To Garmin or Not to Garmin?

Runners, help! I need some advice.

Yesterday Meghann posted about Amazon’s rockin’ deal on the Garmin Forerunner 205. Of course now the item is no longer the “Deal of the Day” (it was $98 yesterday; today it’s up to $134.99, which is still a steal). I have a tendency of overthinking some purchases and then missing my sale shot.

Great investment? Or silly purchase?

Anyway. I’m not sold on the Garmin Forerunner. People who have it rave about it. But here are my concerns:

• I don’t really care about my time right now. I know that I usually run between an 8 (on a great day) and 9 (on a slow day) minute pace, but that’s as specific as I’ve gotten without a tracking device. I’m worried that with this watch, I’ll be constantly looking down, obsessing over my pace and time.
• I don’t like having things on me when I run. I fear that my wrist will get all sweaty and the watch will slip around or irritate my skin.
• I feel like I read posts all the time about people who say “My Garmin died two minutes into my run” or “My Garmin couldn’t get a satellite connection today so it didn’t help.” I don’t want to spend the money if it’s not going to be a foolproof method, or at least a super-reliable one.

I’d love to hear from people who do or don’t have the Garmin Forerunner. Do you love it? Hate it? Recommend it? Have a different model? Tell me everything!

Right now it’s on my “Do I Really Want This For Christmas?” list. I’ll be needing to narrow that list down relatively soon (You’re welcome, Mom, Dad & ABS!), so please leave some comments and tell me what you think about the product.

On that note, I slept like a baby last night. I woke up right with my alarm at 6 am then headed out for a lovely 5-mile run. This warm weather in NYC is freaking me out a little (it is the end of October, after all!), but word on the Weather Channel is that we’re back to fall tomorrow.

Time to get dressed, work hard then play the role of Girlfriend Extraordinaire at an event with ABS that he actually planned. I’m a proud piece of arm candy!

Have a great day, everyone!