Tag Archive for Garmin

Smashed my Half Marathon PB

Some Marathon Runners

Hardly a groundbreaking update, but finally some black-on-white evidence that the fitness regime is paying off. Yep – I smashed my personal half marathon record, and also bagged my longest ever run. Very pleased with this.

Step Count when Hiking with Poles

A pair of Saucony Ride ISO shoes with Garmin Foot Pod, Fenix 5+, and Leki Voyager hiking poles

A while back I saw a post on Reddit questioning the accuracy of step tracking when using hiking poles. This made me think. I use poles now and then for longer / steeper hikes – was I missing out on some tracked calories which could later be exchanged for beer? Time to find out!

Garmin Fenix Optical Heart Rate Test

Back of Garmin Fenix 5 Plus Sapphire Titanium

My Garmin chest strap finally died. Originally bundled with the 920XT I purchased back in August 2015, I’ve been using the HRM-RUN on average three or four times a week without issues, but after two intermittent failures during road rides…

Open-source Mapping on Garmin

Small section of OSM map

Availability of open-source map data has been eroding sales of Garmin’s proprietary maps for some time now, and in this short post I’m going to share my approach for getting several countries worth of routable maps onto my handheld device and my laptop.

GPSMap 66s Mini-Review

Most of the major bugs with Garmin’s latest instalment in the popular GPSMap series have been ironed out, so I’m sharing my thoughts after living and travelling with the device for a month. Spoiler alert: there are still some – ahem – Undocumented Features spoiling an otherwise great outdoor GPS.

Garmin 3D Speed & Distance Test

Garmin Fenix 5+ in front of some trees

Not really sure if you should be using the 3D Speed or 3D Distance activity settings on your Garmin fitness watch? Me neither. But I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in the mountains recently, and with so much geography at my disposal felt it might be time for a little controlled experiment.

Travelling Light(er)

Photo of an iPhone XS next to a Garmin Fēnix 5 Plus

In the never ending quest to reduce the size of my travelling kit I’ve found two new solutions, two reasons to leave the laptop at home more often: a keyboard that lets me type well using my phone, and an app that lets me plan hikes or runs for use with my Garmin fitness watch.

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus

A selection of Garmin Fenix 5 Plus fitness watches

By no means an in-depth review, this is a page of my experiences after two weeks with Garmin’s new fitness wearable, the Fēnix 5 Plus. I take a look at the device’s performance with particular emphasis on heart rate monitor and GPS, and touch on some of the other observations while walking, hiking, running, and cycling using this £749 premium wearable.

Garmin Forerunner 920XT

My first foray into the world of fitness watches, I’m counting on this geeky chunk of (ahem) red plastic turning me into a lean, mean running machine. Included are some notes from a true beginner’s point of view and some basic retrospect comparisons to Apple Watch.