Gear review - Epson Runsense SF-810 GPS Watch

Go ahead - call me a Meb junkie.

Not only do I run for Skechers Performance Division, but once I heard that Meb was reppin' an Epson running watch, I knew that I had to check it out.

But it's not only about being a fanboy ... my up-to-recently trusty Garmin Forerunner 305 had been supplying me with all the signs that it was about ready to give up the ghost, even after having replaced the battery in it.  Having been nearly bulletproof for several years I felt like it really owed me nothing and so I was legitimately on the hunt for its successor.

Enter the Runsense SF-810.

Let the unboxing begin ...!

 

My thanks go out [legal disclosure] to the Epson America marketing department for providing me with this watch for review, and in particular to Jason for his assistance in connecting me with the Epson team.

I have to admit that having read some of the reviews that others had posted about the SF-810 (including some friends of mine) after having gotten their hot little hands on this item first I was prepared for a less-than-stellar first foray from Epson into the running tech market.  However, keeping an open mind I will say that even the initial touch-and-feel survey of the physical hardware made me think that this was a quite a decently constructed piece of equipment.  Nothing about its physical design or crafting communicated anything less than quality workmanship to me, and so the first impression was a good one.

The SF-810 employs a straight-forward four-button navigation system like many digital watches, and you'll find no complaints from me about that.  I've known too many other people who have fumbled and struggled with the sensitivity and responsiveness of touchscreen watch displays that I'm happy to stick with something a little more 'manual'.  In terms of setting up the device to suit my personal configuration preferences there was ample direction provided between the quick-start paper instruction manual included in the box and the online Epson video library.

After having now put the SF-810 through its paces for over a month, here are my impressions of what's working and what's improvable:

Pros:

• GPS acquistion - Yes!  No more having to wait two or three minutes to figure out where on the planet you are actually located!  I found that this watch is quite quick to lock on the appropriate satellites, which means that the workout can start pretty much as soon as I'm ready.
• Distance tracking accuracy - I think that this watch is actually more accurate than my late Forerunner 305.  In the last half-marathon that I ran the watch auto-lap pinged pretty much exactly at each kilometre sign marker!
• Integrated heart rate monitor - The optical HRM is a nice feature, and I definitely appreciate being able to track that metric without constricting my ribcage with the band that has to be paired with most running watches.
• Workout stop/start - I like that I'm able to close out a workout and start a new one without having to upload the information off of the device.  That was always something that frustrated me about the 305, as I could 'stop' a workout but even if I powered down the device and then powered it up again any new press of the 'start' button would effectively recommence the previous workout.
• Battery life - It's touted to be 20 hours between charges, which would make it about double the projected life of my previous watch.  So far I've not come close to running it dry while only letting it sit in its charging dock for as long as it takes to upload data - I'm hoping to use it for a planned 100-miler this fall so we'll see just how far/long it will go.
• Quick upload - Speaking of upload, the Epson Run Connect desktop software fires up super-instanteously when the watch is snapped into it's dock.  I don't have a data plan for my phone so I've not used the Run Connect mobile app (which some reviewers have really disliked), so I've no complaints.  Plus I do like the fact that the Run Connect interface easily communicates with Strava.

Cons:

• Heart rate tracking accuracy - Huh ... maybe I'm truly more out of shape than I think that I am, but to hit 211 beats per minute at least once a week during a medium intensity run?  Just not sure that these readings are as bang-on as they could be, and tracking does have a habit of cutting out in the middle of a workout.  I may need to slide the watch a little bit further up my arm than I'm used to to maintain solid contact between the optical sensor and my skin.
• Relentless auto-lap feature - Generally speaking I like knowing my pace per kilometre for each kilometre I've run; however, when I deliberately press the 'lap' button not only would I expect that that would trigger tracking for a new lap, but that the auto-lap on-the-kilometre would not override the new lap's starting point!  Yessir, it seems that if I want to run an 800m interval and hit the lap button at 4.7km into my run then I'll still have a lap split at 5km (so 300m into the interval) and then will have to add in the additional 500m that follows.  It would be nice if the use of the lap button triggered a new kilometre count.
• GPX file configuration - Even though there's the ability to stop and start a new workout, I noticed an interesting downside to how the data is captured.  The other week I ran trails with a group and then stopped the workout, got in my car, drove a short distance and then got out and continued my evening workout.  While the Epson Runsense view website tracked the actual time spent in workout mode correctly, when it pushed the data to Strava it actually included the distance that I'd driven (and at the rate of speed that I'd traveled) as part of my run.  Now I'd like to say that I averaged 1:52/km for my workout but that simply wasn't the case ... so something funky must have been communicated in the GPX data when it was transferred to Strava.

Here's the video review:

 
All in all I've got to say that I'm pretty happy with the look, feel and functionality of the SF-810 and think that Epson has got a solid product on their hands.  It may take some time to woo die-hard users of Garmin, Suunto or Polar tech but honestly I think that it's definitely a competitive piece of hardware.  I'm going to happily keep on using it and will be looking forward to where Epson goes next in the world of running devices!

Disclosure:  I received this product from Epson America at their expense but was not obliged to provide anything but an objective review.  All opinions expressed (however poorly) are my own!

Gear review - Epson Runsense SF-810 GPS Watch

[Guest Post] Gear Review - Garmin Forerunner 235

“It is time to watch my pace”

In December a great friend let me know he had won a new Garmin Forerunner 235 in a contest and asked if I would like his Garmin Forerunner 305. I said sure. For years I have been running with just plain old wrist watches keeping track of my time and than going on DailyMile and figuring out my distance ... so a GPS watch was a huge leap forward to say the least and one that I was willing to give a “try” but not “buy” anytime in the near future. 

