Micoach
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I've never used one before, but it might be worthwhile checking out this thread too. You'll get an idea of the pros and cons of various watches, etc.
Thanks for that Grant. I've had a look and it seems like there's some pretty good watches out there to help with training.
I think though I'm sucked in by the fact the Micoach has voice feedback......so someone to shout at me 'GO FASTER FATTY!!' :huh:
I think though I'm sucked in by the fact the Micoach has voice feedback......so someone to shout at me 'GO FASTER FATTY!!' :huh:
I've had one for a couple of weeks (first time in about seven or eight years that I've upgraded my phone with my network, and I was actually moving to a cheaper tariff). I haven't had it "coach" me yet, I've just been getting used to using the controls and what not. I also did the Assessment run, to be told that my fitness level is "intermediate"
.
I don't want to listen to music when I run so the inspirational-Rocky-loadsa-steps-music-moments mode won't matter to me. The voice messages are easy to hear using the inbuilt speaker, even when the phone is zipped up in the pouch on my arm. I've read one review that mentioned the pedometer signal to the phone being lost from time to time but I haven't had any trouble with that.
"She" starts to coach me on Tuesday morning, when I do the first run of a programme I put together a couple of days ago. My last "Free Run" will be tomorrow morning.
I've not used a heart rate monitor before, so have nothing to compare it to, but the adidas Web site seems to work quite well and even just comparing heart rate graphs with those of previous runs is helpful for motivation.
Do people who use HRM wrist watches spend much time checking the display for their current heart rate? If you're someone who's used to doing that, the phone in the pouch in the upper arm is not so convenient, but you can get voice feedback at any time during your run on any or all for the following by tapping the front of the phone gently twice in quick succession: distance, time, heart rate, calories burned, pace and stride rate.
The battery cover on mine was a real pain to remove when I wanted to take the SIM out for the first time, such that I really had to use a lot of force and phone flexed a lot and it is a little creaky and plasticky at times, but at 80 grammes, I can't complain. The phone will not sync properly with Outlook 2002, which is what I have, but apparently will with 2003 or 2007...
One review I read dismissively suggested that the miCoach idea was rubbish because who'd want to be interrupted by a phone call mid-run. Needless to say, you can set it up so that you don't get calls, texts or e-mails during your run.
.I don't want to listen to music when I run so the inspirational-Rocky-loadsa-steps-music-moments mode won't matter to me. The voice messages are easy to hear using the inbuilt speaker, even when the phone is zipped up in the pouch on my arm. I've read one review that mentioned the pedometer signal to the phone being lost from time to time but I haven't had any trouble with that.
"She" starts to coach me on Tuesday morning, when I do the first run of a programme I put together a couple of days ago. My last "Free Run" will be tomorrow morning.
I've not used a heart rate monitor before, so have nothing to compare it to, but the adidas Web site seems to work quite well and even just comparing heart rate graphs with those of previous runs is helpful for motivation.
Do people who use HRM wrist watches spend much time checking the display for their current heart rate? If you're someone who's used to doing that, the phone in the pouch in the upper arm is not so convenient, but you can get voice feedback at any time during your run on any or all for the following by tapping the front of the phone gently twice in quick succession: distance, time, heart rate, calories burned, pace and stride rate.
The battery cover on mine was a real pain to remove when I wanted to take the SIM out for the first time, such that I really had to use a lot of force and phone flexed a lot and it is a little creaky and plasticky at times, but at 80 grammes, I can't complain. The phone will not sync properly with Outlook 2002, which is what I have, but apparently will with 2003 or 2007...
One review I read dismissively suggested that the miCoach idea was rubbish because who'd want to be interrupted by a phone call mid-run. Needless to say, you can set it up so that you don't get calls, texts or e-mails during your run.
Yorkie said:
After three successive mornings, I can say she's pretty bossy if you drop below or, indeed, go above your heart rate zone for the given run.
She definitely doesn't give my crumbly body enough time to get up to speed, though. My clunky knees and ankles need to be well warmed up before I can run quick enough to get the heart rate up adequately.
She definitely doesn't give my crumbly body enough time to get up to speed, though. My clunky knees and ankles need to be well warmed up before I can run quick enough to get the heart rate up adequately.
T800 said:
Thanks for the feedback T800. I've been toying with the idea of getting one since my original post and then i read your reviews last night and I decided that's it definitely gonna get one, so got up bright and breezy this morning on my day off and went and set up new contract and got one. Like I say my day off and an absolutely beautiful day I couldn't wait to get out and give it a test drive...........anyway over 4 hours later I just can't fathom the thing out and can't even get the battery in the stride sensor!!!
Have you got it up and running yet? I don't remember having any problems with the pedometer battery. The phone's battery cover was very hard to remove when I wanted to get at my SIM, though.
I didn't go for a run with the phone until I'd had it a few days -- I got it on a Monday evening and first used the HRM/pedometer functions the following Sunday morning. I was busy at work and just finding time to get used to the mCoach as a phone was difficult. (I come from a background of many years' loyalty to the Palm OS and Treos.)
I didn't go for a run with the phone until I'd had it a few days -- I got it on a Monday evening and first used the HRM/pedometer functions the following Sunday morning. I was busy at work and just finding time to get used to the mCoach as a phone was difficult. (I come from a background of many years' loyalty to the Palm OS and Treos.)
Thanks for the feedback T800. I've been toying with the idea of getting one since my original post and then i read your reviews last night and I decided that's it definitely gonna get one, so got up bright and breezy this morning on my day off and went and set up new contract and got one...
...anyway over 4 hours later I just can't fathom the thing out and can't even get the battery in the stride sensor!!!
Yeah I managd to get the battery in eventually, was just me being kakhanded!
I haven't really had much opportunity to use it as a training tool yet as have been out of running through injury since not long after I got it, but I did find i couldn't work out how to change the length of interval between the voice feedback of my stats so I could listen to music whilst running, she seemed to be talking to me evry couple of seconds cutting the music out. Do you know if I can change it so she only speaks to me every couple of mins?
I haven't really had much opportunity to use it as a training tool yet as have been out of running through injury since not long after I got it, but I did find i couldn't work out how to change the length of interval between the voice feedback of my stats so I could listen to music whilst running, she seemed to be talking to me evry couple of seconds cutting the music out. Do you know if I can change it so she only speaks to me every couple of mins?
Sorry for this late reply (I'm also not running due to injury), but no, I don't know about that. I don't listen to music while running. I didn't use the headphones with the phone, just listened over the speaker for occasional instuctions. I do recall a few runs where the instructions to slow down and speed up were entirely inappropriate but these may have been signs that the HR sensors were about to fail (see my other post).
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