Used the Band for the Philly Marathon

[mfm77]

Congrats! I respect the hell out of anybody that can run a marathon because I just can't comprehend running that far at once. I can ride a century on my bike no problem but running... any distance at all... ugh... Y'all are awesome.

Just curious.. when you said the battery was low after you were done.. like how low? Did it go the rest of the day?

I had just enough battery to sync my stats, and to be honest, once I saw the low battery alert, I charged it when I got back to the hotel. Still, it did have some juice left.

 

[mfm77]

In a marathon, distance based on GPS is not reliable esp on downtown starts when tall buildings will mess up your pace.
I use it for relative distance. I rely more on my split time and when you're out of downtown when the signal stabilizes I look at my average lap pace to calculate splits. That's why average lap pace is important.
But GPS is very helpful, don't get me wrong, just don't rely on it esp if you are tryinng to run a PR with minutes to spare.

Agreed wholeheartedly. I will say that the Band time was very close to my official time, while the mile splits weren't off by too much. As for PRs, my goal for every race is to finish and not to come in last, all while making small improvements. So far, so good.

 

[eyecrispy]

Agreed wholeheartedly. I will say that the Band time was very close to my official time, while the mile splits weren't off by too much. As for PRs, my goal for every race is to finish and not to come in last, all while making small improvements. So far, so good.

Same here. I'm just glad to finish. I'm not speedy but I am getting faster each time and it's encouraging.

 

[Paul Stasik]

Sounds awesome! I've loved the Band for the time I've had it so far, daily runs, weekend excursions on trails. It's truly a great device.

 

[mfm77]

Just another little update: I used the Band for my Turkey Trot 5K this morning. While the timing was fine, the GPS didn't kick in until 1/2 mile into the race, so I was a little bummed with that, especially since I was running in suburbia. I didn't use my phone as a comparison this time, so I'll have to live with the unofficial result, lol. Hopefully a software update will lead to faster GPS locking!

 

[cardingtr]

Just another little update: I used the Band for my Turkey Trot 5K this morning. While the timing was fine, the GPS didn't kick in until 1/2 mile into the race, so I was a little bummed with that, especially since I was running in suburbia. I didn't use my phone as a comparison this time, so I'll have to live with the unofficial result, lol. Hopefully a software update will lead to faster GPS locking!

I did the turkey trot too! Here in Houston. I am liking this Band even better. I wear both Garmin 620 and Band and the result, distance, pace, time are within seconds with each other. The Band even recorded a 6.24 mile distance. That's amazingly accurate. The run was in Galleria area so there are not much buildings and I switched on GPS early. I'll the comparison. This Band is getting better.

 

[larrynj]

Congratulations on finishing the Philly Marathon.

How many calories did you burn and what was you average heart rate?

 

[mfm77]

Congratulations on finishing the Philly Marathon.

How many calories did you burn and what was you average heart rate?

Thanks! My average HR was 156, and according to the Band, I burned 4413 calories, which makes sense after running for five hours.

 

[JM_T]

This information/review is exactly what I needed! I'm thinking of joining a group headed to Charlotte (South Park Mall) where there's a MSFT Store, this Saturday. I'm running my sixth full at Myrtle Beach and I'm looking to replace my Garmin (Forerunner 110). Five hours with GPS on incl. HR monitoring is more than enough for me, not to mention I haven't really done any HR tracking for my training. I am however confused with some posts. Can it be made to lock on GPS signal before starting the timer/run? Or does it only start looking once you press start? I'm aiming to make a PR splash so I'm hoping to avoid any hiccups for this race.

 

[Hockeymac18]

Full disclosure: I have an iPhone and an iPad but am all about good products. I've been looking for a multipurpose fitness band/watch for some time now, something that I could use not only with my runs but also with my other sports activities. Lo and behold, I stumbled upon the Band and was able to get one two days before I completed my first marathon yesterday. At first, I was a little nervous with all of the mixed reviews, but I have to say, it held up very well during my run! I had GPS turned on, so the battery was low by the end of the race (more than 5 hours later), but it hung in there like a champ. It did well measuring my distance, heart rate (though I had never had a heart rate monitor before so I couldn't compare the accuracy), and other stats. I loved the haptic feedback I got when I completed a mile, and the final stats (especially time and pace) were much more accurate than MapMyRun, which I used just for comparison. Feel free to ask questions!

