New watch, old watch, still the same

Posted by William M. Connolley on July 17, 2011
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DSC_7516-forerunner-110 About a year ago I enthused about my new watch, a Garmin Forerunner 110. Since then it has become ever-more-vital, sustaining me through any number of runs. However about a month ago it started to mist up inside. I took the back off and it dried out, but then I had two wet outings, it misted up, I didn’t get round to drying it out, and it has never been the same again. In fact it no longer works. Score -1 for Garmin.

During the year I’d got rather annoyed by a couple of other flaws with it: it really won’t act as a GPS-on-the-move, in particular it won’t tell you its height; and the whole thing is a bit clunky compared to the glorious apps that Free Enterprise has created for iPhones and Androids. Music would be nice to. So I’d half convinced myself that if’when the time came to replace it, I’d just by myself an HTC or somesuch. Score another -1 for Garmin.

However, when it actually came down to it I just bought another forerunner, so the final score is in Garmin’s favour. Reasons: well, what I want is a sports watch, so I might as well buy one. At £110 it is considerably cheaper than an Android. The GPS quality in it is rather better than you get in most phones, and I couldn’t be bothered to hack through endless phone pages to try to work out if theirs was any good. I didn’t need to bother buy a new heart rate strap because (a) the old one is still good and (b) I don’t bother with it anymore anyway. But I may try to be a bit more careful about keeping it dry.

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Comments

  1. #1 andrewt
    2011/07/17

    I was running with a friend yesterday whose 110 is misting up after he accidentally took it into the shower – but its rated waterproof to 1m so it should’ve coped. I’ll tell him to dry it ASAP and maybe put silicon grease on the seal.

    [Yeah, I believed the "waterproof" bit, but I guess that means fresh-out-of-the-box, and it starts leaking a bit after long enough -W]

  2. #2 Ian
    2011/07/18

    You didn’t consider upgrading to a configurable Garmin ?
    Mine can show height if you wish it ( I tend to tweak before going hill walking )

    [I thought about it. But... well, its always nice to have something to whinge about :-). And going up several models brought me into the price-range where I could plausibly have bought an Android instead -W]

  3. #3 Donald
    2011/07/18

    With a complex three dimensional seal like that, it would be easy to over-tighten a screw on one corner and pinch the seal. The leverage would then mean that even the same screw torque on the opposite side of the case wouldn’t apply the same pressure to the seal- resulting in a leak. You’d have to apply a tightening sequence much like those used when replacing a cylinder head gasket, and only with the very lightest of tightening of each screw in sequence.

    http://tiny.cc/hu73y

    I have a Casio F-91W which despite having no certified depth resistance has survived swims even under water. The “keep it simple” principle- it has a simple “o” ring seal on the back. Not nearly as nice as your watch, of course.

    [Um. I just worked on the principle of screwing down each one as hard as I could, which you now point out might not be optimal -W]

  4. #4 Yonatan
    2011/07/19

    “Music would be nice to”

    listen to?

    or perhaps

    “Music would be nice too”

    [I'll have to leave it now -W]

  5. #5 Andy B
    2011/07/20

    Just fo info in case you decide to get it wet again there is a android phone with GPS etc. avalible for less than this….

    http://www.trustedreviews.com/Orange-San-Francisco–ZTE-Blade-_Mobile-Phone_review

    on the other hand it is also not waterproof.

    [Interesting. I'll consider that -W]