GPS HELP!!

Garmin my friend. Look around-get last year's model for a song. They are far better than the other manufacturers you mention-there user support is great, and their software is supreme. They are a worldwide leader in GPS technology-not just jogging watches. That other stuff is chinese knockoffs. I got a 305 a few months after the 405 came out for $125 bucks at Amazon. Another option is to get hold of a "worn out" Garmin via craigslist or whatever, and send it to Garmin where they trade it for a refurbished model for 50 bucks or so. I did that with a 205 and it's as good as new.

I'd say to look at both the price you're willing to pay, and extensive reading through this guy's blog. He is a runner/ triathlete that reviews a lot of watches. Good site, I looked through here before mine.

This link is to a list of the watches he has reviewed so far.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/p/product-reviews.html

As for log books I would recommend Sporttracks, which by the way is having an extensive upgrade to already great software that I'm looking forward to that involves online capabilites (it is currently an offline application)(more info on its facebook fan page).

It takes a little while to get used to because it has so many functions and doesn't have a guide or anything. There is a free one which has all you really need and then a 35$ upgrade.

http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/

Isn't the accuracy for all GPS watches about the same since they all use the same technology? The interface software will be different for each brand but the actual measurement of distance should be the same.

How accurate your GPS is probably depends more on environmental factors, weather, trees and such, than the actual hardware.

Ya iv been looking for the garmins and they are all 150+ in price idk not to impressed by them to pay 50-100 bucks more. penny pinching these days. keep em coming though im very thankful for your advice.

I recently bought a Timex T5K638 for my son on amazon for $85. He has only used it a couple of times but it looks like it would suit most runner's needs.

I like the Nike Sportwatch. They have a black/blue model out right now that you can get at roadrunnersports.com for 130 that doesn't come with the accelerometer chip which I never use anyway. But yes the others are right, all the GPS watches use the same NASA global positioning satellites and none of them are perfectly accurate. Use it as a tool not as the runners bible of perfect training. I like the sportwatch because of its simplicity and the Nike plus website is pretty nice for tracking data I think. But Timex has a 99 dollar model as well, I think you would be fine with that 99 dollar Timex or the Soleus GPS 1.0.

There's room for variation with hardware, notably the antenna, type of receiver and number of receivers.More so, the receiver programming affects accuracy as most devices also don't store raw track data. Instead, they process it in the hope of smoothing out noise and reducing memory requirements. Sometimes this can be disabled.You are correct on the final point, environment matters more than anything else. If you run in cities, nearby tall buildings can create huge errors. If you run on tight, twisting trails, the GPS will likely underestimate the distance around each curve. In both of these cases, the error can be great enough that the GPS distance and speed values aren't particularly useful.

not an expert, but wrote:

Isn't the accuracy for all GPS watches about the same since they all use the same technology? The interface software will be different for each brand but the actual measurement of distance should be the same.

How accurate your GPS is probably depends more on environmental factors, weather, trees and such, than the actual hardware.

I've owned 3 different GPS watches over the years and all have been equally worthless on trails. About a minute slow for each mile on trails due to the twists and switch backs.

For me, a GPS shines for long runs and tempo runs.