Garmin Forerunner 50 Heart Rate Monitor - '08 Overstock

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 50 Heart Rate Monitor - '08 Overstock:

Very good product esp considering price.. Have used competitor product for years and this one is similar with the added bonus of the computer link up which works like a charm.. Only downside are the controls and buttons which are learnable but not straight forward even for a tech person..

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 50 Heart Rate Monitor - '08 Overstock:

I've used cheaper Heart Rate monitors (mostly from Polar) and despite some of my complaints below, I'm pleased with the Garmin Forerunner 50 after using it over the past 7 months.

Pros:
* User replaceable heart rate monitor strap battery
* Heart Rate Graphs that can be analyzed (the .tcx format is in XML)
* Wireless transfer to the PC with a supplied USB stick (I couldn't find other units that could do this at this price point)
* Heart rate picks up pretty quickly if the strap is a little wet, except on the first time I used the device
* Customizable displays for Heart Rate and split or overall time data
* Can share data with friends using Garmin Connect (so your exercise buddies know you worked out - good for accountability)

Cons:
* Wristwatch software menus are somewhat unintuitive, others are a bit cumbersome. For example, why would you want to have two separate times with different a different date, hours, minutes, or seconds? I can see having different time zones, but the rest doesn't make sense.
* Some customizable displays are useless. Why would I want to display Heart Rate on top (as the large easy to read number) and Heart rate on the bottom (smaller to read number)? The split data also displays this way.
* Wish there was an autosave feature. You have to press the "stop/start" button to stop the workout, then hold the "view" button to save, then press the "view" button again to confirm the save. I lost a two hour workout once, but now I remember the key sequence.
* Cannot easily determine calories burned. Even the online app (Garmin Connect) didn't calculate this information for me, because the XML file just stores a zero instead of taking the information from the average and the weight that you input into the device. It's possible to manually calculate this from the data, but it may be annoying to users that use the default software.
* USB stick has a key ring area which is flimsy. I had it attached to a metal keyring and it broke in two weeks.

Some other things worth mentioning:
* The wristwatch battery was easy for me to replace, but it might not be straightforward for others.
* I'm using Garmin Training Center v3.4.3 and wrist watch software 1.1d which appears to be the latest at the time of this writing. While the wrist watch software cannot be updated by the end user, I hope that Garmin Training Center and/or the Garmin Connect (the online equivalent) will improve and perhaps one of these programs will fill in the gaps I've mentioned above.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 50 Heart Rate Monitor - '08 Overstock:

I use this on a treadmill 2-3 times a week.

Collecting data on my Heart Rate has actually motivated me to stay on it. It is accurate (cross checked with other HRMs), and its a pretty sleek design. The pics make it look bigger than it actually is.

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 50 Heart Rate Monitor - '08 Overstock:

I've had this watch/HRM for about a month and have used it for club workouts and long bike rides. I look forward to using it on Colorado summit hikes this summer. Now that I'm in my late 40's, I like to keep track of just how hard the old ticker is having to work! Compared it to HRM on stationary bikes and other club equipment and the HR seems to be very accurate. I didn't purchase this to use all of it's features, just to keep track of my HR and workout times. This watch does a great job at both of these activities. I was, and still am, a little nervous about the water resistance rating. At only 30 meters, I'm a little worried about hiking in the rain or wading a stream and getting it wet. However, I have taken several showers with it on my wrist and no problems with water getting in yet. I don't think I'll chance swimming with it. Overall, this watch is a great deal for the price!

Comments about Garmin Forerunner 50 Heart Rate Monitor - '08 Overstock:

I bike and wanted to get into a more disciplined training routine. I decided to get into heart rate training, and buying this inexpensive HRM was a great way to do that. It seems to track my heart rate accurately, and I haven't had any issues with it. I don't use any of the features outside of basic heart rate monitoring because, quite frankly, I don't want to deal with reading the manual to find out the order of buttons I have to press (being a watch with four buttons makes some features less than intuitive). It does have ways to store data and provide heart-rate alerts as well as other features, but I haven't bothered to use them...