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As of 02/12/2012---Detailed Analysis
Ok. I will try to make this review as detailed as I can for the limited amount of time that I have had the watch. So here it goes!
-From what I can tell, most people are only having luck being able to buy the watch from small running stores. Everyone that I know of that is buying online is EXTREMELY backordered. However, I have heard from DCRainmaker.com that Garmin is putting together a bigger team to meet the outstanding demand from this watch and will hopefully be on a standard production time frame by the time the Tri season really starts.
----My previous experiences with Garmin watches are as follows:
'I own a Forerunner 110 (and now the 910xt). My father owns a Forerunner 305. My mother owns a Forerunner 405. Their neighbor owns the Forerunner 310xt. As I am a college student, I have had to personally set up both of my parents' watches due to the tech being kind of over their heads so I have quite a bit of experience with those watches. I have only very shortly messed with the 310xt.
'In my opinion, the 910xt is far superior to any of these watches. The 305 is definitely bulkier and doesn't sit on the wrist nearly as comfortably. Furthermore, it is only water RESISTANT and not waterproof like the 910xt. The 405 that my mother has, as many of you already know, is basically a huge flop on Garmin's side due to the finicky touch bezel so the 910xt well outranks that watch on a plethora of accounts. The 310xt is the closest in comparison obviously as it is waterproof like the 910xt but it lacks any of the true swimming capabilities that is making the 910xt such a hit. It is also a tad bit bulkier on the wrist and has bright orange accents. I don't mind orange at all as I am in the Auburn University Doctor of Pharmacy program! However, the black color of the 910xt definitely looks very sleek and will go well with anything. I have already had quite a few compliments from my friends on how nice the watch looks.
----Now about the 910xt specifically:
==the watch turns on and off very quickly and gives you a battery logo on the shutdown to show you how much battery is left which is a nice feature.
==My ONLY gripe with the watch so far is that some of the buttons on the sides of the watch (not the start or lap buttons) can be a little difficult to press at times. It just takes a little more effort to press them in than it took on my previous fr110. Maybe this is a good feature to prevent accidental button pushes? I don't know. But I have noticed it taking SLIGHTLY more effort to press the buttons in. However, I will state that it is STILL possible to press the side buttons during a run (to change screens perhaps) without having to put forth too much effort and sacrifice any type of energy during the run.
==the screen is very easy to navigate once you understand it. You do have to change the sport mode to alter the settings for that sport. For example, if you want to change your bike data fields, you first need to hold mode to change sport modes and THEN go to the settings menu to be able to access the bike settings. Other than that, everything is pretty straight forward.
==The watch itself is spectacular. As far as I have been able to stress the watch, I have not come up with any type of software problem. That is not to say that there are not any in the system somewhere, but I have not had the opportunity to use every single feature of the watch (as there are ENDLESS features) and thus have not found one yet. I don't want to jinx it already but thus far it seems like Garmin did an outstanding job of getting this watch out there without any major flaws.
==I have used the interval capability of the watch and that worked flawlessly for me. I went to the track after having made up a workout on Garmin connect to upload onto the watch. However, once I arrived at the track I realized that I never actually sent the workout to the device! I was pissed. BUT, I went into the menu of the watch and was able to recreate my ENTIRE interval workout in less than 1 minute. It was awesome. The function worked very well for creating interval workouts. It asks how many times you want to repeat the interval and how far the interval should be (it also gives the option for time rather than distance for the interval as well). Then it asks about the rest period and whether it should be distance or time also. Furthermore, it lets you specify your "targets" for each interval such as Heart Rate, Pace, etc. I did not use the feature this time around so cannot comment on that specifically.
===The screen of the watch is more inset than on the 310xt which is a nice feature to minimize scratching on the screen.
Now for the interval workout, if you decide to have a warm up or cool down, you must hit lap at the end of your workout to start the actual interval sequence and it starts immediately when you hit lap. My interval was set up as a quarter mile on the track. As you get close to your marker, the watch actually gives you warning beeps that you are about to switch into your rest period. It typically beeped 5 times before one final (different) beep and vibration signaled the end of the lap. It did the same for the rest periods as well (mine were 200m recovery jogs). The one thing that I did not expect, however, is that the watch backlight comes on each time you finished one interval/rest period. This REALLY came in handy as I was running at night on a track with only one light fixture.
As a side note, there was one extra feature that I found to be QUITE handy that night on the track. The watch has a special feature during running mode only (and only once a workout has begun) that allows you to "tap" the screen of the watch twice to turn on the backlight. I say "tap" because in actuality you kind of have to slap your wrist. Not to say that you are really hitting your watch or that it's difficult to activate the backlight, moreso just that a simple "tap" doesn't quite do the trick. This feature was far superior to the idea of trying to hit the enter button on the side of the watch whilst running to turn on the backlight.
----Swimming Capabilities:
==for the most part, I haven't been able to try out most of the features of the swim portion of the watch. I did one short swim workout just to see exactly how it all worked and to assure it was functioning smoothly. The watch, again, did exactly as promised. I set up my watch to a 25m pool and proceeded to swim laps. During a flip turn I tried glancing at the watch for distance but it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Definitely something that im going to have to practice. However, I did notice that if you look at the watch during a flip turn, you will actually only see your distance MINUS the last 25m. This is because the watch does not register the last lap until the entire flip turn/streamline process is over. In other words, if you are doing a long workout and don't want to stop to look at the watch and try to glance at it during a flip-turn, if you have JUST completed the 1000m mark at that wall then when you look at your watch during the flip-turn it will only say 975m rather than the actual 1000m. This is not a glitch in the watch. It is just how the algorithm works for computing your laps and distance.
For any of you wondering, I did press a few of the buttons under the water such as the front start/stop and lap/reset buttons without any problems. I know sometimes it seems counterintuitive to press buttons on something while underwater for fear of letting in any water but I have not had any problems with it and the watch continued to work great.
Another side note on the swimming capability is that I realized that the strokes per lap feature actually only calculates the one arm stroke calculations. Basically if it says that you averaged 11 strokes per lap, then that means that it's really around 22 if you count each arm as a stroke. Just thought I would throw that in there.
----Size:
==yes the watch is big. Much bigger than my previous forerunner 110. However, it is still without a doubt smaller than the 305 and 310xt. In fact, with the quick release kit installed on the watch whilst hooked up to the wrist strap, the 910xt is still about .05 inches shallower than the 310xt as is. The watch will probably still give most triathletes a problem when removing a wetsuit with sleeves but as mine is sleeveless I can't say for sure but it does give me a few problems with just a standard jacket removal.
---Quick release kit:
==BUY IT. one of the smartest things that you can buy to accompany this watch is the quick release kit. The kit functions beautifully between bike and wrist. The 90 degree turn is very easy. I have noticed on my kit that the watch goes in and removes easier from the bike mount than the wrist mount actually. This is a pro and a con. I like that it's stiffer on the wrist to avoid it being accidentally dislodged if it is hit during a triathlon mass start but it also adds some extra stress onto the wrist strap screws. When you twist it off, you have to twist pretty hard and it seems like this would eventually wear down the wrist strap pin and screws. However, I am talking more like years rather than mere months so honestly not too much to worry about.
==another plus of the quick release kit, however, is the ability to just pop the watch off before taking off a jacket or wetsuit. It is easy enough to pop off right after the swim and hold in your hand while taking off the wetsuit and popping it back on after that sleeve is done.
----Heart Rate Monitor
==upgrading from the old plastic hr monitor, this strap is great.
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