samstamey
2009-11-24 05:51:30 UTC
Hello, here is my FR for your editin pleasure. You can find the HTML here:
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/test/TESTS/FR%20-%20Freestyle%20Navigator%202.0%20-%20Sam%20Stamey/
FREESTYLE NAVIGATOR 2.0 WATCH
TEST SERIES BY SAM STAMEY
FR
November 23, 2009
TESTER INFORMATION
NAME: Sam Stamey
EMAIL: samstamey at yahoo dot com
AGE: 43
LOCATION: Santa Rosa, CA
GENDER: m
HEIGHT: 6' 0" (1.83 m)
WEIGHT: 170 lb (77.00 kg)
Backpacking background: I started backpacking two years ago with my wife and two children (ages 8 and 10 at the time). We have been car camping for 20+ years.
Most of our backpacking has been three season camping in the Sierras, 6000 -12,000 ft (1800 m - 3658 m) and on the Northern California Coast.
We mostly do a combination of car camping and backpacking.
Our family recently switched from one 4 person tent to using two 2 person tents. I usually carry most of the weight and my internal frame pack weighs between 40-50 lb (18-22 kg).
INITIAL REPORT
PRODUCT INFORMATION & SPECIFICATIONS
Manufacturer: Freestyle
Year of Manufacture: 2009
Manufacturer's Website: <<HYPERLINK GOES HERE - "http://www.freestyleusa.com/" LINK TEXT = "Freestyle USA">>
MSRP: US$125.00
Listed Weight: None listed
Measured Weight: 2oz (57 g)
Other details: Watch face is listed as 40mm (1.57 in)and it measures in at about 40mm (1.57 in).
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The watch arrived in an ordinary brown box via UPS. It was packed nicely and well padded. Inside the box was a smaller blue box with the word Freestyle on the side of it. Nice cardboard which when lifted up revealed the watch sitting in a display case that I often see at a store to present watches.
The case was well made and presented the watch well. It had a $125.00 price tag on the watch and I could tell that the manufacturer took pride in their product by the way they took the time and effort to properly package the watch.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 2">>
The first thing that struck me when I pulled the watch off of the display was "wow this is a big watch." I am used to wearing a slim watch with a fairly small face. When I put it on my wrist I noticed that it looked big on me (I have slim wrist) but it did not feel heavy at all. It felt solid but not heavy.
The construction of the watch is very good. I have not noticed any blemishes or quality issues on the watch. The face is solid, well built and seems to be real glass. The dial around the glass is metal and has the compass directions on it.
Functions include:
Time - Shows current time, date, and day of week
Foreign time - Shows a time that I can set for a different location
Compass - For finding my way in the world
Chronograph - For timing laps
Recall - Recall lap time
Timer - Setting a timer
Alarm- Setting/viewing an alarm
The watch band is one piece and molded around the watch itself. It is pre-curved to better fit a wrist and seems to work well on my wrist. The "Free fit Technology" is pretty darn cool.
Four buttons are around the side of the watch face and serve various functions. The buttons are almost inset and look like they will not get accidently bumped.
Overall the watch and the material look well constructed and functional.
READING THE INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions came on 1 double sided 4x7 inch (10.16 cm x 17.78 cm) piece of paper. At first I thought that the instructions were lacking but I read them and was able to setup the watch in about 10 minutes. The instructions were clear, the buttons work well and the watch is well-behaved.
Included are instructions for setting the compass and the declination angle according to city. The compass was surprisingly easy to setup.
The thing I like most about the instructions is they came in little folded pieces of paper about the size of the watch face and they had a separate paper for each language instead of trying to cram all of the language onto one piece of paper. The website also had the instructions in PDF format in case I lose the paper instructions.
TRYING IT OUT
Do you own one of those watches where one setting is too loose on your wrist and the other setting is too tight and when you try to make a hole in the band between the other two holes it never works out? Well that seems to happen to me on most watches. This watch has what they call "Free Fit Technology" which is a strip of thin but strong material that allows me to adjust the watch band to the perfect fit. It is hard to explain and I tried to capture it in a picture below. The fact is that it works well and does what it promises to do. The watch fits my wrist well, does not loosen even while I am jogging and does not roll around my wrist until I can't see the face like my other watches do. A very cool feature.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 3">>
Like I mentioned before the setup was very easy and the buttons work well. The buttons are flat against the side of the watch which takes a little more effort to push but I have not accidently bumped a button and changed a setting by mistake like I have with my other sports watch.
