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Excessive Technology
May. 21st, 2008 10:04 amI have a new toy, a Garmin Forerunner 305. This is a device in the huge-wristwatch form-factor that combines heart rate monitor with GPS receiver for speed and distance measurements. Now that the more compact and even fancier 405 is out, the 305 can be had for a much more reasonable price, down actually in the range of the fancier plain heart rate monitors.
I got the thing yesterday, and set out on a walk through the local park, grinning the big grin of someone using extremely complex technology for a ridiculously silly purpose. Why not use a constellation of orbiting atomic clocks to keep track of...walking? Sure, you can question whether applying technology to the task of turning a simple walk in the park into some sort of athletic competition with heart rate monitoring and GPS-measured speed and distance is really improving my life. But why spoil the fun with such thoughts? This thing offers data. You can reconfigure all the displays. Speed, distance, heart rate. Current, maxima, averages. Altitude. It can calculate sunrise and sunset times, given how it knows exactly where you are. Time of day? Oh, it knows about time. Finally something with a clock you never need to worry about setting.
My intent is to use it mostly for running, to be able to keep track of speed and distance without having to stick to running back and forth on the same pre-measured routes. Also I'll be able to send my other heart rate monitor in for battery replacement without being left bereft of my precious data.
I got the thing yesterday, and set out on a walk through the local park, grinning the big grin of someone using extremely complex technology for a ridiculously silly purpose. Why not use a constellation of orbiting atomic clocks to keep track of...walking? Sure, you can question whether applying technology to the task of turning a simple walk in the park into some sort of athletic competition with heart rate monitoring and GPS-measured speed and distance is really improving my life. But why spoil the fun with such thoughts? This thing offers data. You can reconfigure all the displays. Speed, distance, heart rate. Current, maxima, averages. Altitude. It can calculate sunrise and sunset times, given how it knows exactly where you are. Time of day? Oh, it knows about time. Finally something with a clock you never need to worry about setting.
My intent is to use it mostly for running, to be able to keep track of speed and distance without having to stick to running back and forth on the same pre-measured routes. Also I'll be able to send my other heart rate monitor in for battery replacement without being left bereft of my precious data.
