First Impressions
Timex Ironman Run Trainer GPS
Go big or go home. That’s the look of the Timex Ironman Run Trainer GPS. The watch face measures 60 mm x 50 mm and is roughly 20 mm thick, making it the largest device in our test. Timex puts that real estate to good use with easily readable white on black button labels, and big and bold numerals on the watch face, also easily the largest in our test. And Timex doesn’t stop there.
Features
The Timex Ironman Run Trainer packs a ton of features into their large package. It records pace, distance, route and workout time. The display can be customized to display the exact metrics you want to track. There’s an interval timer, programmable alerts, a countdown timer, alarms and the company’s INDIGLO night light. There’s also a heart rate monitor option but we didn’t test that feature for this review.
I found the Ironman Run Trainer to be one of the easiest to use in the test. The customizable display can show up to four lines of data, more than enough for me. I used the three line option for most of my workouts and chose distance for the top, pace for the center and split time for the lower. Any of the 16 metrics can be placed in any line and it’s very easy to do.
Hitting the road and recording a workout was also easy. Go outside and hit the clearly labeled Radio button. Wait for lock and then use Mode to enter the Chronograph function. Hit the Start button and you’re off. Sync with satellites was fairly quick.
Transferring workouts to the PC was a little more complicated. First, you must install the Device Agent software (Timex, please label the product “Timex” in your next release to make this easier to find in a Windows program list). Second, establish an online Training Peaks account. Once these two things are done, it’s a multi-step process to download workouts. Connect the watch to the included USB cable, launch the Device Agent and hit Download. This moves the data from the watch to the PC. Once that’s done, hit the Login button in the Device Agent to upload data to the online Training Peaks website. Overall, the tool is extremely powerful and allows for a massive amount of training data to be captured, recorded and annotated.
Specs
Dimensions: 60 mm x 50 mm x 20 mm
Weight: 66 g (2.375 oz)
HRM: Yes
Training Application: Yes
One note: like most GPS watches, the Ironman Run Trainer doesn’t have a straightforward way to turn off the GPS radio. According to Timex the watch will run for eight hours with the GPS radio working. But once the battery drains completely expect to find yourself back to square one, resetting the time and all the user data. My advice, charge the watch after each wearing.
Fit
As mentioned, the Timex Ironman Run Trainer is large, but not overly so. The face tapers into the band at the top and bottom making the watch appear smaller. The band has plenty of adjustments and should fit wrists of almost any size. I had no problem adjusting it to my preferences. The band does seem less robust than I expect in this class of timepiece, but it held up well in our tests.
Final Verdict
The Timex Ironman Run Trainer was the most readable and customizable watch in our test. The large numerals, legible labels – and straightforward operation – contributed to the watch’s ease of use as well. The software takes a little getting used to, but it can warehouse a ton of data. Overall a very nice package.