One Wednesday night after our RunNinja speed work out a bag was handed to me with what I thought was the Forerunner 305. When I got home I believed my great friend had made a mistake as the new Forerunner 235 was in the bag. I really did not want this new unit and tried to give it back to him but his theory was "if it still works fine then why don't I just keep on using it?" The new watch sat in the box for a few weeks until my wife convinced me that sometimes I need to learn the lesson of being a grateful receiver and I gave into the total excitement of opening up a new electronic item (you know that smell). Crazy to think this watch is valued similarly to some used cars I have bought! 

Enough of my stories and onto the watch itself. The hardest part of setting up this watch was just getting it out of the box. It was definitely well protected for shipping considering the abuse a unit like this will take on ones wrist during its lifetime. Charged it up, entered a few settings and “BAM” like Fred Flintstone with an abacus I was ready to go. First race of the year was January 1st 2016 up in Orillia, and I am “off to the races” with my new watch. 

Some comments on the watch: 

• The band is incredibly flexible and adjustable. With winter running I am usually fastening the watch easily over a base layer and a running jacket. 
• The optical heart rate monitor seems to work great through all these layers. Not sure I really want to know how this technology works but it does. 
• The five buttons work great and are easily “pressable” with any gloves or mittens I have been wearing this winter. 
• The display is clear and crisp and even with my bad eyesight I can see the information at a quick glance in any light conditions 
• Text messages and phone calls are sent to the display while my phone is on my person through a Bluetooth connection. 

Two months later as I begin to train for my first marathon in Ottawa this May I will begin to really “put this unit through its paces.”  While I never want to fully rely on a watch to get outside and run I have already enjoyed the benefits of this watch during speed work and monitoring my times on a race pace run. Also I love maps so seeing my runs from above is great and a real time saver. Most likely I am only using about 10-20 % of this watch's capabilities so we will see as my training goes on what I find out about it. 

As this watch was a gift to me if ever we are out running together and you want to take it for a test run just ask and I will be happy to pass on the blessing someone has blessed me with.

Buen camino!

Lewis 

[Guest Post] Gear Review - Garmin Forerunner 235

and miles (less) to go before i sleep ...

now i feel like i'm really getting serious about marathon training.

i managed to get my hot little hands on a garmin 305 from a friend of mine who has apparently semi-retired from running due to injury.  as much as i hate to think that he's given up on it, i'm happy to put this piece of technology to good use:

the inaugural run with my new GPS-enabled watch was this morning, and it was very helpful to be working with the data and beeps that it was sending my way.  now that i have a bit of a baseline in terms of how it measures my performance, we'll have to see how other training runs compare to today's workout.

i let my coach know (to his pleasure) that i'm now the proud owner of this piece of running technology, and he provided me with the first week's training plan that i can now program into it.  i recall that from our first conversation that he'd said that he managed to run his sub-3 hour marathon on a training regimen that topped out at 95 kilometres in a week, so i didn't expect week one to be a backbreaker ... but yesterday he let me know that his training plan for getting him to boston had a max mileage of 75 km in a week.

the training cycle that i just came off of was 75 km before breakfast.

ok, not really ... but it did top out at 114 km in one week.

i know that i did not train as smart as i could have over the last five months - which is why i decided to align myself with my coach.  and we established that i would have to trust him in this relationship - which i do.

i'm just wondering how shifting down gears by some 40 km will work out for me.

have you had any experience in fluctuating mileage over training cycles?  and not just in terms of adding more, but reducing?  i'd love to hear about it (if only to allay my own unspoken fears)!

and miles (less) to go before i sleep ...

put me in coach - i'm ready to play ...

earlier today i had a great conversation with a person who just might be the coach for me.

(says the guy who usually likes to try to figure things out on his own)

after a brief conversation at a local Tim Horton's, i felt incredibly encouraged about how close i am to hitting my target of a Boston Qualifying time (3h15m for my age group).  and if i really believe my would-be coach, based on what's he's already researched on my training and performance history, he wouldn't be surprised to see me push closer to 3:10.

now, i'm not one who easily falls for sunshine being blown my way.  and if i read this guy correctly, he's not the kind of person to do that.  put that together with just the few pieces of recommended training tweaks that he shared, and honestly i'm starting to think that 3:10 is not out of reach.

but it's funny how conversations can dovetail as well ... i was chatting on facebook with my pal stan about training plans, heart rate monitoring and GPS watches, and he mentioned that maybe a GPS watch should maybe be on my father's day, birthday or christmas wish list.  well, doesn't my coach (let's just call him that for now) say that probably the first thing that i should do is get myself a GPS watch.

i'm not a real early-adopter when it comes to buying technology.  maybe it's because i try my best to keep my materialistic tendencies at bay - so to this point i've been using any decent digital timepieces that i could find at the local thrift stores, except for my last splurge of $11.95 on this baby on clearance:

i gotta say that it's served me well through two marathon training cycles and races - but having heard of the benefits that a true GPS/running timepiece can bring to my tempo runs and speedwork, i'm thinking that it may be time to train smarter (not cheaper).  so now i'm in the market for a garmin 305 or the like.

(see ... i'm still trying to spend as little moola as possible by going old school)

got any thoughts about garmins or other GPS-enabled devices that have made a difference to your running?  i'd love to hear about it - leave a comment!

put me in coach - i'm ready to play ...