Heartrate monitors and GPS for running: the Runkeeper-Magellan Echo dream combination that would beat Polar, Garmin, Tomtom and Suunto

I did a bit of research to what option are available to track your run. Let me start by saying that if you're into equipment review there is no substitute for http://www.dcrainmaker.com/. This man has got it all covered.

1. How I started: an old Polar S210

That was 10 years ago. I bought a Polar S210 that has served me well until the battery died. I never got around replacing it, since the old T-61 coded strap is essentially a throw-away item. When I was cleaning out my closet last weak, I stumbled upon my old trusted S210 and wondered if I could fix it. I succesfully did so by cutting open the strap and replacing the battery. The watch itself was a little bit easier to fix. It just suffered from oxidised contact strips between the print and the lcd. Nothing a bit of acetone can't fix. Unfortunately I mistakenly 'cleaned' the inside of the transparant housing of the Polar, resulting in a non-transparent lens in front of the LCD. Luckily I also managed to fix that problem with carefull sanding and polishing of the plastic lens. I'm proud to have my vintage heart rate monitor back in pristine condition!

2. My Runkeeper Android + Polar Bluetooth wearlink strap

I'm a Runkeeper user since the very beginning in 2010. I like to share my runs. It keeps me motivated. But I was still missing the heart rate monitoring feature. Hence, I bought a Polar Bluetooth strap which paired with my Android phone so I could log my hear rate in Runkeeper. A disadvantage of this solution is that the Bluetooth straps eats about 1 battery very 10-15 hours. But the real dealbreaker is that I can't see my heartbeat in realtime, since my phone is attached to my upper arm.
Mind you that this heart rate strap is not the same as the Polar Bluetooth SMART strap. The latter uses a newer low energy Bluetooth technology which is only available in Bluetooth 4.0 compatible devices under Android 4.3 and on Iphone 4s and 5.

3. Let's look around for a heart rate monitor with built in GPS

My refound old Polar S210 sparkled my interest again in a heart rate monitor. I looked around what is available on the market of combined GPS + heart rate monitor watches and came up with the following list:

• €169 Garmin Forerunner 210: allows for programmable interval training + shows average pace/heartbeat per interval. Does not have a 'virtual training buddy'. Easy sync to Runkeeper via Garmin Connect + http://www.copymysports.com/
• €219 Polar RC3: is fully programmable, has a virtual training buddy and has a neat arrow pointing into the direction 'home'. Sadly, it doesn't show average lap/interval pace/heartbeat. It should be possible to import the Polar files into Runkeeper via a computer, but it will not be plug&play.
• €219 TomTom Runner: fully programmable via the TomTom website (great!), many customisable data to display (also for laps and intervals), has a virtual buddy feature but no possibility to export or sync data to Runkeeper. Extra feature coming up in the Tomtom software: cadence information without a footpod, using the built-in accelerometer. Files can be exported from the site to be importer in Runkeeper. It remains to be seen if an automatic synchronisation service will emerge.
• €299 Garmin Forerunner 220: This successor to the FR 210 offers many advantages: a color screen, fully programmable via the Garmin website, programmable data screens including lap/interval information. No virtual training buddy, but at least pace alerts are offered. Like the TomTom it also has an internal accelerometer for cadence information. And the biggest advantage: you don't need a computer to upload your runs, since it can sync automatically over Bluetooth 4.0 with the Garmin app on your smartphone (which then can automatically sync it to Runkeeper with http://www.copymysports.com/)

When reading about the Forerunner 220, I realised that all of the other watches require you to find a data cable, find a computer, hook them up and press several buttons to upload, copy and sync. Not something I am looking forward to do after each run. So for me, the only remaining option seems to be the expensive Garmin Forerunner 220.

4. The ideal (fictitious) solution: Runkeeper + Magellan Echo

When I looked a bit further, I realised the whole paradigm of stuffing intelligence in a watch is completely flawed. Our smartphone provide a much better user interface to configure things, they have better sensors and the innovation cycles happen in freely downloadable software instead of in expensive hardware that is difficult to update. 

I found out about the freely programmable intervla trainings in Runkeeper. I found their training programs. I found the RunSafe app which not only records your cadence using the accelerometer in your smartphone, but also advises you in realtime how to adjust your stride. And the appmaker already made sure it can coexist with Runkeeper. I also realised that I like to listen to my music when I go running and there is not a single GPS watch that can play MP3 files.

The solution is simple: applications and functionality extensions belong on your smartphone. The device on your wrist just needs to be a dumb screen with buttons on the side. Exactly that is what Magellan created with the Magellan Echo. 

The device only came on the market a month ago and there are already 3 apps that are compatible with it: the Wahoo fitness app, Strava and iSmoothRun. The last one is really complete and allows you to create custom interval trainings. It can also upload your runs to Runkeeper, but sadly it is only available for iPhone and not for Android.

Conclusion

Smartphone based solutions will eat the running watch market and Runkeeper is very well placed to grab a big share of it. If they only would want to create an integration with the Magellan Echo, I would be one hell of a happy Runkeeper Pro subscriber!

UPDATE 23/12/2013: I decided on a Garmin Forerunner 610

I went running on an athletics track today and the disadvantage op a smartphone based solution became immediately evident: the accuracy sucks. Since there is no Android support (from Runkeeper or others) for the Magellan Echo anyway, I will buy myself a Garmin Forerunner 610. This is a top of the line sportswatch which is heavily discounted now that the 620 has been released. I will sync it wirelessly towards a Netbook that is serving as a server in my home and hence is always on. So when I return from a run I just have to click 1 button on the Netbook and the run will sync automatically.

Here is a screenshot from what Runkeeper captured on the athletics track: