Garmin's Forerunner 910XT sport watch begs to become your new swimming buddy

After introducing the Forerunner 610 alongside its lineup of runner-friendly watches, Garmin has introduced a new high tech gadget that's targeted to hardcore swimmers and triathletes: enter the Forerunner 910XT. With a price tag of $400, it's certainly intended for the most dedicated (or affluent) jocks, but for the outlay of cash, you'll find it provides detailed metrics such as swim distance, pool lengths, along with stroke identification and count. It even goes so far as to report one's SWOLF score, which is a measure of a swimmer's efficiency (calculated as the number of strokes to swim a lap, plus the time to travel said distance). The Forerunner 910XT is water resistant to 50 meters, but it's certainly apt for use on dry land, too. For instance, it provides stats about one's elevation, heart rate and speed, and offers built-in GPS. The battery life is limited to 20 hours, although we'd imagine your endurance will give out long before that time. If you've found your new obsession, you'll find the full PR after the break.

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The Ultimate Multisport Training Experience: Garmin Forerunner 910XT

OLATHE, Kan./Oct 4, 2011/Business Wire - Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced the Forerunner 910XT – the only all-in-one GPS-enabled device that provides detailed swim metrics and tracks distance, speed/pace, elevation and heart rate for running and cycling. The 910XT sports a sleek profile allowing users to easily slide wetsuits on and off, and has an on-board barometric altimeter for improved elevation data, all without sacrificing the size of its easy-to-read display. The Forerunner 910XT was announced in preparation for the Triathlon World Championship in Kona, HI, October 8, 2011 where it will be prominently displayed.

"Having one solution that provides athletes with all the metrics they are after is what the Forerunner 910XT is all about," said Dan Bartel, Garmin's vice president of worldwide sales. "Seeing swimming metrics such as stroke count, stroke rate and stroke identification, and seeing running and cycling metrics such as pace, distance, heart rate and power, place the Forerunner 910XT in a class of its own."

With Forerunner 910XT, swimming will never be the same again. Designed for both open water and pool swimming, Forerunner 910XT is water resistant to 50 meters and is Garmin's first multisport watch to offer extensive swim metrics, including swim distance, stroke identification, stroke count and pool lengths. It also computes a user's swolf score – the sum of the time for one length plus the number of strokes for that length. For example, 30 seconds plus 15 strokes equals a swolf score of 45. Swolf is a measurement of swimming efficiency and, like golf, lower is better. The 910XT's robust design and easy operation make it suited for other water sports, including paddle boarding, kayaking and windsurfing to name a few.

When an athlete is ready to jump out of the water and onto the bike, Forerunner 910XT moves easily from wrist to handlebar with the optional quick release and bike mounts. Forerunner 910XT categorizes multisport activities in one workout and can also log transition time in the process, so triathletes can analyze their performance from start to finish. And with up to 20 hours of battery life, even hardcore endurance athletes can push themselves further than ever.

Forerunner 910XT uses a vibration motor for alerts such as heart rate, pace/speed and distance when audible tones cannot be heard (heart monitor included in some bundles or available separately). With the heart rate monitor, Forerunner 910XT also allows athletes to track their training intensity via the Training Effect feature. By inputting key information into the watch, a user can measure the impact of an exercise regimen on their aerobic fitness.

In a true race against the clock, Forerunner 910XT adds Virtual Racer™. With this feature, Garmin has an answer for every excuse- no more, "I could have beaten that time"- where users can race themselves over their previous bests or against other users' times. These can be taken from activities stored on the watch or downloaded wirelessly from the huge and expanding Garmin Connect community (http://connect.garmin.com). Here users can quickly and easily log their workouts, track their totals, set goals, share workouts with friends and family and participate in an online fitness community of more than 70 million activities around the world. Also, users can now create and plan workouts, and even design courses and send it all directly to your 910XT with the click of a button. Garmin Connect displays metrics such as time, distance, pace, elevation and heart rate. This information is shown through charts, illustrations, reports and a variety of map representations including street, photo, topographic, and elevation maps.

During and after the workout, Forerunner 910XT blends the best wireless connectivity of all of its predecessors in the Garmin fitness family, syncing wirelessly through ANT+ technology with Garmin heart rate monitors and foot pods, compatible third-party fitness equipment and power meters, and the user's PC or Mac for automatic data download. The Forerunner 910XT will be compatible with Garmin's innovative power meter Vector™ and display independent left/right power.

Forerunner 910XT is the latest breakthrough from Garmin, which has spent more than 20 years developing technologies and innovations to enhance users' lives, making Garmin a household name in the automotive, aviation, marine, wireless, outdoor and fitness industries. For more about features, pricing and availability, as well as information about Garmin's other products and services, go to www.garmin.com, www.garmin.blogs.com and http://twitter.com/garmin. To watch step-by-step, feature-specific tutorial videos for Forerunner 910XT and other Garmin products, visit the online learning center at www.garmin.com/learningcenter.