Timex Ironman Watch Review: My Favorite Running Gear

In my opinion, the Timex Ironman Watch is the best, most affordable running watch you can buy. I’ve used the ironman watch for as long as I can remember. In fact, in the beginning, it would record only 8 splits for you which I thought was the coolest thing since my favorite workout was doing 6 – 8 x 400m repeats. This was way back in high school. I’m not so crazy anymore. So what’s so great about this watch when there are so many fancy smart watches out there? Let’s take a look shall we?

PRICE

First of all, the price can’t be beat in my opinion. For all that this watch does, and for as tough as it is, I think a good sport watch under $50 is a steal.

QUALITY

This watch is amazing. It’s water resistant up to 100m, I’m constantly banging my arm on things and I’ve never in all the years I’ve owned one, had any issues with the buttons not working or the band breaking.

EASY TO USE

When you first get the watch, assuming you haven’t had one before, it can seem a little confusing but if you just take a breath and look at the buttons, they are very intuitive.  Basically there are five buttons.

Bottom Left: Mode Button takes you from the time and date screen to the Chrono or Stopwatch mode.  Press it again it takes you to the timer mode. Next are Occasion, Alarm 1, Alarm 2 and Alarm 3.  The timer mode that I mentioned is a great feature because not only will it countdown, but you can have it repeat!  What does that mean?  Let’s say you’re doing my free Couch to 5K running plan.  The plan calls for running a minute and walking a minute.  You can set the timer on repeat so that after it counts down from a minute, an alarm goes off and it begins counting down again.  All you have to do is keep track of what you’re doing when the alarm goes off.  Run or walk!

Top Left: Set/Recall is the button you use to either set your time and date initially or to recall your splits.  When setting up your watch initially, you simply press and hold “set” and then press “Mode” to scroll through setting up the time, date, year, 12/24 hr format, etc.

Top Right: Indigo Light button. This is one of my favorite features of this watch.  Whether it’s early morning or late at night, it can be hard to see you watch display.  The old lights really just lit up one corner of the watch and was still barely readable.  The indigo light however, illuminates all the text and numbers in a bright blue/green color so it’s super easy to read.

Bottom Right: Stop/Reset button.  This is pretty self explanatory.  If you’re timing something and you want to stop, simply press “stop”.  If you’re using a countdown timer, when you’re done with it, simply hit “reset” to take it back to the setting you entered.  For example, if you set a countdown time for 15 minutes but finished a little early.  You can hit reset and it will reset the timer back to 15 minutes.

Bottom Center: Stop/Split button. Again, pretty obvious what this button does.  If you are using the stopwatch, this starts it.  press it again to grab a split.  Maybe you’re on a track doing laps or you want to compare your out and back times. Regardless, it’s a great feature and the button is so big and central, you can’t mess it up.

CONS OF THE TIMEX?

If you want a watch that tracks your sleep or your steps then this is not for you. If you're looking for a GPS watch, this watch is not for you. I also would prefer the stop and mode buttons switch places.  To me, it would feel more natural to stop the stopwatch with my thumb if it was the bottom left button but honestly it’s not that big of a deal. It’s just ergonomics.

SUMMARY

If you’re looking for a great, reliable watch that will gives you a countdown timer, a stopwatch, has multiple alarms and occasion reminders, as well as recording up to 30 splits, then this is the watch for you!  One other great feature for me in a world of tech, is I don’t ever have to plug it in!  I have to charge my phone, my iPad, my Fitbit (another review coming soon) and my Bluetooth headphones. It’s so refreshing and easy to just grab my watch knowing it will be ready and won’t run out of charge on my run.

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