Thursday evening while half-awake after a long day of travelling and workouts, I was catching up on a June episode of Mythbusters that I hadn’t seen yet. And what do I spy? The Timex Global Trainer. Well, actually, the Timex Global Trainer with a bit of electrical tape over the name…but that’s besides the point, it’s still the Timex Global Trainer GPS.
Check out these screenshots I grabbed:
(In case your wondering, the portion of the show that they were using it for he had just run a mile loop and then had to rope crawl over a water moat. He’s wearing paper based armor – sheets that were folded 27 times. You can watch the full episode on YouTube, starting here.)
Pretty cool, huh?
But you know what’s even cooler? Thursday Timex released a firmware update that adds ANT+ Footpod support. This was a biggie for a lot of folks. In addition, they added a slew of other smaller features – here’s the skinny:
Performance Mode
The Lap/Split pop-up display has been increased in size and covers the entire screen:
Lap and Split times appear for five seconds, and
For the next five seconds, the displayed lap summary is based on what data was being viewed when the lap/split was recorded.
Additional data fields are available:
For each lap, live data for Average Cadence, Average Pace, Average Heart Rate, Average Speed, and Average Power can be viewed.
Multisport Mode
The Lap/Split pop-up display has been increased in size and covers the entire screen:
Lap and Split times appear for five seconds, and
For the next five seconds, the displayed lap summary is based on what data was being viewed when the lap/split was recorded
Additional data fields are available:
For each lap, live data for Average Cadence, Average Pace, Average Heart Rate, Average Speed, and Average Power can be viewed.
For each segment (sport) of a Multisport event/workout, Average Cadence, Average Pace, Distance, Average Heart Rate, and Average Speed can be viewed.
Sensors
ANT+ Foot Pod is now a choice in the Configure
Sensors menu to provide Pace, Distance, and Running Cadence data indoors or when GPS signals are compromised.
To address this additional functionality, alert zones are now available for Run Cadence and Bike Cadence
Firmware also supports calibration of the Foot Pod over a user-selected measure distance or through input of a calibration factor (percentage)
GPS Acquisition
Upon start-up of the GPS receiver, a satellite status bar is displayed until any button is pressed
Data Transfer to the Online Log
Improved watch data output will now provide more accurate results in the Timex Ironman online log powered by TrainingPeaks
You can go out and grab the update now. Your best bet is hitting up this page which has all the details. Note that there was a minor oops yesterday with the wrong file being there – so if you updated yesterday early on you may need to update again to get the ‘real’ final file. No biggie, just an FYI.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
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Wait a sec. I thought Mr. Wizard said that you can only fold a piece of paper 8 times (or was it seven?). I say, MYTH BUSTED!
Well, I did find someone who did it 12 times: link to pomonahistorical.org
But, that was like a major breakthrough. How did MythBusters fold that armor 27 times?
There was more than one sheet of paper if I remember, I should have worded that to “27 layers of paper”, some folding involved…kinda like Ikea.
What? Timex updates the firmware making the watch more usable and Amazon jacks up the price…
Figures.
I’m excited. This has been a long time coming.
Thx for the info!
Any news if this update will make the watch more accurate?
Did you notice that the Lap/Split summary is showing average lap ‘speed’ in minutes/mile, instead of miles/hour? Although if you choose SPD-LPAVG (speed, lap average) as a display field, then that field correctly shows miles/hour. So it’s just the Lap/Split summary display that is goofy.
Ray,
Have you had any issues with the GPS since the firmware upgrade? I upgraded last night and on my run this morning it wouldn’t provide a pace or distance measurement despite saying that it was connected to GPS. I’ve also noticed taht every time I turn on the watch it is going through the aquiring satellites everytime. It seems like it is having a harder time connecting to the satellites than before.
thanks
Any idea on the type of foot pod that cna be used?
Any ANT+ footpod will work, my general recommendation is the Garmin one.
Hi Ryan-
Sorry, missed your first time around.
Yes, I am indeed seeing some weirdness with a footpod where if I have paired the footpod it won’t record speed/distance using the GPS. Without a footpod it’s fine. Do you have a footpod?
Hi Ray,
Thanks for writing me back. I don’t have the footpod, I’m just going off of GPS. I haven’t had the problem of it not recording over the past few days, but it is taking forever (sometimes >10 mins) to connect to the GPS sats. I’ll go out and get a footpod for a back up I guess.
Thanks,
After the update, my Timex now locks up constantly. I’d say that out of my last 7 workouts, the watch has locked up on me 4-5. It’s always at the end of the workout when I hit the Stop button.
The screen just locks up/freezes and I have to power it off. All data is lost.
Have you heard anything about this issue?
Hi everyone, does anybody solve the freeze problem in the tgt. I update several times to the lastest firmware and nothing happened. Thanks in advance if anybody can guide me in this problem.
What about intervals? im sorry if this has been addressed but .. can you set up distance intervals like in the garmin 310xt with the new firmware of the TGT ? thx a lot!!!
Somehow, since the new update, my garmin cadence meter is not registering proper speed/distance anymore on this watch.It registers about 34km for every 30km i ride (even though I verified the wheel size), and registers bike speeds of up to 120km/hr? (i wish)…haven’t been able to figure out what that’s about. I disable the cadence meter and everything works fine…
Hi Ray,
Have you had issues recording Average Cadence per lap with TGT+Garmin footpod?
I got a footpod a few days after upgrading the TGT firmware and things are fine during my run but when I download the workout file, SportTracks doesn’t show cadence per lap. It only shows Ave and Max for the entire workout. Any suggestions? What am I missing here?
Thanks!
Hey Ray, are you going to update the TGT review with this new features??
Ray,
Great informative site.
Having odd trouble with foot pod. Does not show distance when running but shows pace and cadence. When I review the file after the workout it does not have any of the three. Thoughts?
Lane, mine are all showing find except for pace when I review.
I AM having a problem calibrating it. Im always getting differences in distance between what my treadmilll and the GT.
Anyone find an explanation how to calibrate it?
FoxontheMove.BlogSpot.Com
My Timex global trainer also locks up. I notice it locks when 1) gps signal is lost and 2) try to scroll to another screen display (pressing “UP”). Experienced this while on a tunnel during a full mary and another time after a half mary in an indoor parking lot. I noticed it does not lock if condition 1) is met but NOT condition 2). Must be the firmware guys (no offense but I was also a software guy and I am 99% this is a program bug). The “unsaved” workout then takes up space (memory leak) which cannot be deleted except by flashing(resetting or downloading) the firmware again!
Response to Anonymous
regarding “intervals”
Unfortunately no! We can not set up distance intervals in TGT. And this is very stupid we need that!
What we can do about it Ray
And my question now
I performed the firmware update. Everything good, except of one think. In Performance Mode (as well as in Multisport Mode) after the update
The Lap/Split pop-up display has been increased in size and covers the entire screen:
YES THIS IS HAPPENING NOW IN MY TGT
Lap and Split times appear for five seconds,
YES THIS IS HAPPENING NOW IN MY TGT and
For the next five seconds, the displayed lap summary is based on what data was being viewed when the lap/split was recorded.
HERE IS MY PROBLEM THIS “..the next five seconds..” IS NOT DISPLAYED IN MY TGT!
What can I do?
Rerun the firmware update?
Something else?
Thank you in advance
Have the issues above been repaired. It is now 2014 and I just ordered one of these watches and now I’m nervous I just wasted my money? Got a link to the firmware upgrade latest and greatest?
There hasn’t really been any new firmware update in years here, and at this point the unit itself is 4+ years old. :-/