Running watches on a budget

Not long after I started running regularly I decided a running watch would be quite useful for pacing - prior to this I had used Endomondo on my Smartphone with headphones, which sometimes remembered to tell me my pace each KM but really wasn't that useful for on the go information which is probably why my pacing was all over the place.  Because I didn't have a lot of disposable income at the time I went hunting running watches on eBay and got myself a Soleus GPS 1.0 which had decent reviews but doesn't offer data download.  Apparently you can get the data if you buy a 4 pin cable, but I couldn't find one at a decent price.

Before I could actually use this though I bought a Garmin Forerunner 405 on a whim (on Christmas Day no less) again at a bargain price on eBay.  This came out in 2008 making it 8 years old when I got it, but it still works really well.  It took me a little bit of experimentation to get happy with the fields it displays, although it supports 3 screens I usually find myself switching between them accidentally and then getting confused so have settled on a single screen.  Instantaneous pace is too instantaneous to be useful, so I have settled on the following:

• Main field: Lap Pace. I have auto-lap set up for each KM, so this shows my average pace over the current kilometre I am running on.
• Small Left field: Overall Pace
• Small Right field: Total Distance

With this combination all I need to know before I set out on a run is the overall pace I need to achieve in order to get my target time.  I can make sure my overall pace is on target, and can also target my current pace for the KM.

Being an old watch it does not use Bluetooth but instead uses Ant+ which means using a PC and a USB dongle to get data off it and uploaded via Garmin Connect to Endomondo and  Strava. This all works, but having to get the PC out is a bit of a faff and Garmin Express seemed very hit and miss when it came to syncing.  A little bit of research later and I found the Sportablet Uploader for Garmin. Now this requires a USB2.0 ant+ dongle and the Garmin one is USB1, but thanks to eBay I picked up a Micro USB Male Host to USB Female OTG Adapter Cable and a Mini USB2.0 ant+ dongle and it works perfectly. I can now upload my runs in the cafe immediately after a run and all I need to carry is one extra cable.

Of course now I am intrigued by Heart Rate and Cadence, which the Forerunner 405 cannot do without additional accessories which seem to be rather pricey.  But that will have to be another chapter...