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Although it lacks the rechargeable battery and PC connectivity features of the Forerunner 201, the 101 retains all of the other great features of the 201, at an even more affordable price. The Virtual Partner feature allows you to set your training goal by configuring your Virtual Partner's pace and workout distance. You'll get a graphic perspective of your performance by viewing your pace in relation to your Virtual Partner's pace, so you can always see at a glance if you're keeping up or falling behind.
Almost as important as the training device itself are the accessories to integrate it with your active lifestyle. If you're into cycling, the best way to keep an eye on your GPS while you ride is with a bike mount bracket that straps to the handlebars of your bike, motorcycle, or whatever you're traveling with for easy viewing.
Other Forerunner 101 features:
Auto Menu: Timer pauses when you stop running. Auto lap logs your performance over a predetermined distance. | History: Review training history by day or week. | Map: Navigate back to the start or to a stored location. | Virtual Partner: Set time, pace, and distance goals, and train with a "virtual partner." |
The most notable difference with the 101 is that it uses 2 AAA batteries istead of being rechargeable like the 201. At first I thought this was a big detraction to buying it, but it's really not that bad. Battery life is decent, although not as high as with the 201, which gets up to 13 hours of use on a full charge. But if you're not a marathon runner and just run a few miles on your runs, this shouldn't matter much. The only hassle is having the batteries go dead during the middle of a run, which really sucks if you're into knowing exactly how far you've gone. You have to keep an eye on the battery life before going out. The batteries don't really effect the weigh or size of the product though.
The second major difference is that this unit does not interface with your PC. This also isn't too big of a problem because, currently, the Garmin software is really lacking. Hopefully they will improve on it with time, but the PC software is nowhere near as nice as it could be at this stage. You can view a graph of your altitude for your run, and graphs of your pace and speed, and that's about it. Otherwise the software is really crummy. You can't even zoom in on your map like you can with the actual unit.
If you're serious about running, I would highly suggest the Forerunner 201 over this product, mainly because the price difference is so negligible. You can find the 201 for only about $20 more than this model, and the extra money is well worth the rechargeability of the 201 and freedom from the batteries. But if you really can't afford the cost, you're not going to be hurting too much with the 101.
Enough said - AAA batteries was the primary reason I bought this. Truth is, I rarely keep gadgets long enough to worry about the batteries, but I like passing them on to family and friends and I'd like them to get something that they can use for a couple of years too... Plus, I like putting in a fresh set of batteries every week and not having to worry if it's fully charged... (I use rechargeable AAA's).
All the other reviewers have already covered the basics of the watch. Very easy to use, backlight is amazing at night. History and data compilation are interesting.
What I really wanted to convey is that I was on the fence about this for over a month. Was it worth the money? Would I use it enough? Without a doubt - YES! If it broke today I'd buy a new one tomorrow. The best thing about it is freedom.
I'm pretty anal - most serious runners are. I stick to the exact same path so I can get statistics, make sure I'm sticking to my pace, make sure I ran the distance I intended, compare my run with previous runs. After a while though, it can get a little boring. All of a sudden, I put this on and I'm free from all that. I can run anywhere, I run spontaneously - but a glance down at my wrist and I know how far I've run, I know I'm keeping pace, EVERYTHING. And that little training buddy is pretty cool too - although I usually just like the raw data screen...
I hope in future versions they'll integrate a heart rate monitor. I have one now but can't bring myself to wear two devices at a time...
-jr
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