I was in search of a running watch for the triathlon that I ran last month. It needed the essentials, the distance ran, the pace I was running, and, of course, the time. Simple, basic and gets the job done.

Battery life was also a major key factor. I honestly did not want to have to keep charging it each and every night before bed. And when it came to GPS signal features, I wanted something that didn’t take forever and a day to triangulate my location. Appearance was a major candidate in my decision as well. It needed to look LIKE a watch. I didn’t want something like those old calculator watches from the ‘80s.

For a while I was using the Pebble smart watch. It’s a functional watch for sure, maybe just a little TOO functional. This watch is built for numerous apps. Heck, it could even open your garage door (not even kidding!), but the GPS function had to be tied to a smart phone.

When Runners Edge in Missoula set me up with the new Garmin F10 runner watch and I realized the very first moment I put it on that this company was spot on with all of my demands.

I’ve been running with the Garmin watch since March and I know that even after I finished the triathlon I’d be using it on the regular.

The watch fits nicely on my big wrist, and can be adjusted for practically any body size. The buttons are super chunky and easy to find without looking, handy when you are hitting your stride. The OS is super user-friendly. You can program the watch in a snap! The battery seems to hold its own and the GPS snaps to your location quicker than most other watches on the market.

Other things I love about the watch are the ability to showcase a couple of displays at once. You can see your choice of two functions on the same screen with your choice of pace, distance, time, and calories. Handy when you don’t want to have to select one at a time on the go.

Garmin
Garmin
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The F10 is super affordable and comes in manly colors for men and cute colors for girls as well.

The instructions it came with isn’t really all that necessary, for most people it should be easy to figure out straight out of the box.

And syncing with the Garmin website was super simple! Once you plug the watch into the computer via. USB you are presented with a boatload of features and information about your previous runs. You can even keep yourself motivated by setting goals either by month or week. It’s handy to see my achievements on the screen!

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Before taking the F10 watch for a run I was using the Runkeeper app to sync with my Pebble and keep track of my daily runs. Needless to say, the accuracy is  nowhere near as precise as the F10 to track my runs but it was not very precise at all. And again with having to keep my phone nearby to have the constant Bluetooth connection to sync was a bit of a drag. Now I never have to worry about that.

If you are looking for a watch that covers the basics of your run and helps motivate you with a plethora of online features then I’d recommend checking out the Garmin F10 line at Runners Edge in Missoula.

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