watch with Heart Rate Monitor
October 8, 2009 at 11:44 pm
OK, so I don’t own one of these units. I am researching and thinking of buying something. It occurred to me, with all the complaints about swimming accuracy, that I should mention something:
Electromagnetic signals (ie. GPS signals) DO NOT EASILY PENETRATE WATER. Just ask the Navy. Any water other than distilled water has some conductivity, especially salt water. It acts as a Farady shield – the GPS signal hits a conductor (water) and creates a current in the conductor. The resistance of the conductor will dissipate the energy of the signal. BASIC ELECTROMAGNETISM. This is how your microwave keeps the EM radiation inside from getting out and cooking you – by using a conductor shield to trap it.
I am surprised Garmin claims they have a GPS unit that will work under water. Call the Navy! They would love a way to communicate with submarines without having to use sonar, which gets them in a lot of trouble by disrupting marine life. The reason they use sonar is that ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS DON’T TRAVEL WELL UNDER WATER!
The GPS accuracy while swimming will be based on how far you plunge the watch under water, the type of water, etc. The device might work better if you strap it to your head! Just my two cents.
Rating: 1 / 5
October 9, 2009 at 2:31 am
I wish other companies would compete for this lucrative athlete’s GPS watch market. Garmin has a top-down mentality that thinks it comes out with great products. The 310XT is twice the price of the 305 and doesn’t track in the water! Does anyone at Garmin actually test these products before they’re introduced? For all the criticisms Garmin received for the 305, they never had a serious firmware update to address issues and upgrade ideas for the two plus years I’ve used it.
The big difference between Apple and Garmin? Apple pushes the envelope to create a better product through firmware updates. Apple products make you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth even years after you purchased their product. Garmin or the other hand, wants you to spend your money on the latest unproven product. Take the 405 – the GPS watch comes to market, was never tested wet or in rainy weather. The sensitive touch dial stops working, so don’t sweat on it or run in the rain!
Garmin Training Center software also was never updated. My 305 decided to download multiple copies of my run data multiple times. I had to spend hours deleting the copies. Spent hours with Garmin Tech Support to find out that they have no idea what the problem was. Never did get fixed…
Please Timex, jump into this lucrative market and make a watch a triathlete would love.
Rating: 1 / 5
October 9, 2009 at 4:22 am
First, I must say I am a Mac user, your PC experience may vary.
There is a lot to like about this product, when it works. But the product is, in my opinion, still only at the Beta level of readiness. I have lost multiple events due to data corruption. The firmware update that is supposed to fix the product will not load. I was more patient with Vista before I got rid of my PC and went to Mac. Frankly, I feel like that is a good analogy for this product. Vista was awful at roll out. It isn’t great now, but it is much better. If you spend 300 dollars on this product, you should be prepared to deal with customer support, or dig through the Garmin forums. Maybe I come back later and change my rating, but for now, stay clear of this product. Eventually, the bugs will be worked out and the price will come down. At the very least, before you pull the trigger, look at the Garmin support forums and see what the general tone of the posters is at the time. Caveat Emptor.
Rating: 1 / 5
October 9, 2009 at 6:50 am
I bought this as a birthday present for a triathlete friend, since I had been raving about how much I like my 305. But alas, this watch does not work for triathletes.
Please be sure to read the threads on the garmin forums about this watch before buying. Some key things to know:
The GPS does not work underwater. This means that your pace and distance calculations will be completely wrong. They can show up 2x or 3x what you really did. Unless you hook the watch up to your swim cap so that it is always out of the water.
For swimming, it tells you that you are downhill skiing. It really isn’t a big deal.. it is just the icon. But for a $400 product, and one that is designed for non-engineers, this is horrible.
If you happen to run in hurricanes, maybe this is a good watch for you, since it has all of the 305 features in a waterproof configuration.
If you are trying to use it for swimming, don’t bother.Unless you just want a watch that will survive swimming so that you can use the measurements while running/biking.
Rating: 1 / 5
October 9, 2009 at 9:00 am
I have had the 310XT for about 3 weeks and it is FABULOUS. It has a great GPS, a flexible user interface and lasts forever. I am not a tri-athlete, but I am a (SLOW) marathoner — other watches have battery lives that are too short for me. I have used the 310XT about 10 times since I got it. I just love it.
Garmin Connect — This is a web site that works with the data on your watch, displaying your runs and rides, etc. If you have *any* intention of buying this watch so that you can upload your tracks, see where you ran on a map, and “play” your run or ride over, forget it. At least forget it as of August 23, 2009. Garmin Connect is a fantastic idea that will work some day, and when it does, Garmin products will be worth buying just for the fun that Garmin Connect provides. It just doesn’t work now. I have a Mac and have had a 3 week odyssey of having my runs upload just fine (4 of them), then fail to upload at all (6 of them). I have been told that I need to re–install software (which I did), that I need to de-install software… no wait, a NEW version of the software is out which might now work…., no wait, it still doesn’t work.
Garmin Connect and the associated 310XT functionality are *purely* in the pre-release stage. Garmin just decided to throw them out there and let the users help debug. It is a scandalous approach to consumer electronics at this price.
So the device itself — stand alone — is 5 stars. You will love it. Garmin Connect and the associated functionality on the watch are 1 star — they simply don’t work. Put it all together and I give it a 3 star rating.
Just so you can see what awaits you if you wade into Garmin Connect, see below pasted from a “Admin” user on the Garmin Connect site. It is one of the many, many, drifting, vague, conflicting, useless threads about my Mac problem. Notice the irony — you spend $400 on the 310XT and heart monitor and then you have to wade through this sort of un-informative junk, which ends with the Admin’s tag line of “I’m a happy girl”. Well, I can tell you, I am NOT a happy girl about Garmin Connect.
Old 07-23-2009, 05:21 PM
RUNKKRUN RUNKKRUN is offline
Administrator – Team GC
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Bay Area, CA
Posts: 106
Default Resolution for Garmin Communicator Not Found in Safari 4
Original post from APELOSI:
If you are using Safari 4 Beta and the Garmin Communicator Plugin shows as not being installed (when uploading new or from list), please remove “Macintosh HD/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.webplugin” and restart Safari 4.
From IShouldBeRunning:
Uh, ok… but what if I use Flip4Mac?
From saeedi:
What’s interesting is that after removing Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.webplugin I still have a plug-in called Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin that seems to allow the browser to view WMV files in the browser. And Communicator does work in Safari still.
From saeedi:
A new version of Flip4mac was released (2.2.3.7) but unfortunately, still an issue with the web plugin.
From petej:
Thank you for the workaround, and for the hard work on getting Garmin Connect running for all devices.
Now that Safari 4 is no longer beta, will the conflict with Flip4Mac be resolved? Has someone at Garmin opened a Radar with Apple on the issue?
I’m really happy GC now supports my devices.
From APELOSI:
I was informed we opened up a case with Apple when the “solution” was first found but I have no insight into whether or not Apple opened a case in Radar (gotta love the little ant eater) or not or what its progress is.
__________________
I’m a happy girl.
Rating: 3 / 5