Buying a running watch

When it comes to buying anything I always do my research so when it came to spending around £100 on a watch just for running there was no way I was going to rush into anything.

After speaking to lots of other runners and doing my homework on the net the Garmin Forerunner 50 seemed the best deal - especially for a beginner.

It boasted a heartrate monitor, a footpod to monitor distance, time and speed, and a USB sensor that kept all you information on in easy-to-use log. And all for a tidy ton.

So I bought one from Up and Running in Birmingham City centre.

But before I could even put it on my wrist the start/stop button fell off. So back to the shop and a week later they got me a new one in exchange.

But this time the heart rate monitor and footpod didn't work and the watch had a low battery.

Back to the shop again.

The manager got three of their Forerunner 50's out and, unbelievably, NONE of the watches worked and none of the footpods and heart monitors paired up!!

So I endeed up spending an extra £45 on a Polar RS3000x, which they knocked down to to £145 from the rrp of £175.

I did my first run in it today and it seemed to work fine.

But I'm not going to recommend it to any of you lot til I'm 100 percent convinced... so watch this space.

As for Garmin Forerunner 50s, I personaly wouldn't trust them. Garmin have stopped making them now, and since they have reduced their prices to get rid of the old stock, there has been a lot of problems with their batteries, so I'm told.

So my advice: Either get a Polar or opt for one of the more expensive Forerunner 60s (£190) or 405s (£250+)