REVIEW - Garmin Forerunner 110 watch vs. MapMyRun.com iPhone app

I recently got a Garmin. I'm so excited! The reason for the Garmin was mainly because of my last half marathon. I finished a 13.1 race with my iPhone GPS app saying I ran 14.9! I knew that this method was slightly off, because I was always ahead of most of the mile markers in races, but this time it was ridiculous!

I decided on the Forerunner 110 with a heart monitor. I wanted simple, but something that would give me splits and pace, etc. I think this was the best choice for me. Other people I know have the models for triathletes or cycling, but that's not what I needed.

I decided a 10 mile run would really be a great time to test these two tracking devices side by side. So on my saturday run this weekend, I started Map My Run and the Garmin at the same time / same place and off I went. I had the iPhone app telling me in my ear when I hit each mile and by the first mile marker on the Phone, my Garmin said I was at .91. Scroll down for the final tally...

Needless to say, by the end of the 10, I was WAY off. 

Garmin 10.02

MapMyRun 10.93

This is better than the 13.1 vs. 14.9, but still quite a bit off. Calories are quite a bit different too. 

Garmin 789 vs. MapMyRun at a whopping 1406!

With that big of a difference in mileage it changes everything. Pace and split times were totally wrong and I was not running as far as I needed to be for my training runs. 

By this alone, I will continue to use the Garmin, but there are other features I really like. 

--It was very easy to set up and start using. 

--I really like the heart rate feature. (I'd always wondered where I was with this)

--It's super light. I like not having to carry my heavy phone. 

--The heart rate feature is awesome

--The online tracking has lots of info and graphs for splits, elevations and heart rate.

My only issue has been connectivity. I have a MacBook and it doesn't always recognize when I connect the Garmin via USB. I'm going to be keeping an eye on this one and call support if needed. 

I hope this helps if you are on the fence about a Garmin, I'm excited about continuing to train with it! I've used it several times now and very happy with it's accuracy and performance.