A serious contender for best runner's watch: Seiko SBEF055
For the past few years, I have been relying on a few watches to time my runs; most predictably, I have been leaning on my G shocks for such a task.
At the same time, I observed that for my running needs, I started to develop a few spcific requirements:
Large screen and large numerals for legibility.
Easy to access night light / back light functionality as I run in the evenings.
Positive tactility when activating any pushers/buttons.
Large pusher buttons because I have fat fingers.
Lightweight and slim construction.
Highly breathable strap as I live in a hot tropical climate.
Solar battery / capability.
A minimum of 10ATM capability.
By virtue of those requirements, I struggled somewhat with a few of my G-shocks, not least as they either had a slim build and corresponding tiny buttons, or big buttons with correspondingly large and chunky build.
It was also similarly difficult to find a solar g shock that was slim and had large buttons. I then decided to expand my scope of search to other brands and found this Seiko SBEF055, which I purchased for around USD100, inclusive of shipping from Japan to Singapore.
Having used it for 3 night-time runs, I can safely say that this is an absolute winner; it ticks ALL my boxes, navigating the menu has been relatively straightforward coming from the G Shock menu system, and most impressively, the backlight function is accessed from tapping the watch face - genius move to cut down on buttons or doubling up on button functionality.
So fellow Crunchers, do you have a go-to running watch? Do share!
That is a cool, and very unique Seiko! 🔥🤘🏻
I love me some analog watches, but for timed runs or timed workouts, right tool for the job. Just because I can wear an analog doesn't mean I have to, especially if I'm home.
I'll totally change over to something that can track multiple laps, etc as dictated by the daily WOD.
The Marathon ADANAC GPD, it is large, but the buttons are easy to push, and the backlight is good.
I also like my Casio Protrek, though it's starting to show it's age a bit.