What is a GPS Watch?

GPS or "Global Positioning System" is an amazing technology that can determine a user's exact location on the planet. Only in recent time has GPS become as prevailant as it has featuring in mainstream consumer electronic devices. Less commonly seen is the use of GPS in wristwatches as watches tend to be slightly smaller than the average GPS aerial, making accomodating one in such a small space problematic.

Yet where there's a will there's a way and consumers have now improved their techniques to allow fully self-contained GPS watches that do not require any external arial devices.

The most popular use of GPS watches is for running and other sports where the wearer is moving. GPS offers athletes the advantage of very precise tracking of their position. By measuring suble postional changes, the wearer's horizontal speed can be accurately presented as can their distance. These advantages and the many features that are derived from them offer runners considerable benefits over traditional sports watches.

Yet speed and distance are just the beginning of what a GPS watches can offer its wearer. Many GPS watch units also offer navigational features, featuring the ability to store locations in memory (known as waypoints). GPS watches with navigation can ensure that you are never lost, making them the ideal foil for outdoor adventures and treks. Watches like the Garmin Forerunner 305 have merged both GPS sports features like speed and distance with navigation features. It is in fact one of the few GPS watches that can present your position on a top-down map.

While the advantages of a one-piece GPS system are numerous, the disadvantage is that these watches, by design must be a little heavier and bulkier than the average sized watch. This might be uncomfortable for women with smaller wrists who might find moving with a bulky gadget attached to their hand, uncomfortable and restrictive. Some makers of GPS watches offer the alternative setup of an external GPS aerial that attaches to your body and so operates independently of the wrist watch itself. Such units broadcast signals between device and watch wirelessly. With modern digital FM technology this can be done quite easily and without interfering with other devices.

Some may find this less comfortable and consider the extra weight of a one-piece GPS system far more tollerable. Others will not be perterbed by attaching a light-weight device to their upper arm. Either way delivers similar functionality and allows the wearer to appreciate the power that the Global Positioning System has to offer.