It's my Birthday; getting Garmin'd up!

Ah the joy of a birthday! So last month was my birthday and as usual I faced the ponderous question from my family: “what do you want?” Usually this is answered with, “I don’t know, let me think about it”, I then forget and it rolls by and I end up with a nice sweater etc. This year was different. My wife and I had agreed to give each other a treadmill, which was partially funded through everyone’s favorite birthday gift; cash, from my parents. After some research, a quick poll from some of the regulars on the Nike+ forums, (thanks all) and various quarter and half mile tryouts here and there we plumped for a Bodyguard T240, from F.B.I. but more on that to come.

With the new treadmill in mind and the notorious inaccuracy of Nike+ on a treadmill, I looked at the Garmin site to see if there was an option for indoor running; to my delight they have a Footpod. This is from Amazon.com where it was available 30% cheaper:

"This shoe-mounted accessory will provide accurate pace and distance to the Forerunner 305 when GPS reception is unavailable, such as when you're training on treadmills or indoor tracks. Speed and distance information is calculated in the Foot Pod and transferred to the Forerunner, where information from the Foot Pod is automatically displayed and stored.

Dynastream Technology The Foot Pod is built on Dynastream technology, which solves the challenge of accurately measuring a user's speed and distance in real time. The system was designed to measure each stride via a patented accelerometer, which measures all parameters of each foot stride, computes that data, then wirelessly transmits speed and distance information to the Forerunner 305 wrist unit via a 2.4 GHz signal. To date, Dynastream technology is the first and only commercially viable, accurate stride analysis technology that can be used outside the laboratory environment. The Foot Pod is 97 percent accurate out of the box and 99 accurate percent when calibrated. It can also be worn in tandem with the Forerunner 305's wireless heart rate monitor."

It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Nike+, but could it spell it's demise, probably only as a training tool, it is still a lot of fun to have!

So a Footpod it was, now while I was scrolling though Amazon’s Garmin pages I came across a nifty little case, by Garmin, for all the 305 accessories; USB leads, charger, cradle etc and as everyone knows, it’s very important to have the right case for the right kit. So when my in-laws asked my the question, this year I had an answer for them, thanks Valerie and Michael.

The case arrived earlier this week and the Footpod 30 minutes ago, unfortunately I’ve put my run in for the day, but maybe I’ll squeak in another later on, you know just to see! PS that's a quarter in the photo, so you'll have an idea on it's size.