Garmin Forerunner 201 Wrist-Mounted GPS Fitness Computer

I lost gps signal 2 times under the dense foliage of celebration Florida where I run with friends. I looked down to see my time and was horrified to see i was running much slower than my intended pace. It lost about 1/4 mile under the trees and my time looked pretty bad because of it.

My favorite part of the 201 is the automatic logging. I hate writing in my logbook and as i sometimes train 2 times a day I am so happy to be liberated from my writing it all down. I also love looking at the 'map' of my runs at the end of the day.

I only gave it three stars because of the loss of signal, but I love this little GPS and i am never giving it up.


Weak GPS, buggy software, too loose on the wrist   December 16, 2003
 25 out of 34 found this review helpful

I am very disappointed in the Forerunner 201. It loses GPS signal far too frequently. I run in a golf course community with average to below average tree cover. In a 7 mile run the Forerunner lost GPS 20 times, including at an open-grass field retention pond. I checked one of my other GPS, a Garmin eMap, and it showed that there were 10 satellites available at the time. So I rate the Forerunner as a very poor GPS.

The most important feature to me was being able to see current pace. It was displaying 8:41 pace all the time, and I knew I was doing my standard 6:45. I imagine this error is due in part to losing GPS signal. I changed the pace smoothing setting to "least" to get a more instant value, but it's still not matching up entirely. 7:10 displayed when I'm doing 6:45's.

The autolap feature has been very buggy. You will often hear it beep at an autolap, and within a minute you'll hear it beep an autolap again. I left it at the default 1-mile setting, and the first day I used it it had autolapped 8 miles in a distance that it itself had measured to be only 3.3 miles!

There is also a minor rounding bug. If you set your training partner for 6:20/mile and later check this setting you'll see 6:19. This is probably due to 6:20 being stored as 6.33333 internally, which converts back to 6:19 without rounding.

The unit attaches to the wristband with short fabric. There's too much play in this fabric, 3/8-inch, and the unit flops on your wrist when you run. It would be better if there was 1/8 to 1/16-inch of play in the fabric.


Cool toys for fast boys   December 16, 2003
 4 out of 8 found this review helpful

Very cool tool for those who are trying to keeep fit and active. Great for people like me who don't like to walk or run with others because A) they slow you down, or B) you slow them down. The Virtual Partner mode gives you a programmable buddy to compete with at whatever pace you wish. Really works! This device is ultra-cool for techies, but has serious utility as well. Easy to use, easy to see, light to carry. I use it for walks, runs, hikes, bikes... and it performs flawlessly. Now if only the ForeRunner 202 will come with a heart-rate monitor...


Forerunner review   December 9, 2003
 24 out of 25 found this review helpful

Have been using the Forerunner for about 1 month now, and I am still impressed about it features. The User interface is very intuitive. Very comfortable to wear and manipulate the buttons. Display is easy to read, and the backlight even comes on at night when you reach distances you have programmed unit to notify you at. Love the history feature, and with the year plus memory feature, I can take my time updating my Ultra Coach logging software that I use to track my workouts.
For 95% of the runners out there, you will be quite happy with the device. For those of you that run underneath allot of heavy tree cover, you will be disappointed. GPS satellite acquisition under heavy tree/foliage cover will be spotty (This is a inherent problem with all GPS units because of the very weak nature of the satellite signals) I took the unit out on an orienteering event, under heavy tree cover (although no leaves) and lost signals quite often over the 8 mile course). Of course, this use of the instrument is at the extreme end of its intended use. Like I said, for runners, X-Country skiers, power walkers, you will be quite happy with the unit. BTW, for those of you who were disappointed that your unit had a hard time acquiring signals indoors, you will be lucky to get any satellite lock unless your near some windows (and glass will cut down on signal strength). The unit is not designed to work indoors unless you just want to use the stopwatch timer.

The logging software is still not available. Apparently you can export data in XTML, which should make it importable in mapping software. And the serial interface? Should be USB (Garmin? what were you thinking?) And for crying out loud, make a drop in docking station that charges the battery and interfaces with your PC. The snap in cradle is Mickey mouse.

So, all in all, 135.00 well spent.


Explore different routes and let forerunner track mileage   December 4, 2003
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

I've used this for several training runs and so far accuracy is right on except for a couple of times when GPS signal was momentarily lost. The unit is very light and comfortable to wear even though it looks big and bulky for a wrist device. Battery life is very good and I use it several times between charging. I would prefer the option of replaceable batteries for extended use away from electricity such as backpacking but Garmin makes other GPS units for that I suppose. I have had it lose GPS signal twice and lost about 1/4 mile off the mileage, probably due to cutting off part of the route to where it picked up the signal again. Both times the loss occurred when running east under heavy trees with the forerunner on my left wrist. This happened on a trail through a heavily forested park and I've had no problems out in the open. I haven't tried it downtown around large buildings yet. The pace function on the default screen is pretty erratic so I use the "average pace" on the custom screen which seems to be right on. The little running dude on the virtual partner screen is a neat feature. Despite the problems I mentioned, I recommend the forerunner and don't regret buying it at all.