Soleus Is In the House!

Garmin has reigned king over the GPS running watch market for years. Not so much because they're the best, but rather they've been the only thing available. Not knocking Garmin, they have a good product (except I did have a horrendous time with a 405 that was a lemon from the get-go and never worked right), but they are a bit pricey. 

If you're looking for a basic GPS watch to measure your distance, speed, pace, and calories burned that's not going to bust your budget, there really hasn't been much available....until now. A new competitor has entered the market--Soleus. The Soleus GPS 1.0 Digital Running Watch is very much affordable ($99) as compared to Garmin's lowest priced GPS watch the Forerunner 110 (not really sure of it's price because on the Garmin website it's listed at $179.99 on one page and then on the page where you order it, it's listed at $229.99).

I've been testing out the Soleus GPS 1.0 for a little over a month now and I've really enjoyed using it. It has everything I need. It's very simple to use right out of the box. It's provided accurate pace and distance each time I've used it. I have really small wrist and the other GPS watches on the market always felt so huge and bulky on my wrist. The Soleus GPS 1.0 is about as close to the size of a regular sports watch that I've seen. It fits well. I think both women and men will be surprised and happy with the size and feel when wearing it. Another cool thing about the Soleus GPS 1.0 is that you can input your personal data to help you track calories burned during your workout.

More specifically, the Soleus GPS 1.0 comes with the following:

• GPS: high-sensitivity receiver

• Distance: current & total in Miles or Km

• Pace/Speed: current & average

• Calories Burned: current & total Kcal burned

• Chrono: 1/100 second resolution

• Data Storage: 100-lap memory

• Water-Resistant: 3 ATM

• World Time: 106 cities covering all time zones

• Rechargeable Battery: USB rechargeable lithium-ion

• Weight= 2 ounces

Fits my small wrist well and is very light!

Some GPS users who like downloading all their data so they can analyze their runs, may not like not having that ability with the Soleus GPS 1.0. It does have a certain amount of memory to store each run's data so you can look back at past runs directly on the watch.

What it doesn't have in data "downloadability" it makes up for in reams with it's high sensitivity GPS receiver. The runs with my clients take me into all kinds of terrain much of which is thickly covered with trees, even a tunnel! So having a GPS that can quickly find the satellite and keep it is a must and Soleus delivers on both. Love that!

The Soleus website provides great easy-to-follow videos on how to use the GPS 1.0. This really helped me get up and running very quickly.

Soleus GPS 1.0 - Basic User Guide from Soleus UK on Vimeo.

So, if you're thinking about getting a GPS watch and don't want to (or can't) take out a bank loan to get one, try the Soleus GPS 1.0. I'm very pleased with my experience with the Soleus. It does everything I need it to. It's dependable. It's small. Best of all, it's affordable!

Note: While Soleus requested the product review and provided the GPS watch for testing, I received no payment for completing the review, nor was I encouraged to write a positive review. The review results are strictly based on my experience using the Soleus GPS 1.0. 

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