by: Alice Spriesterbach

The Garmin 910xt is well worth the wait.  The new 910xt was a belated Christmas present for me and I couldn’t be happier with it.

I previously was using the 305 Garmin and a Timex which were good but neither had the battery life of the new 910.  I am training for my 2nd Ironman and this makes a big difference.  The heart rate pick up seems to be more accurate which is highly beneficial for my training and being able to maintain my heart rate zones.  The display of the 910xt is very similar to the 305 that I have been using, making the transition easy.

The size of the 910xt is much smaller and comfortable than the 305, and while I didn’t wear the 305 in the water the 910xt being smaller will make is so it will fit with the wetsuit.  I have gotten to use it in the pool and I really love the swimming metrics, I can break down every lap assignment down and it gives me my time and pace.   The 910xt allows you to select 25 or 50 and meters and yards or a custom swim, so it fits any pool you may swim at.  I haven’t gotten to try it for an open water swim yet but the GPS seems to be more sensitive – while using it for trail runs the GPS was able to maintain the position even under tree cover.  For my longer runs I have set the 910xt up to alarm every mile and indicate my average pace so I can see if I am being consistent or maintaining a negative pace, this is a nice feature that wasn’t on the 305.

The wireless system of downloading the data appears to be much easier than the 305 with the watch holder and wire system.  I haven’t had any trouble with the computer detecting the watch and downloading the data.  I haven’t gotten to explore too much on the bike yet since I am still indoors on the trainer but I am looking forward to it. All in all I highly recommend it – it was worth the wait!