The time setting is nice and clear. It shows the time, date and day of the week which is great for me to have when I am in the back country, I often lose track of the date and day of the week and it can get embarrassing when I come back into civilization and have to ask what day of the week it is.
Chronograph has worked well for running and I find the recall of the lap times very useful. I coach a youth Cross Country team and the kids often want to know what their lap time is. Now I can let them know.
I have not used the timer or alarm yet but they were easy to run and set when I tested them during the setup of the watch.
The compass is a cool feature of this watch. It was easy to setup and very easy to use. I set the declination angle for my area, spun the watch around two times to calibrate it and now it is set. I checked it against my standard compass and it seems right on. Other than calibrating it and checking to see what direction my cubicle at work sits I have not put it to a real test yet.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 4">>
TESTING STRATEGY
I plan to wear this watch daily in a variety of settings from sitting in my cubicle at work, running, hiking, backpacking, fishing and swimming. I plan on testing the functionality of the watch, the durability of not only the watch case but the band as well to see if it holds up and fits as well the first time I tried it to 6 months later. The testing period will run through the fall and into winter. The watch should get plenty of time in sun, rain, wind, hopefully snow.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 5">>
SUMMARY
The Navigator 2.0 watch from Freestyle is a digital watch with a built in compass along with time, timer, chrono, and alarm functions. The unique band should provide a comfortable fit on my wrist for the life of the watch. The watch is lightweight yet appears durable and I feel is should hold up well to the activities I plan on putting it through.
<a name="FRPT">FIELD REPORT</a>
FIELD LOCATIONS AND CONDITIONS
For the past couple of months I have worn this watch everywhere from the beach to the mountains in weather ranging from 80
F(26.67C ) to 35F (1.67C ). Sunny, clear days, rainy days, and windy days. I have not tested this watch in freezing weather or snow yet.
I wear the watch to work in an office, day hikes, fishing, and backpack trips. I have worn it while doing the dishes and I have had it in the water while fishing but I have never swam with it or bathed with it on.
PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD
This watch has performed perfectly in the last two months. The time has been accurate, the watch is easy to use and the watch band is really well designed. I have used the compass only a few times for testing the function and ease of use but have not used the compass for real mapping purposes.
The watch is easy to use and setup. I needed to change the time to daylight savings time from standard time this fall and it was very easy to do without the need of looking at the instructions or searching on a website.
I find the light on this watch to be very useful and not overly obnoxious. I had a digital watch in the past that would light up the entire tent when I checked the time during the night. It worked great if I wanted to attract every bug in the camp or night blind my tent mate.
This light is a very subtle blue color and only really lights up the numbers so it does not bug anyone else who may be around when I am checking the time at 3am.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 2">>
I may have mentioned this before and I will probably mention this against several times in this report; the watch band is great!
What a great design. The "rubber" watchband with the mesh adjustment strap is brilliant in my mind. This watch fits my wrist perfectly and fits on everyone that I have had try it on. It will adjust fairly large to fairly small and hold in that position. The fact that I can make holes in the mesh anywhere I want makes this watch so I can adjust it as loose or tight as I feel comfortable. On cold days I even wear the watch on the outside of my long sleeve which is not something I could do with any other watch I have used.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 1">>
My only complaint so far would be that the watch is a little thick which means it stands off my wrist pretty far and often bangs into something or catches on something. I am getting more used to it the longer I wear the watch and it is more of an annoyance than a problem.
SUMMARY
After wearing this watch almost everyday for the last two months I would say that this is a very good watch. It is durable, easy to read, keeps accurate time, and the compass is an added bonus. I think that Freestyle really did a good job researching and developing a well designed watchband that is easy to use and very adjustable. Besides the minor annoyance of the watch being thick I have not other complaints about the watch performance or the design.
Check my long term report to find out how the watch performs over the long haul.
This report was created with the BGT Report Generator.
