Sports Watches Essentials

So you’re shopping around for a new sport watch, and you’re basically overwhelmed by all the different choices that are on the market today. And, boy is there a plethora of choices out there.

Browse Top-rated Sport Watches

It seems like every watch manufacturer in the world has jumped on the sport watch band wagon. Maybe you have owned several sport watches over the years and have worn them all out one by one, or they have gotten broken or lost, and now its time to see whats different about our modern sports watches.

Or, it could be that you’re shopping for gift, or maybe you’re trying to guide someone into buying the most suitable sport watch for you. Hey, I don’t blame you, might as well get the watch of your dreams, the one you really want, right?

What To Look For In A Sport Watch

Whatever the reason, the goal of this post is to help you quickly narrow down your sports watch choices to two or three and then you can go price shopping confident about the exact features you want on your new sport watch.

Don’t forget to shop the internet, there are often terrific bargains there that you won’t find at your local mall, or jewelry store.

Admittedly there are many makes and models to choose from, but thankfully there aren’t nearly as many different types, brands, and model as there are with wall clocks. Many wall clocks are handmade or antique and you definitely need to educate yourself a bit more before you purchase one.

Back to sport watch essentials. The possible watch picks run from a simple inexpensive sport watch costing around or under $40 all the way up to a wrist mounted complicated computer, which only a sports scientist would know how to use.

If you choose to purchase the sophisticated wrist mounted computer type sport watch, you should be prepared to flatten your wallet to the point of laying out several hundred bucks, probably in excess of $300 $400, not to mention that you will have to go back to school to learn how to operate the new expensive sports watch gadget you’ve just purchased.

Features Of A Good Sport Watch

When attempting to find the right sport watch for you, it is important to determine what your must-have, bare minimum criteria is for the time piece best suited for your particular life style and training needs.

First, think about what you will be using the watch for. For example, will you be running or swimming laps, doing interval training, or do you just need a simple stop watch function on the sports watch you choose?

Maybe you don’t actually need a sport watch with all the latest and greatest features. If a simple sport watch with just the three basic features is all you need, then you will be saving yourself a ton, and many of the less expensive ones are smart looking, durable, and function perfectly.

There are many sport watches manufacturers, and each one of them makes several different models with varying features to accommodate the different serious athletic training requirements for any particular sport, or, for that matter, the casual participant in any particular sport. As an example, people that just occasionally compete in fun runs often train on a regular basis.
Then, there are the millions of sport watch owners that just want a sport swatch for its sporty or casual look. They may be the outdoorsy type, or the guy or gal that likes to keep in shape by visiting the gym or exercising at home, or he or she just might not be the type of person who likes to wear a dress or fancy watch. Most sport watch buyers fall into this category.

The Top Feature Used On A Sport Watch

While it is true that we generally think of sports watches being used to help you train in a particular sport, you will probably be surprised to know that the feature most used on todays sport watch is the sport watches ability to monitor your heart rate.

Continuing sports science research has firmly proven that physical improvement and therefor sports athletic performance can be greatly enhanced and accelerated by maintaining different heart rates while advancing through the different workout phases.

These are called target heart rates. For example, an athlete in training, would regularly use his sport watch to monitor his or her heart rate during the warm up portion of his workout, but he would have an entirely different target heart rate for the main portion of his workout, and yet another target heart rate for his cool down phase.

An individuals ability to monitor his heart rate during various phases of his workout was not possible until the sport watch became so economical and easily accessible worldwide. For this reason, many more young athletes have been afforded the opportunity to compete for high school, college, and even professional sports.

Not all sports watches are created equal, of course, and what would be a terrific sport watch for one person would be totally unacceptable for the next. Having said that, however, there are a few features that would usually be considered necessary in virtually every sport watch.

1. The chrono short for chrononmeter, the stopwatch function is the most important feature of any sport watch watch. The chrono lets you to record your time whether you’re competing long runs, short competitive races, or swimming laps. Really, any physical activity that you’re trying to record your time in doing.
2. The digits on the face of the sport watch needs to be clearly visible while moving and from an arms distance away. As obvious as this feature should be, many buyers tend to overlook this very important feature and end up with a sport watch that is difficult to read while on the move. It is also an advantage, depending upon how serious you are as an athlete, if your sports watch lets you to view two or three data fields simultaneously and it wouldn’t hurt if it supported customizable screens. If you are a just casual athletic participant, these last mentioned features wouldn’t be necessary.
3. Session, recall, and lap storage. Even the casual athlete that trains only 2-3 times a week will want to make sure that their new sports training time piece has this capability. Many sports watches have enough memory to store a session log including the individual laps or attempts of the session. And, the more advanced sport watches can even record the warm-up and recovery periods as well as the main part of the workout.
4. The Interval or Countdown feature allows you to count down to zero from any specified time. A countdown timer features is exactly what it claims to be. It counts down to zero from a specified time. This particular feature allows you in repetition training to observe both timed attempts and timed recovery periods. An interval timer on a sports watch is a series of varying length countdown timers that run in sequence. Depending on how you have it set, the session either repeats or stops when the last countdown timer in the sequence has run.
5. Some would consider a heart rate monitoring feature absolutely essential. Many good advanced sports watches feature a heart rate monitor, which does just what it says, it measures your heart rate in real time and displays it on the display.

Performance gain will be achieved if you’re exercising at a high enough heart rate intensity level (target heart range). Also, in order to avoid over training and a poor response to you training it is good to be able your heart rate during the recovery phase of your session.


There are many more advanced features that are available on todays more advanced sport watches. Some of them are speed and distance measurement, pace measurement, GPS function, and foot pods.

If cost is one of your considerations, be aware that these more advanced features will definitely add to the expense of the sports watch. Its best to determine what you will actually be using your new watch for before you put down your hard earned money. Go over a typical workout in your mind and see which features you will be needing.

With these essential features and suggestions in mind, you will be able to save yourself some time and also shopping headaches, and you will easily be select the sport watches that fits your individual training goals.