There are so many ways for people to track their runs. We’ve covered some popular running apps for your smartphone, but sometimes you just prefer to have the convenience of a GPS watch strapped on your wrist while you run.
Bryton Sport is a GPS watch manufacturer based in Taiwan, and they produce a range of GPS watches for runners, cyclists and even triathletes. The Bryton Cardio 40 is designed for runners, and comes with a heart rate monitor and built-in stride sensor. Along with pre-programmed workouts and other interval training options, this allows runners to train smart and monitor progress easily.
First Impressions
Out of the box, the Bryton Cardio 40 contains a charging clip, a heart pace monitor, the manual, and the watch itself.
The charging clip doubles as your USB cable, which you use to connect to your computer to upload your tracks. The heart pace monitor comes in two parts: the heart rate pod and a black elastic strap, which can be easily removed.
I would say that the design of the watch is very functional. The square, black outline with green lines is not very fashionable but not exactly unappealing either.
I noticed that the watch takes some time to connect to GPS satellites for tracking. It can even take up to a minute or more. I suggest readying the watch before you warm up, in order to have the GPS ready when you’re prepared to run.
Let’s Go for a Run!
The Cardio 40 screen is big enough for me to easily see while running in the daytime. At night, the backlight is pretty bright and clear. The size of the watch itself is pretty big, but it is thin and light, weighing at only 48 grams. The heart pace monitor synced with the watch quickly as well.
While in running mode, the Cardio 40 displays 3 different sets of information: your run time, distance, and average pace. With a press of a button, you can also check your stride rate, heart rate, and calories burnt as well.
The watch has sound alerts to assist you with your workouts. If you have selected 3 minute intervals, the watch beeps 30 seconds prior to ending, and again at 0 seconds to let you know when you’ve completed the rep.
The watch can even alert you based on different workouts. For example, if you’re looking to reach a specific heart rate during a run, the watch can alert you if your heart rate is too fast or slow.
Detailed Online Analysis
I’d like to highlight the Bryton Cardio series’ powerful online features. To use the online features, you have to download the Bryton Bridge application, and create a free user account online. This will allow you to both upload and download workouts and data to your watch.
Once you’ve done that, you are free to browse any of your finished workouts. When you select a finished workout, you can view a detailed layout containing your running route and lots of details such as time, distance, elevation, and even cadence is recorded for you to analyse. You can also compare 2 different workouts side by side to see how you’ve improved.
Once you have taken the time to explore the online features, the information you get from here is pretty detailed.
Create Customised Workouts
Another strong point is the ability to create your own customised workout. There are settings for all types you’d like to track, such as reaching a specific timing, distance or heart rate. You can also set repetitions of each segment of your workout, so that is pretty convenient. It took me less than 5 minutes to create a 30 minute interval workout and upload it into the watch.
Compared to the 10 minutes I spent fiddling with the watch trying to devise a workout, the ability to create a workout from a computer is a big plus point.
Functional Design, Powerful Online Features
The official description states that you can have up to 14 days of battery in clock mode, and 8 hours with the GPS on, so you can wear this out as a daily watch if you would like to do so. If you run daily, you can charge the watch for every 4-5 days or so.
I would say that behind the Cardio 40’s plain design is a watch that has great online features, suitable for both novice and expert runners.
Runner’s Boon
- Powerful online features
- Can create, upload and delete workouts and runs easily
- Lightweight (48 grams)
Runner’s Bane
- Very plain design
- Takes some time to connect to GPS ( > 1 min)
Do you have any other GPS watches you’d like us to review? Share with us your thoughts below!
