Garmin 310 xt

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spanishwog said..
Hi all - does anyone have a Garmin310 xt?

I found a review for it in the Windsurf magazine -

Garmin Forerunner 310XTDesigned with all-round sports use in mind ( bike, hike, watersports), Garmin’s new ‘training partner’ GPS-enabled Forerunner 310XT tracks your time, distance, speed, elevation and heart rate before wirelessly sending data to your computer. Activity logs can be viewed at Garmin Connect where you can store, analyse and overlay tracks on a variety of maps. The Forerunner 310XT is waterproof and boasts a battery life of up to 20 hours and is compatible with the GPS Speedsurfing website ladders.

Just wondering pros and cons?

Can it be used for GPS comps?

cheers

Troy

Regarding the highlighted quote above, I am not sure who determined that and why?

I had a quick look at the specs and learned very little. Not sure if you can force logging at 1hz. Not clear what format the data output is or how to extract it. No information on whether the speed data is Trackpoint derived to Doppler derived and if it is pure or 'smoothed' (processed). I suspect it is processed. It all seems orientated to be used with their proprietary software for specific sports (that don't include windsurfing).

I would steer clear unless you have a compelling need for one for cycling or running.

I have been reading the GPS forums with interest for a while and the issues around the GT31 and its replacements. I understand that the higher grade doppler is the go and that for fairness everyone competing need to have a high qualityGPS. I just wonder if other sports are as adamant about the one unit.
For example I know that cyclists have world wide challenges like the one over xmas - quickest to ride 500km between xmas eve and NY eve. My brother did it and he has a Garmin device on his bike. He would go for his ride, come home plug his garmin in and upload to the website which would give him a running total and update his position in the standings. There were thousands of competitors - did they all have the same device? I would say no.

The Garmin 310xt is appealing to me as it is waterproof, you can wear it on your wrist, you can get it for about $200 and the Windsurf magazine says it is compatible with GPS ladders.

I am no tech expert but I am confused.

Hey Spanish,

I have been using one (Garmin 310XT and recently a Garmin 910XT) for about 1 year now. I picked up the 310XT for $150 off eBay brand new!

The primary reason I got the 310XT is because it is waterproof to 50m and basically a watch; I have had some major stacks with it and it is still going strong.

It can do 1s updates and it measures speed in knots (max speed is in Miles/hr or Km/hr dependant on the global units setting!?). It was specifically listed on the SP Speedsurfing site but now they just state a GPS device capable of 1s updates. The data format is .GPX so it is easy to view on Google maps etc but it is not recognised for records.

A minus of the unit is it can have a few spikes in the data... So you really have to look at the data carefully before you claim your PB...! I use GPS Action replay which has a really good filtering feature to take out unrealistic accelerations or top speeds. Another big minus is it doesn't measure the Doppler speed...

I was just mucking around on wave / freeride gear and wanted the data track (where I went) rather that the max speed so it didn't really matter.

However I have recently been bitten by the speed bug and am low looking for a more accurate device; Canmore, GW-52?

Anyway that is what I have found.

Hope it helps.

Don't know much about the speedsurfing ladder, but there's plenty of us hackers on all sorts of gear putting whatever they've done for the day on GPS team challenge. Honestly, I think unless your a consistent 40 knot performer most participants won't give a toss if its not super accurate and record 28.5 knots instead of 28.2
More about the participation and social side than competitive agendas, if your that good yopu'd already have two GT31's.
Looks like a good piece of gear, might get one myself to replace the GT.

Sweet - thanks guys - sounds like the plan.
cheers