The first step was to determine my stride lengths. The watch allows you to specify different stride lengths for walking and running and claims it can tell when you are doing one or the other. It also allows for a weight input which is used to calculate calories burned. After determining my walking stride to be 29 inches, I set out on a stretch of concrete path which I knew to be a quarter mile. The watch measured both my total steps (almost exactly) and the distance to within the claimed +/- 5% accuracy.

Tonight I decided to figure my running stride length. I followed the same method as before and came up with 40 inches. I then ran back the known quarter mile distance while counting my steps. The watch again performed quite well, measuring my steps right on the nose and the distance within the 5% range. One of the neater features is the small display while in the pedometer mode. You can choose between distance, speed, calories, moving time, or the time itself. The speed display actually calculates an on-the-move pace, which could prove very useful in races when trying to stay ahead of cutoffs.

My initial impressions of the watch are good, though the buttons are not the most intuitive and take some getting used to. It is a nice looking watch that is very comfortable to wear. I’m anxious to give it a test at Northshore to see how it performs on the trail where my strides vary and I both walk and run.