Frodo’s Watch

“One ring to rule them all…” — J.R.R. Tolkien

I’m a vacuum tube baby. When I was young, the home television was about the size they are now, but three-rather than two-dimensional. Most of the interior of the box was devoted to air, needed to cool the vacuum tubes which transformed the radio waves into sound and image on the 12” wide cathode ray tube.

Then, in the late 50s, transistors appeared. I could listen to the baseball game under the covers at night, with a little radio the size of a pack of cards. It cost $27, which, considering inflation, was probably equal to the current value of an iPod. My father gave it to me as a reward for joining a summer swim team; he thought I was too bookish, I guess. It was magic, and brought not only sports, but also rock ‘n roll into my life.

But miniaturization didn’t stop there. Someone figured out how to put the transistors on a thin silicon wafer, and the microprocessor was born. Digital watches appeared. In 1976, for $300, I bought a calculator watch, probably equal in value to an iMac at this point. And now available for under $20, shipped for free from Amazon.

I’ve been addicted to calculator watches – the cheap, small kind – ever since, preferring to spend my dollars on more specialized “watches” which over the years have gotten more and more sophisticated.

I have one for skiing. With a small air pressure sensor, it instantly knows my elevation, and how fast it changes. The microchip uses that information and its internal clock to figure out how fast I’m skiing down hill and, more importantly, how many vertical feet I’ve covered in each run, how many runs I’ve done, and the totals for the day.

In 2005, I bought a Garmin watch (Forerunner 205) which uses the Global Positioning Satellite network to tell me how fast I’m going, be it walking, running, or riding my bike. It can slice and dice that basic information to summarize my workouts any way I want. It is about the size of a large pack of gum, strapped to my wrist. The battery lasts maybe 6 hours.

Two years later, Garmin added a heart rate sensor, reading the electrical signals my ticker produces as captured by a strap around my chest – the Forerunner 305. I could even measure my running cadence with a little foot pod. This also allowed me to use the watch indoors on a treadmill. I thought that was a giant step forward, and so forked over another $250 for one of those. When they added the ability to also read the signals from my bike’s power meter (the Forerunner 310), I called a halt to the relentless march forward. I mean, I already had a unit strapped to my bike which captured all that data, including elevation, so why keep spending $$$ every two-three years for something I really didn’t need. Also the package did keep getting incrementally smaller, with slightly longer battery life each incarnation.

Then Garmin added swimming metrics to the package (the 910 XT). Another unnecessary accessory, in my opinion. I mean, all I really wanted to know was how long it took me to complete the last swim interval, and how long I swam overall. I could easily figure out myself how far I’d swum. For $30, my ten year old Timex Ironman watch filled that bill. But the price on the 310 came down, so I picked up on of those.

I assumed I was done. I had all I needed: a watch for skiing, a watch for running (which could back up my bike data if the on board unit failed), and a watch for swimming. Besides, they weren’t really watches at all; the rechargeable battery would run down after 15 hours at the most, and anyway, they were the size of a small dinner plate, so I preferred to just wear my Casio Calculator for everyday use. Small, reliable, 3-5 year battery life.

But then. But then … this spring, Garmin has conjured up Fenix2, The One Watch To Rule Them All.

Here are the sensors it incorporates: barometer (altimeter), thermometer, compass, GPS, ANT+ (for cycling power meters and heart rate monitors), Bluetooth, as well as a specialized heart rate monitor strap which has its own motion sensing system.

Here is a (probably partial) list of the ways I can use this watch:

Swimming: Counts my strokes per length; time for each length; time for the overall workout. WIthin the workout, I can see how long it takes me to swim each interval I do, how long (time AND distance) each length is, how many intervals I do, how far I go in total, and some other calculated metrics of dubious value. Adjustments can be made for the length of the pool, or even for whether you are swimming in a pool at all (“Open Water Swim”.)

Running: In addition to what I already get from my running watch – time, distance, speed, cadence, and HR, in total, or by interval – I now know how long each foot was on the ground for every step (about a quarter of a second, it turns out), how far up and down I bob with each step (7 cm, +/-), how long to wait until I try running again to ensure optimum recovery, what my VO2 max is, predicted race times for various distances, and probably other stuff I still haven’t found yet.

Cycling: Between the GPS and the ANT+, I could use this as a complete back-up to my cycling computer/head unit. A partial list of the calculated current, lap, and total ride data I could view includes: HR, power, NP, IF, TSS, elevation, % grade, etc.

But Wait, There’s More!  The software engineers have incorporated a Ski/Board mode, which gives me all the data I have on my current ski watch – how long, how far, how high, current elevation, temperature, and HR if I’m geeky enough to wear the strap while skiing. It also incorporates a cross-country ski mode, basically the running mode in the winter, but with a cool little logo of an XC skier instead of a runner.

The amazing thing is, I haven’t even touched on the original elements of this watch, which started life as the Fenix. Combining the GPS, compass, barometer, and software, its primary use was intended for hiking and multi day treks. GPS coordinates (“waypoints”) can be fed into or read out of the watch, along with a crude map of one’s adventure on the screen.

Now, what about that Bluetooth? Well, it’s also a “smart watch”, meaning it can be paired with an iPhone or Android. That link means a beep goes off when a text or email is received, and they can be read on the watch screen. Other elements (I don’t have a smart phone, so I haven’t explored this yet) of the phone can also be controlled by the watch. Also, Garmin makes a small “helmet cam”, the VIRB, which can also be controlled via the Bluetooth and the five buttons on the watch.

The battery life is a quantum leap forward: 50 hours claimed with GPS operating, 5 WEEKS with it off. So the Fenix can be worn as an everyday watch. Comparable in appearance to the Timex Ironman, it weighs 8 oz (sounds better than “half a pound”), with a diameter just under 2” and a depth of just over 1/2”.

Now, none of this is ground-breaking; all the elements already exist on other wrist worn devices from Garmin or other companies. But Garmin has done what Apple did with the iPhone – combined into one small hand- (wrist-) held computer all the elements that used to require multiple devices. I suppose the next iteration will include: a mini plug for earphones and an iPod Shuffle chip; a Siri-like instructress to tell me where to turn while walking in the city; and all the stuff on those wrist bands which are appearing for fitness tracking. Sigh … I’m happy with what I have in the Fenix, for now, at least.

I’ve been using my Fenix daily for three weeks, during intense Ironman Training, and would like to produce an interim User’s Guide, to help anyone who plunks down $400 for this ($450 retail; I got mine@ REI, with 10% dividend. Available on other online shops with a discount program.) The Garmin online user manual is understandably rather rudimentary, given the vast potpourri of software thats been stuffed onto the chip. Also, I’d like to document just what I’m doing with it so I don’t forget when IM CDA is over, and I stop training for ten days. I’ll probably write that as Part Deux, and post it on my blog this weekend.