Aimed at the multi-sport market, the 310XT can be worn as a watch if you want to indulge in some running, is waterproof to 50m for swimming or if you happen to drop it in a puddle, and is easily fixed on your handlebars with the optional bike mount.
While it doesn’t have the turn by turn route-finding capabilities of the Garmin Edge GPS, pretty much everything else is present in this neat little package. ANT+ compatibility means it’ll work with most of the major players in the power measurement field and, with an easy-to-fit cadence sensor, you can get that information too.
All the heart rate monitoring positives and features that apply to the Edge hold with the 310XT but, because of the reduced screen size needed for it to be worn on the wrist, there are compromises for the pure cyclist. Number size on the screen is fine, but, as you can only display four data fields, a certain amount of scrolling is necessary and the smaller buttons are quite tricky to use with gloves on.
Once you get back from your ride, all of your data can be transferred easily onto your computer using the wireless USB stick and fed into the Garmin Training Centre software. If you’re using Training Peaks, you can’t directly import using the Device Agent but can export a .tcx file from the Garmin software and then drop it in.