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------
http://www.backpackgeartest.org/reviews/test/TESTS/FR%20-%20Freestyle%20Navigator%202.0%20-%20Sam%20Stamey/
FREESTYLE NAVIGATOR 2.0 WATCH
TEST SERIES BY SAM STAMEY
FR
November 23, 2009
TESTER INFORMATION
NAME: Sam Stamey
EMAIL: samstamey at yahoo dot com
AGE: 43
LOCATION: Santa Rosa, CA
GENDER: m
HEIGHT: 6' 0" (1.83 m)
WEIGHT: 170 lb (77.00 kg)
Backpacking background: I started backpacking two years ago with my wife and two children (ages 8 and 10 at the time). We have been car camping for 20+ years.
Most of our backpacking has been three season camping in the Sierras, 6000 -12,000 ft (1800 m - 3658 m) and on the Northern California Coast.
We mostly do a combination of car camping and backpacking.
Our family recently switched from one 4 person tent to using two 2 person tents. I usually carry most of the weight and my internal frame pack weighs between 40-50 lb (18-22 kg).
INITIAL REPORT
PRODUCT INFORMATION & SPECIFICATIONS
Manufacturer: Freestyle
Year of Manufacture: 2009
Manufacturer's Website: <<HYPERLINK GOES HERE - "http://www.freestyleusa.com/" LINK TEXT = "Freestyle USA">>
MSRP: US$125.00
Listed Weight: None listed
Measured Weight: 2oz (57 g)
Other details: Watch face is listed as 40mm (1.57 in)and it measures in at about 40mm (1.57 in).
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The watch arrived in an ordinary brown box via UPS. It was packed nicely and well padded. Inside the box was a smaller blue box with the word Freestyle on the side of it. Nice cardboard which when lifted up revealed the watch sitting in a display case that I often see at a store to present watches.
The case was well made and presented the watch well. It had a $125.00 price tag on the watch and I could tell that the manufacturer took pride in their product by the way they took the time and effort to properly package the watch.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 2">>
The first thing that struck me when I pulled the watch off of the display was "wow this is a big watch." I am used to wearing a slim watch with a fairly small face. When I put it on my wrist I noticed that it looked big on me (I have slim wrist) but it did not feel heavy at all. It felt solid but not heavy.
The construction of the watch is very good. I have not noticed any blemishes or quality issues on the watch. The face is solid, well built and seems to be real glass. The dial around the glass is metal and has the compass directions on it.
Functions include:
Time - Shows current time, date, and day of week
Foreign time - Shows a time that I can set for a different location
Compass - For finding my way in the world
Chronograph - For timing laps
Recall - Recall lap time
Timer - Setting a timer
Alarm- Setting/viewing an alarm
The watch band is one piece and molded around the watch itself. It is pre-curved to better fit a wrist and seems to work well on my wrist. The "Free fit Technology" is pretty darn cool.
Four buttons are around the side of the watch face and serve various functions. The buttons are almost inset and look like they will not get accidently bumped.
Overall the watch and the material look well constructed and functional.
READING THE INSTRUCTIONS
The instructions came on 1 double sided 4x7 inch (10.16 cm x 17.78 cm) piece of paper. At first I thought that the instructions were lacking but I read them and was able to setup the watch in about 10 minutes. The instructions were clear, the buttons work well and the watch is well-behaved.
Included are instructions for setting the compass and the declination angle according to city. The compass was surprisingly easy to setup.
The thing I like most about the instructions is they came in little folded pieces of paper about the size of the watch face and they had a separate paper for each language instead of trying to cram all of the language onto one piece of paper. The website also had the instructions in PDF format in case I lose the paper instructions.
TRYING IT OUT
Do you own one of those watches where one setting is too loose on your wrist and the other setting is too tight and when you try to make a hole in the band between the other two holes it never works out? Well that seems to happen to me on most watches. This watch has what they call "Free Fit Technology" which is a strip of thin but strong material that allows me to adjust the watch band to the perfect fit. It is hard to explain and I tried to capture it in a picture below. The fact is that it works well and does what it promises to do. The watch fits my wrist well, does not loosen even while I am jogging and does not roll around my wrist until I can't see the face like my other watches do. A very cool feature.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 3">>
Like I mentioned before the setup was very easy and the buttons work well. The buttons are flat against the side of the watch which takes a little more effort to push but I have not accidently bumped a button and changed a setting by mistake like I have with my other sports watch.
