If you happen to be a professional athlete, you will always certainly get a lot of use from the Garmin Forerunner GPS 201 watch. It has a huge selection of features to offer. It comes with a GPS sensor, an electronic map, routine variation and reversal capabilities, calorie tracker, lap info and data, performance archives, auto stopwatch with auto-lap and auto pause features, lap timer, pace alert, distance alert, free Training Center software, a flexible wristwatch strap, and an A/C desktop charging unit with a serial port.

The GPS 201 is perfect for a professional or an amateur athlete. It mostly takes care of the pacing and tracking aspects. This unit comes with plenty of good features, but its major flaw happens to be that it does not work predictably. This is the only reason you would not consider it perfect. Its dimensions of 3.3 ? 1.7 ? 0.7 make it appear more bulky than a regular fitness watch; actually it is lighter than it looks, weighing in at only 2.8 ounces. The watch is waterproof and hence it can be worn by swimmers or by runners in rainy or damp weather conditions.

The Garmin Forerunner Fitness 201 watch can hold a lap history of 5000 laps and comes with a lot more features that you should tweak to suit your own wishes and individual requirements. A very important feature the watch provides is the Training Center Software. This is a great feature for you to use to hang onto your performance statistics and can also let you see how they have varied along your path, particularly if done some exercise at different elevations. The Virtual Partner function allows you to set goals that you want to reach. You merely have to compare your current workout session with that of your virtual partner.

The GPS feature of this 201 model is disliked by quite a few users because the signal is sketchy sometimes. In addition to that, consumers also tend to find fault with the discrepancies in features such as altitude and pace readouts. This navigator does not come with a heart rate monitor. Currently, when many of the computer interfaces can work with a USB, this model falls to the back of the pack with a serial port facility.

The wristband of the Forerunner 201 GPS is of a flexible material, allowing you to wear the watch by wearing it on your wrist or your upper arm as you wish. Its LCD display screen can be clearly read in brightly lit areas as well as in the shadows. The rechargeable lithium alloy battery lasts for 14 hours before losing power. It seems to be a good choice for runners, but may be a poor choice for bicycling, etc.

On the whole, the Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS is a watch with a lot of advantages. The training Center software and the Virtual partner features deserve special mention. Unfortunately, its poor GPS signaling is its only flaw.