Congrats on finishing the marathon! I just ran my first in December, so I understand just how hard it is.

Your battery life with GPS performance is very encouraging! I had been reading reports from people on here that they were as low as 45 minutes (wtf?) to 2 hours. All were well below my hopes about how long it'd last.

My personal tests have only been, at most, 2 hours, and it has held up well with plenty of life left... But I was wondering how it would do on a longer run (one of the main reasons I bought it was so I wouldn't have to run with my phone anymore).

As a point about overall battery life for the band, I have been very happy with that so far. I have all-day heart monitoring disabled (I honestly don't care about it) and I have been getting at least 3 days of battery life (the longest I got was a Friday morning (9 AM) to Monday afternoon (~4 PM) stretch last week). So it can easily get me through a weekend.This has been much better than the ~2 days I thought I would be expecting. And now I'm encouraged by your battery life with GPS on.

 

[mfm77]

This information/review is exactly what I needed! I'm thinking of joining a group headed to Charlotte (South Park Mall) where there's a MSFT Store, this Saturday. I'm running my sixth full at Myrtle Beach and I'm looking to replace my Garmin (Forerunner 110). Five hours with GPS on incl. HR monitoring is more than enough for me, not to mention I haven't really done any HR tracking for my training. I am however confused with some posts. Can it be made to lock on GPS signal before starting the timer/run? Or does it only start looking once you press start? I'm aiming to make a PR splash so I'm hoping to avoid any hiccups for this race.

I was able to lock the GPS before actually starting the race. You will see it start to search for satellites (might take a few minutes) and ask you if you want to start running without them. Just ignore that and wait until it says that the GPS is locked. You then can start your run!

 

[lolakr]

I have been training for the Boston Marathon, which is next week, with my Band. I love it.

My only major issue has been battery life on long training runs. I ran 21 miles a few weeks ago and the battery was at 100% when I left and shutoff/died 3:30 hours in to the run. That was with GPS on and the display active the entire time. I have since learned you can shut the display off and the battery will last much longer. That is going to be my plan for next weeks marathon.

Otherwise the stats seems to be very accurate for me, including HR, pace, and distance. I did originally have a L band, as I'm 6'4", but I wasn't getting accurate HR while running. I downsized to a M size band and it has been very accurate. I do like the haptic feedback, and wish there could be a few more advanced features, such as displaying avg. pace over the entire run, haptic feedback for custom HR zones, feedback at custom distances (e.g. 5K,10K,half,30K, etc).

 

[poit57]

That was with GPS on and the display active the entire time. I have since learned you can shut the display off and the battery will last much longer.

I've been training for a half marathon coming up in 2 weeks. I had to send my Band in for warranty exchange because of a faulty HR monitor, so I've had limited use with it so far. I was wondering about the screen staying off during a run because I thought I put the screen to sleep when using the Band for a long run a few weeks ago, but the screen was on when I checked toward the end of my run. I was under the impression that once the screen turned on to alert me of hitting a mile that the screen stayed on. I thought that was strange as It would seem to waste battery power if the screen didn't go back to sleep on its own, but maybe I just forgot to turn off the screen. I also kept watch mode on, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

I didn't have any issues with the battery, though. I had tracked sleep the night before, then worn the Band to church that morning . I ran for about an hour and 45 minutes that afternoon and still had about 30% battery left at the end of my run.

 

[mfm77]

I've been training for a half marathon coming up in 2 weeks. I had to send my Band in for warranty exchange because of a faulty HR monitor, so I've had limited use with it so far. I was wondering about the screen staying off during a run because I thought I put the screen to sleep when using the Band for a long run a few weeks ago, but the screen was on when I checked toward the end of my run. I was under the impression that once the screen turned on to alert me of hitting a mile that the screen stayed on. I thought that was strange as It would seem to waste battery power if the screen didn't go back to sleep on its own, but maybe I just forgot to turn off the screen. I also kept watch mode on, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

I didn't have any issues with the battery, though. I had tracked sleep the night before, then worn the Band to church that morning . I ran for about an hour and 45 minutes that afternoon and still had about 30% battery left at the end of my run.

The screen will flash the mile when you complete it but will (or should) turn off if you have it set to do so. You definitely want to turn off watch mode, which is what keeps the screen on and eats up battery.