Timex Ironman Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch Review
Posted on May 30, 2009 under Reviews | 7 CommentsI was sent a heart rate monitor watch to review from Timex, called the Ironman Road Trainer. It was pretty exciting to get since I didn’t know when it was going to arrive, if at all and when did get something in the mail, I actually thought it was another package that I ordered. The only reason why I realized that it wasn’t something I ordered was because it was sent via overnight shipping, and I never order anything overnight shipping. So I got the watch while at work and really wanted to start using it right away, but decided to wait to enjoy it from the comfort of my own home. When I finally started using it, it actually didn’t take that long to set up and worked right away.
Timex Ironman Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch
Here are some of the main features for the Timex Ironman Road Trainer Heart Monitor Watch:
- Water resistant watch and chest sensor – 100m
- Chrono start/split – 100 hours, 50 lap recall
- Various modes: countdown, alarm, review and recovery
- INDIGLO® night-light with NIGHT-MODE® feature
- 5 training modes and 1 custom
Getting Started
The instructions were pretty straight-forward and I was able to set up and add my height and weight so that it counts my calories correctly. The chest sensor is very easy to put on and works right away. If it doesn’t get a reading right away, all you have to do is wet it very lightly.
Chrono Mode
I’ve had the watch for a couple of weeks now and have been only using it for a couple of features. I’ve only been going on 3-5 mile runs, so I haven’t utilized the 50-lap recall feature. But the watch has done a great job in tracking each one-mile split so that I don’t have to worry about remembering each split. This will really come in handy when I start running a lot more miles. Imagine trying to run 10 miles and trying to remember the splits for each one.
Review Mode
In the review mode, it tells you: the average heart rate, minimum and peak heart rate, total calories burned, each split time and average heart rate for that split, and some other numbers I don’t really look at. It’s very easy to get all the numbers that you need in this mode.
Recovery Mode
Once you finish your run or workout, you can go to recovery mode and it will measure your heart rate for 1 or 2 minutes. Seeing how fast your heart rate goes back to normal is a good way to see how hard you ran and how much you are improving. If one week it takes you 2 minutes to get back to your normal heart rate, but the next week, it only takes you one minute, then it shows that you are getting better.
Heart Rate Zones
There are 5 training modes and one custom one that you could set up on your own. You can make the watch alert you when your heart rate is too high or low and out of a certain zone that you should be at. I have not really utilized this feature yet, but it’s good to know that it’s there.
Overall
This is a very easy-to-use, good looking watch that does pretty much everything I want in a watch. It keeps track of my splits and can track my heart rate accurately to know how hard I am running each time. The only drawback is the lack of GPS, which is one other feature I would want in a watch. But looking at other GPS watches, you are sacrificing look and feel for functionality. I don’t think I would ever wear a GPS watch out if I weren’t running, but I would definitely wear my Timex Ironman Road Trainer watch. It just looks very sleek and can be used on an everyday basis. It is definitely a step up from my old stopwatch and I can definitely see myself using this watch for all my future runs and races for a while now.
Where You Can Get One
May 30th, 2009 at 1:27 PM
I’m in the market for a new watch/monitor…maybe I’ll check out this version.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:48 AM
great, thorough review. sounds like a solid watch for those of us not so concerned with gps-ing 🙂 glad you have a good watch to use in the meantime for all your splits.
June 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 PM
@Anne Since I just started using the watch, I don’t mind putting on the chest strap every time I run. But I might just start using it on harder days just because it gets annoying to have to put on each time. Other than that, it’s a good watch.
@lindsay Yeah, I’m pretty satisfied right now, although I did look at someone’s Garmin run details recently and saw so many details about your run like strides per minute, elevation and more. I think all that info would be cool to have, but a little overwhelming at the same time.
June 16th, 2009 at 1:21 AM
Nice review, didn’t realize you had a blog. I like this watch a lot, except that it doesn’t allow downloading of data. I keep wavering on whether to trade up my Garmin 205 for one with a HRM, but keep coming back to the fact that adding heart rate would require that I remove another data field from my primary Garmin screen, and I don’t know which I’d drop (scrolling through screens while running is a pain, so I just use the main one). For now, I’ll keep using the Garmin and Timex simultaneously, though I probably look ridiculous running around with a watch on each arm!
June 17th, 2009 at 3:37 PM
Has anyone used this for swimming yet? I like the sound of it so far, but would like to use it for swimming laps as well. Thanks!
Bleux
December 14th, 2009 at 12:24 AM
Your article was full of information about the watch Ironman Road Trainer. You have put all information on how to use and other thing that you can do with that watch. I anyone going to read your article, it will surely learn a lot from this site.