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What is a training watch?
That greatly depends on what sort of training you are planning on doing. If your sport is running or
cycling then your requirements from a sports watch are different from someone whose sport is scuba
diving or mountain climbing.
Training watches for competitive race style sports (e.g. running cycling, etc...) can be broken into three
basic categories :-
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1. Basic Training Watch Only - this type of watch typically needs the following features :-
- Stop watch (chronograph)
- Splits storage (used for storing times at each split within a race, i.e. each mile within a marathon)
- Water resistant (everyone eventually trains in wet weather)
- Easy to read large digits
- Back light or fluorescent face (need to be able to read during failing light)
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2. Cardio Sports Watches - Heart rate monitors. This type of training watch comes with a
chest strap used with the watch to monitor and store information on a training session.
Heart rate monitors provide more useful information on a training session than any other single item.
When looking at heart rate monitors you should check out how much information can be stored on the
watch (before it is lost or needs to be down loaded to pc, it may be 6 seperate sessions),
does it provide in session guides (can max and min heart rate ranges be set to warn you when
you are not in your training zone), can training session data be easily loaded and saved on a PC.
3. GPS Related Training Watch - This type of training watch comes with a mobile strap on
GPS system (strapped to the arm or bike frame) which will record distances travelled and speed at
which the various distances are covered. This type of training watch or training system can be
very useful as the data, like the heart rate monitor data, can be uploaded into a PC for closer examination.
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Other types of training watches have different features which can be useful to your sport, below
are a few of the features to lookout for :-
- Water resistance to what depth (scuba diving needs 200m)
- Setable timing device (Stop watch or Bezel)
- Back lights or illumination (Need to read the watch in dark conditions)
- Altimeter (Reading altitude is helpful for climbers and bush walkers)
- Compass (Always handy for bushwalking)
- Shock Resistant (Every sports has its knocks and bumps)
- Scratch Resistant Face
Above all, sports training watches do need to be tough, all sports persons take knocks at different
stages (fall, trips, dropping the watch) and the watch needs to function regardless. Realistically,
a sport watch should be a quartz watch, as they are more accurate and take more in the way of
shocks.
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