The Forerunner 101 offers runners, hikers and cyclists an entry-level personal training device with Global Positioning System (GPS).

Have you ever been in a situation on out-of-town business or on vacation, where you really aren't familiar with your surroundings?  This is a situation that most have experienced or experience regularly.  Hopefully, your accommodations aren't situated in a concrete jungle with absolutely no opportunity to escape on foot.  If you are in the outskirts, in the burbs or near a downtown park, take advantage of the situation and do not deprive yourself of your normal fitness routine.  I feel guilty when I do not put the effort into finding-a-way to get my run in.  Even still, just blasting off into the unknown, may not get you very far.  You have no real destination, no way to measure distance, and unsure of the way back.  You should address these concerns before you run into the unknown.  Considering all of this, you might just give up.  However, Garmin has a product that just might cure your panic and get you back on the track.  The Garmin Forerunner is a 12 channel parallel GPS receiver, which uses up to 12 satellites to track speed and distance.  As a navigator, users can mark their hotel as a specific location, see their current position on the plotter display, and follow an electronic breadcrumb trail back to their starting point.  It has numerous features that have been incorporated to satisfy the needs of runners, hikers and cyclists.  For those on foot, this unit is meant to be worn on the wrist.  Initially, the unit appears to be large; however, after wearing the unit for 12 hours, I did not find it to be an inconvenience.  For cyclists, it may be worn on the wrist or mounted directly onto the handlebars with the optional bicycle mounting bracket.

Many GPS receivers use the patch antenna which has the antenna gain fall off as you near the horizon.  Others use the  wrapped "helix" style antenna which has good coverage almost all the way to the horizon.  Outside in the open spaces, both perform very well.  The patch antenna is conceivably superior since it tends to reject signals very low on the horizon and thus is somewhat less sensitive to multi-path errors.  On the other hand, if you are indoors (or in a car), the lower pattern coverage angles of the helix style antenna may pick up satellites in view (SVs) lower on the horizon (or multi-path signals) through side windows and stay locked where you might not with the  patch.  If multi-path signals are received and processed, you  may see your GPS position move hundreds and even thousands of meters away from your actual position.  In actual practice, there is little difference in "real world" performance between the two antenna types under normal clear view of the sky situations.  Some perform better in this area than others.  In this respect, my Forerunner, with a built-in patch antenna, did not perform well.  Every time I entered a treed area a warning tone went off.......a look at the LCD told me that the satellite signal was weak.  During this time the only features left running are functions related to time (not distance).  When the signal is reacquired, the GPS calculates the distance travelled between where the signal was lost and when it was reacquired.  In this instance, no matter what route you travelled, the GPS will calculate this distance in a straight line; from the point when the signal was interrupted, to the point where the signal was reacquired.  This may result in a false distance (possibly marginal).  When mounted to the handlebars of a bicycle I found that satellite reception was vastly improved over that of wearing it on the wrist.  I travelled the very same route on a bicycle and not once did the GPS lose its satellite fix.  This leads me to believe that the relatively low carrying position on the wrist and being hidden partially hidden at my side while running was a factor in its weak reception.

Of all the features, my favourite feature is the "Virtual Partner".  This feature can be set for distance and time, or time and speed, or distance and speed.  Whichever option you choose, a graphic display of two running images is displayed along with "you are ahead" or "you are behind" and the actual distance ahead of, or behind your virtual partner.  A quick glance at the LCD display confirms that you are keeping up, or you need to speed up, or slow down your pace.

The Forerunner 101 operates on two AAA batteries.  I have used the Forerunner for better than 12 hours and have not noticed any degradation in performance due to battery drain.  The specifications indicate that battery life is 15 hours.  It is recommended that you purchase quality, rechargeable, Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, to operate this unit economically.

Forerunner 101 features