The time setting is nice and clear. It shows the time, date and day of the week which is great for me to have when I am in the back country, I often lose track of the date and day of the week and it can get embarrassing when I come back into civilization and have to ask what day of the week it is.
Chronograph has worked well for running and I find the recall of the lap times very useful. I coach a youth Cross Country team and the kids often want to know what their lap time is. Now I can let them know.
I have not used the timer or alarm yet but they were easy to run and set when I tested them during the setup of the watch.
The compass is a cool feature of this watch. It was easy to setup and very easy to use. I set the declination angle for my area, spun the watch around two times to calibrate it and now it is set. I checked it against my standard compass and it seems right on. Other than calibrating it and checking to see what direction my cubicle at work sits I have not put it to a real test yet.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 4">>
TESTING STRATEGY
I plan to wear this watch daily in a variety of settings from sitting in my cubicle at work, running, hiking, backpacking, fishing and swimming. I plan on testing the functionality of the watch, the durability of not only the watch case but the band as well to see if it holds up and fits as well the first time I tried it to 6 months later. The testing period will run through the fall and into winter. The watch should get plenty of time in sun, rain, wind, hopefully snow.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 5">>
SUMMARY
The Navigator 2.0 watch from Freestyle is a digital watch with a built in compass along with time, timer, chrono, and alarm functions. The unique band should provide a comfortable fit on my wrist for the life of the watch. The watch is lightweight yet appears durable and I feel is should hold up well to the activities I plan on putting it through.
<a name="FRPT">FIELD REPORT</a>
FIELD LOCATIONS AND CONDITIONS
For the past couple of months I have worn this watch everywhere from the beach to the mountains in weather ranging from 80
F(26.67C ) to 35F (1.67C ). Sunny, clear days, rainy days, and windy days. I have not tested this watch in freezing weather or snow yet.
I wear the watch to work in an office, day hikes, fishing, and backpack trips. I have worn it while doing the dishes and I have had it in the water while fishing but I have never swam with it or bathed with it on.
PERFORMANCE IN THE FIELD
This watch has performed perfectly in the last two months. The time has been accurate, the watch is easy to use and the watch band is really well designed. I have used the compass only a few times for testing the function and ease of use but have not used the compass for real mapping purposes.
The watch is easy to use and setup. I needed to change the time to daylight savings time from standard time this fall and it was very easy to do without the need of looking at the instructions or searching on a website.
I find the light on this watch to be very useful and not overly obnoxious. I had a digital watch in the past that would light up the entire tent when I checked the time during the night. It worked great if I wanted to attract every bug in the camp or night blind my tent mate.
This light is a very subtle blue color and only really lights up the numbers so it does not bug anyone else who may be around when I am checking the time at 3am.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 2">>
I may have mentioned this before and I will probably mention this against several times in this report; the watch band is great!
What a great design. The "rubber" watchband with the mesh adjustment strap is brilliant in my mind. This watch fits my wrist perfectly and fits on everyone that I have had try it on. It will adjust fairly large to fairly small and hold in that position. The fact that I can make holes in the mesh anywhere I want makes this watch so I can adjust it as loose or tight as I feel comfortable. On cold days I even wear the watch on the outside of my long sleeve which is not something I could do with any other watch I have used.
<<IMAGE GOES HERE. ALT TEXT = "IMAGE 1">>
My only complaint so far would be that the watch is a little thick which means it stands off my wrist pretty far and often bangs into something or catches on something. I am getting more used to it the longer I wear the watch and it is more of an annoyance than a problem.
SUMMARY
After wearing this watch almost everyday for the last two months I would say that this is a very good watch. It is durable, easy to read, keeps accurate time, and the compass is an added bonus. I think that Freestyle really did a good job researching and developing a well designed watchband that is easy to use and very adjustable. Besides the minor annoyance of the watch being thick I have not other complaints about the watch performance or the design.
Check my long term report to find out how the watch performs over the long haul.
This report was created with the BGT Report Generator.
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
------------------------------------